General Meetings

Speakers Summary Our October 2023 General Meeting was held on October 19, 2023 at 7 pm over Zoom. It featured updates on Innovative Behavioral Health Crisis Response, San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Implements Behavioral Health Fire First Program. For our October General Meeting, we received updates on an innovative behavioral health crisis response program. […]

Summary For our September 2023 General Meeting, we invited client and family member perspectives on how the A3 Miles Hall Community Crisis Hub behavioral health crisis response program services were going. We had invited two of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health graduate student research team members – Theo Michaels and Dani MacVicar, in

Focusing on Youth Mental Health: How to Best Support Students as they Return Back to School Summary As the new school year approached, NAMI Contra Costa held a community dialogue for our August General Meeting on how best to support students, parents, and caregivers as they returned back to school. We discussed what programs we

Valuing Diversity: Developing Cultural Humility in Mental Health Outreach and Engagement In Honor of July as BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month Speaker Gigi R. Crowder, L.E., Executive Director, NAMI Contra Costa Summary For our July 2023 General Meeting, in honor of BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month, NAMI Contra Costa Executive Director Gigi Crowder shared her

In Honor of PRIDE Month, Hear from NAMI CC Staff Who Identify as LGBTQI+ Speakers Summary We recognized June as Pride month and heard from NAMI CC peer support specialists who had lived experience with mental illness and also identified as LGBTQI+. We also received our California Non Profit of the Year award from the

2023 Change Agent Appreciation Award Nominations for Individuals/Organizations Making an Extraordinary Difference in Improving Mental Health Outcomes Summary In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, NAMI CC held its 4th Annual Community Change Agent Appreciation Awards at our General Meeting on May 18, 2023. It was another special event as many NAMI CC community members,

Black Minds Matter 2! Sharing Community Defined Strategies and Tools that if Implemented Could, with Funding, Improve Outcomes for African Americans Living with Mental Health Challenges Speaker Summary For our February 2023 General Meeting in recognition of Black History Month, our Executive Director, Gigi Crowder, L.E., shared community-defined strategies and tools that, if implemented with

An Interconnected Approach to Nutrition and Mental Health Speaker Kathy Maibaum-Perryman, Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor (CFNC) Summary Our January 2023 General Meeting kicked started the new year focused on a common resolution: Nutrition and its connection with mental health. Our very own NAMI Contra Costa family member/volunteer, Kathy Maibaum-Perryman, coached or ‘cheered’ attendees on their

The NAMI CC Family Holiday Sing-Along Summary Although NAMI Contra Costa couldn’t be with you physically during the holidays for karaoke and desserts as we were honoring COVID protocol, we were there virtually this year. For our December General Meeting, we hosted a Virtual Family Holiday Sing-Along party with novice and professional singers. As was

Speaker Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D Summary Schizophrenia is the most challenging of behavioral health conditions. Treatment and management of symptoms place extraordinary psychological, physical and financial burdens on patients and their families. One reason why schizophrenia remains a challenge is that the illness’ bases in brain function are poorly understood. A lack of access to data