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Sunday, June 7, 2009
It Was An OSYM Day:
OSYM Sky!!
What a Group!! 
Give a penny for your thoughts....
Too much fun and excitiment to be had... 
Model time....smile for the camera.
Our Marley she's so OSYM! 
OSYM Friends helping each other.
The OSYM present....I feel all moossy goossy ;(
Eightteen I can gamble!
How lovely she is! 
Everyone had a nice time.
Hey Mickie hold that pose!
Good picture!
Nice Shot and good smiles!
Good picture looks all sparkly. 
Look at the little bubble.
Dayna is the champion bubble blower...OSYM!
Just hanging out.
This is a serious picture.
Good picture Neil!
Russ took this picture not too bad.
Jennifer an hubby. 
OSYM skies, food, friends, and good memories were had at Ashley's graduation party!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
OSYM Makes News!
OSYM is Awesome
By: Steven Johnson, NAMI youth mentor
Description: NAMI Kern County's OutSpoken Young MindsTopics: Posted by editor Tue May 26, 2009 16:46:52 PDTViewed 171 times 0 responses 0 comments
My name is Steven, I am in my early 20s and for several years I have been dealing with a mental illness, Bipolar Disorder. The onset occurred when I was about 13-years-old. For so many years my symptoms went untreated. My mother recognized it early on. But when she would approach me on the subject I would walk away, sometimes yelling at her that I was not crazy! It was not typical teenage behavior. Something was wrong in my brain and I was heading down a path of emotional and mental distress. I would often have feelings of self-doubt, worthlessness, lack of motivation and suicide. Other times I would feel on top of the world. My mind would race with ideas. So fast that I would not have a chance to write them down or express them before a new idea would enter my head. I would stay awake for days at a time. I hardly felt like I needed to eat to maintain a steady flow of energy. In fact, I would have so much energy that exercising rarely used enough of that excess energy to make me tired. I had no clue that I was exhibiting some of the typical signs of depression and mania. As I reached my early twenties, I was offered a job with the county. I dealt with so much new stress and the expectations that were placed upon me were higher than I could handle effectively. My cycling through the mania and depression became almost like clockwork. I was about a year and a half into my tenure with the county when I suffered a mental breakdown, or what I later found out to be a psychotic episode. This happened at work while I was on the clock and with another employee. At that point in time, I was diagnosed as bipolar disorder and I was put on medication. Disciplinary action was taken against me and my supervisors started getting their “ducks in a row” to terminate me with little hassle from the union. That action took them about a year and a half before I received my termination notice. After being terminated from the county, I went on State Disability Insurance and remained on the program for eight months. During that time I did absolutely nothing. I felt myself getting to a point where I could not sit at home anymore, so I got back out there and looked for a job. I found a job as a car salesman and got off disability. I felt like I was doing better and no longer needed medication. Try and imagine a bipolar individual working in a cut-throat industry without medication…talk about a recipe for disaster. For the next three and a half years I could not hold a job longer than six months. It would be around that time that anger outbursts and my temper would get me into arguments with management and would result in me being fired or quitting. At the age of 27 I’d had enough and I wanted to get back to a stable point in my life.At that point my mother saw an article in the newspaper singing praises about the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). She thought it would be a good idea to get involved with NAMI to help me get back on track. At first I was scared to go. The thought of being around a bunch of people I thought were mentally unstable did not sit well with me. Reluctantly, I obliged my mother’s requests and went to my first meeting. I wasn’t there very long before I ran across a friend of mine whom I had known for about three years. To see a familiar face there and know that I wasn’t alone in my struggle put my mind at ease. I quickly took to the cause of NAMI and supported their actions to advocate for those with mental illnesses now referred to as brain disorders. I began attending weekly support group meetings and became more active with the 501(c)3 non-profit all volunteer organization. Then I was approached by the President of the Kern County Affiliate of NAMI, Russ Sempell, to act as a mentor for their OutSpoken Young Minds project — OSYM — pronounced “awesome.” This is a support group designed for teenagers and young adults up to 25 years of age suffering from a brain disorder. It’s a group that allows youth to express their feelings in a non-judgmental environment among their peers. This project was designed for this age group because 75 percent of the time, this is when serious mental health issues unfold. We aim to find better coping skills for problems that arise in day-to-day life. In sharing our stories with each other, we are able to find strength. We never judge anyone’s pain as less than our own. We often find that in sharing our experiences that we are able to find the humor in some situations and use that as a healthy coping skill. We know that we cannot resolve all of our problems and we expect a better future in a realistic way, and in so doing, we never give up hope.If you would like more information about OSYM or would like us to come and speak at your service organization, school campus or other organizations, please contact Russ Sempell, Founder of OSYM at (661) 303-1416 and check out our OSYM Web site: www.kernosym.blogspot.com
By: Steven Johnson, NAMI youth mentor
Description: NAMI Kern County's OutSpoken Young MindsTopics: Posted by editor Tue May 26, 2009 16:46:52 PDTViewed 171 times 0 responses 0 comments
My name is Steven, I am in my early 20s and for several years I have been dealing with a mental illness, Bipolar Disorder. The onset occurred when I was about 13-years-old. For so many years my symptoms went untreated. My mother recognized it early on. But when she would approach me on the subject I would walk away, sometimes yelling at her that I was not crazy! It was not typical teenage behavior. Something was wrong in my brain and I was heading down a path of emotional and mental distress. I would often have feelings of self-doubt, worthlessness, lack of motivation and suicide. Other times I would feel on top of the world. My mind would race with ideas. So fast that I would not have a chance to write them down or express them before a new idea would enter my head. I would stay awake for days at a time. I hardly felt like I needed to eat to maintain a steady flow of energy. In fact, I would have so much energy that exercising rarely used enough of that excess energy to make me tired. I had no clue that I was exhibiting some of the typical signs of depression and mania. As I reached my early twenties, I was offered a job with the county. I dealt with so much new stress and the expectations that were placed upon me were higher than I could handle effectively. My cycling through the mania and depression became almost like clockwork. I was about a year and a half into my tenure with the county when I suffered a mental breakdown, or what I later found out to be a psychotic episode. This happened at work while I was on the clock and with another employee. At that point in time, I was diagnosed as bipolar disorder and I was put on medication. Disciplinary action was taken against me and my supervisors started getting their “ducks in a row” to terminate me with little hassle from the union. That action took them about a year and a half before I received my termination notice. After being terminated from the county, I went on State Disability Insurance and remained on the program for eight months. During that time I did absolutely nothing. I felt myself getting to a point where I could not sit at home anymore, so I got back out there and looked for a job. I found a job as a car salesman and got off disability. I felt like I was doing better and no longer needed medication. Try and imagine a bipolar individual working in a cut-throat industry without medication…talk about a recipe for disaster. For the next three and a half years I could not hold a job longer than six months. It would be around that time that anger outbursts and my temper would get me into arguments with management and would result in me being fired or quitting. At the age of 27 I’d had enough and I wanted to get back to a stable point in my life.At that point my mother saw an article in the newspaper singing praises about the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). She thought it would be a good idea to get involved with NAMI to help me get back on track. At first I was scared to go. The thought of being around a bunch of people I thought were mentally unstable did not sit well with me. Reluctantly, I obliged my mother’s requests and went to my first meeting. I wasn’t there very long before I ran across a friend of mine whom I had known for about three years. To see a familiar face there and know that I wasn’t alone in my struggle put my mind at ease. I quickly took to the cause of NAMI and supported their actions to advocate for those with mental illnesses now referred to as brain disorders. I began attending weekly support group meetings and became more active with the 501(c)3 non-profit all volunteer organization. Then I was approached by the President of the Kern County Affiliate of NAMI, Russ Sempell, to act as a mentor for their OutSpoken Young Minds project — OSYM — pronounced “awesome.” This is a support group designed for teenagers and young adults up to 25 years of age suffering from a brain disorder. It’s a group that allows youth to express their feelings in a non-judgmental environment among their peers. This project was designed for this age group because 75 percent of the time, this is when serious mental health issues unfold. We aim to find better coping skills for problems that arise in day-to-day life. In sharing our stories with each other, we are able to find strength. We never judge anyone’s pain as less than our own. We often find that in sharing our experiences that we are able to find the humor in some situations and use that as a healthy coping skill. We know that we cannot resolve all of our problems and we expect a better future in a realistic way, and in so doing, we never give up hope.If you would like more information about OSYM or would like us to come and speak at your service organization, school campus or other organizations, please contact Russ Sempell, Founder of OSYM at (661) 303-1416 and check out our OSYM Web site: www.kernosym.blogspot.com
Monday, June 1, 2009
OSYM Birthday:
Susan Vicuna had an OSYM birthday with OSYM friends. Check out the cheesy picture. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN!! From all the OSYM gang.
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