JUNE 2009
the newsletter for Nuçi’s Space, a nonprofit musicians’ support/resource center
Knowing Your Role
O
ne of the most useful pieces of advice I’ve received during my time at Nuçi’s Space came from a psychiatrist who sat on our Board of Directors during the early stages of the organization’s conception. One late afternoon, in the early part of 2001, I was progressing through a somewhat typical workday when I received my first “counseling call.” This is how we’ve come to refer to a call when someone has an inquiry about the counseling assistance services that we offer. Linda Phillips, who usually handles the intake of all these calls, was not in the office that day. The voice on the other side of the phone was shaky, uncertain and in need of some guidance. He was concerned about a friend who was severely depressed. He was worried his friend may try to hurt himself. Although I managed to hold it together and present a clear, calm demeanor, I was freaking out on the inside. I thought to myself, “What the hell am I doing? I have absolutely no business on this side of the phone. What if I give them the wrong information? What if his friend does hurt himself?” A million thoughts and scenarios crossed my mind. I wasn’t sure if I was prepared for this.
Despite being unable to convince his friend to visit the emergency room that evening, he was able to provide comfort and stay with him through the night. Once I was able to get in touch with Linda, she was able to enlist the help of one of our therapists to develop a plan to get this person help first thing in the morning.
nuçi’s space by
Bob Sleppy
A few weeks after this call, Linda had arranged for a couple of mental health professionals, including the psychiatrist I mentioned earlier, to sit down with our small staff to better prepare ourselves for the next “call.” To be honest, a lot of great information was shared that day but it took several years to absorb it all. However, there was one three-word phrase that made a profound effect on me immediately. Amongst a flurry of questions to the psychiatrist that included countless “what if…” scenarios, he simply stopped us and said, “Know your role.” He went on to remind us that we are not therapists, psychiatrists, emergency-room doctors or nurses. It is not our job to “fix” anyone. As Nuçi’s Space employees it is our responsibility to be the conduit between the person who needs help and those who provide it. To be effective in this role, as Linda often reminds us, we simply need to be nurturing, understanding, compassionate and insightful individuals. We need to have a good heart and be a good friend. Many of the philosophies and values that we promote through Nuçi’s Space are quite simple. We are not performing brain surgery in our little blue building. Our focus is on helping people, kindness and caring for one another. Most importantly, this approach has been proven effective throughout our work time and time again. Whether you are a psychiatrist, a therapist, a nurse, a friend, a survivor, a volunteer, a donor or a staff member, the role you play is vital to our continued success and our mission to lessen the burden of those suffering with depression and to prevent suicide.
396 Oconee Street Athens, GA 30601 706.227.1515 space@nuci.org www.nuci.org
Newsletter Contributors
Bob Sleppy Will Kiser Laura Ford Design & Layout
Larry Tenner
Nuçi Phillips
Memorial Foundation
Board of Directors
Ben Roberts Linda V. Phillips Pierre Phillips KP Devlin Patterson Hood Rebecca Hood Matt Justus Bill Orr Stephanie Sharp Sally Speed Ellie MacKnight Robert Bachman Natalie Glenn
Recent Donors Athens Cine Barwick, Clark and Molly Bernstein, Alyssa Beusse, Frances Boatwright, Paul & Toni Boland, Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Crowley, Mark Ferguson, Bruce & Rosemarie Forehand, Shasta & Arthur Frierson, Sarah & Jack FrontGate Solutions The George Link Jr. Charitable Trust Harvey, David & Nancy McDuff Jarrell, Holly Johnson, Eric T. Joiner, Mr. & Mrs. Hank Kim, Bo-Kyung Lester, David Mills, Ray Newman, Wendy & Mike Ordonez, Dr. & Mrs. Carlos Parker, Katie Pettyjohn, Vanessa M. Prae, Paul Roberts, III, Ben Rosenberger, Charles & Chandler
Saucier, Scott & Cindy Two Story Coffee Venuso, Connie Wear Your Music, LLC Williams, Kevan Windey, Courtney Zankel, Ken & Anna In Honor of Dr. Steven Hines Madelyn Osborn In Honor of Mollie Kimmleman receiving her MSW Lois Wolends In Memory of John Coggins III and Frank McGill Kim Coggins In Memory of Ted Hafer Jessica Greene In Memory of “Mom & Angie” Don Roberts In Memory of Nuçi Phillips Dr. & Mrs. Pierre Phillips
In Memory of Randy Bewley Adams, John Bryan, E.L. Eubanks, W.R. Lyvers, Jeffery O’Toole, Katie Spiegel, Rosemary & John Stock, Barry & Susan Waterford Place Of Athens, Inc Wuxtry Records In Memory of Michael Roberds Thomas & Pamela Roberds In Memory of Marvin Rowland Janet Rowland In Memory of Pat Simmons and Bruce Loving Steve & Hollis Hinsch In Memory of Israel Tyree Leslie Tyree In Memory of Luke Valiquette Regina Bower
Emerita
Virginia Ellenberg Jan Barstow Legal Counsel
J. Mike Lavender, Jr. Timmons, Warnes, & Anderson, LLP
nuçi’s space Staff
Bob Sleppy Will Kiser Laura Ford Dan Nettles Terrance Medina Chris Byron Kane Stanley
UGA honors classmate with Nuçi’s Space partnership In the fall of 2007 Cayle Bywater, a UGA Gwinnett grad student, became a volunteer at Nuçi’s Space. Bywater began working on a largescale database project for Nuçi’s Space. The system would significantly raise the efficiency and range of our rehearsal room reservation system— something we could not afford to do unless the system overhaul was approached as a volunteer project. Tragically, on January 11, 2008 the body of Cayle Bywater was recovered from the pond at Memorial Park in Athens. Bywater had been missing for almost two weeks. Her disappearance and the ensuing hunt consumed the Athens community with search parties and missing posters. After Cayle’s death, Nuçi’s Space was contacted by Beth Daniell, a friend and classmate of Bywater’s in the UGA Gwinnett Master’s of Internet Technology program. Daniell wanted to
continue the project as a dedication to Cayle, and her classmates and professors soon joined in to help. Over the past year, the system has become the group’s final class project. Starting in May, the database will become a central part of the day-today business at Nuçi’s Space. The objective of the project was to increase the efficiency of the current rehearsal room rental database used by Nuçi’s Space. The new system, called The Cayle Project, is an internal webapplication that will assist staff members with practice room and equipment reservations, as well as with vital customer reporting data. On April 25th, Nuçi’s Space hosted a launch party for The Cayle Project, where the group demonstrated the system firsthand to a gathering of professors, family members and UGA administrators.
Guitar String Bracelets benefit Nuçi’s Space Wear Your Music is a website that allows music fans to buy bracelets created from used guitar strings—specifically donated by their favorite musician. In turn, the artist chooses a charity to donate the proceeds from each of their bracelets. Dave Schools, former Athens resident and bassist for Widespread Panic, is donating the proceeds from his string bracelet to Nuçi’s Space! The bracelets are hand made and include a seal made of recycled fine silver and stamped with the artist’s initials. Visit www.wearyourmusic.org to see Dave Schools’ bracelet.
Battle of the Bar & Restaurant Bands donations for the North Georgia Food Bank. On April 27th, the 40 Watt hosted one of the The winner was the group from Caledonia most interesting nights of music in recent memLounge, The Pencilthin Reefer Band. Fronted by ory. The event was a Battle of the Bands, except Gordon Lamb, with in this case each band help from Jeff Griggs, was made up of musiColey Dennis and cians who work at Here’s a rundown of all the restaurants Kevin Lane, the band specific restaurants and bars that participated. To hear songs played 3 Jimmy Buffet and bars around from the Battle visit Sloan Simpson’s websongs—more than Athens. The rules site at www.southernshelter.com likely the first and were simple: each only time anyone will band had 15 minutes The Fist Mitts (The Grit) hear those songs from of stage time. No Wild Cherry (Last Resort) the 40 Watt stage. original songs were The Pencilthin Reefer Band (Caledonia Lounge) allowed—all covers. Each band put conThe Maverick Mitchell Band (Trapeze Pub) siderable work into The competition was Baby Blues And Baby Birds (Speakeasy) their music as well as judged American IdolTasty Boyz (Tasty World) their outfits. Members style. The three judges Peppered With Rubbish (The Grit) of The Georgia were Dustin Watts Magnum Force (40 Watt Club) Theatre band Bjorn (Terrapin Beer), High And Inside (The Max Canada) all dressed as the Bob Sleppy (Nuçi’s Bjorn (Georgia Theatre) Swedish tennis player Space) and Kyle Bjorn Borg. Their Spence (recording songs were customengineer and drumized too—they played Bjorn in the USA, Bjorn to mer for Harvey Milk, Koncak, etc). Sponsored be Wild and Bjorn on the Bayou. by Terrapin beer, the concert also collected food
Camp Amped 2009 This is just a reminder that two sessions of Camp Amped 2009 will be taking place at Nuçi’s Space this June 8th–20th and July 6th–18th. We have some amazing things in store for the participants of Camp Amped 2009, so be sure to check www.nuci.org for updates! Instructors for Camp Amped 2009 are Dan Nettles, Carl Lindberg, Claire Campbell, Joel Byron, Ben Mize, Allen Owens, Betsy Franck, Seth Hendershot, Thayer Sarrano, Philip Mayer, and Peter Alvanos. We would like to invite everyone to come see the hard work of Camp Amped participants at the Grand Finale Shows. These performances are free and open to the public, and will take place at 7:00pm on June 20th and July 18th at Nuçi’s Space.
Intern
Michael McGough Active Volunteers
Visar Arifaj McKenzy Bailey Sanni Baumgaertner Isik Benson Kristen Berg Frances Beusse Raven Bier Will Bishop Phillip Carpenter Wick Cauthorn Lesley Cobbs Katie Collins Katie Cooper Michiko Couchman Patricia Devine Hank Dionne Lori Dionne Teresa Groover Sid Holmes Catherine Johnson Funmi Larinde Lauren McCall Paige Mitchell Jenna Moon Katie O’Toole Brian Potts Paul Prae Greg Purser Ashley Renier Micah Rosenberger William Smith James Terry Manuel Torres Danielle Tyree Desiree White Meghan Wier Emily Williams Kevan Williams Stefan Williams Cheryl Wilson JB Wilson Marshall Yarbrough
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right side glows the newsletter for nuçi’s space, a nonprofit musicians’ support/resource center