This is Post #4 to follow-up on my three posts published on July 25 & 27, 2010

Re: what happened to my cousin July 22/July 23, 2010

Thursday August 5, 2010 a Victim’s Advocate at Community Violence Solutions “CVS” http://www.cvsolutions.org/ called me to offer help.

I gained nuggets from our conversation:

• The Victim’s Advocate at CVS  said the police ought to have escorted my cousin (because of her mental capacity of a ten-year-old or younger) to a “Children’s Interview Center” that night.  The Children and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Resource Center (CASARC) is an agency in the San Francisco Department of Public Health http://www.sfghf.net/programs/casarc.html For Contra Costa County, CA, there is: The Children’s Interview Center of Contra Costa, a program of Community Violence Solutions http://www.cvsolutions.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=70
• San Francisco Women Against Rape SFWAR  http://www.sfwar.org/resources.html I looked at their website; they show pamphlets in many languages;  http://www.sfwar.org/programs.html lists their programs

* * * * *

Resources for Caregivers from the National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI
Full list at http://www.namisf.org/support.html (for families & friends in San Francisco)

NAMI-SF SUPPORT GROUPS
For Family Members Caregivers and Friends Only

• 1010 Gough, San Francisco
  2nd Wednesday at 6:30
  Contact Vicki Evans at 415-661-5208
• SF General Hospital
  7th Floor Room 7 M 30
  Tuesdays, 5:15 – 6:45 p.m.
  Call Susanne Killing at 415-558-5900

• New Family Support Group at Kaiser Hospital, French Campus, 4141 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco on the second Saturday of each month 10:30-Noon.
  Contact Pam Polos at 650-862-2886
• Sibling & Adult Children Network
  Call Mary Gullekson at 415-474-7010 for information
• Bilingual & Monolingual Support Groups
• Chinese Families Mental Health Alliance. Ed Koo 415-352-2047

* * * * *

Perhaps these nuggets are to help everyone gain awareness, get resources, and further promote advocacy for the mentally disabled community.  Law enforcement personnel need more education. We all need more education and resources to better help those who cannot speak for themselves.

My cousin’s siblings are focusing on their sister’s well-being and I am 100% supportive of their efforts.

I’ll be writing to  BringChange2Mind.org (the not-for-profit organization created by Glenn Close, CABF the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation , Fountain House, and Garen and Shari Staglin of IMHRO International Mental Health Research Organization).

http://www.bringchange2mind.org/

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/