Kathrine Acus, a Bryan area board certified music therapist, will explain the use of music as a component of mental health therapy at the Tuesday, September 1 NAMI Four County meeting.
She has worked most recently with Defiance Promedica Regional Hospital and has been in practice for nearly 18 years. Acus earned her master’s degree in social work from the Boston University School of Social Work and her undergraduate degree in music therapy and music from the University of Evansville.
The meeting, which is open to the public, starts at 7 p.m. at the ADAMhs Board office on State Route 66 south of Archbold, across from Four County Career Center.
Caren Bauer-Male, executive director of New Home Development Company, will give a short presentation on the Upton Heights apartment project that is nearing completion in Defiance. When finished, it will provide housing for up to 10 persons who are at risk of homelessness and also have a dual mental health and addiction diagnosis.
Following the presentations, NAMI members discuss and vote on by-laws changes that have been proposed for the local chapter.
NAMI Four County is an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest organization of family members and friends of persons living with a mental illness, as well as those who have a mental illness. The group meets the first Tuesday of the month, usually at the Four County ADAMhs Board office.
NAMI also offers free mental health family education classes for persons who have a loved one with any type of mental illness. The next class, called Family to Family, starts Monday evening, September 14 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. It will be held at the First Church of God, 507 N. Fulton St., Wauseon. The class is for family members and friends who have an adult loved one with a mental illness. For more information about the class or to register, please contact the instructors, Roger and Sharon Weaver, at 419-335-1099.
For more information about NAMI Four County, please contact Katie Beck, the chapter president, at 567-239-5477. Or, visit the NAMI website at www.namifourcounty.org
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