AJC :: Georgia Governor's mental health commission copied other state's materials..

Alan Judd and Andy Miller's recanting of Georgia's ever evolving mental health care system story through their A Hidden Shame series just keeps getting better and better.......

Not.

Thanks to the editors who (once again) saw the Value to including the following in the weekday AJC emailing, the latest I've seen is today's entry about how the Georgia Governor's commission has now no less than plagiarized a few years old likeminded report from Michigan rather than dedicate more towards creating our own:

• (Georgia) State's mental health report was mostly plagiarized: Gov.'s commission copied others' material
  
  Alan Judd, Andy Miller; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published on: 06/11/08

A new vision outlined for mental health care in Georgia last week isn't so new after all.

Large sections of a report by Gov. Sonny Perdue's mental health commission were lifted, often verbatim, from a Michigan study published in 2004 and from two other sources, a review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found. The commission's report, released last week by the governor's office, credits none of the cloned material.

The report presents as its own work entire sentences, paragraphs and longer passages from other sources, with no more than superficial editing. It duplicates, with only two minor changes in wording, the values listed in the Michigan study. Seven of Georgia's eight key findings mirror Michigan's. Even Georgia's vision statement is appropriated from the Michigan report.

Sigh.......

Because of how ceaselessly exhausted I remain and how hard I know it is to keep going most days, a part of me is empathetic to what occurs in situations like this.. What I'm meaning is empathetic towards that days are only 24-hours long and Lives are crammed full to the hilt already trying just to possibly stay somewhere above the water line in this, our one and only shot at that thing called Life..

And like that which goes back to 2002 when the in-my-physical-presence handpicked advocate chosen for me by heads of the Highland River's Community Service Board THEMSELVES the day they publicly announced their slate was clean dropped off the face of the Earth on me regularly in an extremely desperate, by a spider's silk threadbare time of need for any kind of external advocacy assistance.. Every day that blip in time comes to Mind, I try to forgive by picturing she may walk in Shoes not so unlike my own..

Yup.. Some large part of me does "get" it in some part, much as it can be and remains Life-endangering to those who faithfully do as Society expects, too often dictates, and trustingly walk in those same very doors..

What me doesn't get is that those who could become even more empowered by involvement on any level sit day after day after day waiting to hear what tidbits they can from sources such as Alan and Andy.. Most aren't at that point where these fingertips are.. Those in particular could use the self-determination guaranteed by a phone call inviting their opinion on what occurred in each, their own separate case of mismanaged mental health care across the great state of Georgia..

Ego comes to Mind.. When Lives are endangered, there is no place on this Planet for Ego..

There's a reason I openly worship my relationship with the advocates and self-advocates that revolve around the awe-inspiring energies generating from disABILITY LINK, the center for independent living (CIL) down there on Commerce Drive in Decatur.. If they've got Ego, by gosh and golly, they've harnessed it to the hilt to drive positive actions of support and empowerment in all directions towards others, positive forward moving actions of advocacy that are literally saving Lives..

They nearly alone and without twice of thought saved mine..

My Heroes.

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock..

Dalton Daily Citizen :: Highland Rivers director, Klay Weaver, resigns..

But to have been a butterfly on the wall..........

Highland Rivers director resigns..
By Charles Oliver, 2007-06-01
Dalton Daily Citizen; Dalton, Georgia

Summary: Highland Rivers Community Service Board has accepted the mutually agreeable resignation of Klay Weaver, their long-time executive director.. An attorney, Jim Catanzaro, is quoted but appears not to have been completely involved.. Who Mr. Catanzaro represents is not clear.. Searches will begin now for both the Highland Rivers Community Service Board's interim director and eventual full-time permanent director..

A self-advocate meanders out loud: As a required part of the hiring process, persons interviewing for positions such as executive director of community service boards (CSBs) should additionally be "interviewed", via community stakeholder town halls, by the very communities they serve..

Calhoun Times: County OKs group for mental health services

My thoughts are with everyone involved as Gordon County, Georgia, takes their next step in providing quality community mental health care for the residents of their county..

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County OKs group for mental health services, 02/20/07
Susan Kirkland, Calhoun Times..

Gordon County residents will soon have county mental health services again as the Board of Commissioners voted to approve a contract with Gordon Mental Health and Addictions.

The board also approved a motion allowing Chairman Alvin Long to officially give Highland Rivers 30 days to vacate the county building that has essentially served as storage since the group restructured, eliminating most of its services in the county.

"It's one of those things that we’ve been working on for months," Long said.

The group could be in the county as early as April 1. It is in the application process to receive Department of Human Resource funding for juveniles who qualify for Medicaid and Medicare. The process for funding for adults could take until November.

However, proprietors Beth Brock and Donna Johnson agreed in the contract to take private pay adults and sliding scale fee for those without insurance.

Long told Brock at the work session that what should have been pretty cut and dry as far as approving the contract became more complicated when some members of the community raised questions about the group’s credentials.

Those concerns were unfounded, said Dottie Jarrett, who has been following the mental health issue since Highland Rivers pulled most of its services out of the county.