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DMH Office of Communications and Community Engagement

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Connections Correction

Connecting Art and Communities

DMH provider MHPI, Inc. played host to a nearly 30 guests recently at an open house at the Zanditon Community Apartments. The event showcased the works of art donated to MHPI through the Art Connection, a Boston non-profit organization, which links artists and donors to community service organizations. A committee of MHPI representatives and tenants chose the pieces, ranging in size from a 350-pound sculpture to a 5x7 oil painting, all now on display throughout the facility. Shown here is "Geometric Black and White #2," one of the works on display at the residence.

~ SAVE THE DATE ~

DMH Northeast-Suburban Area Recovery Action Team and Healthy Changes Task Force in conjunction with the DMH Office of Recovery & Empowerment invite you to:

Annual National Wellness Week Kick-Off

"Celebrating the Whole You"

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tewksbury Hospital

Please join us to celebrate National Wellness Week (September 17-23) as part of SAMHSA's Recovery Month. The theme of National Wellness Week this year is "Living Wellness" to emphasize that no matter which dimensions of wellness we focus on, our ultimate goal is to live well within our bodies, minds and communities

The event is offered in two parts.  Participants may register for the morning, the afternoon, or for both sessions.  

The morning session begins with a group walk that symbolizes our commitment to the journey of wellness and features an interactive wellness workshop with Wellness Coach Dr. Beth Frates. Dr. Frates will review the six essential steps to PAVING Your Path to Wellness: physical activity, attitude, variety, investigations, nutrition and goals, as well as demonstrate a wellness coaching session.

The afternoon session will explore ways to incorporate The Eight Dimensions of Wellness (emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social and spiritual) into our lives through three informational/experiential presentations on mindfulness based practice, nutrition and sensory/environmental awareness.

Questions? 

Contact Eileen Weber at: eileen.weber@MassMail.state.ma.us

508-616-3508 

or Ann Roy at ann.roy@MassMail,state.ma.us

STAY TUNED 

to the September Issue of DMH Connections for Registration Information

Click here for a printable flyer

Conferences and Events

Monday August 27, 2012

Final interview date for the Certified Peer Specialist Training Program for Fall 2012

The interviews will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lawrence DMH Site Office, 15 Union St., Suite 2.   Email your request for an interview to: cps@transformation-center.org  

Deadline for requests accepted until Thursday, August 23, 2012, 5 p.m.

You may request morning or afternoon. Time slots will be assigned on a first-come first-served basis. Bring your completed application to the interview. Please do not bring your references to the interview. Follow the instructions on your application with regard to references. Applications may be obtained from the website:

www.transformation-center.org

Saturday September 22, 2012

"Recovery is Worth Celebrating!"

The Edinburg Center will hold the Third Annual Rock Into Recovery from 12 to 4 p.m. on the Waltham Common, 119 School Street Waltham, MA.  Hundreds are expected to attend and learn more about the reality of recovery while listening to the music of The "Grateful Friends" and other musicians. Rock Into Recovery includes live music, arts and crafts, food available for purchase, information and resources about mental health for all ages and fun for the entire family. For more information visit www.edinburgcenter.org or www.rockintorecovery.org

 Upcoming Workshops at the Center for Professional Innovation 

(formerly Community Program Innovations) 

 CPI offers continuing education for mental health and healthcare professionals and educators, holding day-long workshops throughout Massachusetts on clinical and management topics.  Trainings are held in Billerica, Foxborough and Springfield.  To view the complete schedule and to register visit  

 http://bridgewellcpi.org  

All facilities are wheelchair accessible. If accommodations such as ASL interpreters or visual aids are needed, email: info@BridgewellCPI.org or call  339-883-2118.

Click here for the Transformation Center website and all the latest information and events happening throughout the mental health community.   

Please send your event information to

 Michelle Cormier Tallman

by the 15th of each month for publication in DMH Connections 

Youth and Young Adult Voice Emerging in Agencies Across the State

By Meredith Brisson and Jonathan Bowen-Leopold

There's a marked shift going on in the culture of mental health agencies. We are seeing increasing numbers of advisory councils comprised of youth and young adult consumers who want their voices heard by those who provide the services crucial for their well being.  

"What a difference it made to walk into a get-together run by a large number of young adults hearing each other as we put in words and statements of our joint mission," said  Jonathan Bowen-Leopold, a young adult who works for the Transformation Center and a long-time member of DMH's Statewide Youth Advisory Council.

The Statewide Youth Advisory Council from its beginning was, and still is, run by young adults drawing on lived experience of forms of recovery, offering messages and feedback to DMH through discussions, poems, Q&As and more. 

"An adult ally from DMH takes down notes and hears us, along with our peers and visiting providers and health and human services administrators, as we define the ideals we are hoping to live up to," said Jonathan, who believes that this new model of meeting helps young people with lived experience recover together, and at the same time offer ideas on what recovery and resiliency can be. "I am grateful to have this experience and this outlet and am hopeful that we can start more youth- and young adult-run groups across the state."  

Jonathan has been working on this initiative as a member of the STAY Together (Success for Transition Aged Youth and Young Adults) grant team. DMH was awarded a year-long planning grant funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and is working to create a strategic plan to enhance services for transition age youth and young adults who are involved in services provided by the Children's Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI).  

A large component of the grant is the creation of six Youth Advisory Groups (YAGs) connected to Community Service Agencies (CSAs) across the state. These groups are made up of youth and young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 who come together on a monthly basis to, among other things, present feedback to the CSA, provide peer-to-peer support, reach out to other youth and participate in leadership and professional development. Key partners in the grant, the Transformation Center and Parent-Professional Advocacy League/Youth MOVE, are working hard to help develop these groups and enlist youth and young adults.  YAGs are starting up at the following CSAs: Children's Friend in Lawrence; The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston; Justice Resource Institute in Hyannis; Wayside Youth and Family Network in Framingham; Community Health Link in Worcester; and the Gandara Center in Springfield/Holyoke. 

Youth MOVE member Nico Viano said, "There were a lot of youth that were interested in (the Gandara YAG) from different areas of Springfield. I feel that this group will be helpful because it shows youth that there are people who actually want to listen to the youth's voices. I also think that it will give them a chance to get to know each other and for other people to get to know them too." 

For more information, or if you or someone you know might be interested in joining a Youth Advisory Group, please contact Meredith Brisson at Meredith.brisson@state.ma.us.    

The Art of Making and Keeping Friends review

Film About Making Friends Opens New Ideas on Recovery

By Lucas Fowler

Northeast-Suburban Area Director Susan Wing and Northeast RLC Director Jo Bower introduce "The Art of Making and Keeping Friends" film.

The Northeast Recovery Learning Community (NRLC), part of the Northeast Independent Living Program (NILP) of Lawrence, recently premiered its short film "The Art of Making and Keeping Friends" at Cinema Salem. Produced for training and educational purposes, the film features eight NILP clients engaged in a discussion revolving around important questions about friendship facing persons living with mental illness. The premiere was attended by several of its stars, as well as DMH Northeast-Suburban Area Director Susan Wing and NRLC Director Jo Bower, who welcomed the audience.

"The Art of Making and Keeping Friends" takes us through the most pressing questions about friendship those with mental illness face on their path to recovery. Naturally the first to arise is: What is the value of friendship in the first place? As one participant in the film mentions, friends are "the most common form of personal support." In addition to their ready availability, friends are distinguished as supports in being freely chosen by a person to be included within his or her life. Consumers have a certain freedom in the choice of supports offered during the course of their treatment, but taking on friendships is the highest expression of a person's right to be in full control of the circle of individuals they can depend on as they move toward and through recovery.

The film points out that friendships are perfect opportunities to develop vital tools of resilience and sociability needed to genuinely thrive as a human being, such as empathy, a sense of humor and reliability. While a relationship that allows such qualities to grow fruitfully is important, the true test of a good friend is his or her capacity to be an ally through rough times. This means that in periods of relapse and crises, a friend is one who will remain a trustworthy support. Closely joined with this fact is the truth that a friend won't be someone who will discount or stigmatize a person with mental illness just because this person has been labeled. As a discussant in the film says, "We are who we are, and the ones who can respond to us as a whole person are our special friends."

Those living with mental illness may often find meeting new friends to be a daunting and difficult accomplishment. The peers in "The Art of Keeping and Making Friends" stress that finding friends is more a matter of attitude and outlook rather than of location and social situation. "If we're open we can meet them just about any place," says one. And once friends are made, it is respect and trust which preserve them (as well as not sweating the small stuff). Importantly, the film explores the question which is sure to face consumers in recovery, especially as they create relationships independent of their experience with mental health services: When, and how, should I disclose my diagnosis? We are reminded that a person has the power to disclose to whomever he or she feels comfortable disclosing, that regardless of labels we all share in psychologically extreme states and encounters with trauma, and that true friend's response might look like "I can't help you, but I can be in it with you."

The NRLC recognizes that "human connection is one of the fundamental keys to recovery," and this understanding animates the purpose and spirit of "The Art of Making and Keeping Friends." Centered around recovery, it is fitting that the discussion ends with the benefits of forming friendships. "When I started to meet other people with lived experience, that's when my world started to open up," says a peer. And when your world begins to open up to friends, you're on your way to opening up to the world at large, and headed for recovery.

Click on the images below to watch the video: 

Northeast RLC - "The Art of Making and Keeping Friends" Part I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northeast RLC - "The Art of Making and Keeping Friends" Part II

 

Express Yourself: 17 Years of Unstoppable Creativity, Talent and Fun

By Jillian Medugno

One important question floating around this past May was, "Who puts the art in heart?"  The answer is simple: Express Yourself, of course! The 2012 Express Yourself performance was all about the heart. Entitled "PULSE," the 17th annual Express Yourself young performers lit up the stage and roused the audience with their outstanding skits, dance, song and amazing sets. More than 150 talented DMH youth, along with special guests, had the audience dancing in their seats throughout the evening, one of the most anticipated events of the year for the DMH and mental health community.  

Special guest performers such as West African drummer Joh Camara joined the Express Yourself ensemble in an energetic drum and dance number. And Lorraine Leblanc of STOMP and Express Yourself/London, danced alongside the Express Yourself percussion group. Nancy Ostrovksy, a performance painter, returned to the Express Yourself stage this year creating her remarkable and unique works of art to the rhythm and melodies of the musicians. "PULSE" also included performances with B Flat Brass Band from the Berkeley College of Music, Boston Children's Chorus and the Pingree School a Capella ensemble, and In the Mak'n Step team, all part of the talented troupe who helped put on a show to remember. Express Yourself youth spend months creating the event from the ground up, developing everything from the theme, to dances and performances, props and set design. 

Paula Conrad, founder and co-executive director of Express Yourself, and Stan Strickland, co-executive director were honored on behalf of Express Yourself, with the Robert F. Kennedy Embracing the Legacy Award on this past June. The award is presented to those who have made a positive impact on the lives of children and their families and in improving the welfare of the youth.

Each year, Express Yourself and the talented DMH youth go above and beyond to put on a fantastic show. Their dedication and excitement shines through with creativity each year. We're looking forward to next year -- it always gets better and better!

Commissioner Fowler poses with young adult presenter Amber Mace at the DMH Northeast-Suburban Area northeastern Mass. Legislative Breakfast. Click here to view more photos.

Representative Paul Schmid, Commissioner Fowler and folks from the Towne House Clubhouse in Fall River. Click here to view more photos from the DMH Metro-Southeast Area southeastern Mass. Legislative Breakfast.

Pictured left to right at the DMH Central-West Area western Mass. Legislative Breakfast: Commissioner Fowler, Representative Michael Finn (Springfield), Central-West Area Director Susan Sprung, and Senator Stanley Rosenberg (Amherst). Click here to view more photos.

Commissioner Fowler poses with Representative John J. Mahoney (Worcester)at the Central Legislative Breakfast. Click here to view more photos from the Central Legislative Breakfast.

If you have photos from a DMH event that you would like featured as photo of the month or on the site, please send them to Michelle Cormier Tallman