Our Meetings
Prepare for a great experience. Our mission is to make you feel comfortable & to answer your concerns on the same day you attend our meeting.
We ask $5 per person and $8 per family. Our large meeting consists of about 40 people.
After our announcements, we break into our small groups – Bipolar Groups, Depression groups, and a Family Member Group, all led by trained leaders.
Attention Family Members! No meeting is complete without Family Members. Greg and Carole Hodges run our Family Member Group.
We received our 501(c)(3) from the IRS in 1998. This allows us to apply for grants from private foundations and other sources. We’ve received money or services from The Patricia Kind Family Foundation, vanAmeringen Foundation, Fourjay Foundation, and Janssen Pharmaceutica LLC, who, for many years published our Compass magazine.
We received our first outside monies from the Montgomery County Office of Behavioral Health who continue their generous financial support to us. They also gave New Directions an award in 2002.
OUR PHILOSOPHY:
Mental illness is an obstacle, but is not insurmountable. Through diligent application of wellness techniques, progress can be achieved, even in the smallest steps.
AFFILIATIONS:
We work in cooperation with many local groups including: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Mental Health Partnerships, (formerly Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania,) Abington/Jefferson Memorial Hospital, Horsham Clinic, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Collaborative Care in Abington, and Montgomery County Emergency Service.
The Compass, Spring 2017 is now available. Click here to download.
NOTE: If you’re on psych meds – especially lithium – take precautions in the hot weather. Wear sunscreen and drink plenty of WATER. View website here.
Interested in The Power Program of Montco? Learn about job prospects. Click here.
Read our Keys to Recovery, including Stop-Suicide Plan. Click here.
Ruth Deming and New Directions featured in Montco Happening, Feb, 2017.
Watch our 30 minute video on New Directions, directed by Larry Kirschner. May 2014.
Also, watch our Comcast Newsmakers Interview (June, 2012)
Ruth Z Deming, MGPGP, founder/director, on Comcast Newsmakers. She’s been off meds since 2004. Work with your psychiatrist if you’re interested in getting off.
However, we strongly advocate taking meds and getting talk therapy.
We partner with psychiatrist Cherian Verghese, MD, of Norristown, PA. He runs Keystone Clinical Studies in Norristown, PA. If you’re interested in taking part in a research study, email
Cherian Verghese <cv.kcs@comcast.net>