{"id":1228,"date":"2013-04-30T17:09:27","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T17:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gnof.org\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2013-05-24T15:57:41","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T15:57:41","slug":"offering-hope-health-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/offering-hope-health-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Offering Hope, Health, &#038; Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F90169693\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Vince Petreikis was proud when his young adult son left their New Orleans home to chase his dreams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was a very creative individual, a very intelligent individual. He wanted to be Steven Spielberg &#8212; writer, producer, director. He went out to California,\u201d the father recalls.<\/p>\n<p>But soon, the reports coming back from his son were veering badly off script. There was a break-up with his girlfriend and he had trouble keeping a job. During one phone call he\u2019d sound depressed, and almost manic during the next. Eventually he was hospitalized and diagnosed with bipolar disorder. His son started getting treatment. But Petreikis realized he needed help too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen this occurs in the family, it\u2019s not just the individual having the illness, but the whole family is affected by that,\u201d Petreikis says. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have the answers, you go to a location that you can seek answers. And NAMI was that bright light at the end of the tunnel for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the New Orleans affiliate is part of network of organizations across the country that support adults with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other serious conditions. Critically, NAMI helps their families too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest resource a person with mental illness has is their family,\u201d says Lisa Romback, executive director of NAMI in New Orleans, which last year served about 1,000 individuals and 180 families. She says family members are instrumental in detecting signs of mental illness and helping their loved ones find help. But even for the most committed family, this can be a rough road. Treatment often entails a complex cocktail of medications &#8211; 6, 8, 10 different pills, taken several times a day &#8212; and they can carry serious side effects, like major weight gain. It can be hard to keep someone on track. And thanks to the social stigma that persists around mental illness, Romback says individuals and families may be dealing with an illness for years before seeking help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo by the time a family member gets to us, they have really been through the wringer,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019ve been to hospitals, they\u2019ve maybe helped their family member get out of jail. They are really worn out. And so what we try to provide is the support that they family needs to kind of stay the course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NAMI does this by connecting families to medical specialists, social workers and one-on-one counseling. The group has produced a comprehensive resource guide, with help from recognizing symptoms to understanding patients\u2019 rights. And NAMI taps the power of families facing similar issues to help and learn from one another. There\u2019s a 12-week education program, led by trained family caregivers, and ongoing support group meetings to share stories, ask questions and gather strength. For Petreikis this sort of help is making all the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou feel as though this is something unique that\u2019s happening to you that you can not understand,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when you are sitting with a group of individuals you realize that yes, I am not alone. Many people are experiencing the same situations that I am. To me they\u2019re very traumatic, and the families are affected traumatically because of this. But you\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Ian McNulty for the Community IMPACT Series and produced by WWNO in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation. To learn more about NAMI New Orleans, \u00a0<a title=\"NAMI\" href=\"http:\/\/www.namineworleans.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Listen to more on the <a title=\"SoundCloud\" href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/gnofoundation\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">GNOF&#8217;s soundcloud here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vince Petreikis was proud when his young adult son left their New Orleans home to chase his dreams. \u201cHe was a very creative individual, a very intelligent individual. He wanted to be Steven Spielberg &#8212; writer, producer, director. He went out to California,\u201d the father recalls. But soon, the reports coming back from his son&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[130,132,131,133,100],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-community","tag-community-impact-series","tag-impact","tag-mental-health","tag-radio","tag-wwno"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Offering Hope, Health, &amp; Healing | Greater New Orleans Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/offering-hope-health-healing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Offering Hope, Health, &amp; Healing | Greater New Orleans Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vince Petreikis was proud when his young adult son left their New Orleans home to chase his dreams. \u201cHe was a very creative individual, a very intelligent individual. 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