Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Christmas Break Is Here.

Christmas Break is finally here. I might not be so excited if the kids were the only ones out for two weeks, but it is my break too. School for me is going really well, but it doesn't leave a lot of time to keep up with all my other obligations. I am sorry to admit the website here has suffered.
I hope everyone will remember that this is a very difficult time of year for many of us. When we are supposed to be happy, cheerful and full of fun so many of us are just having a hard time getting out of bed. Remember that you are not alone. Another depressing thought for you is that more people commit suicide at the holidays than any other time of the year. So it isn't just you and you are not alone even though you may feel like it. Do your best not to isolate yourself; even if it is the only thing you really feel like doing.

For those of you who are not bipolar, but have children or loved ones who are, please keep this valuable information in mind. Don't plague yourself with questions about why your child seems so down after you went to so much work and expense to give them a nice holiday. There is so much anticipation built into the pre-holiday hype that once the gifts are open and it is all said and done there is a real "let down." Some bipolar children will experience this more than others and some adults too. With children this could come out more in anger than depression. Try to keep them on a schedule, especially with their medication and sleep. Remember that they are not like all the other kids that may be around for the holidays and at times they just really need a little down time. They may not realize that, but if you figure it out you can initiate it and hopefully they will follow suit and feel better after a little down time. With all this in mind try to have a nice holiday and remember that just having your family at home with you (not in the hospital) and being together is all that really matters.

Just to catch you up, if you haven't heard, there have been some great changes made to IDEA that will take affect in July 2005. So if you are planning to work out a new IEP with your child's school don't let them force you into doing anything at the end of this year. Be sure to review the changes to see if they will affect you and your child and then plan to meet with the school just before the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year and implement the new changes to your advantage. For a complete update and understanding of the new laws go to www.wrightslaw.com

The DBSA of Northwest Indiana recently received some much needed funding from the Porter-Starke Foundation. We are very grateful to them and so happy that they support the work we are doing. We hope to be able to get more people involved in the support groups. We know from experience that it really does help.

We have had some really wonderful group discussions lately. We have two interesting speakers coming in February and March. The speaker meetings are always the first Wednesday of the month in Valparaiso at 6 P.M..

In February Dr. Robert Walsh will be joining us to discuss how to simplify the process of Social Security/Disability for you or your children. Dr. Walsh is in private practice in Chesterton, but once a week he spends a day in Fort Wayne doing evaluations for the state. He is very knowledgeable in the field of child psychology and I just can't sing his praises loudly enough. Those of you who have heard him speak know to arrive early to get a seat and we will prepare for a large group.

In March Dr. Mary Zamanski will be joining us to discuss the heart wrenching topic of suicide; centering on teen suicide. There are few of us in this field that have not been touched at one time on another by this topic. Dr. Zamanski is in private practice in Chesterton. She treats people of all ages and does couples therapy. She is very interested in helping teens and has been a real asset to our teen support group. We will look forward to seeing all of you there. Please feel free to bring your teens. They will be joining the adult group that evening for the speaker and discussion.

I will try to get some new information on this site for you while I am on winter break. I hope all of you are able to have a good holiday and a happy new year.