we are the san francisco affiliate of the national alliance on mental illness. our mission is to advocate for a life of quality and dignity by providing education resources and emotional support to families and those affected by mental illness. we strive to end discrimination and stigma for all those persons affected by these illnesses through broader education and collaboration with the whole community. so we partner a lot with the mental health association. we have similar programs to them and where we differ is we have many programs for family members. we have a family to family class that is a free 12-week program taught by family members for family members. providing insight and information to help them help their loved ones who are suffering from a mental illness. then we offer a peer-to-peer program, which idell wilson is one of our peer mentors, a 12-week free course also, taught by peers for peers. sort of a roadmap for recovery. we have provider education which is a new program we're started geared towards providers of mental health and taught by mentor

people living with mental illness, includes an overview of nami, san francisco and the various programs offered. presentation by anne fischer, program director, national alliance on mental illness, nami, gillian croen, nami peer-to-peer mentor and ioov speaker and idell wilson, co-chair, mayor's disability council nami peer-to-peer mentor and ioov speaker. 8 information item, report on the golden guardian exercise on may 15, 2013 the disability prospective, presentation by council members chip supanich and denise senhaux. >> 9, public comments, 10 information item, correspondence, 11, discussion item, council member comments and announcements. >> thank you. now we have public comment. is there anyone for item 3, public comment? >> good afternoon. my name is richard rothman and i'm a retired city worker. i just retired from the pedestrian safety advisory committee after being on it about six years and the last three years representing seniors and disabilities. and i just thought it was time for new blood in my seat. but i am coming here today to talk about the proposed mta's disability parking. i have been interested in this for a long time, and while there is a p

i'm past president of the national alliance on mental illness both in san francisco and at the state level. i have 35 years experience in the mental health field. decades ago, nami supported a ballot proposition to build a mental health facility so people would not be shipped out of county. voters agreed and the murf now the behavioral health center was built. family and friends can visit. patients are not isolated. experts provide specialized care with an array of pertinent programming. on the surface, you may think that transferring patients to laguna honda where i worked is a viable alternative. it is not. it would remove patients from a special community where they are sub poderthed by staff and one another. it would remove patients from qualified professionals who have both interests and experience in providing appropriate focused care. contrast this with laguna honda staff who bids for assignments based strictly on seniority, with mental health expertise not a requirement. contrast this with a very different population where people have debilitating physical conditions. moving

[music] the national alliance on mental illness, also known as nami, has a mission to help improve the lives of people affected by mental illness. the bottom line is to save lives and to support recovery. our approach in support groups and education groups and what we do on the information helpline really has to do with recovery and the ability of each person to live in the community as much as possible to engage and to give people the idea that recovery is a possibility, that people with these illnesses from depression to schizophrenia live in the community and have lives and work, and none of this means that your life is going to come to an end. in my lifetime, people used to whisper about cancer. they wouldn't talk about it. it was not talked about. and it's the same with mental illness-that people don't want to talk about it because it can be debilitating. it's critical that we really do have a national dialogue on it and that the national dialogue frankly not focus on worst case scenario, but really focus on recovery. reaching out, speaking out, and changing attitudes usually invo

the 5k national alliance on mental illness walk helps raise funds to provide free mental health services throughout the bay area. it begins at 10:30 this morning in golden gate park. also new this morning a few hours from now unique works of art will be up for grabs at san francisco kicks off it's an you'll union street festival. isolates one. city's largest free events t features boutique artists from all over the world. there will also be live bonds, gourmet -- bands and food for all to enjoy. and coming up next, you are invited to a party this weekend at animal shelters throughout the bay area. we will tell you how you can adopt a pet for free. plus, here's a live look outside from our emeryville cam. is that just a spectacular way to begin the month of june? meteorologist lisa argen will have a very warm forecast in just a few >> if you thought about getting a pet there might not be no better time to do it than this weekend. animal shelterings across the county will take to the streets with barking dogs all for a bargain and beer and food. >> how much is that doggy in the window? [ba

an advocate with the national alliance on mental illness spent much of her own life waiting for a successful treatment to control her own depression. she said eliminating that wait time could help. >> it is a fatal disease. many people commit suicide and they do it in the time that they're waiting, quite often. >> and the emory study is published online. >> the feds say clinical depression can develop at any age. the average is 32. they say it is more common in women than men. >> schmeat. it is what's for dinner as long as you don't mind your dinner coming from a petrie dish. a sign says he has grown a burger patty in a lab. it took two years and cost $240,000. slightly more than your average steak dinner in new york. the scientist said he used cells from the necks of cows and he will grill it later this month to help raise more funding for more schmeat. animal rights people say they're thrilled with it. steak lovers programs less so. sch-terrible. the government is big change every on how it deal with gulf war ill know. it has affected thousands of veterans but some of the veterans claim th