2015_FALLNewsletterFINAL

NETWORK NEWS
FALL 2015
United We Stand WI—Grassroots Empowerment Project
On its surface, the mental health
reform bill introduced by Congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania
looks promising. Murphy is the only licensed psychologist
in Congress, everybody agrees that our mental health system is
not working, and we would all like to help families in crisis.
On closer inspection, however, the Helping Families in Mental
Health Crisis Act (HR 2646) - commonly known as the "Murphy
Bill" - appears to cater more closely to the desires of pharmaceutical
companies than to the actual needs of people in psychological
distress, perhaps because of Murphy's connections to key lobbyists.
Murphy's financial supporters include the American Psychiatric
Association, psychiatric hospitals and the National Rifle Association,
and his campaign contributors include no less than nine
pharmaceutical companies and a law firm that represents Big
Pharma.
The bill was marked up Wednesday in the House Energy and
Commerce health subcommittee and passed by that subcommittee,
despite strong objections from almost all the Democrats on
the full committee. The next step is for the full Energy and Commerce
Committee to vote on moving the bill forward, followed by
the House vote. A timetable has not yet been set. Although the bill
is gaining momentum, there is substantial opposition, so passage
is still uncertain.
If the Murphy Bill is passed, psychiatric hospitals and pharmaceutical
companies will reap huge financial benefits as a result of increased
hospitalization and forced treatment. One way the bill will
do this is by creating a financial incentive for states that implement
"assisted outpatient treatment": court-ordered treatment
(including medication) for people whom a judge deems as living
with "severe mental illness" and unlikely to willingly take prescribed
psychiatric medications.
….Continued on the next page
In This Issue
Murphy Bill—Oryx
Cohen
Kick off—Re-entry Peer
Specialist Project
Peer Run Respite
What are you thankful
for? GEP staff expressing
thanks and gratitude
Biography from Board
Vice President—Karen
Herro
Save the date
GEP Board of Directors
Furman Avery
Karen Herro
Jim Sabatke
Tamara Ferber
Mary Lou Burger
Constance Downey
“The purpose of Grassroots Roots Empowerment Project is to create opportunities
for people seeking mental health, recovery, and wellness to exercise power in their
lives.”

Murphy Bill Cont….
Psychiatric hospitals would also benefit from the bill's proposed elimination of the "Institutions
for Mental Diseases exclusion," which currently makes mental health institutions ineligible for
funding through Medicaid. By enabling psychiatric hospitals to access this funding, the Murphy
Bill could usher in an unprecedented era of re-institutionalization, going against the recommendations
of the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision, which asserted in 1999 that people with mental
health issues have the right to be in the least restrictive setting possible. If passed, the Murphy Bill
will lead to large-scale re-institutionalization in hospitals for longer periods of time for people who
now generally have the right to live in supportive communities of their choosing.
The Murphy Bill threatens the recovery and community integration practices that current consumers
of mental health services and survivors of coercive psychiatric interventions have worked
so hard for over the last 40-plus years to create for those most in need. In particular, the bill would
dismantle the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), which actively
funds and supports important efforts to rebuild the community and family life of people
dealing with mental health issues through non-medicalized institutions such as peer-run respites
(short-term crisis centers managed by people living with mental health concerns and available to
"self-referred" individuals seeking to avoid hospitalization through support from peers). SAMHSA
also supports suicide prevention initiatives, trauma-informed practices, Emotional CPR (an educational
program aimed at teaching people how to assist others through an emotional crisis),
Wellness Recovery Action Planning and much more, all of which would suffer if SAMHSA
were dismantled. The bill would also threaten people's rights by weakening state "Protection and
Advocacy for People with Mental Illness" organizations, which offer rights protections, and the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, making it easier to force people into treatment.
Murphy and his supporters criticize opponents of the bill for being "against families." They fail to
acknowledge that families are not united in support of this bill. While the national headquarters of
the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has come out in support of the bill, many local
NAMI affiliates are against it. Activists who identify as current consumers of mental health services
or survivors of psychiatric interventions are frequently approached by desperate family
members who are looking for alternatives to coercive and institutional responses to mental health
crises. We are finding ways to include families because rebuilding strong family connections can
be essential to recovery.
For the full article please click the link or copy and past into your browser:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/33557-mental-health-bill-caters-to-big-pharma-and-
UWSW Advisory
Committee
Rebecca Westrick
Brittyn Calyx
D’Angelo Capriglione
Mark Flower
Pete Aumann
Lucas Cauffman
How do you become a member of the UWSW
Advisory Committee?
Please contact Mishelle O’Shasky at mishelle@grassrootspower.org for
an application
How do you become a official GEP Board
Member?
Please contact Furman Avery at averyjr@wi.rr.com

RE-ENTRY PEER SPECIALIST PROJECT
GEP is very excited to announce the newly awarded 2015-2018 Statewide Consumer
Network grant through funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA). This project serves to support reentry and community
integration of criminal justice-involved consumers through the development of a
reentry peer specialist model in Wisconsin. Using Participatory Decision Making
GEP will facilitate monthly meetings with individuals from multiple stakeholder
groups to develop a model for reentry peer support. GEP will then train criminal justice-involved
consumers and support them as they provide peer support.
The grant highlights Reentry Peer Specialists (RPS) to become critical and important
component of reentry and provide a natural support to their peers returning to their
respected communities. Only individuals that have gone through a release from prison
can know what that experience is like. A RPS is the experts of the release process.
The grant will also provide the training at no cost to interested criminal justice involved
consumers to receive the RPS training as well as support them as they move
forward in their career goals. GEP has strong collaboration with the Department of
Corrections (DOC) as well as the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Services to begin the implementations of this exciting and innovative initiative.
Some of the more common barriers that criminal justice-involved consumers face is
lack of support. Whether that be family support, peer support, or simply knowing
what to do when faced with release. Commonly known is that it would be a celebratory
time, when in fact this is the most stressful part of the reentry process for these
individuals. The unknown is often a trigger in itself when faced with the fears of not
knowing where you will live, how you will eat, where will medications come from,
how will they find adequate health care. Bridging this current gap with the use of a
reentry peer support could have a significant role in reduction of the current recidivism
rates in WI.
Reducing the recidivism rate in Wisconsin by 10% could save the taxpayers $70 million
in incarceration costs. The rate of recidivism among criminal justice-involved
consumers with a serious mental illness is 46%. (Stopping the Revolving Door,
2009). The DOC has been tracking recidivism and revocation rates of moderate to
high risk offenders with significant clinical needs for several years. In 1995, the DOC
reported that 56% of offenders with clinical needs return to prison within five years.
Of those, 72% return to prison within the first two years of release. (WI Dept. of
Health Services, OARS, 2014)
Update Continued on the next page….

RE-ENTRY PEER SPECIALIST PROJECT Cont…
Mishelle has been advocating diligently for over 5 years to develop this program initiative and build relationships
with the Department of Corrections to better serve the criminal justice population in the state of Wisconsin. Mishelle
has the lived experience of being involved in the criminal justice system with 6 ½ years of incarceration in prison as
well as over a decade of supervision with probation and parole.
It wasn’t until Mishelle was diagnosed with a mental illness while incarcerated 2006, with this new information she
was able to communicate and advocate her needs to work towards a successful life for herself and reconnect with her
family. Mishelle was part of the revolving door, returned to prison 2 additional times after her initial incarceration.
Mishelle is a role model that recovery is possible and successes after incarceration can be achieved with the right supports
and use of recovery oriented services of care in our communities.
Mishelle O’Shasky is currently GEP’s Statewide Network Coordinator and is the lead contact for the RPS grant. If
you are interested in learning more or becoming involved, please contact Mishelle at:
mishelle@grassrootspower.org
800-770-0588 (EXT. 7) or 715-423-2280
GEP has a strong dedication to creating opportunities for individuals seeking recovery and wellness to improve
the criminal justice consumer’s quality of life.
To stay up-to-date on this project please like our
Facebook Page and Join the UWSW Listserv—
Just click the links!
https://groups.google.com/forum/forum/united-we-stand-wi
https://www.facebook.com/GrassrootsEmpowermentProject

GRASSROOTS WELLNESS PEER RUN RESPITE &
LEARNING COMMUNITY
ACCESS ISN’T EVERYTHING – BUT IT’S THE FIRST THING! Renovation costs to make our
respite accessible are much higher than we could anticipate. Help us make the gift of respite
available for everyone who needs it. HERE’S HOW YOU CAN GIVE:
Come to our fundraiser
December 20th from 2-6 PM
The Raw Deal at 603 Broadway Street South in Menomonie!
Give directly online through gofundme:
https://www.gofundme.com/grassrootswellness
Contribute directly to Grassroots Empowerment Project (GEP) Send a check or money order
to:
GEP, Inc.
P.O. Box 8683
Madison, WI 53708-8683
Support us while you do your holiday shopping! Amazon smile will donate a portion of your purchase
to GEP. Go to smile.amazon.com and search for Grassroots Empowerment Project.
Help spread the word! Pass this on to others in your community!
For more information please contact:
Kate Laird, Peer Run Respite Director or
Sam Ahrens, Program Coordinator
kate@grassrootspower.org | 715 619-1044
sam@grassrootspower.org | 715 619-0433
Grassroots Empowerment Project
Creating opportunities for people seeking mental health,
recovery and wellness to exercise power
in their lives
1-800-770-0588
www.grassrootspower.org

What does gratitude and being thankful mean to you?
I am thankful for everyday, even the ones that are far from great. The supportive people in my life, and all
my loved ones.
What gives me hope is knowing that there are some people who work hard to make the world a better
place for everyone, not only themselves.
What keeps my hope alive is knowing that no matter how bad things may seem, they can always be
worse.
-Lucas Cauffman
Gratitude is important in my daily life and Thanksgiving is a special time for me to be grateful. I keep a
gratitude journal and when I read it, I realize what a good life I really have.
Recently, I helped package food for "Feed My Starving Children." The rice, protein powder, dried vegetables
and vitamins went to Haiti, where people were manufacturing mud pies out of dirt and flour for sale to
the hungry. As I was scooping rice into plastic bags, I thought of the fact that hunger has never been an
issue for me.
What has been an issue for me is having Thanksgiving dinner served to me on a plastic tray in a psych
ward. I am now grateful to sit down to turkey and fixings with friends and family.
-Christine McKahan
Time to switch
Instead of: Don’t get me started,
My Just for Starters short list of thanks:
Coffee (it honestly comes to mind first)
My husband, who loves me and feeds me and makes me laugh
My daughter, who dances, makes pies, and doesn’t give up on the Packers
My son, who works in the wild and helps me remember its value
Walks right out my door on paths of nature and beauty
Our dog Gracie and the daily bounty of birds in our yard
Poetry and art and music and all things in the world that uplift and inspire
The people who grace my life with connection and company, that is to say
Community: the place where it starts, the path and the goal.
-Sam Ahrens
This time of year reminds people to take time out of their busy lives to make note of what they’re thankful
for…I try to do that every day of every year to remind myself of how truly lucky I am. I’m thankful for the
amazing family I was blessed to be born into. Not only that, but the individuals who I’ve chosen to surround
myself with on a daily basis, my chosen family. I’m also thankful for all of the more trying times of
my life because while I didn’t enjoy those particular times in my life when they were happening, they’ve
made me into the person I am today. A person who is strong, compassionate, and hardworking. Back to
who I’m thankful for, one person in particular, my mom. She’s my rock. My confidant, my biggest support.
And yes, we don’t agree or see eye-to-eye on everything, she’s always been there for me and I don’t
see that ever changing. I’m the luckiest gal in the world when it comes to who I was lucky enough to been
paired with for a Mom.
-Katie Johnson
Continued on to the next page…..

Continued….
What does gratitude and being thankful mean to you?
What am I thankful for? I am thankful for my family even the ones I don’t care to be around much. I’m
thankful for them all of them because they have helped shape who I am. Mostly my five children and
their families. That includes spouses and significant others and my seven grandchildren. I am thankful for
friends who have helped me and have let me help them along the path of life’s journey. I am thankful for
my new job at Grassroots Wellness Peer Run Respite and Learning Community. This job has given me
the opportunity to get off disability and get my own home. Something I truly thought (at one time) would
never happen. I now have the life I once only dreamed of having. I’m also thankful for my faith and the
gospel of Christ in my life and the strength and hope that it brings to my life. Which leads to the next
question. What gives me hope? As I just stated my faith and the gospel give me hope. My faith however
is in more than just my spiritual beliefs. It is in those friends and family who have been there when I
needed them and in myself. Hope springs forth when I look back at all I have overcome and the strides I
have made. It might have been two steps forward and one step backwards. Or even many steps backwards
yet I always seemed to keep going in a mostly forward direction, or at least toward my goal. I also
gain hope when I look at others who have done the same. The job I have now lets me see this and that
gives me hope, not just for myself but for all.
-Susan Larson
Thanksgiving
There’s so many exciting developments at GEP. The Reentry Peer Specialist grant is taking off in a big
way, we’ve been able to offer three peer specialist trainings around the state this fall, construction has
begun at Grassroots Wellness Peer Run Respite and it’s going great, and we have a December 20 th at
the Raw Deal in Menomonie with a jug band and silent auction to which many local artists have donated.
It’s going to be an awesome event and a great time. If you’re in the area come out and support us!
All of these wonderful things and more are happening because our GEP team is so amazing! I’m lucky to
work with such a dedicated, talented, enthusiastic, and downright awesome team! You are all doing
great work! Thank you very much!
-William Parke-Sutherland
Grassroots Empowerment Project sends a heartfelt “Thank You” for your submissions to the Newsletter
If you would like to send a submission in to be published in the UWSW newsletter, please send submissions to mishelle@grassrootspower,org

Meet Board Vice President, Karen Herro
My name is Karen Herro and I am the current Vice President of the GEP board of directors. I have been on the board of
directors for approximately two years. I am a lifelong resident of Madison, except for living nine years in Milwaukee in
the 1980s. My first career was in writing software and eventually doing consulting and management in the computer field.
In 1990, I went back to school at Marquette University in Milwaukee and received my bachelor’s degree in nursing in
1994. My first nursing job was in inpatient co-occurring recovery, where I was a charge nurse. I got homesick and moved
back to Madison in 1996. I was an RN/case manager at Journey Mental Health (formerly the Mental Health Center of
Dane County) for approximately five years, took some time off, and then worked at Journey again, this time at a respite
called “Recovery House” for eight years. I am currently employed at Tellurian’s homeless outreach program as a Certified
Peer Specialist and I am the Executive Director at Cornucopia, a peer-run recovery center. I am very proud of being a
CPS. It took me four years to learn how to be a nurse, but a life-time of preparation to be a peer support specialist!
I am active with the Wisconsin Council on Mental Health (WCMH) and co-chair of the Adult Quality Committee, a committee
of WCMH. I am on Dane County’s Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) coordinating committee and have
been on various boards.
My hobbies are drawing, painting, and writing. I would like to re-learn the flute, which I played in high school. That was a
long time ago, so it may take awhile! I enjoy spending time with family, friends, and my cats – not necessarily in that order.
GEP has been integral to my growth as a person and I hope that others may find a similar experience with this important
organization. GEP is strong and stable, owing mainly to the hard work, talents, and dedication of the staff. Without them,
there would be no GEP and I am pleased to support them in any way I can. I hope to be involved with GEP for many
years to come.
JOIN THE UWSW
LISTSERV FOR UPDATES AND MORE
http://groups.google.com/group/united-we-stand-wi
Network News is the
Quarterly Newsletter of Untied We Stand WI— A project of Grassroots Empowerment Project
PO BOX 8683, Madison, WI 53708
Question and submissions can be sent to Mishelle O’Shasky at: mishelle@grassrootspower.org or
888-770-0588 Ext 7
Visit us on the web at www.grassrootspower.org
Facebook page at https://facebook.com/GrassrootsEmpowerrment Project