The King County Council passed Ordinance No. 13974 on October 16, 2000. It requires the mental health and chemical dependency division to report annually to the King County Council on the evaluation of adult mental health consumers and their progress toward recovering from mental illness. To my knowledge, this is the first "recovery ordinance" in Washington State. It is in the process of being revised and King County is on the verge of launching a much more comprehensive recovery plan.

To read the full text of the proposed ordinance, which includes a very interesting preamble, go to King County Recovery Ordinance, which is a small .pdf Adobe Acrobat file. In addition, if you do not know what a "GAF" is as it is referred to in the ordinance, "GAF" stands for "Global Assessment of Functioning" and is a rating scale of psychological, social, and occupational functioning. A copy of the rating scale as a one page .pdf can be viewed by clicking here.

The Recovery Initiatives Committee is looking for community members and volunteers to assist them in their efforts. The Chair of the committee is Eugene Wan, a well-known mental health activist. To get more information about the Recovery Initiatives Committee, please e-mail Eugene at ewan40@operamail.com.

The new meeting schedule of the Recovery Initiatives Committee is the fourth Tuesday of every month from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. at King County MHCADSD, 401 5th Ave., Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98104. The Committee has played a significant role in helping to further develop the Mental Health Recovery Plan and implement changes to policies and procedures for providers of publicly-funded mental health care. For more information about the Recovery Plan and other recent King County proposals, please see the following links.

• Recovery Plan for Mental Health Services Phase II Implementation Plan (June 2007) (small Adobe Acrobat document).

• The King County Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan Web page contains links to many documents related to recovery issues and to a proposed 0.1% sales tax for King County. Seven other Washington State counties have already enacted such a sales tax for mental health, chemical dependency, and therapeutic courts.

• NAMI Greater Seattle Peer Counseling Page.

• Peer Counseling Certification in Washington State (small Adobe Acrobat document).

• Washington State New Century Consumer Coalition Web site.

• Consumer Organization and Networking Technical Assistance Center.

• National Mental Health Consumers Self-Help Clearinghouse.

• International Center for Clubhouse Development.

• Contact information for the Washington State Clubhouse Coalition: Bill Waters, Rose House, Tacoma, Washington, Phone: 253 564 4518, E-mail: roseclub@aol.com and Joe Nicasio, Lourdes Wilson House, Washington, Phone: 509 545 3390, Fax: 509 547 8776.

• Fountain House Web Site (the "original club house").

• Dr. Huffine's article in the Washington State Psychiatric Association Journal, December 2002 --Getting on a Solid Foundation.

• Psychiatric News article posted August 15, 2003 -- Up Close and Personal: Changing Minds About Schizophrenia.

• Seattle P-I article posted July 28, 2003 -- Communities: Back in the pool of life -- Woman stays on top of her fight with mental illness.

• Psychiatric News article posted January 3, 2003 -- Recovery Movement Gains Influence In Mental Health Programs.

• Check the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University's Web site. The Recovery Center is based on a concept of recovery that is rooted in consumers' experiences and their articulation of what has helped them to heal. Many articles and other resources are available.
• Center for the Study of Issues in Public Mental Health -- System Level Performance Measures of Recovery.

• The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has several pages devoted to recovery issues:
  • The Role of PACT in Recovery.

  • EEOC changes to job application questions.

  • Information about famous people throughout history who have had a serious mental illness.

• Check the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) -- Dialogue for Recovery.

• Check the National Empowerment Center, Inc. Web site.
  • People can recover from mental illness.

  • Reclaiming your power during medication appointments with your psychiatrist.

• Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education -- A Recovery Poem.

• Mental Health Recovery: What Helps and What Hinders?. A report published in October 2002 by the National Technical Assistance Center and subtitled "A National Research Project for the Development of Recovery Facilitating System Performance Indicators." (108 page Adobe Acrobat document).

• The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is a free consulting service that provides information about job accommodations, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the employability of people with disabilities.

- Best wishes, Ron Sterling M.D. (Seattle, Washington, USA)