September is a busy month for generating awareness on mental health issues. Every year, SAMHSA sponsors it as as a way to increase awareness and understanding of mental health issues and to celebrate those in recovery. This year, the theme is “Join the Voices for Recovery: Our Families, Our Stories, Our Recovery!” People in recovery are encouraged to and connect with others on SAMHSA’s forum. 

The second week of September is recognized as to help promote resources and awareness around the issues of suicide, the third leading cause of death among young people. On September 10, 2016, we observe World Suicide Prevention Day to connect individuals affected by suicide and to raise awareness on suicidal ideation and the treatment services available.

There are a variety of events and awareness campaigns taking place around the country that you can be a part of. Below are some ideas to get you started:

• Download and share the infographics we created: Suicide Prevention: Facts and Risks and Suicide Prevention: Facts and Risks for Youth

• Check out SAMHSA's to find out what's happening in your area for National Recovery Month.

• Download SAMHSA’s or EachMindMatters for ideas on reaching out to your community and spread awareness around these issues.

• Download the to view the resources and materials available for suicide prevention.

• Use one of the Active Minds post suggestions as a guide for starting the conversation within your own community on Facebook or Twitter.

• Take NAMI’s and share the link with others in your community.

Thurman Williams (left) is handed a graduation certificate for completing the Assisted Intervention program from Judge Joe T. Perez (right).

Graduation is a time for celebration and new beginnings. What better new beginning can come from a graduation than a slate wiped clean, a criminal record expunged? That’s what happened when Judge Joe T. Perez of the Superior Court of ��ͷ��app County handed a graduation certificate to Thurman Williams. He had just completed one of the first court-ordered Assisted Intervention (AI) programs in California, which operates out of in Santa Ana.

“For me, graduation was emotional because you accomplish something that's very difficult,” said Thurman. “It’s also kind of bittersweet because you are part of a family. You go to the program every day or once a week for twenty-five months, and now I don’t have to. It was kind of strange to just go, ‘I can do whatever I want.’”

The “whatever I want” part was going back to his place of employment— and . Thurman was offered a job at ��ͷ��app during Phase III of the AI program after his peer mentoring skills were recognized while going through program. He was asked to give a speech at ��ͷ��app’s 50th Anniversary party in ��ͷ��app County, and was offered a job as a Wellness Center Coordinator shortly after.

“The fact that I worked for ��ͷ��app while going through an assisted intervention program—that has never, ever been done before. I didn’t even really think about becoming involved in mental health at that time,” said Thurman, who had a successful baseball career both playing for the San Francisco Giants and then continued as a coach for future major league players. “I knew I was going to always advocate for mental health afterword. I was always going to do something, but I didn’t know it would turn into this.”

Now, Thurman is a PSC I and runs groups for other members in court-ordered treatment.

“It's just basically me, as somebody who's gone through the program, kind of giving advice on how I navigated through it, and how to avoid backtracking,” said Thurman. “I want to do this. I wasn’t sure, but it’s where I need to be. This is how I had to come full circle. This is where I’m supposed to end up, I think.”

News you can use — and a little fun and inspiration — from around the internet and our programs, too.

• Our celebrated their first completion of the .
• See how uses arts therapy to help youth through trauma and to develop their resiliency.
• Thor actor Chris Hemsworth , an organization that aims to fight the sigma surrounding mental health.
• The Anna Freud National Center for Children and Families this month to help parents understand and manage child and family mental health problems.

��ͷ��app's 105-member, Full Service Partnership (FSP), , recently celebrated their first completion of the  program. The group had a total of 51 members who attend one or more of the classes, and 15 graduates!

The graduates were given certificates for completing the program and were treated to a lunch where pizza and cake were served.

To graduate, participants had to have attended all 16 weeks of the COEG program. Each session covers a different topic of discussion: from understanding addiction, to recognizing triggers, to reflecting on one's hopes and goals. The groups are open, so new participants can join a group at any time. The flexible drop-in format, and the resources and tools that are provided at the end of each group, are meant to encourage participants to take ownership over the decisions they make about their health choices.

Congratulations to STEPS' first successful group of participants, and the staff that worked so hard to make it happen! 

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A little cool weather didn't stop the staff at  from heating up the competition during their second annual ��ͷ��app games on Wednesday, June 15.

The scavenger hunt took place in Old Town Sacramento, where program staff teamed up, worked together, and acted out, to get ahead in the race.

"It was amazing to see the teams work together as well as the help members of the community," said SOAR Clinical Director Kezzia Bullen. "As a judge, the best part was the stop where the teams had to sing a railroad themed song to an actual train and capture it on video—one team even had choreography. Another clue had teams searching for a locally renowned 'mini' treat from Danny's Mini Donuts, but it proved challenging and our judges ended up with extra erroneous goodies, which was dubbed the 'pile of wrong.'" A delicious error indeed!

"At the end of the hunt, we laughed, told stories of the afternoon, and gave out the prizes over pizza," Kezzia said. "We cannot wait to do this event next year and make it even better!"

organized a twofer on Friday, May 20 by hosting a Dodger Days barbecue for residents and staff, as well as a commemoration for Mental Health Month. Staff dressed in their Dodger Blue shirts hosted several guests from the community.

In Long Beach, California, ��ͷ��app operates a (MHRC), a (PHF), and a (MHUCC) on one campus known as "La Casa".

As a background, some of ��ͷ��app’s consumers with a history of trauma or abuse can have maladaptive behaviors that lead to legal, social, and health-related challenges in the community. These consumers exist at all levels of care in California, from Full Service Partnership (FSP) and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs all the way up to high-level locked programs such as La Casa MHRC. These behaviors can include, but are not limited to, self-injurious behaviors such as cutting, head banging, striking out, and drug seeking. Some of the problematic behaviors seen in these consumers are not always fully correctable with standard supportive therapy and medications.

For this reason, La Casa created a multidisciplinary committee in 2015 to create a strategic plan to implement a Modified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) track in the MHRC, and some of its surrounding sister programs (La Casa PHF, , and the MHUCC). The program uses the term "Modified DBT" as the training and curriculum does not necessarily follow the traditional DBT format given that consumers have a concurrent serious and persistent mental illness and are often in an inpatient environment.

There is continued work being done at all of these programs, but La Casa is pleased  to report the first phase of the implementation is complete at the MHRC and selected consumers have finished the first eight-week cycle of treatment. 

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At La Paz Geropsychiatric Center, staff members, Erish McInnis and Kristen Crowe, project leads, show off their mobile Music & Memory cart!

in Paramount, CA was chosen to be a part of the pilot study of through and UC Davis; the program seeks to enliven and enrich the lives of those who have been diagnosed with dementia. La Paz received 15 iPod shuffles from the Music & Memory study program, and 15 residents with a diagnosis of dementia were chosen to participate in the program. Each resident was interviewed to find out more about their favorite music: what artists they enjoyed, what live concerts they’d seen in their youth, any musicals they enjoyed, or what genre was most appealing to them. Rehabilitation staff then worked to download the music on to each resident’s personal iPod.

Although the study is to last for three years, so far there have been some encouraging results:  

• Residents who prefer to spend their time in their room have been more social with others.

• Those who are sometimes loud and difficult to redirect, listen to their music quietly with big smiles on their faces and sway to the beat.

• Others who can be rather disorganized and difficult to understand find their voices and sing full songs with proper lyrics.

We are looking forward to see what other changes may come about in the future to improve the overall well-being of these residents!

It was a red carpet affair for members who graduated from the //program on Thursday, May 26. ��ͷ��app and their families enjoyed a luncheon at the Centre in Lakewood, CA.

“The graduation luncheon signifies an end of an era and the beginning of a new one in the member's journey,” said Natalie Reinfeld, ATLAS/TABS/AOT/FOT Administrator. “We like to think of it as a celebration, but also as a ‘rite of passage’ for our members who, in their own lives, might not have had the opportunity to partake in such events.”

The 63 members who were honored at the ceremony got to walk the red carpet and add their own star to the walk of fame, and received awards for: "Power over Substance," "Making Choices,” "Exploring Identity," "Awakening Hope," "Making Connections," and "Wellecare."

Way to go 2016 grads!!!

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Staff and leadership team at Garfield NBC.

A huge congratulations to the staff and leadership team at  for receiving a $180,000 Quality and Accountability Supplemental Performance (QASP) award by the  (DHCS).

The state-developed program evaluates skilled nursing facilities quality of care. One hundred points are divided among the measurements with point values distributed for each quality indicator. Facilities receive an overall quality of care score when points from each of the quality measures are totaled.

Quality Measures categories are as follows:

• Staffing

  • Nursing Hours per Patient Day (NHPPD)

  • Direct Care Staffing Retention (optional)

• Physical Restraints— Long Stay

• “Facility Acquired” Pressure Ulcers— Long Stay and Short Stay

• Immunizations

  • Influenza— Long Stay and Short Stay

  • Pneumococcal— Long Stay and Short Stay

• Patient/Family Satisfaction

Garfield scored very well in the areas of (high) staffing, (low) physical restraint use, (few) pressure ulcers, and (high) rate of immunizations.

ran from May 8 to May 14. celebrated both staff and residents by having fun themed dress up days, and prizes were awarded to the staff member with the most spirit. On the final day, Garfield had a luau with gifts for every staff member.

, a 130-bed geropsychiatric center located in Paramount, CA, gets in the spirit for Cinco de Mayo!

(top row) and (bottom row) celebrated , which took place from May 6 to May 12. The nursing staff and mothers were celebrated at TAO, while non-nursing staff at La Paz showed their support and appreciation of the program nurses by dressing in scrubs.

If you live in California, make sure you get a voice in this election. Register now!

The deadline to vote in the California’s June 7 Primary Election is .

Californians who have not registered to vote can . The step-by-step process is available in a variety of languages and only takes a few minutes.

If you do not know if you are registered, or if you do not remember your party affiliation,  If you’ve moved or changed your last name since the last election, you need to update your voter registration.

California's Secretary of State Alex Padilla is calling all eligible voters to action. He said in a , “If the election were held today, over 7 million otherwise eligible Californians would be left on the sidelines. Fortunately, there is still time to register to vote in the June 7 Presidential Primary Election. Whether you’ve recently turned 18, become a new US citizen, or just want to vote for the first time—I urge Californians to register today."

In California, the American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian parties will  in the upcoming primary. This means that voters who do not affiliate themselves with any party  in the June 7 primary.
 
More voter information can be found . 

Staff and members from , , and braved the rain to support the 2016 Northern California NAMI walk at William Land Park. Despite the weather, a great time was had by all! We even had a special visitor–former California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg!

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"Let us strive to ensure people living with mental health conditions know that they are not alone, that hope exists, and that the possibility of healing and thriving is real. Together, we can help everyone get the support they need to recover as they continue along the journey to get well." -- President Barak Obama, Presidential Proclamation -- National Mental Health Awareness Month, 2016.

Every May we come together to combat stigma, provide support, and educate the public on mental health issues for Mental Health Awareness Month.

Each year the support grows stronger, yet we know to continue the momentum of breaking down barriers we must help increase awareness and understanding of mental health issues in the communities we serve. To help generate awareness, Mental Health America released a handy toolkit packed with fact sheets, shareable images for social media, and a call to action to share what life with a mental illness feels like. Download the toolkit by visiting !

There are many ways you can help support Mental Health Awareness Month. Here are a few resources to get you started:

• Participate in a local NAMI walk. You can find out where the closest one to you is by visiting
• Check out other mental health awareness events happening in your area by visiting
• Sign NAMI's
• Tag your Twitter and Instagram posts with #mentalillnessfeelslike; they will be collected and displayed at

��ͷ��app has once again been named one of the (BPTW) in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. Staff from , , , , , and // 
attended the celebration in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 19. 

Out of more than 400 nominations, only the top 125 companies are chosen for this award based on BPTW employee engagement survey responses. This is the 14th time we've been honored on this list. 

Thank you to everyone at ��ͷ��app's 90+ programs and corporate office for your continued work in providing and improving mental health services!

Our team enjoyed an all day staff retreat at YMCA Camp Collins which is in Oxbow Park. We had a speaker come in to talk with us about effective communication, she was very informative! We then took a hike through the woods and along the Sandy River. We found several interesting things on our hike including a ropes course, we may have stopped and had a little fun swinging around! The building we were in (Jesse’s Lodge is one of many buildings they have at the camp), had windows all around it so we got to enjoy the view all day. That is when we all took a short break to look at the beautiful deer right outside our windows, they were so close to us we all had to stop and check them out!

Lena then lead an exercise “Getting to know you”, where we all shared about ourselves and learned new things about one another. Salena then presented some RCCS information that we all discussed together. Jen closed the retreat with “Next steps” where we spent time addressing our program, how we can improve, changes we want to make, and we discussed a list of suggestions from the residents obtained during a recent discussion group. It was a wonderful, productive, informative, and fun filled day!!

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(L-R) Top Row: Bridget Murray, Recovery Specialist; Rachel Severson, Medical Records; Chad Hamilton, Recovery Specialist; Tim Leewehage, Recovery Specialist, the one with his hands up; Amy Lugo, HR Coordinator; Lena Witkowski, Nursing Coordinator; Brinda Peterson, Lead Housekeeper.
(L-R) Bottom Row: Jordan Simpson, Recovery Specialist and Jen Obermeyer, Administrator. Photo by Salena Schwartz, Clinical Director.

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(L-R)Top Row: David Nez, Recovery Specialist; Cirsten Kimball, Recovery Specialist; Salena Schwartz, Clinical Director; Sharon Aumani, RN; Angela Gilleran, Recovery Specialist; Joyce Bailey, Recovery Specialist; Steve Ryniker, Housekeeper; Vieve, Art Therapist; Jacob Jonas-Closs, Recovery Specialist; Sarah Gracey, BOM; JoAnna WIlliams, Recovery Specialist; Petr Penkov, Housekeeper.
(L-R) Bottom Row: Jen Patterson, Admit/Discharge Coordinator; Jenny Siemens, RN; and Barbara Lee, Recovery Specialist.

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For some of us on the West Coast, Spring has sprung! At the in Long Beach, CA, it seems to be in full bloom!