Goodwill gets grant

Goodwill gets grant

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries received a $15,000 grant from the Kennedy Family Fund, a component fund of The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, to assist with funding for programs that are currently not funded or underfunded.

Goodwill provides programs such as sheltered employment, organizational employment and placement, which serve over 100 people with disabilities yearly, said Michael McBride, executive director of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries.

Free wigs for patients

HERMITAGE, Pa.

Cancer patients who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy treatments are eligible for free, new wigs through the American Cancer Society wig salon located at the Womancare Center of UPMC Horizon, 875 N. Hermitage Road.

To receive a wig, patients may call either the American Cancer Society Patient Service Center or ask their physician to send a referral form to the Patient Service Center. An American Cancer Society volunteer coordinator will then contact the patient to arrange an appointment time.

In some areas, stylists are also available to cut and style the wigs at no cost to the patient; or women can attend an ACS Look Good…Feel Better Æ session, where a licensed cosmetologist will show them tips and tricks for hair and makeup during treatment. For more information call 1-800-227-2345.

Mental illness classes

YOUNGSTOWN/WARREN

Free NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Family-to-Family Education 2012 spring session classes are offered in Mahoning County on Mondays from Feb.13 to April 30 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Northside Medical Center’s Medical Education Building, Classroom A. Youngstown; and in Trumbull County classes are on Fridays from Feb. 17 to May 4 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Central Christian Church, 2051 Market St., Warren.

A minimum of 10 people are needed to form classes, which are limited to the first 22 people who register. Registration is required. Call Dianna at 330-540-8583 or Bob at 330-980-3539 from 7-10 p.m. for information and/or registration applications.

Material covered in the classes include: Emotional reactions to chronic mental illness; belief system and principles; diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, major depression, mania, schizo-affective disorder; mood and anxiety disorders; the biology of recovery; problem-solving skills; the ways medications work; medication side effects; key treatment issues; understanding the subjective experience of coping with a brain disorder; problems in maintaining self-esteem and positive identity.

Gaining empathy for the psychological struggle to protect ones’ integrity in mental illness; communication skills; learning about family burden; handling negative feelings of anger, entrapment, guilt and grief; defining recovery; and key principles of rehabilitation and model programs of community support.