Thursday, May 6, 2010

Schizophrenics Anonymous New Brunswick

Aspect of Need Addressed: Social, Educational

In America, they say, there is a support group for everything. Clicking around the UMDNJ website this evening, I found that there is one specifically for individuals with schizophrenia, called, you guessed it, Schizophrenics Anonymous. It was founded in 1985 in Detroit by Joanne Verbanic. Today it is supported by the Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America (SARDAA), which, among other things, offers a pretty good resource list. The organization has 150 groups in 31 states and a few other countries.

One of its local groups meets in New Brunswick at a facility apparently attached to the UMDNJ's University Behavioral Health program. The group bills itself as "a confidential SELF-HELP group for persons with schizophrenia or a schizophrenia-related disorder." It meets twice a month on the first and third Tuesdays of each month from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM at The Self-Help Center - Lower Level, 96 Bayard Street, New Brunswick, NJ. For more information about this group, including a contact telephone number, see: http://ubhc.umdnj.edu/adult/Schizophrenics.htm