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AMC Profiles of Success | |
"Brandy and my son Chase have developed a wonderful bond and I am so thankful Chase has someone he can trust and talk to during this difficult time. His anxiety level has decreased and is starting to verbalize his needs and concerns. He looks forward to his time with her every week."
"The Center has been a warm and caring place for us. We couldn't be more grateful."
"When Maria first came to the center she was all over the place inside. Being at Ann Martin Center and having a good psychotherapist has helped her become more happy with herself and life. She's 8 years old and just happy. All I can say is 'Thank You' for helping me help Maria to be a kid. I am thankful for Ann Martin Center."
"My children and I have benefitted tremendously from the Center." |
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Happy 30th Anniversary to Laurie Lober!
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Clinical Program Director Laurie Lober marked a major milestone of 30 years this month at Ann Martin Center! Congratulations, Laurie!
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Dear Friends,
As we approach the holiday season, I'm reminded of a quote by Eric Hoffer: "The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."
In 2013, Ann Martin Center proudly celebrates its 50th anniversary and we're very excited about the imminent changes ahead. We're relocating to Emeryville next spring to a fantastic new 15,000 sq. ft. building that will feature 40 treatment offices and a state-of-the-art lecture hall. As part of the relocation, we recently developed a new inspiring logo.
Your past generosity has enabled us to reach thousands of families and children in recent years. Here's feedback from one grateful parent: "Ann Martin Center helped us understand Daniel's growth and development as a child and as a student in the classroom. We have the clarity we need going forward to steer our son in the right direction. The experience at the Center opened our eyes as parents to change our way of thinking when it comes to our upbringing versus the 21st century child. It has worked out very well for our family. Great job, AMC!"
Your financial support will ensure that Ann Martin Center's clinic and school-based psychotherapy, educational therapy, diagnostic assessments and bereavement counseling are available to more underserved children in our community. These funds are used to provide critical services for at-risk children and parents in crisis, as we build the foundation for strong, healthy families and safer schools.
By renewing your contribution this year, you will improve the lives of vulnerable youth.
$1,000 (Hope) - Provides one year of intensive individual counseling for at-risk children in need of guidance.
$500 (Patron) - Supports six months of educational therapy for a high potential, underachieving child struggling with learning issues.
$250 (Friend) - Underwrites our monthly Lecture Series Program that trains educators and child mental health professionals in our community.
$100 (Supporter) - Purchases therapeutic play materials for clinic and school-based counseling programs.
Help us reach our Annual Campaign goal of $125,000 by donating today! Proceeds from our annual fund appeal enable us to deliver the highest quality educational therapy and psychotherapy services for children, like Daniel. You are welcome to make the gift in honor or memory of a loved one (and, as requested, we will mail out a tribute card.)
Remember that a generous gift of any size makes a difference for our work at Ann Martin Center. Our commitment remains steady: We're here to nurture the minds and hearts of children.
Your contributions are greatly appreciated by our Board of Directors, staff and the families we serve! Sincerely, 
David S. Theis, DMH
Executive Director |
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Leaving Home, Finding Home
By Laurie Lober, LCSW, Clinical Program Director
"Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home." - Matsuo Basho
Once upon a time there was a lovely old house (on 1250 Grand Avenue) where the Ann Martin Center family came to live.
In the beginning there was room enough for the entire family: all the staff who worked there and plenty of space for all of the children and families who came to the lovely old house seeking help with life's hardships and struggles:
- the challenges of children growing up and mothers, fathers and grandparents trying their best to be "good enough",
- families perplexed about why this child could not read, or why that child never seemed happy,
- the pain and grief of losing loved ones,
- the agony of families fighting and breaking apart,
- the strain of making ends meet, of unanswered prayers, of shattered dreams.
Somehow the lovely old house felt like a home, a safe, warm and welcoming home for all who came there to work.
"Work" meant talking, listening, playing, pretending, being silly, being serious, making sense and meaning out of chaos and confusion.
"Work" meant building relationships, sharing private thoughts and feelings, dreaming and imagining, and coming to terms...accepting realities, desirable and otherwise.
How many life stories have been shared in this house? How many broken hearts and broken homes have healed little by little, as lives and families have recovered and grown back together?
Contained within its silent walls, this lovely old house holds the life experiences of hundreds, maybe thousands of people, experiences that have been profound, life altering, meaningful, perplexing, tragic, mysterious, maddening, and funny.
The collective dreams and memories of all the staff and the children and families who worked and "grew up" here, who "grew together" here, will forever remain associated with this lovely old house.
Over the course of many years we have outgrown our lovely old house. It is now far too small because our Ann Martin Center family has grown so much bigger.
We're excited about our new home being the solution to the crowded situation we've come to accept; we're going to have space where everyone can work more comfortably and get to know each other better.
Our new home is not a lovely old house. It is a big, old pickle factory! How can we move our home from a lovely old house to a big, old pickle factory?
"Where we love is home. Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts," Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr.
We will bring our sadness along with our hearts filled with love to our new home.
"Home is not where you live but where they understand you." Anonymous.
We will bring our understanding and our memories of our times together with us to our new home, where we will continue to understand and remember together.
Maya Angelou said, "I long...to be at home wherever I find myself." We will find ourselves and find one another at our new home.
And one day soon, that big old pickle factory will begin to feel like a home, a safe, warm and welcoming home for everyone who comes there.
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Ann Martin Center Receives APA Accreditation for Continuing Education Units
Clinical Focus on Mindfulness Training
We are pleased to announce that as of July 2012 the Ann Martin Center is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) to provide continuing education credits for designated seminars to licensed psychologists on staff and in the community. We have had CEU provider-ship status for MFT and LCSW clinicians for many years but due to the arduous process to meet requirements for the APA we had been unable to provide continuing education for our staff psychologists until now. We are now able to provide CE credits to all of our licensed staff for attending our monthly staff meetings.
The first year long course open to all AMC clinical staff will focus on mindfulness, a concept that is long connected to psychodynamic theory, and self care. Our clinicians work with at-risk youth who have and are exposed to chronic trauma and are vulnerable themselves to suffering from vicarious trauma when hearing and working with their clients. Mindfulness training is one such component of self care. Specialists in the field, as well as our own trained and certified staff, will teach techniques that include mindfulness, meditation and yoga, to course participants. Additionally, they will discuss applications to clinical work with the hopes of bringing such practices in the clinic and our school based program. Furthermore we are offering CE credits to all of our primary supervisory staff for attending our supervisor meetings/trainings. In time we hope to submit descriptions for our Friday noon lectures in order to offer CE units to psychologists in the community as we do our MFT and LCSW participants.
For more information, please contact Assistant Clinical Program Director, Beth Berkowitz at bberkowitz@annmartin.org or call (510) 655-7880 ext. 348. |
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"Bhutan: Integrating the Spiritual and Material"
AMC Board Members and Donors Gather at Cerruti Cellars
Ann Martin Center recently hosted a presentation on "Bhutan: Integrating the Spiritual and Material" at the beautiful Cerruti Cellars in Jack London Square, Oakland. Over 35 guests attended this informal "friend-raising event" to gather with Ann Martin Center board members, donors and representatives from Clorox Creative Services who unveiled our newly designed logo. Jim and Bonnie Bell gave a slideshow presentation of their travels across Bhutan. (Photo courtesy: Linda Saag Baker, AMC Board VP)
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David Theis, AMC Executive Director, and John Tudal, Winery Owner
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AMC Board members, Robin Blum, Betty Simpson and Buzz Blackett (L-R)
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Guest speakers, Jim and Bonnie Bell
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Celebrating our 50th Anniversary Gala
Save-the-Date: Saturday, April 6, 2013
Our 50th anniversary celebration rapidly approaches on Saturday, April 6 at the Kaiser Rooftop Garden in downtown Oakland. This signature event provides a unique opportunity to partner with Ann Martin Center in supporting thousands of children and families in our East Bay community. We have lined up our Honorary Chair, Sarah Pearson, MD, a developmental pediatrician and former AMC board member, and Auctioneer Keith McLane who will dazzle the crowd with an array of fantastic live auction items including dinner parties, unique getaways and more! A special thank you to Event Co-chairs, Mary Ann Pearson and Betty Simpson, for overseeing the event planning process with Ann Martin Center staff.
If you're interested in sponsorship or tickets, please contact Lynn Peralta, Development Director, at lperalta@annmartin.org or call (510) 655-7880 ext. 308.
If you're interested in donating items or volunteering at the event, please contact Molly Wooster, Fundraising Coordinator, at mwooster@annmartin.org or call (510) 655-7880 ext. 399.
Click here to view our gala event website on Eventbrite!
Thank you to our 50th Anniverary Gala Sponsors!
(as of 12/12/12)
Premier Sponsor
Visionary Sponsor
Ann and Jon Reynolds
Heart of Gold Sponsor
Sarah Pearson, MD and Evan Seevak, MD
Benefactor Sponsor
Robert and Evelyn Apte
Mike and Linda Saag Baker
Hill Blackett, III
Robin and Edward Blum
J. Robert Coleman, Jr. and Diane Sanders Coleman
Jon Kaufman and Jill Horowitz
Betty Simpson
Sue and Tom Smegal
David Theis
Hope Sponsor
David Hobstetter
Fritz and Mary Wooster
Special thanks to our Wine Sponsor!
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Board Spotlight
Getting to know our AMC Board of Directors!  | | Board President, Hill Blackett, III ("Buzz") |
My name is Buzz Blackett and I am the current President of the Board of Directors of Ann Martin Center. I have been on the Board since 2008 and have enjoyed the privilege of serving the Center and supporting the vital services it provides.
I grew up in Illinois, but went to law school at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, where I met my wife Elaine Bayus. We have lived in the Bay Area since 1980. I have practiced law since 1977 in the areas of commercial lending and bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations, sometimes representing the other kind of "non-profit corporations," i.e. businesses that can't pay their bills. I currently work part-time as of counsel at a small law firm in San Francisco. In addition to the AMC Board, I served for seven years on the board of a non-profit that installs solar electric systems for low-income families and am joining the board of another non-profit that runs a kids summer camp.
I like to hike, bike, ski, and swim for fun and exercise, and I love competitive sailing. I race an El Toro dinghy on the Bay and assorted Northern California lakes. El Toros are only eight feet long and four feet wide, so grown-ups need to curl up just to get in them. I've also done a fair amount of ocean racing, including several races to Hawaii. I've never thought of sailing as a spectator sport, but I look forward to watching next year's America's Cup on the Bay.
I first got acquainted with Ann Martin Center fifteen years ago when one of our kids received therapy at the Center. It was a good experience, and I came away impressed with the dedication and compassion of the organization. In the four years I have been on the Board, I have been even more impressed with the breadth of the help the Center offers and the ongoing effort to improve its services. I find hope in the Center's commitment to kids in need, and have faith that it will be there for many more kids during its next 50 years.
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