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| Senator Moore and Connie Dwyer of Uxbridge |
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September 27, 2006...Senator Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) recently joined Connie Dwyer and her husband James Dwyer, an Uxbridge Selectman in recognizing October 1-7, 2006 as Nationwide Mental Illness Awareness Week.
The senator presented the Dwyers with a joint resolution at a recent selectman’s meeting to officially recognize Mental Illness Awareness Week in Massachusetts. Connie plans to send the resolution to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) state office in Woburn where it will be displayed.
Mental Illnesses are brain disorders and include such disorders as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and anxiety disorders—including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).One in four people are affected by these illnesses and other mental illnesses, according to most recent research. October 5th has been set aside as “Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day” to encourage further understanding and promote early intervention and treatment for this mental illness.
Connie Dwyer is a member and former board member of the NAMI Greater Framingham affiliate. NAMI was founded in 1979 and is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. The Dwyers were trained by NAMI and are co-facilitators of a NAMI support group that meets monthly at the Uxbridge Senior Center serving Blackstone Valley residents who have loved ones with mental illness. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, Oct. 3rd, at 7 p.m.
In addition to her work with NAMI, Connie is also the president of the Uxbridge Woman’s Club and has as one of Club’s goals to create more public awareness of mental health. The presentation of the joint resolution furthers this goal, she said.
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