Running head: PROFESSIONAL MEETING PAPER 1

Professional Meeting Paper

Courtney Jones

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Catherine Mikelaites DNP, RN-BC, CMSRN

NUR 3142

November 16th, 2018

Honor Code “I pledge..”

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Professional Meeting Paper

The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) held a meeting on November

8th, 2018 at Monument Height Baptist Church from 7:00-9:00PM. NAMI is the nation’s

largest mental health organization and their purpose and mission is to improve the quality

of life of individuals who suffer from serious mental health conditions (About NAMI

Virginia, n.d.). NAMI also strives to provide support for mentally ill individuals and their

families, provide education to the public about mental health and spread awareness,

advocate for mentally ill individuals to improve treatment access and resources available,

and lastly, strive to end stigma against mental illness (Our Mission, Vision, and Strategic

Goals, n.d.). The NAMI meeting initially began by discussing housekeeping topics such

as membership fees that are due and change of location for upcoming meetings; the

meeting progressed into introducing new board member nominees and then members

subsequently voted on electing in the new board members. The rest of the meeting

consisted of a presentation from NAMI Virginia’s executive director Rhonda Thissen and

concluded with a mental health presentation from Dr. Ananda Pandurangi. This paper

will discuss leadership roles and styles of NAMI members, business aspects of NAMI

involving insurance and Medicaid, advocacy methods that NAMI members pursue such

as meeting with representatives, and factors that promote safe and quality care to

mentally ill patients.

Application of Course Material

The leadership positions and styles that NAMI embodies is one of the aspects that

allows the organization to make such as powerful impact and improve the lives of mental
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health patients. The executive director of NAMI Virginia, Rhonda Thissen, spoke at the

meeting and discussed the current mission and goals that NAMI Virginia is currently

working towards such as an increase in funding for NAMI, legislation regulation

regarding housing options for mental health patients, and increasing support resources in

the community for both patients, families, and caretakers. Rhonda continuously made an

effort to interact with the members in the audience and encouraged them to speak up with

any concerns, questions, or ideas that they had about the particular topic being discussed.

As an executive NAMI leader, Rhonda’s presentation portrayed authentic leadership due

to her genuine passion, relationship building, and personal experience with mental illness.

As mentioned in the leadership module, authentic leaders are characterized by being

authentic, are driven by purpose and mission, and lead with their heart. Rhonda exhibited

the quality of authenticity by discussing her personal struggles with mental illness, the

quality of purpose by discussing her mission of working to improve the lives and

treatment of mentally ill individuals, and exhibited the quality of heart as she discussed

her background which has been dedicated to promoting mental illness recovery and

ending the stigma associated with mental illness.

The business and financial aspects are another important aspect apart of the

NAMI organization. The president of NAMI Central Virginia, Sherwood Atkins, initiated

the meeting by reiterating the values and mission of NAMI, which is aimed at promoting

recovery and improving quality of life for the mentally ill. The mission and values that

NAMI Central Virginia embodies correlates to the course content in the business of

healthcare module because the mission, goals, and objectives of NAMI are apart of their

organizational process. Additionally, Rhonda Thissen discussed the current financial

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standing of NAMI over the past year; she discussed that NAMI is on budget for the 2018

year and that at this point NAMI is at around $13,000 in total net assets. Rhonda

continued to discuss reimbursement initiatives that NAMI is advocating for including

increasing the Medicaid funding for mental health services; she also discussed

reimbursement obstacles that mentally ill patients face and shared tactics to aid patients

in receiving assistance regarding reimbursement and coverage for their care such as

writing letters to the insurance commissioner. These topics discussed in the presentation

coincide with the business of healthcare module concerning forms of reimbursement such

as insurance and Medicaid, healthcare finance, and budgets.

Advocacy is a substantial and fundamental element of NAMI as they actively

participate in the legislative and regulatory processes concerning bills and funding for

mental health treatment and resources. Rhonda Thissen discussed the various ways that

NAMI demonstrates advocacy, she discussed NAMI’s annual advocacy day for mentally

ill children and adults where they invite local legislators and politicians and express the

need for advancements in funding, programs and services; similar to how Mental Health

America coordinates an annual Capitol Hill Day in Washington DC to advocate for

mental health, which shows the degree of importance and effectiveness that advocacy

methods as such hold (Hill Day, 2018). Rhonda continued to explain that NAMI leaders

and members plan to go to the general assembly and advocate for a further increase of

five million dollars in funding to provide permanent housing options for 400 individuals

with mental illness and also advocate for potential funding for a transportation program

that allows transportation in a designated car or bus to transfer patients, such as those

under a TDO, instead of being transported in handcuffs and in a police car as that
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exacerbates fear and anxiety. This correlates with the content in the course module

advocacy because the advocacy actions of NAMI fall under categories on the advocacy

continuum including interpersonal level, organization/community, and policy level.

NAMI demonstrates an interpersonal level of advocacy by urging for interventions such

as transporting patients to hospitals in a bus versus a police car to help facilitate recovery,

they demonstrate a community level of advocacy by orchestrating an annual advocacy

day to fight for appropriate permanent housing options for individuals with mental health

disorders, and lastly, demonstrate advocacy at the policy level because they go to the

general assembly and fight for an increase in medical funding such as a 20 million dollar

increase in crisis intervention.

Quality, safe and evidenced base care is essential when treating individuals with

mental health conditions. Dr. Ananda K. Pandurangi who is a professor of psychiatry at

VCU school of medicine, an inpatient psychiatrist, director of VCU’s schizophrenia

program, and director of VCU’s brain stimulation therapy program spoke the last hour of

the meeting (VCU Medicine, 2018). Dr. Pandurangi has an extensive educational

background and has a vast area of research expertise including, brain imaging, nosology

of psychoses, and psychopharmacology, which is a vital component in providing patients

with safe and quality treatment (VCU Medicine, 2018). Dr. Pandurangi’s education and

research correlates with the course content in the quality and safety module because it

coincides with the idea that a health care providers education is a bridge to quality health

care and a providers research proficiency enables provides to employ evidence-based

practice, which is one of the five core competencies for all health care professionals.

Additionally, Dr. Pandurangi expressed the importance of not only treating the mentally
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ill with medications but also with psychotherapy in order to facilitate recovery. This also

correlates with the module content because psychiatrists working alongside therapists and

social workers exemplify working in interprofessional teams, which is also one of the

five core competencies of all health care professionals.

Reflection

I believe that nurses hold an immense amount of value when it comes to their

involvement in their workplace and also their community. As a nurse, you are at the

forefront of patients care while they are being hospitalized; you are responsible for

assessing their state of health, administering their medications, educating them on their

treatment plan and disease state, and therapeutically listening and communicating to ease

their fears and anxieties. Therefore, a nurse should be actively involved in their

workplace concerning patient care in order to adequately fulfill their job duties. Also, I

believe that nurses are also involved in their workplace by working in interprofessional

teams; nurses hold value by being able to assist their fellow team members when they

need help and are also a bridge for communication between other treatment team

members such as pharmacists, OT, PT, and case management. I also believe that nurses

hold a vast amount of value in their community; outside of the workplace nurses are still

working to improve the health of others, whether that is by volunteering, educating the

public about disease prevention, participating in community health screenings, or

participating in health-related fundraisers. Therefore, nurses hold value in promoting

health and recovery in both their workplace and community.

Throughout nursing school one of the concepts that has continuously been

reiterated is to always advocate for my patients. After observing instances of nurses both
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practicing advocacy and not practicing advocacy for their patients, I have learned that

always advocating for my patients is something that I will carry with me throughout my

professional nursing career and will shape my future decisions as a healthcare

professional. In the NAMI meeting, advocacy was a topic that was discussed throughout

the entirety of the meeting; it was truly inspiring to hear numerous people voice how they

specifically advocate for patients and/or the mental health population, which taught me

new ways in which I will be able to advocate for not only my patients in the hospital

setting but also for different population groups in my community. Therefore, I learned the

importance and the significance interventions can have on a patient’s recovery such as

participating in legislation efforts, serving on community boards, and practicing

therapeutic listening and communication, which is something that will shape my future

decision as a professional nurse.

Conclusion

NAMI is the nation’s largest mental health organization and their purpose and

mission is to improve the quality of life of individuals who suffer from serious mental

health conditions (About NAMI Virginia, n.d.). The NAMI meeting held on November

8th, 2018 discussed topics such as the organizations mission, values, and purpose as their

organizational process, and advocacy methods such as supporting legislation, going to the

general assembly, and hosting an annual advocacy day. The meeting’s presenters also

exemplified various leadership roles and leadership styles such as authentic leadership;

one of the presenters was Dr. Pandurangi who educated the members and public using his

research expertise, educational background, and evidence based practice, which is apart

of the five core competencies for all health care professionals. The NAMI meeting was
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very educational as it expressed the vision and strives that the organizations leaders and

members take to promote mental health recovery and end the stigma against mental

illness.
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References

About NAMI Virginia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2018, from

https://namivirginia.org/about-nami-virginia/

Hill Day. (2018, March 12). Retrieved November 16, 2018, from

http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/hill-day

Our Mission, Vision, and Strategic Goals. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2018, from

https://namivirginia.org/about-nami-virginia/mission/

VCU Medicine. (2018, March 5). VCU School of Medicine. Retrieved November 16,

2018, from https://medschool.vcu.edu/expertise/detail.html?ID=31

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