Joyce Cooling’s Moving NAMI Tribute

Loved meeting Joyce Cooling

Saturday’s SF Bay Area NAMIWalk was a huge success, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide free services to families dealing with mental illness throughout the SF Bay Area. Kickoff Speaker Joyce Cooling, the fabulous jazz guitarist whose brother has struggled for years with mental illness, gave an incredibly moving tribute to her brother, her mother, and the folks at NAMI, who she said were a godsend to her mother during her struggle to help her son. Major kudos to Joyce for her tremendous support, to Laurie Williams, NAMIWalk Director, for putting on a fabulous event, and to all the NAMI volunteers who work hard every day to make life easier for families struggling with mental illness. The Approaching Neverland Team, comprised of many wonderful book club friends, was proud to have participated! More information about SF Bay Area NAMI can be found at http://namiwalksfbay.org/

Come see me on View from the Bay

Would love to have you join me on the set of View from the Bay for my appearance on May 7th! It’s free and should be a blast — you’ll have the chance to meet co-hosts Spencer Christian and Janelle Wang and see all that great behind the scenes stuff!
Here’s how to do it:
Tickets for the show are FREE but must be reserved in advance. Audience doors open at 2:15pm with a cut-off time of 2:30pm, the show is live from 3-4pm.
To reserve your seats please call the ticket request line at (415)-954-7733 or visit www.viewfromthebay.com and click on “be in our audience” and fill out a ticket request form. Or click on the link below to go to the online ticket request form. Simply fill out your information and press submit.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/feature?section=view_from_the_bay&id=6337461
Under “comments” please be sure to note “Peggy Kennedy.”

20% of Approaching Neverland to NAMI!

In honor of Mother’s Day and my wonderful mother Barbara who had acute bipolar disorder, if you buy a copy of Approaching Neverland now thru May 31, 20% will go to NAMI Walk SF Bay Area to help other families dealing with mental illness!

Mental Health Parity in Health Bill

The Health Care bill signed into law today should help to improve the lives of individuals and families dealing with loved ones with mental illness. One important thing about the bill is that it requires mental health parity with that for physical illnesses in terms of annual and lifetime treatment benefits.  This would also require “carve-out” programs, or specialized managed care organizations that provide mental health services, to comply with parity requirements.  I’m hoping this makes a big difference in quality of life for the one in four families dealing with mental health issues.

Braving the Storm!

Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all the great folks who braved the torrential downpour this past Wednesday to make it to my book event at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton. The storm was so bad that several trees were uprooted at Pleasanton BART!

Judy Wheeler, owner of Towne Center Books, made us all feel cozy and welcome with homemade cranberry nut bread, muffins, coffee and tea. Our enthusiastic crowd had a fantastic discussion about families and mental illness. It was one of my favorite book events to date.

Thanks again to all who came!

Join Approaching Neverland NamiWalk team!

I’m very excited to have just formed the Approaching Neverland Team for the 2010 NamiWalk in San Francisco on May 22. Join us to help raise money for families dealing with mental illness by joining our team and creating your own page or by donating to one of our walkers. We really appreciate your support!

Danville Rotary Rocks at 7:00 am

I loved speaking yesterday at Danville Rotary’s breakfast about my book Approaching Neverland and how Rotary can help spread the word about how families with mental illness can get help through organizations like NAMI – the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I loved meeting everyone and was blown away how chipper everyone was at 7:00 in the morning!
Joe Hackman interviewed me later for their radio blog. Listen in to hear Joe’s insightful questions about the book and NAMI.

A Happier New Year through NAMI

Does your family need help with a family member suffering from a mental illness?

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) can help your family get through your family’s mental health crises and live happier this year.

* Information Helpline
Trained volunteers provide information, referrals, and support to all who have questions about or are affected by serious mental illness. Call 1-800-950-NAMI.

Visit www.nami.org to find your local chapter.

Watch this blog for more information about NAMI services and build a happier new year for yourself and your family.