Empowerment Magazine by sacpros

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Winter 2011 Issue Fall 2011 Issue Summer 2011 Issue Latest Issue In the Next Issue Note Contributors Submit an Article Resource WINTER 2011 >

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Welcome to the Empowerment Magazine Website! Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to promoting of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. Winter 2011 Issue

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Fall 2011 Issue

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EMPOWERMENT MAGAZINE

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If you find this magazine useful, please share with a friend! All materials on these pages are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or re-transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author/publisher. Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to the promotion of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by www.sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. If you have any questions, please e-mail contact@empowermentmagazine.org

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Current Issue

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Summer 2012 Cover Draft

Promoting Overall Wellness and Mental Health Resiliency for the Greater Sacramento

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We are excited to present to you the pd version of our Fall 2011 Issue. P2 P4

P 10

Welcome message by Amede Kyubwa, MA, MPA,Acknowledgement, Copyright & Disclaimer

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, MD

Living in the Present by Terry Zick, MA Not Alone by David Kiesz

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, LMFT (La Familia Counceling Center Inc)

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, MD

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, LMFT (La Familia Counceling Center Inc)

P 11

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson,M.D

P 13

Being Loved by Melanie Martinez

P 15

Sam’s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers

P 17

A Risk Worth Taking for Change by Janet Segall

P 19

Phommasone’s Kitchen Mushroom Tacos

P 21

Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick, MA

P 23

Resources. (Addional Resources on page 3, 9, 16, 18, 19, 21 & 22)

TABLE OF CONTENT Living in the Present by Terry Zick, MA

The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Los Angeles by Deonna Wilemme, PhD (KIDS CORNER)

P 12

Medication or Meditation? By Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator-HRC

P 14

Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW

P 16

P 18

P 20

Sam’s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario Ramirez, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, MD

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Advertisements on page 13, 17 & 22

Current Issue

P 22

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children /Cindy Thygeson,M.D Back cover page

You can order your FREE copy by simply calling us at 916 2227541 or sending an e-mail to contact@empowermentmagazine. org or click here for a list of local locations where you can pick up your FREE copy of the magazine

All materials on these pages are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or re-transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author/publisher. Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to the promotion of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by www.sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. If you have any questions, please e-mail contact@empowermentmagazine.org

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Inspirational Happiness Resiliency Advocacy Art Kids Thinking Fresh Recipe Poetry Holistic Geriatrics Toolkits Other Columns Did You Know >

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Sections of Empowerment MagazineI nspirational > Happiness > Resiliency > Advocacy > Ki

SECTIONS . Inspiring stories of recovery and empowerment . The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness . Resiliency Factory . Advocacy Corner . Kids Corner . Art Corner . Thinking Fresh and Eating Clean . Did You know That? . Recipe . Poetry Section . Holistic Holistic Approaches To Healing . Geriatrics Issues . Toolkits .

Other Columns

Resiliency > Advocacy > Kids > Art > Thinking Fresh > Did You know That? > Recipe > Poetry > Holistic > Geriatrics > Toolkits > Other Columns >

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Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D.

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Dr. Risley is the first graduate of the combined residency program in family medicine and psychiatry at UC Davis. He is a former assistant clinical professor and physician diplomat at UCD. In addition to practicing psychiatry at TCORE, he integrates family medicine and psychiatry at Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc (www.sacmedoasis.com). He lived for seven years on Sherman Way, just across the boulevard from UCDMC. Click here to read avut the ntroduction to the interview by Gail Erlandson, M.A.

Ron Risley, M.D.

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center.Clinical director and acts as the liaison to Sacramento County DHHS when working with the County, she is on the cultural Competence Committee at the County, and System Wide Committee promoting cultural competence. She is the Clinical Supervisor and Program Manager for the outpatient mental health clinic. She has been with La Familia for almost eleven years. She has a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Art Therapy and Family Therapy from Notre Dame de Namurs, Ca., and a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree from the famous California College of the Arts in Oakland. She is licensed as a marriage and family therapist (MFT) and art therapist (ATR). Bilingual in Spanish and English, she spends most of her days taking calls. At home, she is an artist and spends her time painting and doing art with her children and grandchildren.

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Special interview with Doctor Hazem Hashem on the important triangle between the physician, the patient and their psychiatric medications. Dr. Hashem is the medical director of Visions Unlimited and Wellness and Recovery Center North. He is also Chief Psychiatrist/Chief of mental health at Solano State Prison, and Board Certified in general psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatrist. Click to read

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Interviews

more Hazem Hashem, M.D. If you find this magazine useful, please share with a friend! All materials on these pages are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or re-transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author/publisher. Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to the promotion of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by www.sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. If you have any questions, please e-mail contact@empowermentmagazine.org

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Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities We print and distribute 25,000 copies every quarter. That means you have the power to reach over 50,000 homes & businesses throughout the Greater Sacramento Region when you advertise in just one issue of the Empowerment Magazine. Your ad will also be listed on www.sacpros.org, a leading Mental Health Resource Guide strengthening individuals, families and community with easily accessible information about available services in Greater Sacramento area. Empowerment Magazine is distributed to a variety of agencies, health care providers,mental health agencies and other local businesses. Please click to the link below to view some of the locations: Magazine Distribution

Advertising

Sponsorships at Three Levels

1 time

2 times

3 times

Back Cover Page (Full Color)

$750

$690

$650

Full Page (in Full Color)

$500

$475

$425

1/2 Page (in Full Color) 1/4 Page (in Full Color)

$275

$250

$215

PLATINUM SPONSOR

$500

$115

$90

SILVER SPONSOR

$275

$125

Your logo and a link to your website Your logo and a link to your website Your logo and a link to your website

1 full-page ad $125

GOLD SPONSOR

Sponsor’s link in 4 Issues

1/2 full-page ad

1/4 full-page ad

Sponsor’s link in 4 Issues

Your generous sponsorship would be also highlighted on our websites.

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Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities

We thank you for your interest and look forward to working with you. We will do our best to get you in the next publication. Our advertising rates are very affordable. We recommend that you select a size that you can easily afford to run for 4 issues or 1 full year. For more information, please call us at (916) 222 - 7541 or e-mail us at contact@empowermentmagazine.org or please complete the form below: * First name (required): * Last name (required): * E-mail address (required):

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Empowerment Magazine is distributed to a variety of agencies, health care providers and local businesses. Here are just a few of the locations: ●

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Visions Unlimited - Franklin Blvd TELECARE - Fulton Blvd Sutter Counseling Center, Howe Avenue

Wellness Recovery Center/North

Fair Oaks Psychiatric Associates - Fulton Avenue

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Dr Elvert F. Nelson Office - Coyle Avenue

Crestwood Hospital on Stockton Boulevard

Turning Point Community Programs - Viking Drive NAMI - Viking Drive Eskaton Care Center - Manzanita Avenue

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ALLMED Medical Center - Howe Avenue

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East West European Food Groceries - Manzanita

Disability Action Group - Howe Avenue

Sacramento Mental Health Treatment Center Crestwood (American Behavioral Center) on Engle Road (Carmichael)

Molina Medical Center - Marysville Blvd

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Wellness Recovery Center/South

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ublic Libray Arcade - Marconi Avenue ●

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated-Jameson Court Carmichael

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Family Discount Pharmacy-Jameson Court Carmichael,

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Bio-Data Medical Laboratories Corp - Jameson Ct, Carmichael

Heritage Oaks Hospital Sierra Vista Hospital Sutter Psychiatric Hospital

The Effort's North Highlands Multi-Service Center-North Highlands area

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Turning Point Crisis Residential Turning Point NGP/RST

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North Highlands Community Center - North Highlands

El Hogar RST

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Sacramento Family Medical Center - North Highlands

The Effort on J Street

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Western Dental Centers - Elkhorn Blvd

The Effort (Oak Park)

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All Medical Center - Elkhorn Blvd

Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc

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River Oak Center for Children -El Camino Avenue, Carmichael

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TLCS Admnistration - Fair Oaks Blvd

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T-CORE - Fite Circle

Sacramento County Bowling Green Center - Bowling Drive Sacramento P

Turning Point Pathways

County of Sacramento Department of Neighororhood Services (North County) The Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance North Highlands

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Family Dentistry - 47th Avenue

TLCS – Palmer

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ISA - 47th Avenue

TLCS – Carol's Place

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Relax Pharmacy - North Highlands

Med7 Urgent Care - Manzanita

Casa Willow (Kaiser's contracted Crisis Residential Home)

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Sacramento Regional Public Safety Training Center - McClellan

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Distributions

Dr. Abraham Tekola's Office - Windmill Way

Volunteers Of America (Shelter)

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SmileCare - Madison Avenue

HRC/RST - Watt Avenue

Salvation Army (Dawn town)

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Martins' Achievement Place, Inc. - North Highlands

UC Davis Clinic - O street

Sacramento Children Receiving Home

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Coins Laundry - North Highlands

Walgreens Pharmacy - Stockton Blvd

Sacramento Family Shelter (SAEHC)

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Guest House - A St

All About Wellness - 19th Street

Women's Refugee (SAEHC)

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Folsom Psychiatry Associates

Praise Boarding Care Home

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Planned Parenthood- North Highlands

Green Pasture Boarding Care Home

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West Coast Pharmacy - North Highlands

De Anza Auto Center (Marconi Ave)

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Imani Clinic – Oak park

Laundromat (Manzanita /Cypress

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Laundry Heaven - Elkhorn Blvd

Laundromat (Manzanita /Marconi Avenue)

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Sacramento County Human Assistance

Department. - Fulton Ave ●

KAISER's CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY

RECOVERY PROGRAM.(C.D.R.P.) - Watt Ave. ●

Sacramento Family Medical Clinic - 47th Avenue

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EMQ FamiliesFirst - Folsom Boulevard

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Pediatric Medical Associates - University Ave

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Behavioral Services - University Ave Briarwood Health Care - Lemon Hill Avenue Sacramento Family Medical Clinic - Eastern Avenue

Medical Center - Eastern Avenue YMCA - Eastern Avenue Mercy Laboratories - Coyle Avenue Radiology Associates of Sacramento Medical Group - Coyle Avenue Capitol Nephrology Medical Group - Coyle Avenue ●

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Beauty Saloon - Elkhorn Blvd Kaiser Hospital South

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California Network of mental Health

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James M. Ecerhart D.D.S Inc.

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TELECARE -West Sacramento

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Michael M. Bronshag, MD. Inc.

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Spring Medical Clinic

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Wstern Psychiatric Associates

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Center For Community Health and Well-Being, Inc.

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Lush Hair Salon

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Finger Nails Salon

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YMCA /W. St)

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Denny's Restaurant -Watt Avenue

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Sacramento County Primary Care Center

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Mental Health America of Northern California

Laundromat (Marconi/Eastern or Mission) Laundromat (Marconi/Walnut) After Care – Stockton Boulevard Sacramento Community Clinic - Del Paso Blvd Manzanita Medical Clinic - James Court Carmichael Pediatrician - James Court Camellia Women Health Center - James Court Dr Richard Taggart Office Med Center on Madison Avenue Darzell Hearing Systems Doctor Sebastian Conti Office Visions in Education on Manzanita Avenue Dr Pau R Gregory, Jr Office Care Medical Clinic ●

Fresh Produce - Madison Ave.

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Distributions â&#x2014;?

SACRAMENTO WORKS CAREER CENTER - LEMON HILL

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Contributors - Empowerment Magazine

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Empowerment Magazine Contributors

Terry Zick, M.A

Pat Hubbert

Gail Erlandson, M.A

Anne Adams

Hisham Soliman M.D M.P.H

Melanie Martinez

Eric Zuniga

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Cynthia Wakefield

Dr. Andrew Myers

Laree Washington

Contributors - Empowerment Magazine

Hazem Hashem, M.D.

Tammy Dyer, M.S.W.

Kim Navarez, M.F.T.I

Phommasone Griffith

Rosario M. Ramirez

Cindy Thygeson, M.D

David Kiesz

Barbara N. Dawson

Deonna Wilemme, PhD

Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T

RavenSong Frisella

Jennifer Markman

Ron Risley, M.D.

Janet Segall Marilyn Washington

Laura Hawkins

Christa Harmon

Dianne Ross, RN

Reginald Washington Jr.

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Thomas Hushen

Contributors - Empowerment Magazine

We would also like to thank the Wellness and Recovery Center North (WRC) for allowing us to use the tacility Questions? Contact us at contact@empowermentmagazine.org or call (916) 222路7541

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Empowerment Magazine is published quarterly online and in a print.

Issue Dates Spring Issue Summer Issue Fall Issue Winter Issue

Distribution Months

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Mar/Apr/May/June Jun/Jul/Aug/September Sept/Oct/Nov/December

Deadline – Feb 20th Deadline – May 20th Deadline – Aug 20th

Dec/Jan/Feb/March

Deadline – Nov 15th

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PR 06.30.11 PR.03.21.11 Other Updates On Facebook On Twitter On YouTube On Linkedin Fall 2011 Issue Out Now LIST YOUR EVENT IN EMPOWE >

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Announcements .Pres Release 06.30.11 .Press Release 03.21.11 .Other Updates from Empowerment Magazine .Follow Us On Facebook .Follow Us On Twitter .Follow Us On YouTube .Follow Us On Linkedin

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Photos If you find this page useful, please share with a friend! All materials on these pages are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or re-transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author/publisher. Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to the promotion of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by www.sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. If you have any questions, please e-mail contact@empowermentmagazine.org

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Winter 2011 Issue

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Winter 2011 Issue

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FALL 2011 ISSUE

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D. Click here to read this interview!

. Living in the Present by Terry Zick, M.A Click here to read this article .

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medical Affairs at Sutter Center for Psychiatry. Click here to read this article

Being Loved by Melanie Martinez. Click here to read this article

. Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers, naturopathic physician and an expert in nutrition and preventative health. Click to read this article

. Medication or Meditation? By Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator - HRC Read this article >>

People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario M. Ramirez, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area. Click here to read this article

Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer,MSW. Clickto read this article

. Not Alone by David Kiesz,

Click here to read this poeme

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center. Click here to read this interview!

Phommasone's Kitchen, Recipe for Mushroom Tacos. find out more

The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain by Deonna Wilemme, PhD. Click to read this article

Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick, M.A. Click here to read this article

A Risk Worth Taking for Change by Janet Segall. Click here to read this

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Fall 2011 Issue

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Summer 2011 Issue

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Summer 2011: Inaugural Issue of Empowerment Magazine Welcome to the first issue of The Empowerment Magazine by Amede Kyubwa, MA, MPA

Activities That Will Help You Feel Good About Yourself

The Pursuit of Contentment and Happinesss by Terry Zick M.A.

Q & A with Dr Hazem Hashem

Can someone please color me?

Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW

Working with your Psychiatrist by Gail Erlandson, M.A.

My Life with a Mental Illness by Janet L Furia

LivinResiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW (continued)

Kids Corner "No Monkey Business" by Deonna Wilemme, PhD

Did you know That?

You Are the Only One You Have by RavenSong Frisella

Eating clean ave by RavenSong Frisella by Laree Washington Q & A with Dr Hazem Hashem Resource Page

Eating clean ave by RavenSong Frisella by Laree Washington Everything you Need to Know About Mental Health Services Quina Lasagna Recipe Resource Page Back Cover page (Advertisement)

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Summer 2011 Issue

You can order your FREE copy by simply calling us at 916 222-7541 or sending an e-mail to contact@empowermentmagazine.org or click here for a list of local locations where you can pick up your FREE copy of the magazine

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Fall 2011 Issue P2

Welcome message by Amede Kyubwa, MA, MPA,Acknowledgement, Copyright & Disclaimer

TABLE OF CONTENT

Living in the Present by Terry Zick, MA

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, MD

Living in the Present by Terry Zick, MA Not Alone by David Kiesz

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, LMFT (La Familia Counceling Center Inc)

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, MD

P 10

The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Los Angeles by Deonna Wilemme, PhD (KIDS CORNER)

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, LMFT (La Familia Counceling Center Inc)

P 12

Medication or Meditation? By Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator-HRC

P 11

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson,M.D

P 14

Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW

P 13

Being Loved by Melanie Martinez

P 15

Sam’s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers

P 17

A Risk Worth Taking for Change by Janet Segall

P 19

Phommasone’s Kitchen Mushroom Tacos

P 21

Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick, MA

P 16

P 18

P 20

Sam’s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers g People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario Ramirez, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, MD

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New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children /Cindy Thygeson,M.D Back cover page

contact@empowermentmagazine.org or click here for a list of local locations where you can pick up your FREE copy of the Empowerment Magazine

P 23

Resources. (Addional Resources on page 3, 9, 16, 18, 19, 21 & 22) Advertisements on page 13, 17 & 22

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We are thrilled to bring you this exciting first issue of the Empowerment Magazine.We have launched quarterly magazine to provide a forum for voices that promote overall wellness and mental health resiliency for greatE Sacramento. We hope that you enjoy this issue, which includes a special interview with Dr. Hashem and a variety of spiring and empowering stories along with powerful tools and techniques that will help you discover your own greatnE We believe that you will find much of this information of interest. Please let us know if you have sug gestions, or ideas about what you want to see in future issues. The Empowerment Magazine is a publication of SACPROS.ORG, a Sacramento Mental Health Website Resource Guide strengthening individuals, families and community with easily accessible information about available se vices in Greater Sacramento area. Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 214864, Sacramento, CA 95821. Phone: (916) 222 7541 E-mail: contact@empowermentmagazine.corg Website: mwww.empowermentmagazine.corg We look forward to reading your articles, and hearing your comments, suggestions, and ideas. Please write t at contact@empowermentmagazine.corg Amede Kyubwa, M.A, M.P.A.

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EMPOWERMENT MAGAZINE Promoting Overall Wellness and Mental Health Resiliency for the Greater Sacramento

TABLE OF CONTENT Welcome to the Fall 2011 issue of Empowerment Magazine

Not Alone

Living in the Present

4, 5

A Risk Worth Taking for Change

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D.

6, 7, 20

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, LMFT (LaFamilia Inc)

8,9

The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain

Wellness Toolkit

Medication or Meditation?

Being Loved by Melanie

Hope as Resiliency Factor

Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body & Mind Did You Know that?

15,16

3, 9, 16, 18, 22

People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work

Recipe for Mushroom Tacos

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children 11, 22 Resources

Living in the Present by Terry Zick, MA Living in the Present Brings Increased Happiness and Contentment How can we increase our level of happiness? There is a rich banquet of strategies and tools to help us get there. As I read in one book, unhappiness is easy—easy, because we continue to think and feel the way we always have, which is the easy way. However, the ability to feel happier can become the easy way. What would happen if we committed to the tools that change our thoughts and feelings toward happiness? Simply put—we would be happier. In the last issue, we learned that if we think we will only be happier in the future when something changes, we have missed an opportunity to be happy NOW. Oh, maybe I will have a moment or two of happiness when I get what I wanted finally (“Yeah, joy!!!”) . . . until I focus on the next thing that I think I want or need that I think will make me happy. When I continue to focus on what is missing, I don’t feel that joy anymore. When the mind and thought stop yearning for what I want and stop complaining about what I don’t have, in my experience, what happens? Then I experience a more peaceful mind and wellbeing. That potential for joy exists all the time, whether or not I have what I yearn for. Our genetic makeup affirms that we can be happier (some studies say only 50% of our happiness potential is genetic). This means that no matter our past, our genes support a potential for increased happiness. When we realize that we have CHOICE when it comes to our thoughts and our activities, then we empower our life in happier ways. As we apply new strategies and develop a habit of healthier thoughts, it becomes easier to experience happiness. It becomes easier because our amazing brain will help us out, and has the potential to “rewire” itself. The new science of neuroplasticity informs us that the brain and nervous system have the ability to change as a result of new input. The most widely recognized forms of plasticity are improvements in learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage—to name a few. This wonderful ability to rewire begins with changing our thoughts and feelings. Keep in mind that it is the tools and strategies which hold the power to transform our life. Empowered commitment to change our thoughts and behavior will translate into increased contentment. In the last issue, we reinforced that we can increase our happiness quotient by the following strategies:

1. Develop an attitude of gratitude. 2. Pay attention to our thoughts and choose more optimistic or happiness-producing thoughts. 3. Seize the moment to be happy rather than waiting for life to change to be happy. Two more perspectives are: Live in the present moment more often. Why will being in the present moment increase my happiness? Consider what often happens when we live in the past or in the future.

As we revisit the past, we may replay unpleasant memories or traumas (often triggering anger, fear, sadness, anxiety) or we may wish we could have done it better (often triggering regret) or we may wonder how great a life we would have had if things had gone better (often triggering a victim stance, or lack of power and lack of control feelings). As we look at the future while focusing on possible future problems, we might mentally envision a possible unhappy life that isn’t real. We are just creating worst-case scenarios that haven’t happened yet (often triggering fear, worry, anxiety, lack of power thoughts, lack of control thoughts, and pessimistic thinking). The present moment, without nonproductive thoughts and feelings about the past and future, offers increased peace of mind. The present moment offers wisdom, better problem-solving, clarity, and transformation. When our attention is in the here and now, we are less distracted, more focused, and more content. And, to add to the list of benefits—being in the present offers relaxation, effective problem-solving, and compassion for self and others. Much has been written on numerous strategies for living in the present, mindfulness living, and the power of now. The benefits are well documented. Experience life from your heart. Studies show that we change our brain and physiology when we feel a moment in our heart. The heart has its own wisdom, its own “brain” or its own intelligence. Research tells us that our heart has its own complex nervous system. We already live, to some degree, from the heart. Think of the phrases we commonly say that connect us to our heart’s wisdom or compassion such as “bless your heart,” “I did it from the heart,” “my heartfelt appreciation,” “follow your heart,” or “it touched my heart.” Studies show we can reduce stress, anxiety, fear, anger, and depression by practicing heart-based strategies. Through connecting with the heart, our mind will follow our heart and transform our experience. In addition, when we engage with our heart, we prompt our heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration to return to balance. Also, our heart becomes in sync with our brain, resulting in more empowered and healthier benefits. We can transform the present moment when we live from the heart. The heart creates a shift by its ability to heal, forgive, and renew. The heart gives wise counsel. The heart brings us home to our truest self. The heart allows the mind to listen to the silence. The heart connects us spiritually. Here are a few of the countless heart-centering strategies: 1. Put your hand over your heart and connect with your heartbeat (seemingly hear it or feel it beating). 2. Choose a thought of gratitude, and feel the gratitude deeply in the heart. 3. Look for things to be in awe and wonder over (allow yourself to say “ahhhhhhhh,” “mmmmmmmmm,” and “wow!”).

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conducted by Gail Erlandson, MA. I visited Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc. to interview Dr . Ron Risley on a hot afternoon in late July. The Oasis is aptly named. There are bright greens and blues in the comfortably furnished waiting room. The sound of the water from the fountains relaxes you as you wait. Art surrounds you. Sensitive touches also include books for children. The Oasis is the dream of Dr. Risley and several others interested in making a big step toward improving mental health services. Ron Risley is the first graduate of UC Davis’ acclaimed combined residency training program in family medicine and psychiatry. There are many accolades for Ron, but perhaps the most significant are those I’ve heard from his patients. Laura: “Dr. Risley has made psychiatric care available to me. I had been stable with the County and that was why I was eliminated. I went cold turkey off of 250 mg. of Effexor. I could have died. I became hard-core depressed. I get what I need from Dr. Risley.” Robert: “Dr. Risley has been a lifesaver to me. I haven’t had any medical insurance for about 7 years. In 2001, when I was working, 160 lbs came down on my head from a distance of 20 feet. I suffer from chronic pain and multiple injuries. Dr. Risley is the first doctor that actually listened to me and examined me thoroughly. He is helping me with the problems I have. He is awesome.” Nora: “Dr. Risley is a special doctor that listens to my concerns and helps me develop a plan of treatment that we mutually agree on. I feel empowered working with him. He is very understanding because he has lived experience.” Carlo: “He’s a doctor I can trust.”

Gail: Who are the people who significantly influenced you in your life? Risley: The first person that comes to mind is my godfather. He was an inventor and was really interested in science and technology. When I was barely old enough to read, he bought me a subscription to Scientific American magazine. I would look at the pictures and I would kind of read what it said without really understanding much. It set the stage for some of my interests. He had a garage just full of junk which I always called Joyland. Then growing up I lived across the street from a guy by the name of Bob Herman who designed the first commercial minicomputer. He would give me computer parts and I would fiddle with them. Eventually I became an engineer. I did a lot of computer design stuff.

Gail: That’s incredible, and now you are a medical doctor, how did you transition? Risley: I really loved the computer stuff, but I got more into the esoteric stuff like cryptography. It is not a field where you can spend a lot of time talking with other people. So it is kind of a closed world. I ran a consulting firm and spent a lot of time with machines. I started feeling like I wanted to work more with people. I really wanted to directly affect people’s lives. I thought that I could be a farmer or a doctor and the farming sounded like a lot of hard, dangerous work. The really interesting part is that I was sitting in a pizza parlor with a girlfriend and she said, “You know you really seem like you want to make a change.” I said , “Well, what I would like to do is go to medical school, but I can’t do that!” and, as I said it, even before she said, “Why not?”, I said, “Why not?” So I did my whole undergraduate program over again. I went to San Diego City College. Then I transferred to UCSD and got a degree in literature and writing. I read all the stuff that said once you get into medical school all you will be doing is science. I found that in doctoring my communication training is more valuable than organic chemistry. Knowing how to communicate with patients and other doctors has served me well. I had this vision of medicine as sitting down with someone and talking about what was bothering them, and then coming up with a plan for dealing with it. Instead, I found medical school was a world where you are constantly pressured to see people and to focus on what medicine you are going to give them. The only people who were actually sitting down talking to their patients were psychiatrists. I really had my focus on primary care medicine. It was what I wanted to do, but I saw that psychiatry was much closer to my vision.

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Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center Interviewer: Your mission statement states that you Son said, “I don’t care”; and Dad stayed. He became honest, he had to cry, it became real. He said, “There has never been anyone to help work in collaborative partnerships. Please explain what type of collaborative specific to mental health? us.” It was pretty awesome to be able to [do] that; even if I only had Response: Recently our collaborators have been very focused along with the mental health services in trying to reach out to diverse cultures in the community. They asked us to conduct a focus group for Latinos (speaking Spanish only) to ask them what were their needs concerning suicide prevention, and so we hoped to do that focus group for them, and then we gave that information to them because as you know people that don’t speak the language are fearful to go to larger groups. And so we approached them. As we said, the reason they are not [going is] because they resist large groups. We have had a program in the past, and the program was to learn about what works. And we found out that if we have little groups in the gym they will come. And it isn’t because they don’t know, they know and they want to participate because they have information, but they are fearful to go to big groups, thinking they won’t understand. So we have had groups with the Spanish-speaking, with Hmong-speaking. Those are the two main ones but certainly when we had the Oasis Program we had seven different capabilities of identifying these different groups that we could work with. African American was one, LGBT was one. [There were] many different ones we could really focus [on] and find out from them what were their needs.

Interviewer: That sounds great. How do you help people access their strengths and build on positives?

that one person it was great. And in conjunction with my mental health groups we work with the Family Resource Center here. They offer parenting groups, in Spanish and in Hmong, and different core groups under BFRC offer a variety of services. The center is not just exclusive to mental health; we refer our mental health [clients] to our whole program. We actually have a group of parents that contribute to all the various different programs. They meet as an advisory committee, and they meet monthly.

Interviewer: In what ways do you reduce isolation and hopelessness? Response: I’ll tell you what, for 39, 40 years, however long we’ve been in business, the original philosophy did not fit all cases. We found out that we need to find out from the families what they need and, most of all, go into the communities. If I take you on a tour here you’re not going to see an office with a couch. We do in-home, school support services; we reach out to them rather than making them come to us. That is what we have done the entire time we have had La Familia. We like to become allies with that family, and we provide case management services to help them to connect with the community resources. There may be a special group within the community that can help them so that it will get them out of that isolation.

Interviewer: How do you empower individuals? Response: Sometimes it is hard because they sometimes have hit

the end of their rope and they don’t know what to do. We always like to start from their strengths, and so we identify what strengths they Response: We believe in the same philosophy as the Mental have had in the past and then we start to build on those. We find that little by little as we build on those strengths we can help them recogHealth Department or Behavior Health Services in providing family-driven services, and family-driven services really mean nize them. That is what really works the very best. that we need to hear the voice of the family and what is it that Interviewer: I read something interesting about individuthey need. What is it from their perspective, not from us as als having an opportunity to become stakeholders. How experts; they are the experts in their family. They know what does this work? has worked in the past and we need to help them use those [methods], and maybe they have lost it somewhere; we can Response: The stakeholders are actually the public. They’re the help find it again because the whole purpose is for us to get ones who will come to our work groups when we are doing focus fired. We are not there to step in and run their lives, so we groups to identify what it is in the community that is needed. Somewant to hear from them and find out what has worked. Maybe times it is providing outreach to many different diverse areas here. if there are some community services that they haven’t been Parents are stakeholders as well because we invite them to be inable to utilize, to maybe bring them in to help them to voice volved with the parents’ advisory committee and any families involved what it is they need. in mental health programs here are encouraged to participate in that group. Interviewer: What are some of the groups that you

have for non-English speaking people that you have Interviewer: Do you have an employment center here? How do not already mentioned? you motivate people with mental health challenges to transition Response: The mental health department itself. I am an art therapist myself, one of the many hats that I wear. As an art therapist I know that I can work with many different languages because art therapy is a universal language, and you can go right past that expressive language of the verbal into the expressive language of the heart, so we have groups in Spanish here or Hmong, I mean they come in whenever they need it. I just did a grievement group, and there was a Spanishspeaking dad and he never received grievement service in Sacramento because there was nothing available. Even though my group is for kids, I invited him. Dad was just kind of standing around, and I asked, “Would you like to stay?” And he said he didn’t think his son would want him to, so I asked the son, “What would you think if Dad stayed?”

into wanting to have gainful employment?

Response: We do have a One-Stop Career Center here at our family resource center. We do have families that come through here, first of all looking for a job, and we find that many of them do have challenges that they are dealing with, and one of them may be a mental health issue. If we really get a sense that that is something that affects their ability to find employment, then we work with them to be able to at least help evaluate that this is the case and that there are additional resources that can help them. We really encourage them to connect with some community resources to address those challenges. Many times they are not going to accept that, so it may take several times of them coming back. I think they kind of get a sense that once they are looking for a job and they go for

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The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Los Angeles by Deonna Wilemme, PhD My Birthday Trip Have you ever been to Six Flags? Have you ever seen Tweety Bird and Bugs Bunny? I have! My birthday was on June 9th. My family and I were on our way to Six Flags. I was so excited about the trip. It was my first time going to Six Flags Magic Mountain. I was 10 years old, and I had never been to Six Flags. It was also my first time riding on an airplane.

The Plane Trip While on the plane, I played around with my iPod. I was listening to a popular song that had a nice beat. It was my favorite song. My mom was sitting next to me because I was scared of the plane ride. My brother, Ted, told me to turn the volume down on my iPod because it was too loud. I told him that the music was loud because I didn’t want to hear the roar of the engine. I just wanted to get to Six Flags as soon as possible. I was happy that Los Angeles was close to Sacramento.

Arriving in Los Angeles The flight attendant asked, “Did you know that this airplane is the Six Flags Airplane?” I replied, “No!” A few minutes later, I asked, “Is that why Tweety Bird is painted on the wing?” “Soon we will be in Los Angeles!” Mom yelled. We had family members waiting for us at the airport. After we left the airport, my Aunt Rita drove us to Six Flags. We had to drive 2 miles to get to there. On the way, we dropped our bags off at Uncle Neal’s house.

Meeting Bugs Bunny As soon as we arrived at Six Flags, we went swimming. After swimming, I saw Bugs Bunny. He looked exactly like I imagined. He said, “What’s up, doc?” I replied, “Take a picture with me, Bugs!” Bugs said, “Yeah, doc!” I quickly ran to the door to pay, but Bugs said, “You can have a picture with me for free.”

Adventures at Six Flags Finally, we rode on a ride called Batman. Then we rode the Superman. After the rides, I went with my mom to the souvenir shop and bought T-shirts, cups, and a glass picture of Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird. It was getting late; therefore, we went to the concession stand and bought popcorn, funnel cakes, and cotton candy. After taking a picture with Bugs Bunny, riding the best rides, and eating until we were sick, we headed for the hills. That was the best birthday trip I ever had. My next trip is to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

PUZZLE WORLD

Author’s Bio Dr. Wilemme is a product of the Stockton and Sacramento School Districts. She worked in the mental health field in the beginning of her career. She was employed by Turning Point Community Programs and then later went into education. She is currently employed by Memphis City Schools. She was a classroom teacher for many years. She now works as an administrator.

Medication or Meditation? by Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator-HRC The answer is BOTH! While prescription drugs continue to be the most common form of relieving mental health “symptoms,” they do not actually contribute to the healing of the “cause” of these symptoms. Finding the right combination of medication to manage our mental health symptoms can be a challenge, one that I am sure we all have experienced. Every day we are faced with external life stressors. Sometimes it seems that these stressors all happen at once, only to leave us with racing thoughts, anxiety and increased depression, and most of all a feeling of being overwhelmed! Those of us who are mental health consumers tend to easily get overwhelmed due to the nature of our human condition and mental illness. On top of our own life stressors, there is always something negative being broadcast on radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. All this negativity creates and feeds ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts).

There are many great benefits of meditation. Meditation is a time of silence, a time to clear the mind from all of our problems. It does not make the problems go away; it simply allows us to be better equipped to deal with them. To get significant benefits from meditation, one should meditate for 15-20 minutes at the same time. Meditating two times a day—morning and evening—is the best way to begin. I have listed below some of the surprising benefits of this practice that you may not know about!

1. Reduced Heart Rate: Normalization of High Blood Pressure Heart rates and high blood pressures have been found to fall during meditation. The effect tends to persist even when not meditating (in those who have been practicing meditation daily).

2. Perfect Rest: Physical Rest and Relaxation

The state of consciousness attained during meditation is considered to be the deepest possible rest and relaxation there is for both body and mind. Experiments have shown The good news is that there are coping that the overall average breathing reduction skills that help us manage daily stress, rate shows a deeper state of rest and peace depression, and anxiety. One great cop- of mind during meditation. The meditator is able to maintain this perfect physical rest/ ing tool for “life” is meditation! Please relaxation even in activities after meditation. understand that I believe that medicaYou become calmer and more relaxed, and tion is a gift from the universe, and in can experience the activities you participate many instances, it allows us to have a in with more clarity and focus.

better quality of life.

Preventative medicine is progressing, and medical doctors and psychiatrists everywhere are embracing alternative practices as a way of healing the body and preventing disease. Many of these practices help us to manage our “persistent” mental health symptoms.

3. Reduced Stress Stress, as we all know, is a psychologically agitated state which is the opposite of rest and relaxation. Cortisol (a hormone produced by the body) is released in response to stress. Cortisol levels are high when a person is highly anxious or under stress. Physiologists have found that during and after meditation there are lower levels of cortisol produced by the body, which means less anxiety!

Thomas Hushen is a Service Coordinator and SacPort Instructor at Human Resource Consultants (HRC)

www.hrcrst.org rather than without for peace and comfort. Meditation tends to reduce the need for us to self-medicate, and allows us to see the world differently with a clear mind. 6. Relief from Insomnia

Many group members are “amazed” at the level of deep peace they are able to feel after meditation. They report that they are able to absorb the material and 4. Increased Creativity As you practice daily meditation, you will find support from others more easily as a result! In conjunction with meditation, your level of creativity is enhanced. Once breathing exercises will help to regulate there is balance of our mind and body, we your breathing by simply inhaling through have replaced negative perceptions with your nose and exhaling through your positive ones and are now ready to experimouth. ence an increase in creativity. Creativity in Here is what meditation WILL do for you itself is another great coping skill! without ANY adverse side effects! Breathe in calmness and peace, and exhale the negative thoughts that are 5. Reduced Need to Self-Medicate The Benefits of Meditation racing through your mind! Is it really that Some people resort to using alcohol and As a mental health consumer myself, simple? Yes! You will find that even after drugs more when they experience depresand working with clients at Human Re- sion and anxiety, trying to escape the trouyour first experience in meditation and source Consultants (HRC), I have seen bles and symptoms they have by selfdeep breathing exercises, you will truly firsthand the results of this powerful medicating. When we get overloaded, it’s “feel” the difference! practice. time to look within I do take prescription medications for conditions that require it, but it alone sometimes is just not enough to help me deal with life and the challenges it brings. Meditation is a valuable practice that helps create a balance of body and mind and brings harmony to one’s entire “being.”

Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW Authoring this section for the Empowerment Magazine has quickly turned into a huge blessing for me. I am delighted to know there are so many of us dedicated to infusing ourselves and our community with strength and well-being. However, due to a series of sad events that have transpired since the last publishing, I find I am struggling to find the right words to say. While my vision for this segment is to be positive and uplifting, I am also keenly aware that life is hard and sometimes very painful. So I find myself digging deeper in my quest to bring us all a little closer to realizing our own resilient potential. Wikipedia reports Psychological Resilience as the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. So what precisely is this “positive capacity” that gives us the strength to try one more time when really all we want to do is give up? In my last article I mentioned a number of factors that contribute to resiliency such as spirituality, adequate support, and the ability to see one‟s problems as solvable. And I also talked about hope. Hope is the spark that ignites the process of change.

flooding through my despair. Instead of dying, I learned how to live with hope as my guiding light. When things get tough, as they do for all of us, I am able to look at the life I have lived since that day and know that whatever I need to walk through, it is worth it. By living instead of dying I get to experience so much joy that I would have completely missed. One of the brightest lights in my life is my grandson, who was born after the death of his father. I have a close, loving relationship with him today that I would have completely missed. I have come to a place of recovery through hope and faith, and no longer feel the overwhelming depression that had haunted me throughout my life until that moment of complete despair. I no longer live in the pain of the past, but in the hope of the future. I realize just how terribly my death by suicide would have affected the people I most love, especially my grandson who is now 24 years old and who has been able to see his father through my eyes. I know today that when emotional pain comes calling that I can have faith that it will pass. I know the only way to get through it is to go through it rather than over, under, or around it. Then it is behind me and I don‟t have to meet it again around the corner.

In my life, hope came when I saw others overcoming the same obstacles I had been struggling with for so long. I recall the story of a woman who was my dear friend some years back. She carried with her an energy that just naturally attracted those who were seeking spiritual strength. She radiated love and compassion, and her eyes always twinkled. To know her was to love her. To know her well was to understand her miracle. You see, years before she had pushed a shopping cart around downtown Sacra- Life is challenging, but there is so much good in living each day as mento, wearing every piece of clothing she owned, and talking to it comes, understanding through faith and hope that each challenge is worth meeting in order to get to the next happiness, which things that only she could see. may be only a moment away. To come from such despair to Once she overcame her difficulties she carried with her a powerful where I am now, embracing the realities of life and knowing nothing is worth dying prematurely for, I can only describe as „true gift that cannot be learned through formal education, professional freedom.‟” experience, or therapeutic intervention. She had the power of example and with that the gift of hope. The hope is this: “If she can As our conversation came to an end, I asked my friend if she was do it, so can I” and “if I can do it, so can you.” Every scary shame- able to turn her life around all by herself. She replied “Absolutely ful place I had been, she had been; but more importantly, she not. I had to reach out for help and then be willing to accept the help that was offered to me. I had reached out for help before but wasn‟t there anymore. had not been willing to accept what was offered. This time I really This past month has not been an easy one for the people in my listened and took the suggestions offered and things got better.” life that I care about. We have all been reminded of the pain caused by the loss of hope. We attended the funerals of two peo- To anyone reading this article, I want to remind you that ple, both of whom took their own lives. Although I was not espe- “hopeless” is just a feeling and feelings are not facts. Feelings cially close to either of them, I was there to support those they left pass if given time. Please do not give up before your miracle arbehind. rives. Your moment of “true freedom” may be closer that you think. If you are hurting today, please tell someone. As human I have spent the days since then trying to better understand the beings, we are not meant to carry our burdens alone. No matter depth of pain that comes from the loss of hope because I know what the voice in your head says, you do matter, life can get betthat someone reading this article will be standing on the edge of the cliff trying to decide if it is worth it to even try anymore. If that ter, and help is available. is you, please keep reading this article. I have another dear friend who made a very serious suicide attempt some years back after the death of her adult son. She talks about the hopelessness of that moment and about being thoroughly convinced that her family and friends would be better off without her. She was very close to the edge but then something happened that changed her mind. Let me have her tell you in her own words: “I thought I heard the voice of my son, who had died about ten years before, pleading with me not to take my life. Whether I actually „heard‟ his voice I cannot say, but I felt hope

Author’s Bio Tammy received her MSW from CSUS in 2007. She specializes in Mental Health and is committed to the Consumer Movement. She believes strongly in the Recovery Model and is committed to helping our community overcome misconceptions that lead to the stigmatization of persons with mental health issues. She is currently employed by Consumers Self Help as their Clinical Director where she enjoys teaching therapeutic classes. She is proud mother of two adult sons. Her passion is photographing blossoms.

Further steps you can take to prevent diabetes include maintaining a healthy weight, exercising and modifying your diet to include select supplements. Sam’s Club has many of the products you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle including fitness equipment, a fresh selection of nutritious foods and dietary supplements. With diabetes, it is important to also include magnesium. Dietary sources of magnesium include green, leafy vegetables, meats, starches, grains and nuts and milk, all of which can be found at your local Sam’s Club. Several dietary surveys show that a large portion of adults do not meet the recommended daily allowance for magnesium which is 320 mg per day for women and 420 mg per day for men.

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In a study published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism researchers report magnesium supplementation improves sensitivity to insulin in overweight individuals. Supplements of magnesium for six months improved two out of three measures of insulin sensitivity, compared with placebo. Blood sugar levels, as measured by fasting levels of glucose in the blood, improved by about 7 percent. Problem: Cardiovascular disease is a major concern. As the leading cause of death in our country, nearly everyone knows someone who has been impacted by heart disease. This year, about 1.2 million Americans will suffer a heart attack, and about 452,000 of them will die as a result. Solution: Maintain a healthy lifestyle with products and services available at Sam’s Club. A central objective in any heart healthy program must be to achieve a healthy weight and maintain it. Even a small amount of weight loss can lower blood pressure and improve blood sugar levels. Another way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease is to incorporate a regular, moderate exercise program. It is not necessary to run marathons, you just need to make sure that each day you make a commitment to moving your body through an exercise program you can stick with over the long-term. Changing your diet can help as well. Our standard American diet is contributing greatly to our national obesity and reduced heart health. I recommend a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fruit and healthy oils like olive oil. All the ingredients you need to attain this diet can be found at Sam’s Club, where fresh produce and heart-healthy fish are staples. Building your daily dietary habits around plantrich food sources will enhance your energy and can add years to your life. Additionally, I recommend that you support healthy blood pressure and vascular integrity. Increase Nitric Oxide levels through exercise and antioxidant consumption to help maintain blood pressure in the normal range. Conclusion While Americans face many potential risks to both mental and physical health, a holistic approach to health can effectively manage overlapping health concerns as described here. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle through simple steps can help prevent health problems in children and adults, as well as contribute to a healthy body and mind.

Dr. Andrew Myers is a naturopathic physician and an expert in nutrition and preventative health. He is author of the books Simple Health Value and Health is Wealth. Learn more about Dr. Myers and read his advice on skin health, weight management and other health concerns by visiting

samsclub.com/healthyliving.

Cindy Tuttle provides spiritual retreats for family members of adults with mental illness and consumers. These nondenominational retreats provide a time and space to reflect on Wellness and Recovery Centers on Marconi Avenue our purpose in life, our holiness, and how love is with us each and Franklin Boulevard provide on-going support groups that day. You can contact Cindy at cindytuttle08@comcast.net or visit her website www.cindytuttletheauthor.com are free and open to all Sacramento County residents 18+

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

years of age. Both Centers also offer medication support services referred to them by Sacramento County Adult Access. The centers are a supportive place that honor diversity and encourage individuals to reach their highest potential. For more information contact:

> Wellness and Recovery Center /North: 3815 Marconi Ave Ste # 1 Sacramento, CA 95821

PH: 916-485-4175 Fax: 916-485-2673 or

> Wellness and Recovery Center /North: 7000 Franklin Blvd Ste 110 Sacramento, CA 95823.

PH: 916-394-9195 Fax: 916-392-2827

”My

hope is to offer a peaceful and fun environment where people can experience their own sacredness and share their challenges and how they have overcome them. My vision is to provide a place where people will walk away with a sense of hope and realize how precious and holy they are and have some practical spiritual tools to take home with them to create their own spiritual “ “

www.cindytuttletheauthor.com

People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario M. Ramirez, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area Millions of Americans receive disability benefits from Social Security and there could be good news for many of those who want to work. A free and voluntary program called Ticket to Work gives individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security disability benefits access to meaningful employment while maintaining control over benefit choices. Ed Bairos, a farmer and mechanic, went back to the work he loved with the help of the Ticket program. He began receiving Social Security disability benefits after suffering from severe arthritis, complicated by a knee injury that would require 20 surgeries. He was concerned about losing the cash payments and health care he needed to survive and worried that employers might not want to hire him. Then Bairos learned about the Ticket to Work program when he received a notice in the mail from Social Security. The notice was a “ticket” that Bairos could use with an employment network of his choosing. Employment networks are organizations that offer specialized services such as career counseling, job search assistance, vocational rehabilitation and training. Bairos decided to use his ticket with an employment network and returned to work. He continued to receive health care and cash benefits because of work incentives, which are special considerations that make it easier for beneficiaries to explore whether going back to work is right for them. Pleased with Bairos’ industry knowledge and skills as a farm manager, his employer gave him a promotion and a raise. Now he is self-sufficient, working for another division within the company. Bairos earns more money than he would have by relying solely on disability benefits. By using his Ticket, Bairos’ medical reviews were put on hold and he is eligible to receive Medicare coverage for up to eight and a half years after discontinuing his disability payments. “Returning to work has made me whole again, especially being able to work in the area that I love. My self-esteem was at its lowest when I wasn’t working and on disability. Returning to work not only improved my self-worth but also my financial wealth. The Ticket to Work program and the ability to keep my Medicare was the reason I was able to return to work,” he said. If you receive Social Security or SSI benefits due to disability, are between 18 and 64 years old and want to work, getting started is easy. Visit www.socialsecurity.gov/work for more information on the Ticket to Work program and work incentives. You also may call (866) 968- 7842 (TDD (866) 833-2967) to learn how going back to work may affect your benefits.

Questions and Answers Answer:

Answer:

Rosario M. Ramirez is a Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area

The Center for Counseling and Diagnostic Services located on the campus of California State University, Sacramento provides quality career and Rehabilitation Counseling with a friendly staff and environment. There are approximately 12-14 counseling sessions (50 minutes each) and THERE IS NO FEE THIS FALL SEMESTER!! FREE. Individuals with disabilities and others can receive vocation testing, career counseling and personal counseling as needed. For appointment and information, please 916 278– 6252 or visit their website http:// edweb.csus.edu/ccds/

(continued from page 7) When I went to look for a doctor, here I was on the inside, about as inside as you could get, and I felt the same anxiety. You end up making a lot of calls. There is a shortage of psychiatrists. It is hard to find someone who is taking new patients. Here I was on the inside and it was an intimidating, expensive, scary system. Imagine what it must be for someone who has no connections? My co-conspirator, Sonny Cline, and I have similar backgrounds. We are both trained in primary care as well as psychiatry. At the Oasis, we believe strongly that we have something to offer people and people have something to offer us. That is what it is all about. We have a relationship with the patient, we don’t have a relationship with the insurance companies. At the Oasis patients are invested in their own care. We try to keep our rates as low as possible, but it is still a significant amount of money. They are buying it, they are the customer. They have certain rights to expect that people with private insurance or the county system don’t feel that they have. A consumer will go to the doctor and say “well I really want this,” and the doctor says, “well, the insurance company isn’t going to pay me for that, so you are not going to get it.” I often say it is like having an insurance executive there in the room with you when you are getting an exam. We have people who come to the Oasis with insurance because they like the one on one, people without insurance come here because they don’t have a lot of options. I have a couple people who have followed me from the County and say it’s worth $79 bucks a month to not have to deal with the appointment system and not to have to worry about getting a different doctor every time. Some people think I am really critical of the county system, and actually I am not. I have worked in that system since 1997, and I think it is remarkable what they do with the resources they have, but there is a huge bureaucratic overhead. We are different from the county system, but we can never be a substitute. We just provide an alternative for some. Gail: What do you think the future of psychiatry looks like? Risley: There will be a lot more accessibility to Mental Health Services and our knowledge of the brain will greatly increase. We know so much more about the brain than we did 15 or 20 years ago, and it is still nothing. It is a growing field. We used to say that when people got sick, that they have “fever.” Now we look at fever as a symptom of a larger problem of different illnesses. So I think the day will come when we look at depression or anxiety or psychosis as symptoms of a broad spectrum of illnesses instead of taking one treatment modality. Gail: What brings you the greatest joy in practicing medicine? Risley: What brings me the greatest joy is seeing people who have resigned themselves to being sick, turn a corner and experience a sense of empowerment. To see them make a positive change is never just about their medication. It is never just about getting a therapist, it is never just about finding a resource like the Wellness Center. But it is a combination of using many opportunities and resources. Then one day they wake up and say, “I am a human being, I am a productive person, and I can bring joy to others.” They come here and they tell me that. Then I realize that I have been a part of that transformation. What can you do in life that brings more joy than that?

Gail has a Master of Arts Degree in Pastoral Ministry from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Portland in Interdisciplinary Studies. Gail taught at Loretto High School for eleven years and has served on staff at Loaves and Fishes. Gail is a mentor at the Wellness and Recovery Center North.

Welcome to the fall issue of the Empowerment Magazine, a quarterly online and print publication dedicated to promoting overall wellness and mental health resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. Just a couple of months ago, we launched our inaugural issue and I am very pleased to share that Empowerment Magazine is going strong! We remain committed to our mission of creating a new and positive image for people with lived experience of mental health challenges while helping to eliminate some of the prevailing stereotypes about mental illness. If you have an empowering/inspiring story to share, ideas for Empowerment Magazine, or would like to send comments or feedback about the magazine, we would love to hear from you. To contact us, send an email to contact@empowermentmagazine.org or call us at 916 222-7541. Sincerely, Amede Kyubwa, MA, MPA

Special thanks to: Marilyn Washington Terry Zick, M.A. Cindy Thygeson, M.D (Sutter Center for Psychiatry) Melanie Martinez Dr. Andrew Myers (Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club) Anne Adams Phommasone Griffith Deonna Wilemme, PhD. Janet Segall Thomas Hushen Kunde Kyubwa The Infinite Life Project

Hisham Soliman, MD, MPH Gail Erlandson, MA Rosario M. Ramirez, (Social Security Administration) Tammy Dyer. M.S.W. Ron Risley, M.D. Lynn Keune, LMFT (LaFamilia Counseling Center) David Kiesz Eric Zuniga (Inside front cover picture) Pat Hubbert Christa Harmon Barbara Dawson (Front and back cover pictures) Cynthia Wakefield

A big thank you to Wellness and Recovery Center-North (WRC) for continuing to allow us to use the facility.

If you are looking for some help for yourself or someone you know, you can call

24hours a day, seven days a

week and be connected to many social services. Assistance is also available in other languages. Can't dial Call or Email:

Empowerment Magazine does not necessarily endorse the views, services or products advertised in this magazine. The opinions expressed in the articles are solely of the author (s). We are not responsible for omissions or errors. Reproduction in whole or in part for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author or publisher

4. Bring the empowering five senses into your heart. Focus on the pleasant smells such as fragrant rain or popcorn. Look at the shapes, colors, and details of flower petals. Listen to the sound of the wind in the trees and the laughter of children. Touch a velvety rose petal and the texture of tree bark. Truly taste the creamy, smooth, coolness of ice cream or the crunchy texture of an apple. 5. Stop to really feel heart connections in special moments with your cat or dog, with the beautiful eyes of an infant, with the wonder and beauty of nature, with emotional aspects of music, and similar moments. 6. Focus the inhale and exhale of the breath in your heart. When we become more self-aware of our thoughts and feelings, we begin to see that so often our thoughts were the problem (along with the emotions that thoughts bring up). With attention to the present, we feel liberated from non-productive thought and we find a way out of our unhappiness. As we become more focused in our present moment with our thoughts and incorporate the feelings of our heart, we have a powerful approach to increasing happiness. It is a strategy that works through practicing the techniques. Commit to the practice and you will reap the rewards. I believe in you wholeheartedly. If you want to know more about the magnificence of the heart and what it can do, do a Google search for heart intelligence or explore www.heartmath.org.

Author’s Bio Terry has a master of arts degree in counseling from University of Colorado–Denver. She has 30 years' experience working with adults, children, and family preservation. She has worked in settings such as nonprofits, schools, alcohol/drug programs, and the justice system. Her role as counselor, consultant, and trainer maintains a focus on spirituality, health, and wellness. Terry currently facilitates groups and supports individualized mentoring at the Wellness and Recovery Center North.

For all the mental health workers and friends who helped me get my life back When I think of where I’ve been, the good times and the bad On a scale of 1 to 10, either way, I’m glad ’Cause I’m not alone as I’m reaching for the phone You really care, your voice is there, my comfort zone. Sometimes when I’m lost, crushed beneath the pain Though I can’t afford the cost, I just smile and play the game But there’s a healing place where I cannot pretend Your smiling face, your heart’s embrace heals me again So even when the storm is strong and I’m deaf to my own cry I faintly hear a distant song and I simply can’t deny That I’m not alone, even when I’m on my own Your gentle touch is much too much to let me roam. About David Kiesz After losing his American dream and his health to religious fanaticism, he started over with a 'can do' attitude and surrounded himself with like-minded friends. With the help of Mental Health America of Northern California, he landed a job traveling California as an analyst of mental health services. He also helps shoot a TV show which airs every other Saturday night on (Comcast) Access Channel 17 at 7 p.m. His passion is the use of music, poetry, and comedy as forms of therapy for others and himself. He co-facilitates a Performing Arts/Sing-Along group at the Wellness and Recovery Center (WRC). The first love song he wrote is actually a ‘thank you’ to all who encouraged him on his new journey.

a month and treat their psychiatric illness and their general medical illness. We don’t make a distinction. You don’t make a “psych” appointment , or a “ medical” appointment. Instead, we treat the whole person. Gail: If you had to say what your philosophy of medicine is, how would you sum it up? Risley: To borrow from a colleague friend of mine , “We meet over the patient’s suffering,” that is really what it is all about. People don’t need doctors unless they are suffering, and our job is to address that suffering. Whether the job is to treat their physical pain, or their psychic pain, or to help them integrate into society better, or to help them heal their bones. It is about caring for their suffering. Gail: I learned from one of your patients, who highly recommends you, that you manage your own bipolar disorder. How would you say the bipolar challenge affects your ability to be a psychiatrist? Risley: I don’t think my illness has ever really impacted my ability to provide patient care. I think it is important that the world recognize that psychiatric illness can be managed well. I got my diagnosis in medical school. A lot of people I know with bipolar disorder are self-employed so they can have flexibility in their schedule. A lot of it is about perspective. When you go from a state, say, of being profoundly depressed, to being really up and being hypo-manic, you begin to realize that the same situation can be perceived on one day as being bone crushingly depressing and on a different day as being an exhilarating challenge. To recognize that has been a real gift. To be able to have some perspective and not to just go through life feeling that I am the pawn of forces greater than I am is a true gift. Gail: What do you think about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the way medicine is practiced? Risley: The pharmaceutical industry currently is the whipping boy because they are the ones making the most money. When a lot of money is involved, you have to be really careful with the amount of influence it has. Many doctors I have talked to say, “Oh well, I know they are big, but that doesn’t influence my prescribing at all.” I think that’s dangerous. They do provide some education, but they also have a lot of money and influence and I try to be aware of that. Gail: In your writing you mention the importance of an Interdisciplinary approach to medicine. What does that look like? Risley: An interdisciplinary approach to medicine is one of those things that is a great concept, but really hard to execute. Medications don’t make the world a better place. I can give you all the Prozac that’s made and it is not going to improve your world. What is going to improve your world is how you approach it and how you think about it. The medication has a real role if you are overcome with symptoms and you can’t do those things you need to make your world a better place. Medication, if properly used, controls the symptoms well enough so you can do the work you need to get better. The work might be something internal you do, it might be just having the energy for paying your bills, or it might be getting to a cognitive behavioral therapy group. It takes all forms, but the medication is a small portion of the care. What we have is a health care delivery system that says, “Well you are a doctor, you make way too much money, and the only thing we are going to pay you for is writing those prescriptions.” Healing takes a lot of effort. Gail: What do you think are some of the important things we need to do as a mental health community to achieve better quality of care and life for our members? Risley: The number one thing is that we have to get rid of the stigma around mental health. One of the things that I am amused and really heartened by is that we providers have people who walk in the door and say, “ I am having this muscle ache,” and then we start talking, and the real reason they are here is something else. We have been able to break down that barrier at the Oasis. Generally speaking, Mental Health services are very separate from the rest of medicine and people in need don’t know how to access the mental health system. The doctors doing the work don’t have access to the tools they need to make it easy to make that happen. So people are stuck, and they are stuck really only because we refuse to acknowledge that psychiatric illness is cardiac illness, it is cancer, it is foot pain, and everything overlaps. I used to think there were clear cut illnesses. But if somebody has a broken bone, how did they get that broken bone? What kind of behavior were they engaging in? It may be an insignificant piece of it, or it may be really significant. But until you ask, you do not know. Gail: Your patients have told me that the Oasis has made psychiatric care very accessible to them. What else do you see unique about the Oasis? Risley: What isn’t unique about it? It is a big experiment in a lot of ways. It first struck me when I was at Massage Envy getting a massage. They have a way of reducing the anxiety about getting a massage. I found a lot of parallels with what people experience in accessing psychiatric care to the anxiety that might be provoked around getting massage. I was president of the Psychiatric Society for about two years.

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Interviewer: Your mental health department is like a hidden nugget. How are people referred to your services? Response: They usually call here and we have people here all day long taking those referrals and then sending off to Access[, an Assisted Access program which partners with the county]. They need to be medically eligible children from zero to twenty-one years old. We work with the whole family but the child has to be zero to twentyone, and they qualify for services through Access if they have straight medical.

Interviewer: And the last question: is there is a strong emphasis on working with the whole family? How many families do you serve? Response: We serve about 500 families a year, and that is just in mental health. We would like the community to know that La Familia works with diverse cultures—many think it’s only Spanish—many diverse cultures here, and that we take pride in standing beside all of them in a partnership for success.

views and [their problems] affect their ability to conduct a decent interview—they may be rejected over and over again but they keep coming and coming—and that way we are able to build a relationship with them. Hopefully we are able to encourage their confidence and [get them to] accept some of the services. Encouragement is the biggest thing, and also helping them to realize that mental health is not an illness; basically it’s something that can help them to become a better person and to be able to gain employment. Take away the stigma of mental health; we use a different format. The cultures that are involved, the ones that are represented— they are not expert mental health therapists or professionals; basically they will direct individuals to the resources and just getting them to that point can be a challenge. And sometimes it is getting the referral to mental health so they can go forward.

Lynn Keune, LMFT Lynn is clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center and acts as the liaison to Sacramento County DHHS when working with the County. She is on the cultural Competence Committee at the County and System Wide Committee promoting cultural competence. She has a master’s degree in Art Therapy and Family Therapy from Notre Dame de Namurs, CA., and a bachelor’s degree from the famous California College of the Arts in Oakland. She is licensed as a marriage and family therapist (MFT) and art therapist (ATR). Bilingual in Spanish and English.

Mission of La Familia Counseling Center, Inc.: To improve the quality of life for at-risk youth and families of diverse backgrounds by offering multi-cultural counseling, support and outreach services and programs to help families to overcome adversity, to become empowered, and to succeed in their lives. Address: 5523 34th Street Sacramento, CA 95820 Tel (916) 452-3601 Web: www.lafcc.org

Interview was conducted by Ann Adams for the Empowerment Magazine. Anne is currently working part time as a volunteer receptionist at the Wellness and Recover Center on Marconi Avenue. She has served as a board member and residential leader for the Sacramento Mutual Housing Association. She has worked for 15 years for law enforcement agencies at the state and county levels and she also has 4 years of working with children with learning disabilities. She is currently pursuing her education in Human Services from ARC with goal of transferring to Bethany University.

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

About one in five adults (ages 18 and older) has a diagnosable mental disorder. (National Institute of Mental Health) www.samhsa.gov

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medical Affairs at Sutter Center for Psychiatry As summer comes to an end and children head back to school for the fall, anxiety levels are on the rise. At Sutter Center for Psychiatry, we see a dramatic increase in cases exacerbated by anxiety and stress as school returns to session.

If you have concerns about a child, the first step is to speak with them about what their concerns are and what they are experiencing. This issue is not necessarily based on

Transitional times like these tend to be very difficult for children as they face new fears and stress. All of a sudden children have pressures to perform academically and adjust to social, parental and teacher expectations that are not necessarily present during the summer months.

“what” a child is worrying about, but rather that the worry takes on a life of its own and impacts the child in day-to-day life. Don’t underestimate the power of understanding and reassuring a child by letting him or her know that things will be OK; this really makes a difference.

To help ease the shock of these pressures, consider these practical strategies to make the most of the transition period with the start of the new school year. Anticipating and planning is the best way to address anxiety to the benefit of both parents and children. Recognize and use cues that school is around the corner – including back-to-school shopping and an increased focus on academic activities such as reading to help prepare your child for the upcoming change.

At school, it can be helpful to identify a “safe place” where your children may go when feeling upset. This may save them from resorting to maladaptive ways of coping. If the very common school-refusal pattern starts, it is important to address the issue immediately and have them return to school as soon as possible. In the end, the longer kids are out of school, the more anxiety is fed and unwanted behaviors are reinforced.

Like anything else, there are varying degrees of the effects of anxiety. Newer epidemiological research indicates that more than 80 percent of depressed adolescents have a history of childhood anxiety. Unlike adults, children display anxiety symptoms differently. Rather than verbalizing these feelings, children express it behaviorally, physically and cognitively.

If your child’s anxieties start to interfere with daily activities in school, socially and his or her overall well-being, this is a sign to seek professional intervention. Talk with the child’s teacher or school guidance counselor. You want to discuss this with your pediatrician or a mental health professional. Write down examples about the concerns that you have to take to your visit. With better understanding of what your child is experiencing, you are better able be of support to your child.

Feeling anxious can interfere with their mood, concentration and decision-making abilities, which can be misinterpreted as problems with attention or learning. Some children seem overly tense, seek constant reassurance and may be eager to please, while other children act out.

It is not uncommon to have difficulty navigating the mental health system. Sutter Center for Psychiatry is available to help determine and provide the best setting for a comprehensive assessment and offer guidance through the next steps. Sutter Center for Psychiatry is the only hospital in Northern California that treats children under More obvious behaviors include clinginess, separation difficulties, the age of 12, throughout the spectrum of inpatient and outpatient programs it offers. excessive shyness and oppositional behaviors. Anxiety expressed as physical symptoms are very common, difficult to recognize, but We believe in the importance of individualizing care for each peralso very important to recognize in kids. Ongoing unexplained, son to provide the most effective care. Treatment with a profesphysical complaints – such as difficulty breathing, dizziness, stom- sional who believes in recovery, keeps a global view and gives ach aches, problems sleeping, or feeling like they have a lump in you options as a partner in treatment is what I believe sets us their throat – can be a psychological issue rather than a physio- apart at Sutter Center for Psychiatry. It is not about treating logical one. Anxiety disorders – the most common mental health issue – are frequently overlooked or misjudged. When they go untreated, children struggle with self-esteem and are unable to develop ageappropriate coping skills, and this contributes to problems at home and at school. The typical pattern of these children becoming unengaged in the classroom results in poor achievement relative to their potential. The negative self-image that ensues contributes to poor motivation to study and participate in class and causes more social and academic difficulties, continuing as a negative perpetual cycle. Besides the more immediate implications, research indicates that about half of adults with anxiety disorders report having left education early, and half of those report later in life that untreated anxiety was the primary reason.

(Continued on page 22)

THE INFINITE LIFE PROJECT LLC Provides culturally diverse and culturally relevant psychotherapy for adolescents, adults, individuals, couples and groups (Breast cancer support) dealing with depression, stress, domestic violence, trauma, and grief and loss. As an effort to educate the community about the ever changing behaviors of the adolescent, The Infinite Life Project travels throughout California and other states presenting educational workshops. Our workshops are beneficial to families, students and especially school faculties. The workshops will provide families and school faculty with valuable information and ways to communicate and resolve adolescent issues before they have escalated.

As a Continuing Education Provider-PCE #4980 we offer the following workshops: * Cultural Diversity * Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs * School Community and Crisis * Managing Oppositional Defiance * The Pathways Training Program (Enhanced thinking and decision-making for young men of color) * Adolescent Development in the 21st Century For additional information or to schedule an appointment contact

(916) 544-0502 or you can fax your re(916) 688-8603. Office hours by appointment only.

Carmen Crenshaw at quest to

For companies we offer cultural diversity workshops for Email: theinfinitelifeproject@yahoo.com people of different backgrounds in the workplace who will participate in open and direct conversation. Partici- Website: pants will learn the importance of being conscious of those different from them versus being ‘color-blind.’ This workshop is for anyone in the workforce and other social settings. We also offer alcohol, tobacco and other drugs workshop for companies as well.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 2758 Elk Grove Blvd, Elk Grove CA 95759. Physical address: 9008 Elk Grove Blvd #23 Elk Grove CA 95624

Being Loved by Melanie Martinez My ups, downs, and flaws are a part of my life. It’s like walking in a park that is covered in leaves that are big and brown. Each leaf represents a barrier, a problem, or a learning opportunity. I grow from each leaf and flourish from the issue that leads me closer to my purpose. I understand that mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow. Learning new things helps with the new path ways formed by my neurotransmitters! It also helps me expand my self- confidence and self-esteem. Strengthening and developing new paths, clears the walkway and helps the park with less leaves leaf control. Less Fewer leaves helps clarity because so I can walk down a clear path. But when the wind blows those darn leaves back on the path, then I know that there are more opportunities of growth that is are yet to be learned. Each obstacle I encounter during my life must happen for a reason. I have had a hard life but I have learned a lot. Now I have to learn to be kind to myself. I no longer want to hurt myself. I want to live life to the fullest. Living requires me to look at myself and see what I want in life which is positive. There is much hope if I keep my focus Melanie is an advocate for people on my healing path! with disabilities and homeless. She holds an AA degree in Human SerMy family, those whom I call my family, is my spiritual family. Not blood- related, but my vices; she is currently a volunteer family, who loves me for me even though I’m not perfect. They like me for me, so I don’t at the Wellness and Recovery Cenhave to change according to others’ expectations. I’m unique and I can be loved by others ter facilitating an art expression as long as I am open to vulnerability. Learning new patterns of communication can let others group and an assistant co-facilitator in the Nutrition support group. She in my life. I yearn for love and being loved; for I didn’t get it when I was growing up. Now enjoys creating nutritional meals for that I’m older I love others and like receiving love from others. This is a very healing friends and family.

aspect for me: being loved.

We are learning more and more that the conditions that affect the body and mind are inter-related. Some diseases, while they can be managed successfully individually, can wreak havoc when combined. One example is depression and diabetes. A recent study published by the Archives of General Psychiatry suggests that women suffering from both diabetes and depression have a two-fold increased risk of death, especially from cardiovascular disease. While statistics like these can be harrowing, there are simple steps you can take to reduce your risk for depression, diabetes, heart disease and more. In our new book, Health is Wealth, Nobel Laureate Dr. Louis Ignarro and I outline simple methods to help our readers improve vitality, live healthier lives, and enjoy peak functioning of both body and mind. Additionally, I have partnered with Sam’s Club to help educate and inform members on preventative healthy living practices while bringing access to quality medical supplies and nutritional supplements I’ve outlined some of the risks associated with various health problems as well as the simple solutions that can help you lead a healthier life. Problem: Poor nutrition habits can damage overall health. Overall health can be negatively affected by what I’ve identified as a Nutritional Deficiency Syndrome (NDS). With NDS it is possible to see several disease states or dysfunctions overlapping to create increased risks of both complications and even death. Solution: Maintain nutritional balance with quality foods and supplements available at Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club offers a great selection of quality foods to keep your family on track in preventing diseases through good nutrition. Try adding fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains to your menu to ensure your daily intake of vitamins and nutrients. A simple salmon filet for dinner can add a dose of healthy Omega-3 oils, while adding fresh berries to your breakfast cereal can boost antioxidant intake. In addition to a healthy diet, the introduction of dietary supplements can enhance your body’s performance, and Sam’s Club offers a wide variety of vitamins and supplements to meet your nutritional needs at a value you can appreciate. Here are my top five nutritional recommendations that can make a big difference in your health: 1. Prevent Vitamin D Deficiency. Research has linked Vitamin D3 to heart health, cancer prevention, bone health and metabolic function. Studies indicate that three-quarters of U.S. teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D. Experts say low vitamin D levels also may increase a child's risk of developing heart disease later in life. Recommendation: Adults: 2,000 IU per day of a vitamin D supplement Such as Member’s Mark Vitamin D softgels. For children: 400 to 1,000 IU depending on age. 2. Focus on your intake of healthy Omega-3 oils. Omega-3 oils (EPA and DHA) play an important role as antioxidants and help maintain our overall heart health. Recommendation: 900 mg of EPA and DHA per day from 1,400 mg of Fish Oil,

such as Member’s Mark Natural Enteric Fish Oil.

3. Support your heart health. In addition to a diet centered on fruit, vegetables and whole grains, nutrients like CoQ10 are also important to overall heart health and function and can become deficient especially for the 33.5 million Americans who are currently taking a statin drug to lower their cholesterol. Statin drugs deplete the body of CoQ10 and this deficiency can lead to impaired function and activity of heart muscle. Recommendation: 100 to 400 mg of CoQ10 each day, such as Member’s Mark Co Q10 softgels. 4. Fight free radicals. Every day our bodies are exposed to toxins from our environment, which can lead to the formation of free radicals. Free radicals are reactive molecules that damage our cells and lead to premature aging. Nutrients like Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, Resveratrol and green tea are antioxidants and can help defend our bodies from the damaging effects of free radicals. Recommendation: 500 to 1,000 mg of Vitamin C daily from supplements such as Super C Energy and Member’s Mark Chewable Vitamin C. 5. Build a foundation for your health. Research has shown that a multivitamin can actually make a difference in our health, and a study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health has provided the first epidemiologic evidence that the use of multivitamins by women is associated with longer telomeres. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes (DNA) that shorten with the aging of a cell. As we look to extend the quality of our lives and support the optimal function of our cells and DNA, a multivitamin is a great place to start. Recommendation: Daily age and gender specific multivitamin such as One A Day Men’s or Women’s Health Complete Multivitamins and Member’s Mark Mature Multi. Problem: The diabetes epidemic. Diabetes affects an estimated 24 million Americans, equal to 8 percent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $174 billion, with $116 billion being direct costs from medication, according to 2005-2007 American Diabetes Association figures. Solution: Take part a free diabetes health screening at Sam’s Club and diminish your diabetes risk through a healthy diet and supplements. Sam’s Club is offering a free diabetes health screening for its members on September 10. The free screenings are one part of Sam’s Club’s efforts to help members take charge of their health through preventative measures. Additional screenings for women’s health, digestive health and heart health will also be offered in the coming months. For more information, and to confirm the times and locations of Sam's Club screenings, check your local listings at SamsClub.com/healthyliving.

Continued on page 16

A Risk Worth Taking for Change by Janet Segall Sometimes, when the negative things in your life outweigh the positive, it is often hard to imagine that anything could be good. But it is not uncommon for good, positive things and personal triumphs to come out of tragedy and uncertainty. I moved around a lot, looking for answers—in and out of relationships that never worked, sometimes predicated with violence and emotional pain, not realizing until later that I was always looking for someone to love me and lift me up. I was looking for answers outside myself. I was looking for others to fix me. After suffering from agoraphobia for several years—getting better, getting worse again—I made a choice and took a risk. I left my house and my safety and drove across the country. I was not alone, but what was important was walking out the door. It was a totally successful experience. I knew that I would be better from that time on. Even after several years of being diagnosed with a life-threatening, very painful illness and being on very serious drug therapy, I decided to take another risk and I started a foundation for my disease almost single-handedly. I never believed I would be that person. Sometimes I still don’t believe that I’m that person. But I went from being house-bound to flying by myself around the United States and across the Atlantic. When the foundation and I parted ways, I decided I still needed to work. It took a lot of time and many rejections, but then the Wellness & Recovery Center took a chance on me. My life has been a rollercoaster of emotions. But I’ve learned a lot of lessons through my life and travels. I learned that it is so important to listen. I learned that not just saying the words, but working toward positive change is a risk worth taking. You may not always succeed, but you can say you tried your best and know that sometimes that’s enough. I learned that you can’t control another person. I learned that words and deeds can hurt, but how you process and react to words and deeds is in your control. I learned that forgiving yourself and others for just being a human being that makes mistakes and owning it can make you free. Before he died, my partner used to say that we’re all just passing through so what does it matter. But I say, let’s make a dent in the timeline of life and become the best people we can be. I believe we are all connected and how we live our lives and help others lives in the universe forever.

Author’s Bio

Janet is a graduate of the State University of New York system. She is the Founder, and was the Director of the International Pemphigus Pemphigoid Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping people living with the rare, autoimmune diseases pemphigus and pemphigoid. She is also a certified Health Coach, and Hypnotherapist. She is very grateful to be working at the Consumers' Self Help Wellness & Recover Center North.

Everyone can benefit from owning a handy toolkit of strategies and skills for health and wellness. The more tools we stock in our toolkit, the more we have to draw from to support life’s challenges and boost enjoyment. One tool such as calling a friend to talk, might be just the helpful ticket on one particular day. On another day, a different tool like making a gratitude list might be the most helpful to ease our mind, heart and spirit. As we were growing up, most of us (if not all of us) were not given a well-being toolkit. Also, it’s possible no one modeled for us how to create a healthier life-mentally, emotional, socially, physically or spiritually. The older I got and the more I learned, the more I wished I could go back in time and give to my little child self all those great strategies and wisdom. My, oh my, how my life would have changed! A toolkit would have definitely reduced my suffering and empowered my journey. Realistically, I can’t change the past and so I am not going to dwell on “what could have been”. However, in the now, I search out and give those toolkit tips to myself and allow my adult self to transform my life with that wise knowledge. Here’s just a few of the many tools to add to your personal toolkit. Do deep belly breathing: bring inhale down into the belly and allow the calming effect of the breath to relax. Focus on facts, not assumptions. Take personal responsibility for improving your life, eliminate a victim stance. Create choices, because the more choices, the more empowered you will feel. So look for choices you have not considered. Surrender to the circumstances you cannot change; surrender the outcome of what you can change. Use the spirituality of prayer, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and/or contemplation to enhance other strategies. Develop a plan for healing, health and wellness & commit to change. Take baby steps if needed but commit to transform your life. Be solution oriented rather than problem oriented—shift the focus, shift the circumstance. List intentions or purposeful directions for what you want to create in your life. Visualize and feel those positive intentions. Choose optimistic thoughts which encourage thinking the best about a situation, and sustain hope or faith for a good and manageable outcome. Pick and Choose your thoughts because a thought will cause a particular feeling which will cause a particular behavior. You feel the way you feel because you think the way you think. Recognize that you have gifts, talents, skills and inner resources within that you may not be aware of. And, if you become aware and utilize them, it could change your experience. Likewise, recognize that you may have options for support outside of yourself that you may not be aware of. So, search the community, the internet, ask people for resources, etc. Push through fear to develop courage and bravery. You will be surprised at what you can do, learn, become.

Again, focus on the breath-- when you are at a stop light, in line at the grocery, cooking food, lying in bed ready for sleep, anytime, anywhere. Wherever you go, you bring the potential of the healing, relaxing breath. Author’s Bio Terry has a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling from University of Colorado-Denver. She has 30 years experience working with adults, children and family preservation. She has worked in settings such as: non-profits, schools, justice system, alcohol/drug programs. Her role as counselor, consultant and trainer maintains a focus on spirituality, health and wellness. Terry currently facilitates groups and supports individualized mentoring at the Wellness and Recovery Center North .

Sacramento County Mental Health Public Awareness Campaign seeking to fundamentally alter negative attitudes and perceptions about mental illness with culturally competent messaging and activities, persuading County residents to feel the same compassion for and acceptance of a person with a mental illness as a person with a physical illness or disability. The campaign is part of the County’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) initiative which provides funding to help transform county mental health services for children, transition age youth, adults, older adults and families.

24-HOUR CRISIS LINES

RESOURCES If you, or someone you know,

PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY

experiencing disrupting symptoms of mental health, please call Adult Access Team:

For psychiatric emergency, please call 911 as soon as possible or go to nearest emergency room Suicide Prevention Crisis Line Phone Number: (916) 368â&#x20AC;&#x201D;3111

at (916) 875-1055 or Children's Access Team at (916)8759980

SACRAMENTO EMERGENCY ROOM SERVICES Mercy General Hospital

Sutter Memorial Hospital

4001 J Street. Sacramento, CA 95819 Tel. (916) 453-4545

52nd St And F Street. Sacramento, CA 95819 Tel. (916) 454-3333

Mercy Hospital Of Folsom

UD Davis Medical Center

1650 Creekside Dr . Folsom, CA 95630 Tel. (916) 983-7400

2315 Stockton Blvd. Sacramento, CA 95817 Tel. (916) 734-3252 / 734-2011

Mercy San Juan Hospital

Kaiser Permanente Hospital South

6501 Coyle Avenue . Carmichael, CA 95608 Tel. (916) 537-5000

6600 Bruceville Road Sacramento, CA 95823 Tel. (916) 688-2000

Methodist Hospital Sacramento Kaiser Permanente Hospital Morse 7500 Hospital Drive. Sacramento, CA 95823 Tel. (916) 423-3000

2025 Morse Avenue. Sacramento, CA 95825 Tel. (916) 973-5000

SACRAMENTO EMERGENCY SHELTERS Mary House Women/Children

Union Gospel Mission

(Day Shelter) 1321 North C St. Tel (916) 446-4961

400 Bannon St. Bed Sign Ups 6:30 P.M. (Men) 7 Day Max. W/ 2 Meals A Day Tel (916) 447-3268

St John's (Women/Children)

Voa "A" Shelter

4410 Power Inn Tel (916) 453-1482

(Men Only) Moon. A St. Building B Tel (916) 448-5507

Family Shelter (SAEHC) 4516 Parker Ave. 60 Day Stay-Family / Children Tel (916) 455-2160

REPORT ADULT/CHILD ABUSE Child Abuse 24-hour Hotline: (916) 875-KIDS/ (916) 875-5437 Report Senior or Dependent Adult Abuse: (916) 874-9377 Safely Surrendered Baby 24-Hour Information Line: (916) 679-3604 or (866) 856-BABY

Womens' Refuge (SAEHC)

Sacramento Suicide Prevention Crisis Line: (916) 368 -3111 Sacramento Mental Health Crisis 24-hour Line: (916) 732-3637 Poison Control:(800) 876 - 4766 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1(800) 273-TALK (8255) WEAVE Crisis Line 916 920 2952 Youth Crisis Line 1(800)339-7177

PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center (SCMHTC) 2150 Stockton Boulevard Sacramento, Tel (916) 875.1000 Heritage Oaks Hospital 4250 Auburn Blvd. Sact. Tel (916) 489-3336 Crestwood Center 2600 Stockton Blvd . Sacto, Tel (916) 452-1431 Sutter Center for Psychiatry 7700 Folsom Blvd. Sacramento Tel (916)386 -3000

Sierra Vista Hospital 8001 Bruceville Rd., Sacramento, Tel (916) 423-2000 Crestwood Carmichael ARBHC 4741 Engle Road, Carmichael Tel (916) 483-8424

(Single Women) Parker Ave Tel (916) 455-0415

Need to Apply For Food Stamps? SACRAMENTO (916) 874-2072 SOUTH SACRAMENTO (916) 875-8100 (916)875-9980 GALT (209) 745-3484

Find Out if you qualify for Medi-Cal Insurance Contact Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance Medi-Cal District Offices . Downtown Sac . (916)874-2256 . East Sacramento (916) 874-3800 . South Sacramento (916) 875-8100 . Del Paso (916) 648-0894 . Rancho Cordova (916) 875-8600

Social Security Administration Offices 8581 Folsom Bld Ste A Sacramento,CA 95826 (800) 772-1213

2444 Marconi Avenue Sacramento, CA 95821 (916) 979-2019

910 Cirby Way ROSEVILLE, CA 95661 (800) 772-1213

VOLUNTEER The Volunteer Center Of Sacramento is dedicated to strengthening our communities by connecting volunteers with opportunities to service. For more info, please call (916) 567-3100 or visit Visit WWW.SACPROS.ORG for everything you need to know about mental health services in Sacramento County

(Continued from page 11)

one aspect of a person’s life – but giving tools and guidance to have that individual improve the overall quality of their life and their relationships. That is lasting treatment.

Whatever you try, the most important thing is to remember in this journey is that what works for one person may not be right for another. If one thing doesn’t seem to work, continue your search and don’t give up. The good news is, with a little knowledge and appropriate treatment, problems today can easily become yesterday’s news! Here are signs that a child may be experiencing more than just normal anxiety: • Having difficulty separating from people or being unnatu rally clingy • Constantly having thoughts and fears about the safety of themselves or others • Having worries about things before they happen • Being overly self-critical and perfectionistic

Author’s Bio

• Being preoccupied with embarrassment or making mis takes • Having low self esteem • Having trouble falling asleep, frequent nightmares, or diffi culty sleeping alone • Difficulty learning and trouble sitting still

Cindy Thygeson, M.D., a board-certified pediatric and adult psychiatrist, serves as the

Director of Medical Affairs for the Sutter Center for Psychiatry, the only not-for-profit psychiatric hospital in the community. Associated with Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, it is also the only psychiatric hospital that is part of an integrative health care system in the region. Sutter Medical Center and Sutter Center for Psychiatry are part of Sutter Health, Northern California’s largest health-care network. For more on Sutter’s psychiatric services, visit

www.suttermedicalcenter.org/psychiatry , or call (916) 386-3000 or (800) 801-3077.

Did You Know That? Wheels to Work provides counselors and Internet enabled computer workstations which help people who don’t normally have access to the Internet find transportation and related services aimed at securing employment.

For more info, please call or visit the Paratransit Mobility Management Center.

RideQuest: (916) 429-2009 x 7229

Inspirational Stories

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Inspirational Stories of Empowerment Living My Life with a Mental Illness by Janet L. Furia (published in the Summer 2011 issue) Working with Your Psychiatrist by Gail Erlandson, M.A. (published in the Summer 2011 issue) Tough Times by Cynthia Wakefield

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/InspirationalStories.aspx [4/21/2013 10:58:37 AM]

The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness

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The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness

Living in the Present by Terry Zick, MA (Fall 2011 Issue) Living in the Present Brings Increased Happiness and Contentment

How can we increase our level of happiness? There is a rich banquet of strategies and tools to help us get there. As I read in one book, unhappiness is easy —easy, because we continue to think and feel the way we always have, which is the easy way. However, the ability to feel happier can become the easy way. What would happen if we committed to the tools that change our thoughts and feelings toward happiness? Simply put—we would be happier. In the last issue, we learned that if we think we will only be happier in the future when something changes, we have missed an opportunity to be happy NOW. Oh, maybe I will have a moment or two of happiness when I get what I wanted finally (“Yeah, joy!!!”) . . . until I focus on the next thing that I think I want or need that I think will make me happy. When I continue to focus on what is missing, I don’t feel that joy anymore. When the mind and thought stop yearning for what I want and stop complaining about what I don’t have, in my experience, what happens? Then I experience a more peaceful mind and well-being. That potential for joy exists all the time, whether or not I have what I yearn for. Our genetic makeup affirms that we can be happier (some studies say only 50% of our happiness potential is genetic). This means that no matter our past, our genes support a potential for increased happiness. When we realize that we have CHOICE when it comes to our thoughts and our activities, then we empower our life in happier ways. As we apply new strategies and develop a habit of healthier thoughts, it becomes easier to experience happiness. It becomes easier because our amazing brain will help us out, and has the potential to “rewire” itself. The new science of neuroplasticity informs us that the brain and nervous system have the ability to change as a result of new input. The most widely recognized forms of plasticity are improvements in learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage—to name a few. This wonderful ability to rewire begins with changing our thoughts and feelings. Keep in mind that it is the tools and strategies which hold the power to transform our life. Empowered commitment to change our thoughts and behavior will translate into increased contentment. In the last issue, we reinforced that we can increase our happiness quotient by the following strategies:

Two more perspectives are: Live in the present moment more often. Why will being in the present moment increase my happiness? Consider what often happens when we live in the past or in the future. As we revisit the past, we may replay unpleasant memories or traumas (often triggering anger, fear, sadness, anxiety) or we may wish we could have done it better (often triggering regret) or we may wonder how great a life we would have had if things had gone better (often triggering a victim stance, or lack of power and lack of control feelings). As we look at the future while focusing on possible future problems, we might mentally envision a possible unhappy life that isn’t real. We are just http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/Happiness.aspx (1 of 4) [4/21/2013 10:58:43 AM]

The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness

creating worst-case scenarios that haven’t happened yet (often triggering fear, worry, anxiety, lack of power thoughts, lack of control thoughts, and pessimistic thinking). The present moment, without nonproductive thoughts and feelings about the past and future, offers increased peace of mind. The present moment offers wisdom, better problem-solving, clarity, and transformation. When our attention is in the here and now, we are less distracted, more focused, and more content. And, to add to the list of benefits—being in the present offers relaxation, effective problem-solving, and compassion for self and others. Much has been written on numerous strategies for living in the present, mindfulness living, and the power of now. The benefits are well documented. Experience life from your heart. Studies show that we change our brain and physiology when we feel a moment in our heart. The heart has its own wisdom, its own “brain” or its own intelligence. Research tells us that our heart has its own complex nervous system. We already live, to some degree, from the heart. Think of the phrases we commonly say that connect us to our heart’s wisdom or compassion such as “bless your heart,” “I did it from the heart,” “my heartfelt appreciation,” “follow your heart,” or “it touched my heart.” Studies show we can reduce stress, anxiety, fear, anger, and depression by practicing heart-based strategies. Through connecting with the heart, our mind will follow our heart and transform our experience. In addition, when we engage with our heart, we prompt our heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration to return to balance. Also, our heart becomes in sync with our brain, resulting in more empowered and healthier benefits. We can transform the present moment when we live from the heart. The heart creates a shift by its ability to heal, forgive, and renew. The heart gives wise counsel. The heart brings us home to our truest self. The heart allows the mind to listen to the silence. The heart connects us spiritually. Here are a few of the countless heart-centering strategies:

1. Put your hand over your heart and connect with your heartbeat (seemingly hear it or feel it beating). 2. Choose a thought of gratitude, and feel the gratitude deeply in the heart. 3. Look for things to be in awe and wonder over (allow yourself to say “ahhhhhhhh,” “mmmmmmmmm,” and “wow!”). 4. Bring the empowering five senses into your heart. Focus on the pleasant smells such as fragrant rain or popcorn. Look at the shapes, colors, and details of flower petals. Listen to the sound of the wind in the trees and the laughter of children. Touch a velvety rose petal and the texture of tree bark. Truly taste the creamy, smooth, coolness of ice cream or the crunchy texture of an apple. 5. Stop to really feel heart connections in special moments with your cat or dog, with the beautiful eyes of an infant, with the wonder and beauty of nature, with emotional aspects of music, and similar moments. 6. Focus the inhale and exhale of the breath in your heart. When we become more self-aware of our thoughts and feelings, we begin to see that so often our thoughts were the problem (along with the emotions that thoughts bring up). With attention to the present, we feel liberated from non-productive thought and we find a way out of our unhappiness. As we become more focused in our present moment with our thoughts and incorporate the feelings of our heart, we have a powerful approach to increasing happiness. It is a strategy that works through practicing the techniques. Commit to the practice and you will reap the rewards. I believe in you wholeheartedly. If you want to know more about the magnificence of the heart and what it can do, do a Google search for heart intelligence or explore www.heartmath.org.

The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness by Terry Zick, M.A.(published in the Summer 2011 issue)

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The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness

Am I in control of my contentment and my happiness? I am happy to say that research, mental health professionals and many individuals who study human nature say — absolutely yes! So many books have been written on the topic of happiness — all empowering me to know that there are lots of strategies and viewpoints to help me to be more contented. Studies show that people who have wealth are not necessarily happier, and if they become happy, don’t always stay happy — money itself doesn’t make us happy. Likewise, people with the most education are not necessarily happier. Students who make high grades aren’t happier than those with low grades. No matter what aspect of life we face, what makes us happy is the type of thoughts we have. What contributes to happiness is the choice we make with our thoughts. Optimistic people (those with positive outlooks) are happier than pessimists (those with negative outlooks). Many people describe happiness as contentment. Contented people tend to accept things as they are, and have a sense of mental or emotional satisfaction. Some might call happiness and contentment simply peace of mind. Are we born genetically wired to be happy or unhappy? To some degree we are born with a predisposition or a possible set point toward happiness or unhappiness. According to some studies, our happiness level depends 50% on our genetics, 10% on circumstances, and 40% on our intentional activities. Intentional activities are 1) the intention of how I am going to choose to think and patterns of thought (cognitive), and 2) how I am going to choose to respond, or act, or spend time “being” (behavioral). These thought patterns for happiness come from a variety of feeling-good strategies including social, spiritual, and physical — in addition to the cognitive and behavioral. We can change our thoughts and, therefore, our feelings, emotions, and moods. We do this with focused intention, purpose and motivation. The power of intention to direct the course of our thoughts will support us to sit firmly in the driver’s seat of our life and reap the happiness rewards that we seek.

What happens if I get those unhappiness genes? Here’s some good news! I can still be happy! If both my parents were unhappy people and I inherited genes toward unhappiness, I can learn new strategies that pump up that 40% of intentional activities. Genes do not rule my happiness quotient because I can empower my happiness by my choices. I have learned that if I am anxious, sad, angry, scared, or depressed, I can still learn how to be a happier person. The thing about unhappiness is that it fools us into thinking that we don’t have a choice to feel peace or joy. We always have choices. The transformation toward increased happiness happens because the strategies, tools, and skills I can learn will influence my moods. My journey started when I claimed an intention that I will learn how to be happier, and I gathered a lot of the “how to be happier” wisdom...and applied it. So what can you do? Right now. Today. Here’s just three of the many, many tips I would like to share with you: 1. I developed an attitude of gratitude. There is always something to be grateful for. It might be gratitude to just get out of bed, or have money for the bus or rent. (For years I have written “Thank you” on every check I write.) It might be appreciation for the smell of roses, or a stranger’s kind word or smile. It might be gratitude for a person or event in my life. When I think of all the people who are suffering more, or who have less, I feel so deeply grateful. 2. I pay attention to what is happening in my mind and thoughts. This is often called developing self-awareness. When I notice a negative thought that undoubtedly will affect my mood, I use a strategy to shift or reframe that thought. Police your thoughts so you can get out of the prison that your own thoughts create. Change your attitude, your perspective, look for the good. The science of neuroplasticity tells us that the brain is pliable, able to change, to grow new cells. Our brain can change its hard wiring for unhappy thoughts and “stinkin’ thinkin’.” Our brain has a kind of default because it just repeats the http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/Happiness.aspx (3 of 4) [4/21/2013 10:58:43 AM]

The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness

same automatic pattern of thinking — until we introduce a different thought and repeat the happy-producing thought. How do we rewire our brain and create new habits of thinking? Consider a commitment to changing the thoughts, practice meditation or mindfulness, or focus on the breath. When we change our thoughts, our brain rewires itself, and now we have happier patterns of thinking. Remember the saying, “garbage in, garbage out”? Our brains will help us achieve happier thoughts IF we deliberately feed it thoughts of love, joy, compassion, gratitude, altruism, optimism, etc. 3. I seize the moment to be happy. In other words, I don’t wait to get a different something or wait for someone to change, or for life to show up differently in order to be happy. Happiness is available to you right now. Happiness exists when we develop an awareness that we are OK in our mind, heart, and spirit. We feel happier as we learn to make peace with who we are and where we are. If we keep waiting to be happy for when better days come (better health, better finances, better friends, better home, etc.), we have missed the beauty of the precious moment of available contentment. When we wake up to the idea that we have an always and forever internal resource for happiness, we can feel more peace and joy. Footnote: These strategies are not about denial. These strategies combine acceptance of “what is” with purposeful intention to move in productive, beneficial, and more contented directions. Too many people think they can’t possibly change. Not true. It does take effort, lots of purposeful effort to move from the familiar road of unhappiness to take a side route to a road of happiness (and let it grow to become your new Main Street). Focus and take the steps. Even if they are baby steps, make a change. Do something different that will increase the moments of joy and peace. Develop a strategy of “I can do this.” Tell yourself, “I can be more grateful today. I can eliminate my typical negative phrases and repeat new empowering phrases. I can seize more moments to connect with my happiness within whether circumstances change — or not. My brain will help me out and in time it will become easier to feel differently.” I discovered that I always had Main Street available within. I made the changes I talk about. You can too. I believe in you wholeheartedly.

Terry has a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling from the University of Colorado-Denver. She has 30 years experience working with adults, children and family preservation. She has worked in settings such as: nonprofit, schools, justice system, alcohol/ drug problems. Her role as counselor, consultant and trainer maintains a focus on spirituality, health and wellness. Terry currently facilitates groups and support individualized mentoring at the Wellness and Recovery Center North If you find this article useful, please share with a friend!

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Resiliency Factor

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Resiliency Factor Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW(published in the Fall 11 issue) Authoring this section for the Empowerment Magazine has quickly turned into a huge blessing for me. I am delighted to know there are so many of us dedicated to infusing ourselves and our community with strength and well-being. However, due to a series of sad events that have transpired since the last publishing, I find I am struggling to find the right words to say. While my vision for this segment is to be positive and uplifting, I am also keenly aware that life is hard and sometimes very painful. So I find myself digging deeper in my quest to bring us all a little closer to realizing our own resilient potential. Wikipedia reports Psychological Resilience as the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. So what precisely is this “positive capacity” that gives us the strength to try one more time when really all we want to do is give up? In my last article I mentioned a number of factors that contribute to resiliency such as spirituality, adequate support, and the ability to see one’s problems as solvable. And I also talked about hope. Hope is the spark that ignites the process of change. In my life, hope came when I saw others overcoming the same obstacles I had been struggling with for so long. I recall the story of a woman who was my dear friend some years back. She carried with her an energy that just naturally attracted those who were seeking spiritual strength. She radiated love and compassion, and her eyes always twinkled. To know her was to love her. To know her well was to understand her miracle. You see, years before she had pushed a shopping cart around downtown Sacramento, wearing every piece of clothing she owned, and talking to things that only she could see. Once she overcame her difficulties she carried with her a powerful gift that cannot be learned through formal education, professional experience, or therapeutic intervention. She had the power of example and with that the gift of hope. The hope is this: “If she can do it, so can I” and “if I can do it, so can you.” Every scary shameful place I had been, she had been; but more importantly, she wasn’t there anymore. This past month has not been an easy one for the people in my life that I care about. We have all been reminded of the pain caused by the loss of hope. We attended the funerals of two people, both of whom took their own lives. Although I was not especially close to either of them, I was there to support those they left behind.I have spent the days since then trying to better understand the depth of pain that comes from the loss of hope because I know that someone reading this article will be standing on the edge of the cliff trying to decide if it is worth it to even try anymore. If that is you, please keep reading this article. I have another dear friend who made a very serious suicide attempt some years back after the death of her adult son. She talks about the hopelessness of that moment and about being thoroughly convinced that her family and friends would be better off without her. She was very close to the edge but then something happened that changed her mind. Let me have her tell you in her own words: “I thought I heard the voice of my son, who had died about ten years before, pleading with me not to take my life. Whether I actually ‘heard’ his voice I cannot say, but I felt hope flooding through my despair. Instead of dying, I learned how to live with hope as my guiding light. When things get tough, as they do for all of us, I am able to look at the life I have lived since that day and know that whatever I need to walk through, it is worth it. By living instead of dying I get to experience so much joy that I would have completely missed. http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ResiliencyFactor.aspx (1 of 5) [4/21/2013 10:58:49 AM]

Resiliency Factor

I have a close, loving relationship with him today that I would have completely missed. I have come to a place of recovery through hope and faith, and no longer feel the overwhelming depression that had haunted me throughout my life until that moment of complete despair. I no longer live in the pain of the past, but in the hope of the future. I realize just how terribly my death by suicide would have affected the people I most love, especially my grandson who is now 24 years old and who has been able to see his father through my eyes. I know today that when emotional pain comes calling that I can have faith that it will pass. I know the only way to get through it is to go through it rather than over, under, or around it. Then it is behind me and I don’t have to meet it again around the corner. Life is challenging, but there is so much good in living each day as it comes, understanding through faith and hope that each challenge is worth meeting in order to get to the next happiness, which may be only a moment away. To come from such despair to where I am now, embracing the realities of life and knowing nothing is worth dying prematurely for, I can only describe as ‘true freedom.’”

As our conversation came to an end, I asked my friend if she was able to turn her life around all by herself. She replied “Absolutely not. I had to reach out for help and then be willing to accept the help that was offered to me. I had reached out for help before but had not been willing to accept what was offered. This time I really listened and took the suggestions offered and things got better.” To anyone reading this article, I want to remind you that “hopeless” is just a feeling and feelings are not facts. Feelings pass if given time. Please do not give up before your miracle arrives. Your moment of “true freedom” may be closer that you think. If you are hurting today, please tell someone. As human beings, we are not meant to carry our burdens alone. No matter what the voice in your head says, you do matter, life can get better, and help is available. "No matter what the voice in your head says, “You do matter, life can get better, and help is available" ■

■

Visit The Samaritans at http://www.metanoia.org/suicide/samaritans.htm & send them an anonymous e-mail Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TTY:1-800-799-4TTY) Teenagers, call Covenant House NineLine, 1-800-999-9999 Look in the front of your phone book for a crisis line Check www.sacpros.org for more resources such as finding a therapist or other mental heath services Join a support group or get individual mentor services at the Wellness and Recovery Center - See the “Did You Know Section” of the Fall 2011 issue for more details (see page 16)

Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, M.S.W. (published in the Summer 2011 issue)

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Resiliency Factor

My life has not ended up where I thought it would...thankfully. I was one of those children who received messages, both verbal and non-verbal, that she was not going to be worth much. And I bought it, for a while. And then the course of my life changed, and then it changed again, and again. Until I reached a place where I was able to break free from the lies and fully embrace the realization that I am deserving and able to create a healthy, happy life for myself. This article is written to illuminate one of the most powerful principles I have discovered in my wellness process. The universe has brought me a number of amazingly special people as I have navigated down my lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path. Interestingly enough, these folks have always showed up at just the right time to help me overcome whatever was blocking my ability to be healthy and whole at that point in my life. One lady in particular, Mrs. V., came along at just one of these times. Mrs. V. was a very spunky, animated, fun-loving 75-yearold Vietnamese woman who came to the United States in 1955 as the bride of an American serviceman. To say she had a fascinating story would be an understatement. I believe the gift I received from her was the infusion of the concept of â&#x20AC;&#x153;resiliencyâ&#x20AC;? into my way of thinking. Since early childhood, I have had a place inside of me that has always felt lost. It is the place where my sadness lives. Sometimes that place feels big enough to swallow me whole and sometimes it becomes so small I forget it is there. It is always a place desperate for hope. In Mrs. V I found a woman who was overflowing with hopefulness. She seemed to have enough for the both of us and I found myself being drawn more and more to her spiritual presence. No matter what came her way, she would declare it to be a cause for celebration. To her, obstacles were seen not as hardship but rather as opportunities for growth and spiritual strengthening. That concept was new to me. I mean, I would have a meltdown just trying to choose a type of breakfast cereal at the grocery store. In May of 2006 Mrs. V allowed me to interview her for one of my Social Work classes.

Tammy Dyer, M.S.W. At the end of the interview she shared with me some of her memories from the war. People around her were sick and dying. Families struggled to find enough food to eat. Husbands, sons, and brothers were lost to the war. Her community underwent a complete cultural upheaval as hundreds of thousands of women found themselves suddenly head of their household, needing to find some way to provide for their families. I was amazed at the manner in which she relayed her stories. There was never even a hint of defeat. I did at one point try to move the conversation toward the idea of adversity. Mrs. V simply translated my statement into another example of resilience and continued to tell her story. Her story was not a story of victimization, but rather of determination. By the end of the interview I was hooked. I wanted what she had. I altered my direction academically and personally to incorporate the concept of resilience into my journey. What I found is that resiliency factors can be divided into several distinctive categories:Personality: Resilience is attributed to certain characteristics a person carries within their self that contribute to positive healthy outcomes in spite of external chaos. A number of personality characteristics have been identified as contributing to resilience, including humor, empathy, and an easy temperament. These personality traits lend themselves to the likeability http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ResiliencyFactor.aspx (3 of 5) [4/21/2013 10:58:49 AM]

Resiliency Factor

of a person. A person who is likeable will presumably have more friends and therefore more support. This seems to be of particular importance during the adolescent years when peer support becomes developmentally vital, but it also holds true into adulthood. Locus of control: Perception of self and the problem. People who see themselves as having control over their lives tend to be healthier, happier, and more able to overcome difficulties. Likewise, those who see the problem(s) as being outside of their control tend to become more discouraged, depressed, and less able to take corrective action. People who believe they can create changes in their lives will act in ways congruent to that belief, such as getting an education, seeking services, or calling on their support system for help. A closely related resiliency factor is determination. Someone who believes they are able to make changes in their life will be more inclined to override the desire to give up when things seem unbearable. Cognitive abilities and education: A person who has the cognitive ability to think through life’s difficulties and then develop and implement a plan of action is much more likely to avoid becoming stuck and discouraged. Directly connected to cognitive abilities is education. Being educated either formally through an institution or therapeutically regarding the nature of one’s presenting problem can be beneficial in acquiring resilience. For many people, formal education is seen as the key to upward mobility and the overcoming of personal, cultural, and societal barriers. It provides a sense of empowerment and control over one’s future. Psychosocial education can provide the same benefit in regard to a person taking control of some barrier to success, such as recovering from an addiction or mental illness. Spirituality and religion. While religion and spirituality are related, they are in fact separate, distinct constructs. Religion is an external, ritualized expression of spirituality. Religion can be an external protective factor which complements internal spiritual resilience. For some, finding a higher purpose has been a necessary component to their health and well-being. The term higher purpose can be defined as the ways and means whereby a person creates meaning in their life. A person with resiliency will find a way to create meaning out of adversity. In essence, spirituality empowers people to cope with stressors by transforming negative events into opportunities for personal growth. Culture and Family. A sense of belonging and connectedness can result from having strong family support or a positive cultural identity. Besides providing support and structure, feeling connected to one’s family or community brings a sense of responsibility. It is common for a person struggling with seemingly overwhelming obstacles to find the determination to continue because to give up would bring sorrow to the people they care about.Communication. It stands to reason the effectiveness of other resiliency factors such as cognitive abilities, social support, and education would depend largely on one’s ability to communicate. Someone who can communicate their needs in a constructive manner is more likely to solicit a positive response from the environment. Conclusion: Resiliency can be summed up as an individual’s ability to negotiate with the environment to get their needs met. Those who have healthy, positive negotiating skills are called resilient; those who do not are referred to as self-destructive. The good news is most resilience factors can be learned. It is common for someone, as part of their wellness journey, to return to school, receive cognitive-behavioral counseling, or join a support group or religious organization. However, I believe the most powerful ally in obtaining resiliency is the introduction of hope. As the consumer movement begins to come into full bloom in the mental health field, more people, myself included, are finding the strength to openly identify as persons with significant mental health struggles. In so doing we are able to become a living example of hope. We are able to show that we can and do recover and go on to live amazingly full, satisfying lives. I am continually amazed at just how far a person can go on just the tiniest bit of hope. Resiliency is a dynamic, fluid process that changes over time as a person grows and matures. All people, unless severely disabled, engage in this process. As with other lifelong processes, resiliency is always a work in progress. With individual willingness and appropriate intervention such as education and support, resilience can be acquired at any stage in life.

Tammy received her MSW from CSUS in 2007. She specializes in Mental Health and is committed to the Consumer Movement. She believes strongly in the Recovery Model and is committed to helping our community overcome misconceptions that lead to the stigmatization of persons with mental health issues. She is currently employed by Consumers Self Help as their Clinical Director where she enjoys teaching therapeutic classes. She is the proud mother of two adult sons. Her passion is photographing blossoms.

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Resiliency Factor

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Advocacy Corner

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Reaching Across Stockton by Ron Risley, M.D.

Take a walk along Stockton Boulevard. Head south from U Street, and on the right you'll pass 2250 Stockton Blvd: the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center (affectionately known as SCMHTC). Keep heading south, past the Coca Cola bottling plant, and you'll reach the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. It's an attractive but low-key building, also on the west side, nestled between a telephone company switching station and a La Bou fast food restaurant. Now look east across Stockton and behold the monument to modern medicine that is the University of California, Davis Medical Center. The sprawling campus has it all: lush lawns, a rose garden, hospital towers, clinic buildings, parking structures, water fountains, the emergency room. Gurneys, elevators, operating rooms, MRIs. There's radiology, burn management, and surgery for everything from your eyes to your toenails. There's internal medicine and family practice. You can get care for you liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, colon, skin, lungs, heart, bones, muscles, nervous system, ears, nose, neck, spine, and reproductive organs. Oncology, neurology, nephrology, urology, pathology, cardiology, pulmonology, surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, gynecology... it seems there's a clinic and hospital beds for every imaginable medical problem... except mental health. For that, you have to cross Stockton.

Ron Risley, M.D. Psychiatrists are fully trained and licensed medical doctors. They go to the same medical schools as other doctors, take the same medical board exams. Yet, somehow, a year or two after graduating from medical school they pack up their MD degrees and cross Stockton to the mental health ghetto. The gulf between mental health and the rest of medicine might not always be as tangible as Stockton Boulevard, but that gulf is there wherever health care is practiced. Insurance companies offer different benefits, limits, and co-payments for mental health. Where the law prohibits that practice, they often farm out the "mental health benefit" to a different company to manage it in a separate (but equal?) fashion. Imagine if your health insurance required you to use an entirely different set of telephone numbers, forms, utilization reviewers, diagnostic codes, and procedures for a lung problem like asthma than for a broken bone... and heaven help you if you get a rib fracture that affects your breathing! If you're a family physician, an internist, a radiologist, or a dermatologist you might practice in a fancy building with your name, credentials, and specialty emblazoned on a sign over your door. If you're a psychiatrist, you're more likely to be practicing in a nondescript office suite with discreet parking and minimal signage. People hide their psychiatric medications and fear that, should they have the misfortune of having to go to the ER for a medical emergency, they will get labeled a "psych case" and won't have their symptoms taken seriously. You might be "a schizophrenic" or "a borderline," http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/AdvocayCorner.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 10:58:53 AM]

Advocacy Corner

but you'll likely never be called "a colon cancer" or "a multiple sclerosis." So what's wrong with Stockton Boulevard? Is it really so bad to separate mental health from "real" medicine? Yes, it is. The combination of stigmatization and separate (but equal?) Jim Crow funding of mental health care makes it all too easy to single out a group whose public face is shunned by society. Use Google to search for "cancer care cuts" and you get about two million hits. Perform the same search for "mental care cuts" and the figure climbs to over twenty-five million. The Stockton Boulevards of health care also directly affect the quality of care. Patients with psychiatric illness are usually seen many times by primary care physicians before being referred to a psychiatrist. Their diagnosis is often delayed because primary care physicians -- who have trained and practiced east of Stockton -- don't always have ready familiarity with the signs and symptoms of psychiatric disease. They might have a low threshold for consulting with or referring to the cardiologist or orthopedist they had lunch with last week, but when they have to refer across Stockton they are confronted with an unfamiliar system of care and doctors whom they have never met. Psychiatrists often prescribe medications with profound side effects such as weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Yet most psychiatrists can't easily reach across Stockton to ask a primary care or specialist colleague how to screen for, identify, and treat those side effects. They often aren't able to do much more than say "see your primary care doctor." Yet the primary care doctor (if the patient has one) might not be aware of the implications of the medication. Would the consequences of stopping the medication be worse than the consequences of high cholesterol? Those kinds of decisions require an interdisciplinary approach that's hard to maintain across a busy four-lane street. Diabetes is a particularly telling case: psychiatrists often have greater access to patients, more time and experience communicating with them, and a lot of insight into how the patient perceives their chronic illness and their own role in managing it. The psychiatrist might also have a much better understanding of the role that psychotropic medications play in causing or exacerbating diabetes, and what other options might be available. Yet it is left to the primary care physician to do blood tests, prescribe medications, and educate a patient who might be seen as difficult or even frightening. Beyond diabetes there are psychiatric aspects of stroke, pain, substance abuse (particularly nicotine), asthma, heart disease, reproductive health, gastrointestinal illness, infectious disease, cancer, migraine... the list is huge. What can be done? Asking patients to cross Stockton Boulevard whenever they have a symptom or disease that affects both the mind and body will surely result in more than the occasional traffic accident. We need to move mental health out of the ghetto, re-establish good communication between mental health providers and the rest of the medical community, abolish insurance systems that isolate and stigmatize mental health care, and integrate mind health into medical school and residency programs (and I don't mean the oh-god-I-have-to-do-a-psych-rotation system currently in place). We have to reject the Cartesian fallacy that says that mind and body are separate: good medical care means treating the whole person. It's time to abandon the boulevard. Dr. Risley is the first graduate of the combined residency program in family medicine and psychiatry at UC Davis. He is a former assistant clinical professor and physician diplomat at UCD. In addition to practicing psychiatry at TCORE, he integrates family medicine and psychiatry at Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc (www.sacmedoasis.com ). He lived for seven years on Sherman Way, just across the boulevard from UCDMC.

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Art Section

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Art Section In almost every age group, from very young children to older adults, artistic expressions can play a positive role in the therapeutic process. Some of the benefits include helping to relax the mind, transform the way the brain is functioning and reduce anxiety. Artistic expressions can also play a significant role in recovery process by helping to improve the emotional and mental health of those who have suffered experiences of abuses or other life traumas.

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Art Section

About Melanie Martinez

We accept artwork submissions on an ongoing basis. If you are interested in submitting artwork for consideration for the next issue please feel free to contact us atcontact@empowermentmagazine.org

Melanie is an advocate for people with disabilities and homelessness. She holds an AA degree in Human Services. She is currently a volunteer at the Wellness and Recovery Center facilitating an art expression group and an assistant co-facilitator in the nutrition support group. She enjoys creating nutritional meals for friends and family.

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Kids Corner

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Your opinion is welcomed, as well as any new ideas or suggestions, that you have for the Kids Corner. Contact us at contact@empowermentmagazine.org or by phone at (916) 222-7541

TheTrip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Los Angeles by Deonna Wilemme, PhD My Birthday Trip

Have you ever been to Six Flags? Have you ever seen Tweety Bird and Bugs Bunny? I have! My birthday was on June 9th. My family and I were on our way to Six Flags. I was so excited about the trip. It was my first time going to Six Flags Magic Mountain. I was 10 years old, and I had never been to Six Flags. It was also my first time riding on an airplane.

The Plane Trip

While on the plane, I played around with my iPod. I was listening to a popular song that had a nice beat. It was my favorite song. My mom was sitting next to me because I was scared of the plane ride. My brother, Ted, told me to turn the volume down on my iPod because it was too loud. I told him that the music was loud because I didn’t want to hear the roar of the engine. I just wanted to get to Six Flags as soon as possible. I was happy that Los Angeles was close to Sacramento.

Arriving in Los Angeles

The flight attendant asked, “Did you know that this airplane is the Six Flags Airplane?” I replied, “No!” A few minutes later, I asked, “Is that why Tweety Bird is painted on the wing?” “Soon we will be in Los Angeles!” Mom yelled. We had family members waiting for us at the airport. After we left the airport, my Aunt Rita drove us to Six Flags. We had to drive 2 miles to get to there. On the way, we dropped our bags off at Uncle Neal’s house.

Meeting Bugs Bunny

As soon as we arrived at Six Flags, we went swimming. After swimming, I saw Bugs Bunny. He looked exactly like I imagined. He said, “What’s up, doc?” I replied, “Take a picture with me, Bugs!” Bugs said, “Yeah, doc!” I quickly ran to the door to pay, but Bugs said, “You can have a picture with me for free.”

Adventures at Six Flags

Finally, we rode on a ride called Batman. Then we rode the Superman. After the rides, I went with my mom to the souvenir shop and bought T-shirts, cups, and a glass picture of Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird. It was getting late; therefore, we went to the concession stand and bought popcorn, funnel cakes, and cotton candy. After taking a picture with Bugs Bunny, riding the best rides, and eating until we were sick, we headed for the hills. That was the best birthday trip I ever had. My next trip is to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

PUZZLE WORLD

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KIDS CORNER

Kids Corner

No Monkey Business by Deonna Wilemme, PhD (published in Summer 2011 Issue) One hot day as I was walking home from school when my aunt called me on my cell phone “Hello”? I said, my aunt says “I will pay you two hundred and fifty dollars to baby sit my friend’s baby, Lewis. He is the best baby in the whole wide world”. I thought about all that money and all the candy I could buy, and besides it could be the start of my new business. “I would love to baby sit baby Lewis”. I said. So my aunt brought baby Lewis over right away and you know what, he was a monkey! That’s right! Lewis was actually a baby monkey! “I thought Lewis was a baby!” I yelled. “He is,” said my aunt “a baby monkey”. Thinking about all that money and all that candy I could buy, I took Lewis in my care. Lewis was calm until my little brother gave him a candy Bar. After eating the candy bar, he went wild! He was acting like he was in the jungle. He climbed on the table and jumped up and down like he was bananas! “Don’t do that!” I screamed. “Don’t swing from the ceiling fan. That is dangerous!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. I was worried about how much cash I would lose if he was hurt. So I had to think of something quick. I gave Lewis three bananas and put him in my little brother’s toy car. I wanted to throw him out of my house, but I thought about all that cash. How long will he have energy? I don’t know how much more I can take. I decided Lewis, my brother, and I would have a party. We turned on the radio to D.J. Jam, D.J. Jam, http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/KidsCorner.aspx (2 of 4) [4/21/2013 10:59:00 AM]

Kids Corner

played the music while we danced. Lewis was happy. I thought about all the money I was going to make, and I began to dance. It was so much fun. D.J. Jam played my favorite song and Lewis danced his tail off. He danced all over the place. My brother and I chanted, “Go, Lewis! Go, Lewis!” Something went terribly wrong when Lewis went in my room. He was jumping up and down on my bed. Then, he started screaming. I was just about to catch him by his little tail when something strange happened. Lewis fell fast asleep just like that. I guess it was naptime for both of us because I fell asleep right next to him. Lewis snored like a loud elephant and he also slept with his eyes open. It was so scary. RING! RING! The phone woke me up. I answered. It was my aunt. “I am on my way, and if Lewis had a good time, the money is yours”, she boasted. Now all I could think about is my new friend. He is different from my other friends, but that doesn’t matter. Do you want a new friend?

Dr. Wilemme is a product of the Stockton and Sacramento School Districts. She worked in the mental health field in the beginning of her career. She was employed by Turning Point Community Programs and then later went into education. She is currently employed by Memphis City Schools. She was a classroom teacher for many years. She now works as an administrator.

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Thinking Fresh

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Thinking Fresh and Eating Clean Thinking Fresh and Eating Clean by Laree Washington

(published in the Summer 2011 issue) People often say to me, “You’re so small! How do you stay that size?” I credit some of it to good genes, but I rely on the foods I eat for upkeep and longevity. The program I am introducing here are things that I have found to work for myself and information that I have gathered from professionals. Think Fresh, Eat Clean is the idea of eating the freshest foods possible and eating them in a way that gives you the most energy and nutrients and that keeps the pathways of your body cleansed and flowing naturally. This is done by reducing the amount of food you eat that contains damaging fats and replacing it with foods that naturally contain water and healthy fatty acids. This is not an overnight lifestyle makeover marathon; however, you might see yourself making changes along the way. I will show you how to get the most out of your current diet in a way that fits your life, and your budget. The first step to motivating yourself to eating fresher and cleaner is to know the health benefits of foods. When you know how powerful a piece of fruit or a vegetable is, you will want to eat it more. The next step is knowing what is going into your food. The Future of Food is an excellent documentary to watch. There are so many chemicals in our food, especially processed food, but even in foods from the produce section of our grocery stores. My goal is to know where my food came from and what has been put on it before it enters my mouth. Since that has been my goal, I have become friends with people who have gardens or fruit trees, and I shop at the farmers’ markets more often (whether indoors or outdoors). I’m not encouraging anyone to shop the organics section! What I am saying is find that small market that sells local farm-fresh food. You’ll find that their prices might be considerably lower than the major grocer. Not only is it what you do or don’t eat, but it’s how and when you eat it that makes the difference. The best way to start off your day is with energy and vitamins. Fruit is the way to go. I will warn you, fruit will not hold you over until lunch, so you’ll need snacks. I am a believer in snacks! Where most go wrong with snacks is when they buy food that puts their health on a decline instead of eating food that propels their energy and nutrient intake forward. Lunch is a good time to eat a big filling meal. Most people are most active at the peak of the day, which allows you to burn off your lunch and wind down for the evening. For dinner, keep it savory and light. Be sure to eat your last meal of the day by 7 p.m. but no later than 8 p.m. to give your body time to wind down for a good night’s sleep. If you go to bed late, you’ll most likely get hungry. Eat your favorite fruit to keep your digestive system relaxed and clean.

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Thinking Fresh

Laree Washington It is important to eat at the same time every day. Your body will learn what to expect, and this saves you from going off the deep end — for example, screeching your tires into the McDonald’s drive-through because you didn’t eat breakfast, you forgot your snacks, you’re eating two hours later than usual, and now you’re starving. My personal diet is about 10% carbohydrates, 5% (or less) meat, 5% (or less) dairy, 5% junk, and 75% (or more) fruits and vegetables. Water and pure squeezed juice, not from concentrate, is the best way to go for daily liquid intake. I really like Simply Apple and Simply Lemonade. I am a big tea drinker so sometimes I’ll take fresh herbs and make my own hot tea. I recently sat at a restaurant with a friend and explained my program to her. She said, “I eat cheap, it’s too expensive to eat healthy...” No doubt you might be saying the same thing, I said it too, but I took a chance and this is what I found: shopping by recipe is more cost-effective than stashing food for what you might make in the future. I started buying small recipe books from the checkout stands. Note: I buy one at a time; I’ll make everything I want out of the book before I buy another one. I also write out the ingredients to the meals I already ate to see what I really need to buy. I find that some of the same ingredients can be used in more than one of my recipes. Now, with 4 produce items I have three or four meal options. A chef friend of mine told me that if my recipe calls for more than 10 ingredients, it is neither time- nor cost-effective. Remember, we’re talking about your everyday diet, not your special or holiday spreads. As you walk through the grocery aisles, think fresh. Which is more cost-effective to buy, packaged dried herbs for $3 to $5 or fresh leaf herbs for less than $1? What is even more fresh and clean is to buy that herb as a small potted plant! When your recipe calls for more expensive luxury items like a special cheese, you don’t have to sacrifice it. Buying cheese by the slice or buying your items in bulk, according to your need, will save you money. This way you also avoid having that food go bad in the fridge because you were only buying for one dish. When I was in college and after, eating fresh was a challenge because I was always on the go. I didn’t have time to cook, and carrying around fresh food was too messy. My motto when buying was ”Anything that can go in the microwave...” This time around I find that storage and prep time is the key. I could not eat the way I do without ziplock bags and lots of storage containers of all sizes. I didn’t go out and buy five sets of Tupperware, but I use what I have. Some of my foods come in sturdy plastic containers with snap-on lids, and the takeout restaurants give their sauces in little containers. I save all of them and reuse them. When you come home from the market, take a moment to clean and chop your vegetables or fruit and put them in your containers. When I do this, I can throw together one of my recipes in the same amount of time it would take for some frozen foods to cook in the microwave. This is especially helpful when I’m on the go; I don’t want a fruit that needs to be peeled, that is messy, that has a lot of seeds, or that needs to be stored a certain way. Are you thinking fresh yet? Now let’s clean up! Let’s go into your kitchen. Make a list of the foods you eat on a weekly basis. Write down your favorite foods and your guilty foods. How often do you have these? From this point forward you and I are going to work together to get fresh and eat clean. Anywhere Is a Good Place to Start There was a time when we ate out a lot, fast food, TV dinners, and takeout. Today my mom jokes that she had given Taco Bell so much of her money that she could have owned it by then and she knew that had to change. We tried different things in the beginning like buying whole wheat bread (even Ezekiel bread!), shopping at Wild Oats, buying free range chicken and veggie burgers, then shopping at the farmers’ market. My brother and I learned to pay attention to content labels on our food, so we evolved over the years; as we learned we changed. Just Say No In the beginning I heard a lot of no’s when we planned our meals or when we went shopping. They went something like, “No, you can’t have _______, but you can have ______ or _______.” Usually, I wanted pizza or Subway, but my mom had guidelines. We had to choose meals that were within the parameters of healthy choices. Every other weekend we could splurge and have what we wanted or a dessert. One of our favorites was my mom’s “salad with everything in it but the kitchen sink.” Shopping in the grocery store was another discipline. With our new menu we would shop accordingly. My mom had a system of categorizing our meals. We had options for breakfast, lunch, snack (we were allowed about two for school), and dinner. We weren’t allowed to eat our school snack at home or our dinner options for lunch. Even with all of these guidelines we would try our best to manipulate the system and ask for our snacks right before dinner was ready. My mom would just say, “If you’re hungry, eat fruit, but if you really want those chips, you better get full because that will be your dinner.” Though we heard a lot of no’s during this time, as 12- and 7-year-olds, we felt empowered because we were included, we were given choices and options. Eating clean is about reducing the fat in your foods and increasing your water intake. Foods that have water are those that naturally have water in them. Think, if you were to put this food in the food processor, would there be a natural juice that is extracted? On the other hand, if you were to put a food in a food processor, would http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ThinkingFresh.aspx (2 of 3) [4/21/2013 10:59:04 AM]

Thinking Fresh

it turn into a thick, heavy, or paste-like substance? Eat until you’re satisfied, not until you’re stuffed. Don’t worry! The food that you didn’t eat will still be there when you get hungry again. I feel that my body doesn’t work as hard to digest food when I eat this way. This method also helps to avoid the crashing sleepy feeling we get after eating so much. Your body is actually using so much energy to digest your food that it wears you out and makes you sleepy. This was a starting point for us. As time progresses, you’ll become better at making healthy choices, and thinking fresh and eating clean will become a part of your everyday life. Laree was raised in Sacramento, CA. She graduated from Calvary Christian School and went on to receive her Bachelor of Art Degree in Fashion Design and Marketing from American Intercontinental University in Los Angeles. She currently works as a behavior instructor at Resources in Autism Education in Torrance, CA and enjoys researching sustainable living and health and wellness

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Phommasone’s Kitchen Mushroom Tacos

This is one of my favorite dishes. I like to play around in the kitchen making up new dishes that are nutritious and taste good.

The recipe: 1-2 packages of sliced button mushrooms 1 tsp of sea salt 1-2 tsp of black pepper 2 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1-2 tbsp olive oil 1 cup of cabbage ½ cup red onions 1 avocado 1 cup of your favorite cheese

So for all the health conscious people (or not), you will love my version of tacos. The secret to affordable eating and getting more for your bucks is using vegetables and fruits that are in season. Better yet, have your own garden or access to a neighbor’s garden; just ask them first.

Salsa

Put mushrooms in a bowl. Add olive oil and above spices. Mix them together. After mixing, spread the mushrooms on a baking sheet. Make sure to spread the mushrooms out and then bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. The mushrooms should still be firm. Heat the corn tortillas in a nonstick pan; cook on both sides. After both sides are warm add cheese until it melts. Remove the taco shell from the pan. Add cabbage, onions, avocado, and top with salsa. If you don’t like cabbage you can use lettuce. I prefer cabbage because I love the crunch and it has more nutritional value.

Don’t be afraid to use your favorite spices such as curry, cilantro, barbeque sauce, or chipotle to bring out your culture. Tacos can also be turned into fish tacos by adding tilapia, swordfish, salmon, or shrimp. As Emeril Lagasse would say, “Bam!” Bon appétit, my friends

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About Phommasone Griffith Phom. has been working in the mental health field for more than 12 years. She has a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in Social Work from Sacramento State University. She has many hobbies but her favorite pastime is cooking and feeding family and friends healthy delicious meals.

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Recipe Section

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Poetry Corner

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Poetry Corner .

Forgiveness by Cynthia Wakefield

You are the only one you have by RavenSong Frisella

The Box You Made For Me by Tammy Dyer, M.S.W.

. Not Alone by David Kiesz

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Holistic Approaches To Healing

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Holistic Approaches To Healing

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Geriatrics Issues

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Toolkits

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Make a list of

Activities That Will Help You Feel Good About Yourself

+++> at least five of your strengths, for example, persistence, courage, friendliness, creativity +++> at least five things you admire about yourself, for example the way you have raised your children, your good relationship with your brother, or your spirituality +++> 10 ways you can "treat" or reward yourself that don't include food and that don't cost anything, such as walkil in woods, window-shopping, watching children playing on a playground, gazing at a baby's face or at a beau ful flower, or chatting with a friend +++> the five greatest achievements in your life so far, like recovering from a serious illness, graduating from high school, or learning to use a computer +++> 10 things you can do to make yourself laugh +++> 10 things you could do to help someone else +++> 10 things that you do that make you feel good about yourself Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services Web site: www.samhsa.gov

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Other Columns

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Other Columns

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DID YOU KNOW THAT?

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DID YOU KNOW THAT? Wellness and Recovery Centerson Marconi Avenue and Franklin Boulevard provide on-going support groups that are free and open to all Sacramento County residents 18+ years of age. Both Centers also offer medication support services referred to them by Sacramento County Adult Access. The centers are a supportive place that honor diversity and encourage individuals to reach their highest potential. For more information contact: > Wellness and Recovery Center /North: 3815 Marconi Ave Ste # 1 Sacramento, CA 95821 PH: 916-485-4175 Fax: 916-485-2673 or >Wellness and Recovery Center /South: 7000 Franklin Blvd Ste 110 Sacramento, CA 95823. Ph: 916-394-9195 Fax: 916-392-2827

Cindy Tuttle provides spiritual retreats for family members of adults with mental illness and consumers. These non-denominational retreats provide a time and space to reflect on our purpose in life, our holiness, and how love is with us each day. You can contact Cindy at cindytuttle08@comcast.net or visit her website www.cindytuttletheauthor.com ”My hope is to offer a peaceful and fun environment where people can experience their own sacredness and share their challenges and how they have overcome them. My vision is to provide a place where people will walk away with a sense of hope and realize how precious and holy they are and have some practical spiritual tools to take home with them to create their own spiritual“www.cindytuttletheauthor.com

If you are looking for some help for yourself or someone you know, you can call 2-1-1 24hours a day, seven days a week and be connected to many social services. Assistance is also available in other languages. Can't dial 2-1-1? Call (916)498-1000 or800)500-4931 Email: info@211sacramento.org About one in five adults (ages 18 and older) has a diagnosable mental disorder. (National Institute of Mental Health) www.samhsa.gov

The Center for Counseling and Diagnostic Services located on the campus of California State University, Sacramento provides quality career and Rehabilitation Counseling with a friendly staff

and environment. There are approximately 12-14 counseling sessions (50 minutes each) and THERE IS NO FEE THIS FALL SEMESTER!! FREE. ndividuals with disabilities and others can receive vocation testing, career counseling and personal counseling as needed. For appointment and information, please 916 278– 6252 or visit their website http://

edweb.csus.edu/ccds/

Wheels to Work provides counselors and Internet enabled computer workstations which help people who don’t normally have access to the Internet find transportation and related services aimed at securing employment. For more info, please call or visit the Paratransit Mobility Management Center. RideQuest: (916) 429-2009 x 7229

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

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The Center for Counseling and Diagnostic Services located on the campus of California State University, Sacramento provides quality career and Rehabilitation Counseling with a friendly staff

edweb.csus.edu/ccds/

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Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D

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Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D (In the Fall 2011 issue) Dr. Risley is the first graduate of the combined residency program in family medicine and psychiatry at UC Davis. He is a former assistant clinical professor and physician diplomat at UCD. In addition to practicing psychiatry at TCORE, he integrates family medicine and psychiatry at Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc (www.sacmedoasis.com).

Introduction to the Interview by Gail Erlandson, M.A.

I visited Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc. to interview Ron Risley on a hot afternoon in late July. The Oasis is aptly named. There are bright greens and blues in the comfortably furnished waiting room. The sound of the water from the fountains relaxes you as you wait. Art surrounds you. Sensitive touches also include books for children. The Oasis is the dream of Dr. Risley and several others interested in making a big step toward improving mental health services. Ron Risley is the first graduate of UC Davis’ acclaimed combined residency training program in family medicine and psychiatry. There are many accolades for Ron, but perhaps the most significant are those I’ve heard from his patients. Laura: “Dr. Risley has made psychiatric care available to me. I had been stable with the county and that was why I was eliminated. I went cold turkey off of 250 mg. of Effexor. I could have died. I became hard-core depressed. I get what I need from Dr. Risley.” Robert: “Dr. Risley has been a lifesaver to me. I haven’t had any medical insurance for about 7 years. In 2001, when I was working, 160 lbs came down on my head from a distance of 20 feet. I suffer from chronic pain and multiple injuries. Dr. Risley is the first doctor that actually listened to me and examined me thoroughly. He is helping me with the problems I have. He is awesome.” Nora: “Dr. Risley is a special doctor that listens to my concerns and helps me develop a plan of treatment that we mutually agree on. I feel empowered working with him. He is very understanding because he has lived experience.” Carlo: “He’s a doctor I can trust.”

Gail: That‛s incredible, and now you are a medical doctor, how did you transition?

Risley: I really loved the computer stuff, but I got more into the esoteric stuff like cryptography. It is not a field where you can spend a lot of time talking with other people. So it is kind of a closed world. I ran a consulting firm and spent a lot of time with machines. I started feeling like I wanted to work more with people. I really wanted to directly affect people‛s lives. I thought that I could be a farmer or a doctor and the farming sounded like a lot of hard, dangerous work. The really interesting part is that I was sitting in a pizza parlor with a girlfriend and she said, “You know you really seem like you want to make a change.” I said , “Well, what I would like to do is go to medical school, but I can‛t do that!” and, as I said it, even before she said, “Why not?”, I said, “Why not?” So I did my whole undergraduate program over again. I went to San Diego http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/DrRonRisley.aspx (1 of 4) [4/21/2013 10:59:24 AM]

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D

City College. Then I transferred to UCSD and got a degree in literature and writing. I read all the stuff that said once you get into medical school all you will be doing is science. I found that in doctoring my communication training is more valuable than organic chemistry. Knowing how to communicate with patients and other doctors has served me well. I had this vision of medicine as sitting down with someone and talking about what was bothering them, and then coming up with a plan for dealing with it. Instead, I found medical school was a world where you are constantly pressured to see people and to focus on what medicine you are going to give them. The only people who were actually sitting down talking to their patients were psychiatrists. I really had my focus on primary care medicine. It was what I wanted to do, but I saw that psychiatry was much closer to my vision.

Gail: How did the Sacramento Medical Oasis come into being? Risley: This place came into being about this time last year when we all thought we would be out of work. We were wondering where patients were going to go. We thought it would be nice if people on disability income could afford care. We looked into whether we could accept Medi-Cal, could we get insurance money, could we get grants, was there a way to fund this new concept? What we found was that the minute you buy into that insurance system, the costs pretty much triple. There is billing, collections, and a whole bunch of regulatory agencies you have to keep happy. You don‛t have to deal with all of that if you don‛t take insurance money. What we came up with, after a lot of number crunching, was that we could see people for $79.00 a month and treat their psychiatric illness and their general medical illness. We don‛t make a distinction. You don‛t make a “psych” appointment , or a “ medical” appointment. Instead, we treat the whole person. Gail: If you had to say what your philosophy of medicine is, how would you sum it up? Risley: To borrow from a colleague friend of mine , “We meet over the patient‛s suffering,” that is really what it is all about. People don‛t need doctors unless they are suffering, and our job is to address that suffering. Whether the job is to treat their physical pain, or their psychic pain, or to help them integrate into society better, or to help them heal their bones. It is about caring for their suffering. Gail: I learned from one of your patients, who highly recommends you, that you manage your own bipolar disorder. How would you say the bipolar challenge affects your ability to be a psychiatrist? Risley: I don‛t think my illness has ever really impacted my ability to provide patient care. I think it is important that the world recognize that psychiatric illness can be managed well. I got my diagnosis in medical school. A lot of people I know with bipolardisorder are self-employed so they can have flexibility in their schedule. A lot of it is about perspective. When you go from a state, say, of being profoundly depressed, to being really up and being hypo-manic, you begin to realize that the same situation can be perceived on one day as being bone crushingly depressing and on a different day as being an exhilarating challenge. To recognize that has been a real gift. To be able to have some perspective and not to just go through life feeling that I am the pawn of forces greater than I am is a true gift. Gail: What do you think about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the way medicine is practiced? Risley: The pharmaceutical industry currently is the whipping boy because they are the ones making the most money. When a lot of money is involved, you have to be really careful with the amount of influence it has. Many doctors I have talked to say, “Oh well, I know they are big, but that doesn‛t influence my prescribing at all.” I think that‛s dangerous. They do provide some education, but they also have a lot of money and influence and I try to be aware of that. Gail: In your writing you mention the importance of an Interdisciplinary approach to medicine. What does that look like? Risley: An interdisciplinary approach to medicine is one of those things that is a great concept, but really hard to execute. Medications don‛t make the world a better place. I can give you all the Prozac that‛s made and it is not going to improve your world. What is going to improve your world is how you approach it and how you think about it. The medication has a real role if you are overcome with symptoms and you can‛t do those things you need to make your world a better place. Medication, if properly used, controls the symptoms well enough so you can do the work you need to get better. The work might be something internal you do, it might be just having the energy for paying your bills, or it might be getting to a cognitive behavioral therapy group. It takes all forms, but the medication is a small portion of the care. What we have is a health care delivery system that says, “Well you are a doctor, you make way too much money, and the only thing we are going to pay you for is writing those prescriptions.” Healing takes a lot of effort. Gail: What do you think are some of the important things we need to do as a mental health community to achieve better quality of care and life for our members? http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/DrRonRisley.aspx (2 of 4) [4/21/2013 10:59:24 AM]

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D

Risley: The number one thing is that we have to get rid of the stigma around mental health. One of the things that I am amused and really heartened by is that we providers have people who walk in the door and say, “ I am having this muscle ache,” and then we start talking, and the real reason they are here is something else. We have been able to break down that barrier at the Oasis. Generally speaking, Mental Health services are very separate from the rest of medicine and people in need don‛t know how to access the mental health system. The doctors doing the work don‛t have access to the tools they need to make it easy to make that happen. So people are stuck, and they are stuck really only because we refuse to acknowledge that psychiatric illness is cardiac illness, it is cancer, it is foot pain, and everything overlaps. I used to think there were clear cut illnesses. But if somebody has a broken bone, how did they get that broken bone? What kind of behavior were they engaging in? It may be an insignificant piece of it, or it may be really significant. But until you ask, you do not know. Gail: Your patients have told me that the Oasis has made psychiatric care very accessible to them. What else do you see unique about the Oasis? Risley: What isn‛t unique about it? It is a big experiment in a lot of ways. It first struck me when I was at Massage Envy getting a massage. They have a way of reducing the anxiety about getting a massage. I found a lot of parallels with what people experience in accessing psychiatric care to the anxiety that might be provoked around getting massage. I was president of the Psychiatric Society for about twoyears. When I went to look for a doctor, here I was on the inside, about as inside as you could get, and I felt the same anxiety. You end up making a lot of calls. There is a shortage of psychiatrists. It is hard to find someone who is taking new patients. Here I was on the inside and it was an intimidating, expensive, scary system. Imagine what it must be for someone who has no connections? My co-conspirator, Sonny Cline, and I have similar backgrounds. We are both trained in primary care as well as psychiatry. At the Oasis, we believe strongly that we have something to offer people and people have something to offer us. That is what it is all about. We have a relationship with the patient, we don‛t have a relationship with the insurance companies. At the Oasis patients are invested in their own care. We try to keep our rates as low as possible, but it is still a significant amount of money. They are buying it, they are the customer. They have certain rights to expect that people with private insurance or the county system don‛t feel that they have. A consumer will go to the doctor and say “well I really want this,” and the doctor says, “well, the insurance company isn‛t going to pay me for that, so you are not going to get it.” I often say it is like having an insurance executive there in the room with you when you are getting an exam. We have people who come to the Oasis with insurance because they like the one on one, people without insurance come here because they don‛t have a lot of options. I have a couple people who have followed me from the County and say it‛s worth $79 bucks a month to not have to deal with the appointment system and not to have to worry about getting a different doctor every time. Some people think I am really critical of the county system, and actually I am not. I have worked in that system since 1997, and I think it is remarkable what they do with the resources they have, but there is a huge bureaucratic overhead. We are different from the county system, but we can never be a substitute. We just provide an alternative for some. Gail: What do you think the future of psychiatry looks like? Risley: There will be a lot more accessibility to Mental Health Services and our knowledge of the brain will greatly increase. We know so much more about the brain than we did 15 or 20 years ago, and it is still nothing. It is a growing field. We used to say that when people got sick, that they have “fever.” Now we look at fever as a symptom of a larger problem of different illnesses. So I think the day will come when we look at depression or anxiety or psychosis as symptoms of a broad spectrum of illnesses instead of taking one treatment modality. Gail: What brings you the greatest joy in practicing medicine? Risley: What brings me the greatest joy is seeing people who have resigned themselves to being sick, turn a corner and experience a sense of empowerment. To see them make a positive change is never just about their medication. It is never just about getting a therapist, it is never just about finding a resource like the Wellness Center. But it is a combination of using many opportunities and resources. Then one day they wake up and say, “I am a human being, I am a productive person, and I can bring joy to others.” They come here and they tell me that. Then I realize that I have been a part of that transformation. What can you do in life that brings more joy than that?

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Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T

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Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center (Fall 2011 Issue) Interviewer: Your mission statement states that you work in collaborative partnerships. Please explain what type of collaborative specific to mental health? Response:Recently our collaborators have been very focused along with the mental health services in trying to reach out to diverse cultures in the community.

They asked us to conduct a focus group for Latinos (speaking Spanish only) to ask them what were their needs concerning suicide prevention, and so we hoped to do that focus group for them, and then we gave that information to them because as you know people that don’t speak the language are fearful to go to larger groups. And so we approached them. As we said, the reason they are not [going is] because they resist large groups. We have had a program in the past, and the program was to learn about what works. And we found out that if we have little groups in the gym they will come. And it isn’t because they don’t know, they know and they want to participate because they have information, but they are fearful to go to big groups, thinking they won’t understand. So we have had groups with the Spanish-speaking, with Hmong-speaking. Those are the two main ones but certainly when we had the Oasis Program we had seven different capabilities of identifying these different groups that we could work with. African American was one, LGBT was one. [There were] many different ones we could really focus [on] and find out from them what were their needs.

Interviewer: That sounds great. How do you help people access their strengths and build on positives? Response: We believe in the same philosophy as the Mental

Health Department or Behavior Health Services in providing familydriven services, and family-driven services really mean that we need to hear the voice of the family and what is it that they need. What is it from their perspective, not from us as experts; they are the experts in their family. They know what has worked in the past and we need to help them use those [methods], and maybe they have lost it somewhere; we can help find it again because the whole purpose is for us to get fired. We are not there to step in and run their lives, so we want to hear from them and find out what has worked. Maybe if there are some community services that they haven’t been able to utilize, to maybe bring them in to help them to voice what it is they need.

Interviewer: What are some of the groups that you have for non-English speaking people that you have not already mentioned? Response: The mental health department itself. I am an art therapist myself, one of the many hats that I wear. As an art therapist I know that I can work with many different languages because art therapy is a universal language, and you can go right past that expressive language of the verbal into the expressive language of the heart, so we have groups in Spanish here or Hmong, I mean they http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/LynnKeuneLMFT.aspx (1 of 3) [4/21/2013 10:59:29 AM]

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Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T

come in whenever they need it. I just did a grievement group, and there was a Spanish-speaking dad and he never received grievement service in Sacramento because there was nothing available. Even though my group is for kids, I invited him. Dad was just kind of standing around, and I asked, “Would you like to stay?” And he said he didn’t think his son would want him to, so I asked the son, “What would you think if Dad stayed?” Son said, “I don’t care”; and Dad stayed. He became honest, he had to cry, it became real. He said, “There has never been anyone to help us.” It was pretty awesome to be able to [do] that; even if I only had that one person it was great. And in conjunction with my mental health groups we work with the Family Resource Center here. They offer parenting groups, in Spanish and in Hmong, and different core groups under BFRC offer a variety of services. The center is not just exclusive to mental health; we refer our mental health [clients] to our whole program. We actually have a group of parents that contribute to all the various different programs. They meet as an advisory committee, and they meet monthly.

Interviewer: In what ways do you reduce isolation and hopelessness? Response: I’ll tell you what, for 39, 40 years, however long

we’ve been in business, the original philosophy did not fit all cases. We found out that we need to find out from the families what they need and, most of all, go into the communities. If I take you on a tour here you’re not going to see an office with a couch. We do in-home, school support services; we reach out to them rather than making them come to us. That is what we have done the entire time we have had La Familia. We like to become allies with that family, and we provide case management services to help them to connect with the community resources. There may be a special group within the community that can help them so that it will get them out of that isolation.

Interviewer: How do you empower individuals? Response: Sometimes it is hard because they sometimes have hit the end of their rope and they don’t know what to do. We always like to start from their strengths, and so we identify what strengths they have had in the past and then we start to build on those. We find that little by little as we build on those strengths we can help them recognize them. That is what really works the very best

Interviewer: I read something interesting about individuals having an opportunity to become stakeholders. How does this work? Response: The stakeholders are actually the public. They’re the ones who will come to our work groups when we are doing focus groups to identify what it is in the community that is needed. Sometimes it is providing outreach to many different diverse areas here. Parents are stakeholders as well because we invite them to be involved with the parents’ advisory committee and any families involved in mental health programs here are encouraged to participate in that group Interviewer: Do you have an employment center here? How do you motivate people with mental health challenges to transition into wanting to have gainful employment? Response:We do have a One-Stop Career Center here at our family resource center. We do have families that come through here, first of all looking for a job, and we find that many of them do have challenges that they are dealing with, and one of them may be a mental health issue. If we really get a sense that that is something that affects their ability to find employment, then we work with them to be able to at least help evaluate that this is the case and that there are additional resources that can help them. We really encourage them to connect with some community resources to address those challenges. Many times they are not going to accept that, so it may take several times of them coming back. I think they kind of get a sense that once they are looking for a job and they go for views and [their problems] affect their ability to conduct a decent interview—they may be rejected over and over again but they keep coming and coming—and that way we are able to build a relationship with them. Hopefully we are able to encourage their confidence and [get them to] accept some of the services. Encouragement is the biggest thing, and also helping them to realize that mental health is not an illness; basically it’s something that can help them to become a better person and to be able to gain employment. Take away the stigma of mental health; we use a different format. The cultures that are involved, the ones that are represented— they are not expert mental health therapists or professionals; basically they will direct individuals to the resources and just getting them to that point can be a

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Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T

challenge. And sometimes it is getting the referral to mental health so they can go forward Interviewer: Your mental health department is like a hidden nugget. How are people referred to your services? Response: They usually call here and we have people here all day long taking those referrals and then sending off to Access[, an Assisted Access

program which partners with the county]. They need to be medically eligible children from zero to twenty-one years old. We work with the whole family but the child has to be zero to twenty-one, and they qualify for services through Access if they have straight medical.

About Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T

Lynn is clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center and acts as the liaison to Sacramento County DHHS when working with the County. She is on the cultural Competence Committee at the County and System Wide Committee promoting cultural competence. She has a master’s degree in Art Therapy and Family Therapy from Notre Dame de Namurs, CA., and a bachelor’s degree from the famous California College of the Arts in Oakland. She is licensed as a marriage and family therapist (MFT) and art therapist (ATR). Bilingual in Spanish and English.

Interview was conducted by Ann Adams for the Empowerment Magazine.

Anne is currently working part time as a volunteer receptionist at the Wellness and Recover Center on Marconi Avenue. She has served as a board member and residential leader for the Sacramento Mutual Housing Association. She has worked for 15 years for law enforcement agencies at the state and county levels and she also has 4 years of working with children with learning disabilities. She is currently pursuing her education in Human Services from ARC with goal of transferring to Bethany University.

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Doctor Hazem Hashem

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Special interview with Doctor Hazem Hashem on the important triangle between the physician, the patient and their psychiatric medications. (published in Summer 2011 Issue) Today we will be speaking with Dr. Hazem Hashem on the important triangle between the physician, the patient and their psychiatric medications. INTERVIEWER: Often people give up on their medications because they lose patience while waiting for results, since most people wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel better right away. How long does it take for most psychiatric medications to get into the system and start noticeably helping?

DR. HASHEM: This is a very important aspect of treatment. Interestingly, a national study was done by the National Institute of Mental Health, called the CATIE. This study dispelled a common belief among mental health staff that patients stop taking their medications primarily due to side effects. Actually, the study showed the number one reason patients stopped taking their medication is because they believe the medication is not working. The time in which a medication begins to become effective varies from condition to condition and from person to person. In conditions such as depression or schizophrenia, one theory is that receptors in the brain seem to change in patients afflicted with these conditions. The problem can vary from these receptors malfunctioning, to the presence of too many receptors or too few. In order to heal these receptors, the body takes time to repair them effectively. The medication itself may affect the neurotransmitters immediately, but that healing process in the body does take time to complete. This is where some individuals may become impatient

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Doctor Hazem Hashem

INTERVIEWER: So the healing time can also vary from person to person? DR. HASHEM: Yes. Two of the main factors are person to person and from condition to condition. In my clinical observation, we generally tell the patients it takes about four to six weeks in order to see any noticeable effects. In the cases of some new medication such as serotonergics, which include SSRIs for depression, we observed some who saw improvement in three days, some people improved in a week, some people took two weeks, and some people took four weeks. But in general, the cardinal rule is not to give up on the medicine for at least four to six weeks. Now, another factor is the prescribed dosage of a medication. For example, many people are familiar with taking Tylenol. Commonly, most people take two Tylenol tablets for the normal headache. If you were to take just one tablet, your headache might not go away and you would believe the medicine doesn’t work. It’s the same thing with psychiatric medication. You can take one Prozac, and you may not get better. Your proper dose may be two Prozacs, or three, or four. The dosage normally goes up to 80 mg. So a rule of thumb, that is generally not used when medications are given up on, is that you should try a medication up to its maximum dosage for up to six to eight weeks before abandoning it. If after this you continue to not see results, then a medication can be deemed ineffective. I believe giving up before this, is a little premature. What will help people strengthen their faith in a medicine would be to think of their affliction as a cut on a finger. One day of covering it with a band-aid will not complete the healing process. Visualizing it like this helps when a condition is not visual like a cut or scrape. Unfortunately, nerve cells in the brain and the body are the slowest tissues to heal.

INTERVIEWER: Why do psychiatrists sometimes order lab tests? DR. HASHEM: Lab tests are useful for certain conditions. Some depression, for example, can be caused by low thyroid function. The thyroid is a very important hormone producing gland located in the lower part of the neck. In this case, anti-depressants may be completely ineffective and lead to much frustration during treatment. Sometimes there are no other symptoms that can be observed to determine if a patient’s depression is caused by thyroid dysfunction. After discovering this, it has become standard to perform a test called TSH to check for this condition so we can begin effective treatment. For other medications, such as lithium or Depakote, it has been found that the effectiveness of the drug is based on how much is actually being absorbed into your system. You need a certain level of the medicine in your blood in order for the medication to be effective. Above that level, it may give cause side effects without additional benefit and below that range is ineffective. In the case of lithium, monitoring the level in the blood is very important. Lithium is excreted in the kidney. If you have a fast kidney, you will need more lithium than someone who has a slow kidney in order to reach the ideal level in the blood. This is why therapeutic treatment sometimes must also be complimented with lab tests to complete the treatment process.

INTERVIEWER: So as opposed to a specific doesage, one must look at how the medication is interacting with the individual’s body? DR. HASHEM: Exactly. There is also another realm of lab work we use in order to tell is a medication is doing harm to a patient’s body or is creating an adverse reaction when mixed with another medication. For example, Depakote, Tegretol or other seizure medications tend to sometimes harm the liver at a very slow pace. We periodically check liver function and keep track of a patient’s blood count to make sure these harmful effects are not occurring. Commonly, with new second-generation antipsychotics like Zyprexa, Seroquel and Abilify, , it was found there was a high percentage of patients who developed diabetes and high cholesterol while on these medications. In those cases we will closely monitor weight, BMI, blood sugar and cholesterol.

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Doctor Hazem Hashem

DR. HASHEM: In the last few years, Psychiatrists have actually been cornered into just being medication prescribers. But we also my use the short time we have to give “cognitive therapeutic hints.” The most empowered patient is a patient who is knowledgeable about their condition. This is the foundation of empowerment. This is why I always encourage people to research on internet, look up their symptoms and read about the conditions, read about the medications, and read about the different side effects and things like that. In some cases, the doctor may miss to ask the right questions. This can lead to a physician missing important clues to a patient’s condition, inevitably resulting in misdiagnosis. When a patient says “I read about a particular condition and I feel it fit me perfectly.” I am happy to discuss and match their symptoms with the right treatment. Doctors should not feel insulted by that. Much to the contrary, it is very helpful for the person to know exactly what symptoms they’re dealing with. So I also ask people to put every symptom they have on a scale of one to ten before we start treatment and a number after treatment. Each time we readjust the dose or change a medicine. This way, you’re actually giving the doctor a good picture of whether the medicine has worked or not. If a patient is not aware of or doesn’t keep track of their symptoms, the medicine may have worked perfectly, but they deem it ineffective because they themselves were not aware of the changes taking place. So it is very important for both the doctor and the patient to recognize what has been achieved and what has yet to be achieved. Knowing a patient’s preference is also helpful in the treatment. In some cases a patient might say,”oh, I heard horrible things about Zyprexa,” or Prozac or any drug for that matter. If the doctor continues to insist on giving that medication anyway, the patient may be reluctant to take it. Additionally, the patient will most likely give a negative report on the medications effectiveness since they already have a bad impression of the medication anyway. So it is very important for the patient to know what they are taking and to be educated on exactly how they are being treated

INTERVIEWER: Medications help people feel better, but do people disempower themselves when they give all the credit to medications during the healing process? DR. HASHEM: Absolutely. That’s a very good point, actually. I don’t feel medication by any means is the only reason people get better or worse in certain cases. As we just mentioned, the perception people have about their condition is also paramount. Placebo is a perfect example. I read an article that said drug companies are having big problems with the impact of placebo because the placebo has such a strong impact in the healing process that placebo success rates often surpassed the success rates of the actual medication. The pharmaceutical company, Merck, tried to create an antidepressant they thought would be highly successful. Ironically, when confronted with the fact that they would be trying a brand new highly successful antidepressant, when they gave the control group the placebo they felt better strictly by the perception and the new medication could not be approved. We still don’t fully understand the effect of placebo or the ability of the mind to heal itself, so I would say perception by the patient is just as important as the choice of medication. In a large study early on it was found that the group of depressed patients received only cognitive therapy with no medication improved as much as the patients on medication alone. I recall when Prozac came out it was found to be very helpful to a lot of people the issue of how long to stay on medication came up. In my experience I found that when depression is improved on medication the person actually change their interaction with their environment and people around them. This positive interaction feeds back into them positively. If you can copy that positive interaction and cognitive thinking and behavior and continue to do it without the medication you would be able to get off the medication. So somehow you need to learn that you are feeding into the environment that is causing some of the problems you are experiencing. Your role in the environment is very important. In my experience, this method applies with disorders like depression and anxiety. Bipolar and schizophrenia on the other hand, are purely biological conditions. In these situations in particular, the mind over matter approach would not be the preferred method and would probably have little effectiveness. There is no doubt about it; I always encourage people to take steps in the way of cognitive function which will eventually take place of the antidepressant or anti-anxiety.

Doctor Hazem Hashem

and behavioral and the spiritual aspects of treatment are as powerful as or more powerful than the medication itself. This also has no side effects, obviously, because medication has side effects that you don’t want. Sometimes in the absence of this cognitive approach, no antidepressant can seem to work.

INTERVIEWER: What can people do to take more personal responsibility for their health? DR. HASHEM: Complete awareness of your condition and treatment, in addition, a basic knowledge of what constitutes a healthy person. I actually like the spiritual aspect of thinking. The spiritual aspect of life gives us kind of reassurance, some degree of faith that takes away the sense of the depression. When you always feel that there is a higher power, you always feel that there is a hope and there is a reason. I think, spirituality also, in all religion and all philosophies, encourages you to be healthy. All the exercises in all the religions are meant to keep you healthy. A healthy body has a healthy mind and so forth. So to take more responsibility for your health is by being educated about health and being aware of what produces negative results in your body and your mind.

INTERVIEWER: And, last but not least, is psychiatry a science or an art or both? DR. HASHEM: Well, I think psychiatry is primarily a science, and I would say it’s art that uses science. There are a lot of things that take this form, like computer graphics for example. It’s art that’s using the science. The reason is we are not going to use any medication without a scientific experiment or testing that proves beyond doubt that this medicine is really effective in this group of people. Unfortunately, to do that, they have to pick patients who have only mostly pure, single conditions and change the environment so it will be very specific to this condition and use this medication in that context and prove that his medicine works for this condition. On the other hand, humans are not created based on a textbook. God did not open the DSM to put the specific criteria in different people. All patients are a mix of different things. Nothing is exactly the same as the textbook. Nobody has one pure condition, or two or three, with all the other factors that get involved in that. So I would say that the science is actually the proof that each single medicine clearly has a function. The art is mixing all this together; matching medication together with people and conditions. This perfect balance cannot be taught and must be acquired through experience, observations, involvement, notions and feelings. That I believe is the definition of art.

INTERVIEWER: So it keeps it interesting. DR. HASHEM: Yes, yes.

INTERVIEWER: Well, I think that’s it. Thank you, Dr. Hashem. DR. HASHEM: Thank you.

Dr. Hazem Hashem is the medical director of Visions Unlimited and Wellness and Recovery Center North. He is also Chief Psychiatrist/Chief of mental health at Solano State Prison, and Board Certified in general psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatrist.

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Press Release 06.30.11 Sacramento’s First Mental Health Magazine (Empowerment) has Launched The first issue of the "the Empowerment Magazine" is now available online and at over 500 locations in the Sacramento Region. The Empowerment Magazine is the first print and online magazine to focus exclusively on promoting overall wellness and mental health resiliency for the Sacramento region. The first issue features articles on pursuing contentment and happiness, the resiliency factor, working with your psychiatrist, thinking fresh and eating clean and a kid’s corner. Also, included is a special interview with Doctor Hazem Hashem on the important triangle between the physician, the patient and their psychiatric medications. “We were lacking a publication in Greater Sacramento that promotes uplifting voices in the mental health community and we found this inexcusable,” said Amede Kyubwa, founder of the Empowerment Magazine and sacpros.org. The magazine aims at creating a new and positive image for people with lived experience of mental health challenges, “and also helps to eliminate some of the prevailing stereotypes about mental illness,” added Kyubwa “The magazine empowers individuals with direct or indirect experience of living with or overcoming mental heath issues to talk about their positive experiences; something they normally do not get to do in a public way,” said Marilyn Washington, Sacpros Community Network Director. 25,000 copies of the Empowerment Magazine are being distributed all over the Sacramento Region in a variety of agencies, venues and retail stores. The magazine can also be read anytime online at http://www.sacpros.org. The free quarterly magazine is published by Sacpros.org. The magazine’s next issue is due in September 2011 About Empowerment Magazine: The Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly Mental Health Magazine promoting overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento.It is published by SACPROS http://www.sacpros.org, a leading Mental Health Resource Guide strengthening individuals, families and community with easily accessible information about available services in Greater Sacramento area.

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Press Release 03.21.11 Mental Health Magazine "The Empowerment" to Launch in Sacramento Mental Health Magazine aimed at promoting overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento Sacramento CA. March 21, 2011. SACPROS.ORG is preparing to launch a mental health magazine for the Greater Sacramento called "The Empowerment", which will publish information on many topics relating to the mental health community. Articles of interest will include information on symptom management, alternative strategies, current approaches taught in the greater Sacramento area, health and wellness perspectives and many other topics. According to SACPROS Network Director, Marilyn Washington "the magazine will create a new and positive image for people with mental health issues working towards their recovery and hopefully help eliminate some of the prevailing stereotypes about mental illness". It will provide the ability for people with mental illnesses to express their opinions on all areas of their wellness and recovery, something they normally do not get to do in a public way. "SACPROS wants The Empowerment to be an uplifting voice in mental health community", said Ms. Washington. "The mental health community is larger than those who are already in the mental health system and who are highly challenged. It also includes a larger population of people who are currently in mainstream society, but who are struggling in their jobs or relationships, dealing with losses, or who are working through addiction issues. The mental health community might also include our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers who have never sought out support services", said Terry Zick, Wellness Editor of The Empowerment. The official launch is scheduled for June 2011."We're very excited," she said," about the launch of this magazine". The magazine will have an initial print run of 25,000 copies that will be distributed for FREE every quarter to schools, colleges, bus stops, coffee shops, local hospitals, mental health agencies, grocery stores, room and board homes, boarding care homes and police stations. In 6 to 9 months, SACPROS hopes to increase the copies to 54,000. The Empowerment will also enable counselors, therapists, clinical Social workers, clinical Psychologists, mental health prevention specialists, educators, nurses, physicians & psychiatrists, hospitals and treatment centers and other behavioral healthcare professionals to promote their vital programs and services to the mental health community. The deadline for placing ads in magazine for the Summer 2011 issue is May 15th, 2011. About Sacpros www.sacpros.org Sacramento Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (SACPROS) is a leading Mental Health Resource Guide strengthening individuals, families and community with easily accessible information about available services in Greater Sacramento area. For more information about placing adds in magazine or if you have something to shout about, contact Marilyn Washington at (916) 222 - 7541 or send an e-mail at info@sacpros.org. website: www.sacpros.org

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Empowerment Magazine Fall 2011 Issue is Out Now

Empowerment Magazine second issue is now available online at http://www.empowermentmagazine.org and in print at over 500 locations in the Sacramento Region.

Empowerment Magazine second issue features an exclusive interview with Dr Ron Risley, former assistant clinical professor of UC Davis and founder of Sacramento Medical Oasis and a special interview with Keune, LMFT, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center. It also contains several articles including, Living in the Present by Terry Zick, M.A; New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medical Affairs at Sutter Center for Psychiatry; Being Loved by Melanie Martinez; Sam’s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers, naturopathic physician and an expert in nutrition and preventative health; Medication or Meditation by Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator - HRC; People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario M. Ramirez, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area; Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer, MSW;Not Alone by David Kiesz; Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick; The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain by Deonna Wilemme, PhD; and Mushroom Tacos by Phommasone Griffin. According to Amede Kyubwa, the founder of Empowerment Magazine, “the fall issue also has a number of useful resources such as 211 Sacramento, CSUS Free Counseling Services phone number, Wheels to Work phone number, local emergency shelters phone numbers, 24 Hours Crisis Lines, Medi-Cal Information, suicide Prevention crisis lines, psychiatric emergency phone numbers, Sacramento Emergency Room Services phone numbers; and Reporting Child Abuse/Neglect or Adult Abuse/Neglect” The free quarterly magazine is published by Sacpros.org, a leading Mental Health Resource Guide dedicated to strengthening individuals, families and community with easily accessible information about available services in Greater Sacramento area. Empowerment Magazine’s next issue is due in December 2011.

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About Empowerment Magazine It is a quarterly free online and print magazine dedicated to promoting overall wellness and mental health resiliency for the Greater Sacramento. Further information about the magazine can easily be obtained by visiting http://www.empowermentmagazine.org or sending e-mail to contact@empowermentmagazine.org or calling Marilyn Washington at (916) 222-7541

If you find this useful, please share with a friend! All materials on these pages are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or re-transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author/publisher. Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to the promotion of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by www.sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. If you have any questions, please e-mail contact@empowermentmagazine.org

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Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D.

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Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D. conducted by Gail Erlandson, MA

I visited Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc. to interview Dr . Ron Risley on a hot afternoon in late July. TheOasis is aptly named. There are bright greens and blues in the comfortably furnished waiting room. The sound of the water from the fountains relaxes you as you wait. Art surrounds you. Sensitive touches also include books for children. The Oasis is the dream of Dr. Risley and several others interested in making a big step toward improving mental health services. Ron Risley is the first graduate of UC Davis’ acclaimed combined residency training program in family medicine and psychiatry. There are many accolades for Ron, but perhaps the most significant are those I’ve heard from his patients. Laura: “Dr. Risley has made psychiatric care available to me. I had been stable with the County and that was why I was eliminated. I went cold turkey off of 250 mg. of Effexor. I could have died. I became hard-core depressed. I get what I need from Dr. Risley.” Robert: “Dr. Risley has been a lifesaver to me. I haven’t had any medical insurance for about 7 years. In 2001, when I was working, 160 lbs came down on my head from a distance of 20 feet. I suffer from chronic pain and multiple injuries. Dr. Risley is the first doctor that actually listened to me and examined me thoroughly. He is helping me with the problems I have. He is awesome.” Nora: “Dr. Risley is a special doctor that listens to my concerns and helps me develop a plan of treatment that we mutually agree on. I feel empowered working with him. He is very understanding because he has lived experience.” Carlo: “He’s a doctor I can trust.”

Ron Risley, M.D Gail: Who are the people who significantly influenced you in your life?

Risley: The first person that comes to mind is my godfather. He was an inventor and was really interested in science and technology. When I was barely old enough to read, he bought me a subscription to Scientific American magazine. I would look at the pictures and I would kind of read what it said without really understanding much. It set the stage for some of my interests. He had a garage just full of junk which I always called Joyland. Then growing up I lived across the street from a guy by the name of Bob Herman who designed the first commercial minicomputer. He would give me computer parts and I would fiddle with them. Eventually I became an engineer. I did a lot of computer design stuff.

Gail: That‛s incredible, and now you are a medical doctor, how did you transition?

Risley: I really loved the computer stuff, but I got more into the esoteric stuff like cryptography. It is not a field where you can spend a lot of time talking with other people. So it is kind of a closed world. I ran a consulting firm and spent a lot of time with machines. I started feeling like I wanted to work more with people. I really wanted to directly affect people‛s lives. I thought that I could be a farmer or a doctor and the farming sounded like a lot of hard, dangerous work. The really interesting part is that I was sitting in a pizza parlor with a girlfriend and she said, “You know you really seem like you want to make a change.” I said , “Well, what I would like to do is go to medical school, but I can‛t do that!” and, as I said it, even before she said, “Why not?”, I said, “Why not?” So I did my whole undergraduate program over again. I went to San Diego City College. Then I transferred to UCSD and got a degree in literature and writing. I read all the stuff that said once you get into medical school all you will be doing is science. I found that in doctoring my communication training is more valuable than http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/DrRonRisleyFall2011.aspx (1 of 4) [4/21/2013 11:00:03 AM]

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D.

organic chemistry. Knowing how to communicate with patients and other doctors has served me well. I had this vision of medicine as sitting down with someone and talking about what was bothering them, and then coming up with a plan for dealing with it. Instead, I found medical school was a world where you are constantly pressured to see people and to focus on what medicine you are going to give them. The only people who were actually sitting down talking to their patients were psychiatrists. I really had my focus on primary care medicine. It was what I wanted to do, but I saw that psychiatry was much closer to my vision.

Gail: How did the Sacramento Medical Oasis come into being? Risley: This place came into being about this time last year when we all thought we would be out of work. We were wondering where patients were going to go. We thought it would be nice if people on disability income could afford care. We looked into whether we could accept Medi-Cal, could we get insurance money, could we get grants, was there a way to fund this new concept? What we found was that the minute you buy into that insurance system, the costs pretty much triple. There is billing, collections, and a whole bunch of regulatory agencies you have to keep happy. You don‛t have to deal with all of that if you don‛t take insurance money. What we came up with, after a lot of number crunching, was that we could see people for $79.00 a month and treat their psychiatric illness and their general medical illness. We don‛t make a distinction. You don‛t make a “psych” appointment , or a “ medical” appointment. Instead, we treat the whole person. Gail: If you had to say what your philosophy of medicine is, how would you sum it up? Risley: To borrow from a colleague friend of mine , “We meet over the patient‛s suffering,” that is really what it is all about. People don‛t need doctors unless they are suffering, and our job is to address that suffering. Whether the job is to treat their physical pain, or their psychic pain, or to help them integrate into society better, or to help them heal their bones. It is about caring for their suffering. Gail: I learned from one of your patients, who highly recommends you, that you manage your own bipolar disorder. How would you say the bipolar challenge affects your ability to be a psychiatrist? Risley: I don‛t think my illness has ever really impacted my ability to provide patient care. I think it is important that the world recognize that psychiatric illness can be managed well. I got my diagnosis in medical school. A lot of people I know with bipolardisorder are self-employed so they can have flexibility in their schedule. A lot of it is about perspective. When you go from a state, say, of being profoundly depressed, to being really up and being hypo-manic, you begin to realize that the same situation can be perceived on one day as being bone crushingly depressing and on a different day as being an exhilarating challenge. To recognize that has been a real gift. To be able to have some perspective and not to just go through life feeling that I am the pawn of forces greater than I am is a true gift. Gail: What do you think about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the way medicine is practiced? Risley: The pharmaceutical industry currently is the whipping boy because they are the ones making the most money. When a lot of money is involved, you have to be really careful with the amount of influence it has. Many doctors I have talked to say, “Oh well, I know they are big, but that doesn‛t influence my prescribing at all.” I think that‛s dangerous. They do provide some education, but they also have a lot of money and influence and I try to be aware of that. Gail: In your writing you mention the importance of an Interdisciplinary approach to medicine. What does that look like? Risley: An interdisciplinary approach to medicine is one of those things that is a great concept, but really hard to execute. Medications don‛t make the world a better place. I can give you all the Prozac that‛s made and it is not going to improve your world. What is going to improve your world is how you approach it and how you think about it. The medication has a real role if you are overcome with symptoms and you can‛t do those things you need to make your world a better place. Medication, if properly used, controls the symptoms well enough so you can do the work you need to get better. The work might be something internal you do, it might be just having the energy for paying your bills, or it might be getting to a cognitive behavioral therapy group. It takes all forms, but the medication is a small portion of the care. What we have is a health care delivery system that says, “Well you are a doctor, you make way too much money, and the only thing we are going to pay you for is writing those prescriptions.” Healing takes a lot of effort. Gail: What do you think are some of the important things we need to do as a mental health community to achieve better quality of care and life for our members? Risley: The number one thing is that we have to get rid of the stigma around mental health. One of the things that I am amused and really heartened by is that we providers have people who walk in the door and say, “ I am having this muscle ache,” and then we start talking, and the real reason they are here is something else. We have been able to break down that barrier at the Oasis. Generally speaking, Mental Health services are very separate from the rest of medicine and people in need don‛t know how to access the mental health system. The doctors doing the work don‛t have access to the tools they need to make it easy to make that happen. So people are stuck, and they are stuck really only because we refuse to acknowledge that psychiatric illness is http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/DrRonRisleyFall2011.aspx (2 of 4) [4/21/2013 11:00:03 AM]

Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D.

cardiac illness, it is cancer, it is foot pain, and everything overlaps. I used to think there were clear cut illnesses. But if somebody has a broken bone, how did they get that broken bone? What kind of behavior were they engaging in? It may be an insignificant piece of it, or it may be really significant. But until you ask, you do not know. Gail: Your patients have told me that the Oasis has made psychiatric care very accessible to them. What else do you see unique about the Oasis? Risley: What isn‛t unique about it? It is a big experiment in a lot of ways. It first struck me when I was at Massage Envy getting a massage. They have a way of reducing the anxiety about getting a massage. I found a lot of parallels with what people experience in accessing psychiatric care to the anxiety that might be provoked around getting massage. I was president of the Psychiatric Society for about twoyears. When I went to look for a doctor, here I was on the inside, about as inside as you could get, and I felt the same anxiety. You end up making a lot of calls. There is a shortage of psychiatrists. It is hard to find someone who is taking new patients. Here I was on the inside and it was an intimidating, expensive, scary system. Imagine what it must be for someone who has no connections? My co-conspirator, Sonny Cline, and I have similar backgrounds. We are both trained in primary care as well as psychiatry. At the Oasis, we believe strongly that we have something to offer people and people have something to offer us. That is what it is all about. We have a relationship with the patient, we don‛t have a relationship with the insurance companies. At the Oasis patients are invested in their own care. We try to keep our rates as low as possible, but it is still a significant amount of money. They are buying it, they are the customer. They have certain rights to expect that people with private insurance or the county system don‛t feel that they have. A consumer will go to the doctor and say “well I really want this,” and the doctor says, “well, the insurance company isn‛t going to pay me for that, so you are not going to get it.” I often say it is like having an insurance executive there in the room with you when you are getting an exam. We have people who come to the Oasis with insurance because they like the one on one, people without insurance come here because they don‛t have a lot of options. I have a couple people who have followed me from the County and say it‛s worth $79 bucks a month to not have to deal with the appointment system and not to have to worry about getting a different doctor every time. Some people think I am really critical of the county system, and actually I am not. I have worked in that system since 1997, and I think it is remarkable what they do with the resources they have, but there is a huge bureaucratic overhead. We are different from the county system, but we can never be a substitute. We just provide an alternative for some. Gail: What do you think the future of psychiatry looks like? Risley: There will be a lot more accessibility to Mental Health Services and our knowledge of the brain will greatly increase. We know so much more about the brain than we did 15 or 20 years ago, and it is still nothing. It is a growing field. We used to say that when people got sick, that they have “fever.” Now we look at fever as a symptom of a larger problem of different illnesses. So I think the day will come when we look at depression or anxiety or psychosis as symptoms of a broad spectrum of illnesses instead of taking one treatment modality. Gail: What brings you the greatest joy in practicing medicine? Risley: What brings me the greatest joy is seeing people who have resigned themselves to being sick, turn a corner and experience a sense of empowerment. To see them make a positive change is never just about their medication. It is never just about getting a therapist, it is never just about finding a resource like the Wellness Center. But it is a combination of using many opportunities and resources. Then one day they wake up and say, “I am a human being, I am a productive person, and I can bring joy to others.” They come here and they tell me that. Then I realize that I have been a part of that transformation. What can you do in life that brings more joy than that?

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Exclusive Interview with Ron Risley, M.D.

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New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medi

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New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medical Affairs at Sutter Center for Psychiatry

As summer comes to an end and children head back to school for the fall, anxiety levels are on the rise. At Sutter Center for Psychiatry, we see a dramatic increase in cases exacerbated by anxiety and stress as school returns to session. Transitional times like these tend to be very difficult for children as they face new fears and stress. All of a sudden children have pressures to perform academically and adjust to social, parental and teacher expectations that are not necessarily present during the summer months. To help ease the shock of these pressures, consider these practical strategies to make the most of the transition period with the start of the new school year. Anticipating and planning is the best way to address anxiety to the benefit of both parents and children. Recognize and use cues that school is around the corner – including back-toschool shopping and an increased focus on academic activities such as reading to help prepare your child for the upcoming change. Like anything else, there are varying degrees of the effects of anxiety. Newer epidemiological research indicates that more than 80 percent of depressed adolescents have a history of childhood anxiety. Unlike adults, children display anxiety symptoms differently. Rather than verbalizing these feelings, children express it behaviorally, physically and cognitively. Feeling anxious can interfere with their mood, concentration and decision-making abilities, which can be misinterpreted as problems with attention or learning. Some children seem overly tense, seek constant reassurance and may be eager to please, while other children act out.

Cindy Thygeson, M.D. More obvious behaviors include clinginess, separation difficulties, excessive shyness and oppositional behaviors. Anxiety expressed as physical symptoms are very common, difficult to recognize, but also very important to recognize in kids. Ongoing unexplained, physical complaints – such as difficulty breathing, dizziness, stomach aches, problems sleeping, or feeling like they have a lump in their throat – can be a psychological issue rather than a physiological one. Anxiety disorders – the most common mental health issue – are frequently overlooked or misjudged. When they go untreated, children struggle with self-esteem and are unable to develop age-appropriate coping skills, and this contributes to problems at home and at school. The typical pattern of these children becoming unengaged in the classroom results in poor achievement relative to their potential. The negative self-image that ensues contributes to poor motivation to study and participate in class and causes more social and academic difficulties, continuing as a negative perpetual cycle. Besides the more immediate implications, research indicates that about half of adults with anxiety disorders report having left education early, and half of those report later in life that untreated anxiety was the primary reason. If you have concerns about a child, the first step is to speak with them about what their concerns are and what they are experiencing. This issue is http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/DRCindyThygesonFall2011.aspx (1 of 3) [4/21/2013 11:00:07 AM]

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medi

not necessarily based on “what” a child is worrying about, but rather that the worry takes on a life of its own and impacts the child in day-to-day life. Don’t underestimate the power of understanding and reassuring a child by letting him or her know that things will be OK; this really makes a difference. At school, it can be helpful to identify a “safe place” where your children may go when feeling upset. This may save them from resorting to maladaptive ways of coping. If the very common school-refusal pattern starts, it is important to address the issue immediately and have them return to school as soon as possible. In the end, the longer kids are out of school, the more anxiety is fed and unwanted behaviors are reinforced. If your child’s anxieties start to interfere with daily activities in school, socially and his or her overall well-being, this is a sign to seek professional intervention. Talk with the child’s teacher or school guidance counselor. You want to discuss this with your pediatrician or a mental health professional. Write down examples about the concerns that you have to take to your visit. With better understanding of what your child is experiencing, you are better able be of support to your child. It is not uncommon to have difficulty navigating the mental health system. Sutter Center for Psychiatry is available to help determine and provide the best setting for a comprehensive assessment and offer guidance through the next steps. Sutter Center for Psychiatry is the only hospital in Northern California that treats children under the age of 12, throughout the spectrum of inpatient and outpatient programs it offers. We believe in the importance of individualizing care for each person to provide the most effective care. Treatment with a professional who believes in recovery, keeps a global view and gives you options as a partner in treatment is what I believe sets us apart at Sutter Center for Psychiatry. It is not about treating one aspect of a person’s life – but giving tools and guidance to have that individual improve the overall quality of their life and their relationships. That is lasting treatment. Whatever you try, the most important thing is to remember in this journey is that what works for one person may not be right for another. If one thing doesn’t seem to work, continue your search and don’t give up. The good news is, with a little knowledge and appropriate treatment, problems today can easily become yesterday’s news! Here are signs that a child may be experiencing more than just normal anxiety: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Having difficulty separating from people or being unnatu rally clingy Constantly having thoughts and fears about the safety of themselves or others Having worries about things before they happen Being overly self-critical and perfectionistic Being preoccupied with embarrassment or making mis takes Having low self esteem Having trouble falling asleep, frequent nightmares, or diffi culty sleeping alone Difficulty learning and trouble sitting still

Cindy Thygeson, M.D.,

a board-certified pediatric and adult psychiatrist, serves as the Director of Medical Affairs for the Sutter Center for http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/DRCindyThygesonFall2011.aspx (2 of 3) [4/21/2013 11:00:07 AM]

New School Year Brings an Increase in Anxiety for Children by Cindy Thygeson, M.D. Director of Medi

Psychiatry, the only not-for-profit psychiatric hospital in the community. Associated with Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, it is also the only psychiatric hospital that is part of an integrative health care system in the region. Sutter Medical Center and Sutter Center for Psychiatry are part of Sutter Health, Northern Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest health-care network. For more on Sutterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psychiatric services, visit www.suttermedicalcenter.org/psychiatry , or call (916) 386-3000 or (800) 801-3077.

If you find this article useful, please share with a friend!

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Being Loved by Melanie Martinez

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My ups, downs, and flaws are a part of my life. It‛s like walking in a park that is covered in leaves that are big and brown. Each leaf represents a barrier, a problem, or a learning opportunity. I grow from each leaf and flourish from the issue that leads me closer to my purpose. I understand that mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow. Learning new things helps with the new path ways formed by my neurotransmitters! It also helps me expand my self- confidence and self-esteem. Strengthening and developing new paths, clears the walkway and helps the park with less leaves leaf control. Less Fewer leaves helps clarity because so I can walk down a clear path. But when the wind blows those darn leaves back on the path, then I know that there are more opportunities of growth that is are yet to be learned. Each obstacle I encounter during my life must happen for a reason. I have had a hard life but I have learned a lot. Now I have to learn to be kind to myself. I no longer want to hurt myself. I want to live life to the fullest. Living requires me to look at myself and see what I want in life which is positive. There is much hope if I keep my focus on my healing path! My family, those whom I call my family, is my spiritual family. Not blood- related, but my family, who loves me for me even though I’m not perfect. They like me for me, so I don’t have to change according to others’ expectations. I’m unique and I can be loved by others as long as I am open to vulnerability. Learning new patterns of communication can let others in my life. I yearn for love and being loved; for I didn’t get it when I was growing up. Now that I’m older I love others and like receiving love f rom others. This is a very healing aspect for me: being loved. About Melanie Martinez Melanie is an advocate for people with disabilities and homeless. She holds an AA degree in Human Services; she is currently a volunteer at the Wellness and Recovery Center facilitating an art expression group and an assistant co-facilitator in the Nutrition support group. She enjoys creating nutritional meals for friends and family.

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Being Loved by Melanie Martinez

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Dr. Andrew Myers

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Sam’s Club Offers Simple Steps to a Healthy Body and Mind by Dr. Andrew Myers

In our new book, Health is Wealth, Nobel Laureate Dr. Louis Ignarro and I outline simple methods to help our readers improve vitality, live healthier lives, and enjoy peak functioning of both body and mind. Additionally, I have partnered with Sam’s Club to help educate and inform members on preventative healthy living practices while bringing access to quality medical supplies and nutritional supplements I’ve outlined some of the risks associated with various health problems as well as the simple solutions that can help you lead a healthier life. Problem: Poor nutrition habits can damage overall health. Overall health can be negatively affected by what I’ve identified as a Nutritional Deficiency Syndrome (NDS). With NDS it is possible to see several disease states or dysfunctions overlapping to create increased risks of both complications and even death. Solution: Maintain nutritional balance with quality foods and supplements available at Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club offers a great selection of quality foods to keep your family on track in preventing diseases through good nutrition. Try adding fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains to your menu to ensure your daily intake of vitamins and nutrients. A simple salmon filet for dinner can add a dose of healthy Omega-3 oils, while adding fresh berries to your breakfast cereal can boost antioxidant intake. In addition to a healthy diet, the introduction of dietary supplements can enhance your body’s performance, and Sam’s Club offers a wide variety of vitamins and supplements to meet your nutritional needs at a value you can appreciate. Here are my top five nutritional recommendations that can make a big difference in your health:

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Dr. Andrew Myers

1. Prevent Vitamin D Deficiency. Research has linked Vitamin D3 to heart health, cancer prevention, bone health and metabolic function. Studies indicate that three-quarters of U.S. teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D. Experts say low vitamin D levels also may increase a child's risk of developing heart disease later in life. Recommendation: Adults: 2,000 IU per day of a vitamin D supplement Such as Member’s Mark Vitamin D softgels. For children: 400 to 1,000 IU depending on age. 2. Focus on your intake of healthy Omega-3 oils. Omega-3 oils (EPA and DHA) play an important role as antioxidants and help maintain our overall heart health. Recommendation: 900 mg of EPA and DHA per day from 1,400 mg of Fish Oil, such as Member’s Mark Natural Enteric Fish Oil. 3. Support your heart health. In addition to a diet centered on fruit, vegetables and whole grains, nutrients like CoQ10 are also important to overall heart health and function and can become deficient especially for the 33.5 million Americans who are currently taking a statin drug to lower their cholesterol. Statin drugs deplete the body of CoQ10 and this deficiency can lead to impaired function and activity of heart muscle. Recommendation: 100 to 400 mg of CoQ10 each day, such as Member’s Mark Co Q10 softgels. 4. Fight free radicals. Every day our bodies are exposed to toxins from our environment, which can lead to the formation of free radicals. Free radicals are reactive molecules that damage our cells and lead to premature aging. Nutrients like Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, Resveratrol and green tea are antioxidants and can help defend our bodies from the damaging effects of free radicals. Recommendation: 500 to 1,000 mg of Vitamin C daily from supplements such as Super C Energy and Member’s Mark Chewable Vitamin C. 5. Build a foundation for your health. Research has shown that a multivitamin can actually make a difference in our health, and a study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health has provided the first epidemiologic evidence that the use of multivitamins by women is associated with longer telomeres. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes (DNA) that shorten with the aging of a cell. As we look to extend the quality of our lives and support the optimal function of our cells and DNA, a multivitamin is a great place to start. Recommendation: Daily age and gender specific multivitamin such as One A Day Men’s or Women’s Health Complete Multivitamins and Member’s Mark Mature Multi. Problem: The diabetes epidemic. Diabetes affects an estimated 24 million Americans, equal to 8 percent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $174 billion, with $116 billion being direct costs from medication, according to 2005-2007 American Diabetes Association figures. Solution: Take part a free diabetes health screening at Sam’s Club and diminish your diabetes risk through a healthy diet and supplements. Sam’s Club is offering a free diabetes health screening for its members on September 10. The free screenings are one part of Sam’s Club’s efforts to help members take charge of their health through preventative measures. Additional screenings for women’s health, digestive health and heart health will also be offered in the coming months. For more information, and to confirm the times and locations of Sam's Club screenings, check your local listings at SamsClub.com/healthyliving. Further steps you can take to prevent diabetes include maintaining a healthy weight, exercising and modifying your diet to include select supplements. Sam’s Club has many of the products you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle including fitness equipment, a fresh selection of nutritious foods and dietary supplements. With diabetes, it is important to also include magnesium. Dietary sources of magnesium include green, leafy vegetables, meats, starches, grains and nuts and milk, all of which can be found at your local Sam’s Club. Several dietary surveys show that a large portion of adults do not meet the recommended daily allowance for magnesium which is 320 mg per day for women and 420 mg per day for men. In a study published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism researchers report magnesium supplementation improves sensitivity to insulin in overweight individuals. Supplements of magnesium for six months improved two out of three measures of insulin sensitivity, compared with placebo. Blood sugar levels, as measured by fasting levels of glucose in the blood, improved by about 7 percent. Problem: Cardiovascular disease is a major concern. As the leading cause of death in our country, nearly everyone knows someone who has been impacted by heart disease. This year, about 1.2 million Americans will suffer a heart attack, and about 452,000 of them will die as a result. Solution: Maintain a healthy lifestyle with products and services available at Sam’s Club. A central objective in any heart healthy program must be to achieve a healthy weight and maintain it. Even a small amount of weight loss can lower blood pressure and improve blood sugar levels. Another way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease is to incorporate a regular, moderate exercise program. It is not necessary to run marathons, you just need to make sure that each day you make a commitment to moving your body through an exercise program you can stick with over the long-term. Changing your diet can help as well. Our standard American diet is contributing greatly to our national obesity and reduced heart health. I recommend a Mediterraneanstyle diet, rich in fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fruit and healthy oils like olive oil. All the ingredients you need to attain this diet can be found at Sam’s Club, where fresh produce and heart-healthy fish are staples. Building your daily dietary habits around plant-rich food sources will enhance your energy and can add years to your http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/AndrewMyers.aspx (2 of 3) [4/21/2013 11:00:42 AM]

Dr. Andrew Myers

life. Additionally, I recommend that you support healthy blood pressure and vascular integrity. Increase Nitric Oxide levels through exercise and antioxidant consumption to help maintain blood pressure in the normal range. Conclusion While Americans face many potential risks to both mental and physical health, a holistic approach to health can effectively manage overlapping health concerns as described here. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle through simple steps can help prevent health problems in children and adults, as well as contribute to a healthy body and mind. Dr. Andrew Myers is a naturopathic physician and an expert in nutrition and preventative health.He is author of the books Simple Health Value and Health is Wealth. Learn more about Dr. Myers and read his advice on skin health, weight management and other health concerns by visiting samsclub.com/healthyliving.

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Medication or Meditation? by Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator - HRC

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Medication or Meditation? By Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator - HRC The answer is BOTH! While prescription drugs continue to be the most common form of relieving mental health “symptoms,” they do not actually contribute to the healing of the “cause” of these symptoms. Finding the right combination of medication to manage our mental health symptoms can be a challenge, one that I am sure we all have experienced. Every day we are faced with external life stressors. Sometimes it seems that these stressors all happen at once, only to leave us with racing thoughts, anxiety and increased depression, and most of all a feeling of being overwhelmed! Those of us who are mental health consumers tend to easily get overwhelmed due to the nature of our human condition and mental illness. On top of our own life stressors, there is always something negative being broadcast on radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. All this negativity creates and feeds ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts) The good news is that there are coping skills that help us manage daily stress, depression, and anxiety. One great coping tool for “life” is meditation! Please understand that I believe that medication is a gift from the universe, and in many instances, it allows us to have a better quality of life. Preventative medicine is progressing, and medical doctors and psychiatrists everywhere are embracing alternative practices as a way of healing the body and preventing disease. Many of these practices help us to manage our “persistent” mental health symptoms.

Thomas Hushen

is a Service Coordinator and SacPort Instructor at Human Resource Consultants (HRC)

www.hrcrst.org

I do take prescription medications for conditions that require it, but it alone sometimes is just not enough to help me deal with life and the challenges it brings. Meditation is a valuable practice that helps create a balance of body and mind and brings harmony to one’s entire “being.” Here is what meditation WILL do for you without ANY adverse side effects!

The Benefits of Meditation

As a mental health consumer myself, and working with clients at Human Resource Consultants (HRC), I have seen firsthand the results of this powerful practice. There are many great benefits of meditation. Meditation is a time of silence, a time to clear the mind from all of our problems. It does not make the problems go away; it simply allows us to be better equipped to deal with them. To get significant benefits from meditation, one should meditate for 15-20 minutes at the same time. Meditating two times a day—morning and evening—is the best way to begin. I have listed below some of the surprising benefits of this practice that you may not know about!

1. Reduced Heart Rate: Normalization of High Blood Pressure

Heart rates and high blood pressures have been found to fall during meditation. The effect tends to persist even when not meditating (in those who have been practicing meditation daily).

2. Perfect Rest: Physical Rest and Relaxation

The state of consciousness attained during meditation is considered to be the deepest possible rest and relaxation there is for both body and http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ThomasHFall2011.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:00:45 AM]

Medication or Meditation? by Thomas Hushen, Service Coordinator - HRC

mind. Experiments have shown that the overall average breathing reduction rate shows a deeper state of rest and peace of mind during meditation. The meditator is able to maintain this perfect physical rest/relaxation even in activities after meditation. You become calmer and more relaxed, and can experience the activities you participate in with more clarity and focus.

3. Reduced Stress

Stress, as we all know, is a psychologically agitated state which is the opposite of rest and relaxation. Cortisol (a hormone produced by the body) is released in response to stress. Cortisol levels are high when a person is highly anxious or under stress. Physiologists have found that during and after meditation there are lower levels of cortisol produced by the body, which means less anxiety!

4. Increased Creativity

As you practice daily meditation, you will find your level of creativity is enhanced. Once there is balance of our mind and body, we have replaced negative perceptions with positive ones and are now ready to experience an increase in creativity. Creativity in itself is another great coping skill!

5. Reduced Need to Self-Medicate

Some people resort to using alcohol and drugs more when they experience depression and anxiety, trying to escape the troubles and symptoms they have by self-medicating. When we get overloaded, it’s time to look within rather than without for peace and comfort. Meditation tends to reduce the need for us to self-medicate, and allows us to see the world differently with a clear mind.

6. Relief from Insomnia

Deep-rooted stress and anxiety can be one reason for chronic insomnia. As habitual meditation and breath work increases, it dissolves deep-seated stresses and the sleeping cycle naturally improves. I encourage you to take a class to learn the basics of meditation and breath work. I facilitate Sacramento PsychoSocial Options for Rehabilitation Training (SacPort) groups at HRC and incorporate this practice in every group. Many group members are “amazed” at the level of deep peace they are able to feel after meditation. They report that they are able to absorb the material and support from others more easily as a result! In conjunction with meditation, breathing exercises will help to regulate your breathing by simply inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Breathe in calmness and peace, and exhale the negative thoughts that are racing through your mind! Is it really that simple? Yes! You will find that even after your first experience in meditation and deep breathing exercises, you will truly “feel” the difference!

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People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario M.

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People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario M. Ramirez, Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area

Millions of Americans receive disability benefits from Social Security and there could be good news for many of those who want to work. A free and voluntary program called Ticket to Work gives individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security disability benefits access to meaningful employment while maintaining control over benefit choices. Ed Bairos, a farmer and mechanic, went back to the work he loved with the help of the Ticket program. He began receiving Social Security disability benefits after suffering from severe arthritis, complicated by a knee injury that would require 20 surgeries. He was concerned about losing the cash payments and health care he needed to survive and worried that employers might not want to hire him. Then Bairos learned about the Ticket to Work program when he received a notice in the mail from Social Security. The notice was a “ticket” that Bairos could use with an employment network of his choosing. Employment networks are organizations that offer specialized services such as career counseling, job search assistance, vocational rehabilitation and training. Bairos decided to use his ticket with an employment network and returned to work. He continued to receive health care and cash benefits because of work incentives, which are special considerations that make it easier for beneficiaries to explore whether going back to work is right for them. Pleased with Bairos‛ industry knowledge and skills as a farm manager, his employer gave him a promotion and a raise. Now he is self-sufficient, working for another division within the company.

Rosario M. Ramirez Bairos earns more money than he would have by relying solely on disability benefits. By using his Ticket, Bairos‛ medical reviews were put on hold and he is eligible to receive Medicare coverage for up to eight and a half years after discontinuing his disability payments. “Returning to work has made me whole again, especially being able to work in the area that I love. My self-esteem was at its lowest when I wasn‛t working and on disability. Returning to work not only improved my self-worth but also my financial wealth. The Ticket to Work program and the ability to keep my Medicare was the reason I was able to return to work,” he said. If you receive Social Security or SSI benefits due to disability, are between 18 and 64 years old and want to work, getting started is easy. Visit www.socialsecurity.gov/work for more information on the Ticket to Work program and work incentives. You also may call (866) 968- 7842 (TDD (866) 833-2967) to learn how going back to work may affect your benefits.

Questions and Answers

Question: I am receiving Social Security disability benefits. Will my benefits be affected if I work and earn money?

Answer: It depends. We have special rules called "work incentives" that help you keep your monthly payments and Medicare coverage while you test your ability to work. For example, you can receive full benefits regardless of how much you earn, as long as you report your work activity and continue to have a disabling impairment during a trial work period. For more information http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/RosarioRFall2011.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:00:50 AM]

People With A Disability Can Get A Ticket To Work by Rosario M.

about work incentives, we recommend that you read our publication, Working While Disabled-How We Can Help at www. socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10095.html.

Question: Is there a time limit on how long I can receive Social Security disability benefits? Answer: Your disability benefits will continue as long as your medical condition has not improved and you still cannot work. We will review your case at regular intervals to make sure you are still disabled. If you are still disabled when you reach your full retirement age, we will convert your disability benefit to a retirement benefit at the same amount

Rosario M. Ramirez is a Social Security Public Affairs Specialist for the Northern Area

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Not Alone by David Kiesz

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Not Alone by David Kiesz "For all the mental health workers and friends who helped me get my life back" When I think of where I've been, The good times and the bad On a scale of 1 to 10, Either way, I'm glad 'Cause I'm not alone as I'm reaching for the phone You really care, your voice is there, my comfort zone. Sometimes when I'm lost, crushed beneath the pain Though I can't afford the cost, I just smile and play the game But there's a healing place where I cannot pretend Your smiling face, your hearts embrace heals me again So even when the storm is strong and I'm deaf to my own cry I faintly hear a distant song and I simply can't deny That I'm not alone, even when I'm on my own Your gentle touch is much to much too let me roam.

David Kiesz After losing his American dream and his health to religious fanaticism, he started over with a 'can do' attitude and surrounded himself with like-minded friends. With the help of Mental Health America of Northern California, he landed a job traveling California as an analyst of mental health services. He also helps shoot a TV show which airs every other Saturday night on (Comcast) Access Channel 17 at 7 p.m. His passion is the use of music, poetry, and comedy as forms of therapy for others and himself. He co-facilitates a Performing Arts/Sing-Along group at the Wellness and Recovery Center (WRC). The first love song he wrote is actually a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thank youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to all who encouraged him on his new journey.

If you find this poeme useful, please share with a friend!

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Not Alone by David Kiesz

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Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center

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Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center Interviewer: Your mission statement states that you work in collaborative partnerships. Please explain what type of collaborative specific to mental health? Response:Recently our collaborators have been very focused along with the mental health services in trying to reach out to diverse cultures in the community.

Interviewer: That sounds great. How do you help people access their strengths and build on positives? Response: We believe in the same philosophy as the Mental

Health Department or Behavior Health Services in providing family-driven services, and family-driven services really mean that we need to hear the voice of the family and what is it that they need. What is it from their perspective, not from us as experts; they are the experts in their family. They know what has worked in the past and we need to help them use those [methods], and maybe they have lost it somewhere; we can help find it again because the whole purpose is for us to get fired. We are not there to step in and run their lives, so we want to hear from them and find out what has worked. Maybe if there are some community services that they haven’t been able to utilize, to maybe bring them in to help them to voice what it is they need.

Interviewer: What are some of the groups that you have for non-English speaking people that you have not already mentioned? Response: The mental health department itself. I am an art therapist myself, one of the many hats that I wear. As an art therapist I know that I can work with many different languages because art therapy is a universal language, and you can go right past that expressive language of the verbal into the expressive language of the heart, so we have groups in Spanish here or Hmong, I mean they come in whenever they need it. I just did a grievement group, and there was a Spanish-speaking http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/LynnKFall2011.aspx (1 of 4) [4/21/2013 11:00:57 AM]

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Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center

dad and he never received grievement service in Sacramento because there was nothing available. Even though my group is for kids, I invited him. Dad was just kind of standing around, and I asked, “Would you like to stay?” And he said he didn’t think his son would want him to, so I asked the son, “What would you think if Dad stayed?” Son said, “I don’t care”; and Dad stayed. He became honest, he had to cry, it became real. He said, “There has never been anyone to help us.” It was pretty awesome to be able to [do] that; even if I only had that one person it was great. And in conjunction with my mental health groups we work with the Family Resource Center here. They offer parenting groups, in Spanish and in Hmong, and different core groups under BFRC offer a variety of services. The center is not just exclusive to mental health; we refer our mental health [clients] to our whole program. We actually have a group of parents that contribute to all the various different programs. They meet as an advisory committee, and they meet monthly.

Interviewer: In what ways do you reduce isolation and hopelessness? Response: I’ll tell you what, for 39, 40 years, however long we’ve

been in business, the original philosophy did not fit all cases. We found out that we need to find out from the families what they need and, most of all, go into the communities. If I take you on a tour here you’re not going to see an office with a couch. We do in-home, school support services; we reach out to them rather than making them come to us. That is what we have done the entire time we have had La Familia. We like to become allies with that family, and we provide case management services to help them to connect with the community resources. There may be a special group within the community that can help them so that it will get them out of that isolation.

identify what it is in the community that is needed. Sometimes it is providing outreach to many different diverse areas here. Parents are stakeholders as well because we invite them to be involved with the parents’ advisory committee and any families involved in mental health programs here are encouraged to participate in that group

Interviewer: Do you have an employment center here? How do you motivate people with mental health challenges to transition into wanting to have gainful employment?

Response:We do have a One-Stop Career Center here at our family resource center. We do have families that come through here, first of all looking for a job, and we find that many of them do have challenges that they are dealing with, and one of them may be a mental health issue. If we really get a sense that that is something that affects their ability to find employment, then we work with them to be able to at least help evaluate that this is the case and that there are additional resources that can help them. We really encourage them to connect with some community resources to address those challenges. Many times they are not going to accept that, so it may take several times of them coming back. I think they kind of get a sense that once they are looking for a job and they go for views and [their problems] affect their ability to conduct a decent interview—they

may be rejected over and over again but they keep coming and coming—and that way we are able to build a relationship with them. Hopefully we are able to encourage their confidence and [get them to] accept some of the services. Encouragement is the biggest thing, http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/LynnKFall2011.aspx (2 of 4) [4/21/2013 11:00:57 AM]

Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center

and also helping them to realize that mental health is not an illness; basically it’s something that can help them to become a better person and to be able to gain employment. Take away the stigma of mental health; we use a different format. The cultures that are involved, the ones that are represented— they are not expert mental health therapists or professionals; basically they will direct individuals to the resources and just getting them to that point can be a challenge. And sometimes it is getting the referral to mental health so they can go forward Interviewer: Your mental health department is like a hidden nugget. How are people referred to your services? Response: They usually call here and we have people here all day long taking those referrals and then sending off to Access[, an Assisted

Access program which partners with the county]. They need to be medically eligible children from zero to twenty-one years old. We work with the whole family but the child has to be zero to twenty-one, and they qualify for services through Access if they have straight medical.

About Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T

Interview was conducted by Ann Adams for the Empowerment Magazine.

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Special Interview with Lynn Keune, L.M.F.T, Clinical Director of LaFamilia Counseling Center

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Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick, M.A.

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Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick, M.A. (published in the Fall 2011 issue) Everyone can benefit from owning a handy toolkit of strategies and skills for health and wellness. The more tools we stock in our toolkit, the more we have to draw from to support life’s challenges and boost enjoyment. One tool such as calling a friend to talk, might be just the helpful ticket on one particular day. On another day, a different tool like making a gratitude list might be the most helpful to ease our mind, heart and spirit. As we were growing up, most of us (if not all of us) were not given a well-being toolkit. Also, it’s possible no one modeled for us how to create a healthier life-mentally, emotional, socially, physically or spiritually. The older I got and the more I learned, the more I wished I could go back in time and give to my little child self all those great strategies and wisdom. My, oh my, how my life would have changed! A toolkit would have definitely reduced my suffering and empowered my journey. Realistically, I can’t change the past and so I am not going to dwell on “what could have been”. However, in the now, I search out and give those toolkit tips to myself and allow my adult self to transform my life with that wise knowledge. Terry Zick, M.A Here’s just a few of the many tools to add to your personal toolkit. • Do deep belly breathing: bring inhale down into the belly and allow the calming effect of the breath to relax. • Focus on facts, not assumptions. • Take personal responsibility for improving your life, eliminate a victim stance. • Create choices, because the more choices, the more empowered you will feel. So look for choices you have not considered. • Surrender to the circumstances you cannot change; surrender the outcome of what you can change. • Use the spirituality of prayer, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and/or contemplation to enhance other strategies. • Develop a plan for healing, health and wellness & commit to change. Take baby steps if needed but commit to transform your life. • Be solution oriented rather than problem oriented—shift the focus, shift the circumstance. • List intentions or purposeful directions for what you want to create in your life. Visualize and feel those positive intentions. • Choose optimistic thoughts which encourage thinking the best about a situation, and sustain hope or faith for a good and manageable outcome. • Pick and Choose your thoughts because a thought will cause a particular feeling which will cause a particular behavior. You feel the way you feel because you think the way you think.

• Recognize that you have gifts, talents, skills and inner resources within that you may not be aware of. And, if you become aware and utilize them, it could change your experience.

• Likewise, recognize that you may have options for support outside of yourself that you may not be aware of. So, search the community, the internet, ask people for resources, etc. • Push through fear to develop courage and bravery. You will be surprised at what you can do, learn, become. Again, focus on the breath-- when you are at a stop light, in line at the grocery, cooking food, lying in bed ready for sleep, anytime, anywhere. Wherever you go, you bring the potential of the healing, relaxing breath. http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/TerryZFall2011b.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:01:01 AM]

Wellness Toolkit by Terry Zick, M.A.

Terry has a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling from University of Colorado-Denver. She has 30 years experience working with adults, children and family preservation. She has worked in settings such as: non-profits, schools, justice system, alcohol/drug programs. Her role as counselor, consultant and trainer maintains a focus on spirituality, health and wellness. Terry currently facilitates groups and supports individualized mentoring at the Wellness and Recovery Center North . If you find this article useful, please share with a friend!

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A Risk Worth Taking for Change by Janet Segall

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Even after several years of being diagnosed with a life-threatening, very painful illness and being on very serious drug therapy, I decided to take another risk and I started a foundation for my disease almost single-handedly. I never believed I would be that person. Sometimes I still don’t believe that I’m that person. But I went from being house-bound to flying by myself around the United States and across the Atlantic. When the foundation and I parted ways, I decided I still needed to work. It took a lot of time and many rejections, but then the Wellness & Recovery Center took a chance on me. My life has been a rollercoaster of emotions. But I’ve learned a lot of lessons through my life and travels. I learned that it is so important to listen. I learned that not just saying the words, but working toward positive change is a risk worth taking. You may not always succeed, but you can say you tried your best and know that sometimes that’s enough. I learned that you can’t control another person. I learned that words and deeds can hurt, but how you process and react to words and deeds is in your control. I learned that forgiving yourself and others for just being a human being that makes mistakes and owning it can make you free. Before he died, my partner used to say that we’re all just passing through so what does it matter. But I say, let’s make a dent in the timeline of life and become the best people we can be. I believe we are all connected and how we live our lives and help others lives in the universe forever. About the Author

If you find this article useful, please share with a friend! All materials on these pages are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or re-transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author/publisher. Empowerment Magazine is a quarterly online and in print mental health publication devoted to the promotion of overall wellness and resiliency for the Greater Sacramento region. The magazine is published by www.sacpros.org,a leading mental health website dedicating to strengthening and empowering individuals and families with reliable and easily accessible information about available services in the community. If you have any questions, please e-mail contact@empowermentmagazine.org http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/JanetSFall2011.aspx [4/21/2013 11:01:04 AM]

Welcome to the First Issue of The Empowerment Magazine We are thrilled to bring you this exciting first issue of the Empowerment Magazine. We have launched this quarterly magazine to provide a forum for voices that promote overall wellness and mental health resiliency for greater Sacramento. We hope that you enjoy this issue, which includes a special interview with Dr. Hashem and a variety of inspiring and empowering stories along with powerful tools and techniques that will help you discover your own greatness. We believe that you will find much of this information of interest. Please let us know if you have special requests, suggestions, or ideas about what you want to see in future issues. The Empowerment Magazine is a publication of SACPROS.ORG, a Sacramento Mental Health Website Resource Guide strengthening individuals, families and community with easily accessible information about available services in Greater Sacramento area. Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 214864, Sacramento, CA 95821. Phone: (916) 222 7541 E-mail: info@sacpros.org Website: www.sacpros.org We look forward to reading your articles, and hearing your comments, suggestions, and ideas. Please write to us at info@sacpros.org Amede Kyubwa, M.A, M.P.A Special thanks to the following individuals for helping to put out this first issue of the magazine. Marilyn Washington, Sacpros Network Director

Kim Navarez, M.F.T

Terry Zick, M.A,

Pat Hubbert

Gail Erlandson, M.A

Tammy Dyer, MSW

Dr. Hisham Soliman

Dr. Hazem Hashem

Christa Harmon

Laree Washington

Anne Adams

Mathew Markiewecz

Reginald Washington Jr.

Janet L Furia

Laura Hawkins

Phommasone Griffith

WRC Program Coordinator, Eric Zuniga

Dr. Deonna Wilemme

Janet Aly

Melanie Martinez

We would also like to thank the Wellness and Recovery Center North (WRC) for allowing us to use the facility

The Empowerment Magazine 2011 - 2012 Calendar — Fall 2011:September — Holiday/Winter 2011:Nov — Winter 2012 :January — Spring 2012: March — Summer 2012: June

Questions? Contact us at info@sacpros.org or call (916) 222-7541

The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness Am I in control of my contentment and my happiness? I am happy to say that research, mental health professionals and many individuals who study human nature say — absolutely yes! So many books have been written on the topic of happiness — all empowering me to know that there are lots of strategies and viewpoints to help me to be more contented.

Studies show that people who have wealth are not necessarily happier, and if they become happy, don’t always stay happy — money itself doesn’t make us happy. Likewise, people with the most education are not necessarily happier. Students who make high grades aren’t happier than those with low grades. No matter what aspect of life we face, what makes us happy is the type of thoughts we have. What contributes to happiness is the choice we make with our thoughts. Optimistic people (those with positive outlooks) are happier than pessimists (those with negative outlooks).

I have learned that if I am anxious, sad, angry, scared, or depressed, I can still learn how to be a happier person. The thing about unhappiness is that it fools us into thinking that we don’t have a choice to feel peace or joy. We always have choices. The transformation toward increased happiness happens because the strategies, tools, and skills I can learn will influence my moods. My journey started when I claimed an intention that I will learn how to be happier, and I gathered a lot of the “how to be happier” wisdom...and applied it.

Many people describe happiness as contentment. Contented people tend to accept things as they are, and have a sense of mental or emotional satisfaction. Some might call happiness and contentment simply peace of mind. Are we born genetically wired to be happy or unhappy? To some degree we are born with a predisposition or a possible set point toward happiness or unhappiness. According to some studies, our happiness level depends 50% on our genetics, 10% on circumstances, and 40% on our intentional activities. Intentional activities are 1) the intention of how I am going to choose to think and patterns of thought (cognitive), and 2) how I am going to choose to respond, or act, or spend time “being” (behavioral). These thought patterns for happiness come from a variety of feeling-good strategies including social, spiritual, and physical — in addition to the cognitive and behavioral. We can change our thoughts and, therefore, our feelings, emotions, and moods. We do this with focused intention, purpose and motivation. The power of intention to direct the course of our thoughts will support us to sit firmly in the driver’s seat of our life and reap the happiness rewards that we seek.

So what can you do? Right now. Today. Here’s just three of the many, many tips I would like to share with you: 1. I developed an attitude of gratitude. There is always something to be grateful for. It might be gratitude to just get out of bed, or have money for the bus or rent. (For years I have written “Thank you” on every check I write.) It might be appreciation for the smell of roses, or a stranger’s kind word or smile. It might be gratitude for a person or event in my life. When I think of all the people who are suffering more, or who have less, I feel so deeply grateful. 2. I pay attention to what is happening in my mind and thoughts. This is often called developing selfawareness. When I notice a negative thought that undoubtedly will affect my mood, I use a strategy to shift or reframe that thought. Police your thoughts so you can get out of the prison that your own thoughts create. Change your attitude, your perspective, look for the good. The science of neuroplasticity tells us that the brain is pliable, able to change, to grow new cells. Our brain can change its hard wiring for unhappy thoughts and “stinkin’ thinkin’.”

Q & A with Dr Hazem Hashem

Today we will be speaking with Dr. Hazem Hashem on the important triangle between the physician, the patient and their psychiatric medications.

INTERVIEWER: Often people give up on their medications because they lose patience while waiting for results, since most people won’t feel better right away. How long does it take for most psychiatric medications to get into the system and start noticeably helping? DR. HASHEM: This is a very important aspect of treatment. Interestingly, a national study was done by the National Institute of Mental Health, called the CATIE. This study dispelled a common belief among mental health staff that patients stop taking their medications primarily due to side effects. Actually, the study showed the number one reason patients stopped taking their medication is because they believe the medication is not working. The time in which a medication begins to become effective varies from condition to condition and from person to person. In conditions such as depression or schizophrenia, one theory is that receptors in the brain seem to change in patients afflicted with these conditions. The problem can vary from these receptors malfunctioning, to the presence of too many receptors or too few. In order to heal these receptors, the body takes time to repair them effectively. The medication itself may affect the neurotransmitters immediately, but that healing process in the body does take time to complete. This is where some individuals may become impatient.

monly, most people take two Tylenol tablets for the normal headache. If you were to take just one tablet, your headache might not go away and you would believe the medicine doesn’t work. It’s the same thing with psychiatric medication. You can take one Prozac, and you may not get better. Your proper dose may be two Prozacs, or three, or four. The dosage normally goes up to 80 mg. So a rule of thumb, that is generally not used when medications are given up on, is that you should try a medication up to its maximum dosage for up to six to eight weeks before abandoning it. If after this you continue to not see results, then a medication can be deemed ineffective. I believe giving up before this, is a little premature. What will help people strengthen their faith in a medicine would be to think of their affliction as a cut on a finger. One day of covering it with a band-aid will not complete the healing process. Visualizing it like this helps when a condition is not visual like a cut or scrape. Unfortunately, nerve cells in the brain and the body are the slowest tissues to heal.

Working with Your Psychiatrist by Gail Erlandson, M.A.

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Working with Your Psychiatrist by Gail Erlandson, M.A.

A seasoned psychiatrist once said to me: “We are just beginning to scratch the surface in understanding mental health disorders.” This has served me well. As a gesture of hope, this same doctor also handed me a paperback with stories of accomplished people in history who experienced a broad array of mental health challenges. I learned not to identify myself as an illness, and that language is important in making this distinction. To empower myself, I choose to say “I manage bipolar” rather than “I am bipolar.” It is important that we emphasize that we are people, regardlessof our particular challenge. There are many components to being healthy: selfresponsibility, cognitive support, healthy relationships, regular exercise, good nutrition, sound sleep, creative outlets, financial stability, and the setting of goals. Choose to work with a psychiatrist that appreciates a holistic approach to your health. Open communication with your psychiatrist is critical to successful outcomes. Self-awareness and communicating any changes in your health is key.

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Working with Your Psychiatrist by Gail Erlandson, M.A.

It is important to communicate with your psychiatrist so that you can take an active role in your treatment plan. Be assertive and always ask your psychiatrist or pharmacist about potential side effects of any recommended medication. Communicating any side effects you are experiencing while taking medication is very important so your psychiatrist can recommend alterations in your treatment plan. See yourself in the driver’s seat as you work with your psychiatrist as your trusted guide. Our choice of language is helpful in working with our doctors. Rather than saying, “My doctor is putting me on a medication,” try saying “I am choosing to go on this medication with the recommendation of my physician.” The more we take charge of our illness, the greater our wellness. There may be times that we lose insight into ourselves and need to let someone else be in the driver’s seat and take over for a while. If we disagree with our doctor, it is important to consult them before making any changes. Let trusted loved ones know if you have made any medication changes, so they can help you watch for “red flags” like changes in behavior, mood, appetite, or sleep. Knowledgeable psychiatrists acknowledge that medications can have side effects and also tell us there is trial and error in their practice. Psychiatry is both a Science and an Art. Doctors greatly rely on honest feedback from their patients. You are the one who lives in your body. I find it beneficial to ask questions and look for options outside of medication. My life has been saved by psychotropic medication, yet it remains my rule of thumb to use as little medication as possible to be well. Managing a mental health challenge is an evolving process. It is important to educate your doctor about your symptoms and how the medication affects you. As we make lifestyle changes that positively impact our wellness, we can get better. It is possible that medication that was needed at one stage in our recovery journey will no longer be needed. Remember that you have choice in working with your psychiatrist, both in your treatment plan and in selecting your doctor. Choose someone who is able to communicate well and with compassion. Look for someone who will listen to you and treat you with respect. If you have been given a diagnosis, regardless of what it is, see yourself as a person first. A mental health challenge can be the opportunity for growth and may help further our compassion and understanding.

Gail has a Master of Arts Degree in Pastoral Ministry from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Portland in Interdisciplinary Studies. Gail taught at Loretto High School for eleven years and has been on staff at Loaves and Fishes. Gail is a mentor for the Wellness and Recovery Center North. She welcomes feedback and can be reached at gerlandson@consumersselfhelp.org

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DID YOU KNOW THAT? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Act (SAMSHA) has recently awarded Consumers Self Help (CSH) a grant to fund The Community Collaboration for Continuity of Care project. This program is aimed at providing case management services to promote continuity between inpatient and outpatient services mental health consumers receive, as well as facilitating training for Emergency Department nurses from a consumer’s perspective. The grant is a unique collaboration between CSH, University of California Davis Medical Center and California State University, Sacramento with the goal of integrating consumer voices into the services provided and to also orient Emergency Department nurses to consumer-centered care. www.consumersselfhelp.org

Sacramento Medical Oasis, Inc. provides both outpatient psychiatric services and primary care services in the same clinic located at 440 Howe Avenue , Sacramento, CA 95825. Phone: 916.282.0889 Subscription: $79/month, Family Plan: $99/month www.sacmedoasis.com

• Mental illnesses affect almost every family in America. • People with mental illnesses make important contributions to our families and our communities. • People with mental illnesses recover, often by working with mental health professionals and by using medications, self-help strategies, and community supports.

• Stigma and fear of discrimination are key barriers that keep many people from seeking help. • You can make a difference in the way people see mental illnesses and mental health if you: – Learn and share the facts about mental health and about people with mental illnesses, especially if you hear or read something that isn’t true;

– Treat people with mental illnesses with respect and dignity; – Support the development of community resources for people with mental illnesses and their friends and family; and

– Respect the rights of people with mental illnesses and don’t discriminate against them when it comes to housing, employment, or education. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services Web site: www.samhsa.gov

One in five adults has a diagnosable mental health disorder - Sacramento County Division of Mental Health serves http://www.sacdhhs.com

If you have something that you would like to be included in future issues of The Empowerment Magazine, please send it to info@sacpros.org or call (916) 222-7541

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Q & A with Dr Hazem Hashem (Continued from page 7) We still don’t fully understand the effect of

placebo or the ability of the mind to heal itself, so I would say perception by the patient is just as important as the choice of medication. In a large study early on it was found that the group of depressed patients received only cognitive therapy with no medication improved as much as the patients on medication alone. I recall when Prozac came out it was found to be very helpful to a lot of people the issue of how long to stay on medication came up. In my experience I found that when depression is improved on medication the person actually change their interaction with their environment and people around them. This positive interaction feeds back into them positively. If you can copy that positive interaction and cognitive thinking and behavior and continue to do it without the medication you would be able to get off the medication. So somehow you need to learn that you are feeding into the environment that is causing some of the problems you are experiencing. Your role in the environment is very important. In my experience, this method applies with disorders like depression and anxiety. Bipolar and schizophrenia on the other hand, are purely biological conditions. In these situations in particular, the mind over matter approach would not be the preferred method and would probably have little effectiveness. There is no doubt about it; I always encourage people to take steps in the way of cognitive function which will eventually take place of the antidepressant or anti-anxiety.

INTERVIEWER: So reinforcement of other strategies - cognitive behavioral, physical, spiritual, etc. – is very important in the treatment process? DR. HASHEM: Definitely. But in medicine we learnt not to say always or never. So in many of the cases of depression or anxiety, the cognitive and behavioral and the spiritual aspects of treatment are as powerful as or more powerful than the medication itself. This also has no side effects, obviously, because medication has side effects that you don’t want. Sometimes in the absence of this cognitive approach, no antidepressant can seem to work.

Dr. Hashem is the Medical Director of Visions Unllimed and Wellness and Recovery Center Noth, Chief Psychiatrist/Chief of mental health at Solano State Prison, and Board certified in general psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatrist

The Empowerment Magazine Table of Content Welcome to the first issue of The Empowerment Magazine Activities That Will Help You Feel Good About Yourself The Pursuit of Contentment and Happiness Q & A with Dr Hazem Hashem Promote your Services and Programs in The Empowerment Living My Life with a Mental Illness Can Someone Please Color Me? The Resiliency Factor Working with your Psychiatrist Kids Corner You Are The Only One You Have (Poem) Thinking Fresh and Eating clean Did you know That? Everything you Need to Know About Mental Health Services Quina Lasagna Recipe Resources

2 3 4,5 6, 7, 20 8 9 10 11, 14 12 13 15 17,18 16 19 21 22, 23

Activities That Will Help You Feel Good About Yourself .Make a list of â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at least five of your strengths, for example, persistence, courage, friendliness, creativity at least five things you admire about yourself, for example the way you have raised your children, your good relationship with your brother, or your spirituality 10 ways you can "treat" or reward yourself that don't include food and that don't cost anything, such as walking in woods, window-shopping, watching children playing on a playground, gazing at a baby's face or at a beautiful flower, or chatting with a friend the five greatest achievements in your life so far, like recovering from a serious illness, graduating from high school, or learning to use a computer 10 things you can do to make yourself laugh 10 things you could do to help someone else 10 things that you do that make you feel good about yourself Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services Web site: www.samhsa.gov

SACPROS does not necessarily endorse the views, services or products advertised in this magazine. The opinions expressed in the articles are solely of the author (s). We are not responsible for omissions or errors. Reproduction in whole or in part for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author or publisher.

Our brain has a kind of default because it just repeats the same automatic pattern of thinking — until we introduce a different thought and repeat the happyproducing thought. How do we rewire our brain and create new habits of thinking? Consider a commitment to changing the thoughts, practice meditation or mindfulness, or focus on the breath. When we change our thoughts, our brain rewires itself, and now we have happier patterns of thinking. Remember the saying, “garbage in, garbage out”? Our brains will help us achieve happier thoughts IF we deliberately feed it thoughts of love, joy, compassion, gratitude, altruism, optimism, etc.

acceptance of “what is” with purposeful intention to move in productive, beneficial, and more contented directions.

Too many people think they can’t possibly change. Not true. It does take effort, lots of purposeful effort to move from the familiar road of unhappiness to take a side route to a road of happiness (and let it grow to become your new Main Street). Focus and take the steps. Even if they are baby steps, make a change. Do something different that will increase the moments of joy and peace. Develop a strategy of “I can do this.” Tell yourself, “I can be more grateful today. I can eliminate my typical negative phrases and repeat new empowering 3. I seize the moment to be happy. In other words, I phrases. I can seize more moments to connect with my don’t wait to get a different something or wait for happiness within whether circumstances change — or someone to change, or for life to show up differently in not. My brain will help me out and in time it will become order to be happy. Happiness is available to you right easier to feel differently.” I discovered that I always now. Happiness exists when we develop an awareness had Main Street available within. I made the changes I that we are OK in our mind, heart, and spirit. We feel talk about. You can too. I believe in you wholeheartedly. happier as we learn to make peace with who we are and Terry Zick M.A. where we are. If we keep waiting to be happy for when Author’s Bio better days come (better health, better finances, better friends, better home, etc.), we have missed the Terry has a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling from Univerbeauty of the precious moment of available contentsity of Colorado-Denver. She has 30 years experience working ment. When we wake up to the idea that we have an al- with adults, children and family preservation. She has worked in settings such as: non-profits, schools, justice system, alcoways and forever internal resource for happiness, we hol/drug programs. Her role as counselor, consultant and can feel more peace and joy. Footnote: These strategies trainer maintains a focus on spirituality, health and wellness. Terry currently facilitates groups and supports individualized are not about denial. These strategies combine mentoring at the Wellness and Recovery Center North .

Sometimes there are no other symptoms that can be observed to determine if a patient’s depression is caused by thyroid dysfunction. After discovering this, it has become standard to perform a test called TSH to check for this condition so we can begin effective treatment. For other medications, such as lithium or Depakote, it has been found that the effectiveness of the drug is based on how much is actually being absorbed into your system. You need a certain level of the medicine in your blood in order for the medication to be effective. Above that level, it may give cause side effects without additional benefit and below that range is ineffective. In the case of lithium, monitoring the level in the blood is very important. Lithium is excreted in the kidney. If you have a fast kidney, you will need more lithium than someone who has a slow kidney in order to reach the ideal level in the blood. This is why therapeutic treatment sometimes must also be complimented with lab tests to complete the treatment process.

INTERVIEWER: How do psychiatrists help empower people to accomplish their treatment goals? DR. HASHEM: In the last few years, Psychiatrists have actually been cornered into just being medication prescribers. But we also my use the short time we have to give “cognitive therapeutic hints.” The most empowered patient is a patient who is knowledgeable about their condition. This is the foundation of empowerment. This is why I always encourage people to research on internet, look up their symptoms and read about the conditions, read about the medications, and read about the different side effects and things like that. In some cases, the doctor may miss to ask the right questions. This can lead to a physician missing important clues to a patient’s condition, inevitably resulting in misdiagnosis. When a patient says “I read about a particular condition and I feel it fit me perfectly.” I am happy to discuss and match their symptoms with the right treatment. Doctors should not feel insulted by that. Much to the contrary, it is very helpful for the person to know exactly what symptoms they’re dealing with. So I also ask people to put every symptom they have on a scale of one to ten before we start treatment and a number after treatment. Each time we readjust the dose or change a medicine. This way, you’re actually giving the doctor a good picture of whether the medicine has worked or not. If a patient is not aware of or doesn’t keep track of their symptoms, the medicine may have worked perfectly, but they deem it ineffective because they themselves were not aware of the changes taking place. So it is very important for both the doctor and the patient to recognize what has been achieved and what has yet to be achieved. Knowing a patient’s preference is also helpful in the treatment. In some cases a patient might say,”oh, I heard horrible things about Zyprexa,” or Prozac or any drug for that matter. If the doctor continues to insist on giving that medication anyway, the patient may be reluctant to take it. Additionally, the patient will most likely give a negative report on the medications effectiveness since they already have a bad impression of the medication anyway. So it is very important for the patient to know what they are taking and to be educated on exactly how they are being treated.

be trying a brand new highly successful antidepressant, when they gave the control group the placebo they felt better strictly by the perception and the new medication could not be approved.

Continued on page 20

Resiliency Factor My life has not ended up where I thought it would...thankfully. I was one of those children who received messages, both verbal and non-verbal, that she was not going to be worth much. And I bought it, for a while. And then the course of my life changed, and then it changed again, and again. Until I reached a place where I was able to break free from the lies and fully embrace the realization that I am deserving and able to create a healthy, happy life for myself. This article is written to illuminate one of the most powerful principles I have discovered in my wellness process. The universe has brought me a number of amazingly special people as I have navigated down my life’s path. Interestingly enough, these folks have always showed up at just the right time to help me overcome whatever was blocking my ability to be healthy and whole at that point in my life. One lady in particular, Mrs. V., came along at just one of these times. Mrs. V. was a very spunky, animated, fun-loving 75-year-old Vietnamese woman who came to the United States in 1955 as the bride of an American serviceman. To say she had a fascinating story would be an understatement. I believe the gift I received from her was the infusion of the concept of “resiliency” into my way of thinking. Since early childhood, I have had a place inside of me that has always felt lost. It is the place where my sadness lives. Sometimes that place feels big enough to swallow me whole and sometimes it becomes so small I forget it is there. It is always a place desperate for hope. In Mrs. V I found a woman who was overflowing with hopefulness. She seemed to have enough for the both of us and I found myself being drawn more and more to her spiritual presence. No matter what came her way, she would declare it to be a cause for celebration. To her, obstacles were seen not as hardship but rather as opportunities for growth and spiritual strengthening. That concept was new to me. I mean, I would have a meltdown just trying to choose a type of breakfast cereal at the grocery store. In May of 2006 Mrs. V allowed me to interview her for one of my Social Work classes. At the end of the interview she shared with me some of her memories from the war. People around her were sick and dying. Families struggled to find enough food to eat. Husbands, sons, and brothers were lost to the war. Her community underwent a complete cultural upheaval as hundreds of thousands of women found themselves suddenly head of their household, needing to find some way to provide for their families. I was amazed at the manner in which she relayed her stories. There was never even a hint of defeat. I did at one point try to move the conversation toward the idea of adversity. Mrs. V simply translated my statement into another example of resilience and continued to tell her story. Her story was not a story of victimization, but rather of determination. By the end of the interview I was hooked. I wanted what she had. I altered my direction academically and personally to incorporate the concept of resilience into my journey. What I found is that resiliency factors can be divided into several distinctive categories: Personality: Resilience is attributed to certain characteristics a person carries within their self that contribute to positive healthy outcomes in spite of external chaos. A number of personality characteristics have been identified as contributing to resilience, including humor, empathy, and an easy temperament. These personality traits lend themselves to the likeability of a person. A person who is likeable will presumably have more friends and therefore more support. This seems to be of particular importance during the adolescent years when peer support becomes developmentally vital, but it also holds true into adulthood. Locus of control: Perception of self and the problem. People who see themselves as having control over their lives tend to be healthier, happier, and more able to overcome difficulties. Likewise, those who see the problem(s) as being outside of their control tend to become more discouraged, depressed, and less able to take corrective action. People who believe they can create changes in their lives will act in ways congruent to that belief, such as getting an education, seeking services, or calling on their support system for help. A closely related resiliency factor is determination. Someone who believes they are able to make changes in their life will be more inclined to override the desire to give up when things seem unbearable. Cognitive abilities and education: A person who has the cognitive ability to think through life’s difficulties and then develop and implement a plan of action is much more likely to avoid becoming stuck and discouraged. Directly connected to cognitive abilities is education. Continued on page 14

I was diagnosed with a mental illness in my early teens and have had this cross to bear since then. Although I am able to maintain a relatively “normal” lifestyle, my world is punctured by episodes of drama brought on by my illness. Over the years I have been helped by an assortment of medications that help keep me within bounds. I am keenly aware of which medications and dosage I need to control my psychotic episodes. I am also aware of the circumstances that trigger these episodes, and I can only control them with the help and intervention of others.

to respond of those I ask for help. After that it becomes a combination or a chain of events that leads to my breakdown, usually ending in self-mutilation as I again try to kill myself. It is an endless cycle that those close to me have seen all too often. From experience I know what the beginning signs are when I am about to have an episode. It is during this initial stage that I have learned to ask for help. But sometimes asking for help is like telling a drowning person who is gulping water to relax and swim calmly to shore; it is not easy in the moment.

I came to Sacramento in late 2005 from Santa Rosa Acute County Hospital. I was having some trust issues with the staff and my doctor that led to me lashing out and behaving in certain destructive ways. For a period of time we had a very hostile relationship. When the staff there found out I had a daughter in Sacramento, they packed my few belongings into a paper bag, drove me to her house, and dropped me off there with no medications and no information on available support services. It was a very dark period in my life. I was disoriented and in a strange new town.

As I have grown with the assistance of this agency, I began to attend more of the group sessions that were offered. I learned better ways of coping with the difficulties of my life. I was better able to call and talk to the staff during the night, a very critical time for me. Many times that was all I needed to avert an episode. As I began to gain more self-control and more self-esteem, I was better able to become responsible for controlling my own medication. I found the confidence and with the assistance of my counselor, I was able to move out of the “room and board” rotation and into a single room at a family resiIt was not easy for me to adjust to this situation, and hence I dence. I am better able to manage my money, to the had several breakdowns and did some cuttings, which landed point where I am responsible enough to pay my rent and me in the hospital. It was from there that I was directed to an associated bills plus to budget my income so as to proagency with wraparound services. vide nutritious meals for myself throughout the month. The hallmark of my accomplishments has been that I am In the beginning my outlook on my life was gloomy, and my able to work part-time as a receptionist at Turning Point’s relationship with staff was an extension of the relationship I front desk, which they have kept available for me even had with the Santa Rosa staff. I didn’t trust the staff or docafter I have had setbacks. tors. As far as I was concerned, they really didn’t care about me. Over the years I have had some very difficult times. Through all this, the staff has always treated me like a It was at this time that I met a person by the name of Eugene person who has a mental illness and not like the illness who for some unknown reason saw in me something no one itself, which is the way I have been treated most of my else saw. Over the next several years he patiently and comlife. Because of the support, the education, and my compassionately taught me other ways of reaching out to those mitment, I am learning to value my own life and to look who were trying to help me and to trust in them, all the time for other ways of responding to difficulties and breaking while dealing with the horror that was my life. lifelong habits. It was because of him that I finally started to accept the treatment that was being offered and to begin to build a relationship with my counselors and doctors. Being mentally ill most of my life, I lacked coping skills when I became overwhelmed or stressed. My usual behavior when faced with drama I couldn’t resolve immediately was to attempt suicide. The only way for me to break this cycle was for my doctors to balance and monitor my medication and for the staff to be present early on in my crisis prevention and to be proactive in helping me to stop a full-blown episode. This has not been easy, as a review of my records will show. I am aware of many circumstances that trigger my episodes and I can only control them with the help and intervention of others. It is important to know the triggers that can and will cause episodes, such as incorrect medication, frustration, anger, sleep deprivation, anxiety, isolation, and the failure -

I will always have a mental illness. I will never be able to handle the consequences alone. Because of the way staff treat me, I no longer feel like I am just a case number. Now I am a person, a person who has a new family. The staff looks out for me in my darkest hour and continually reaches out to welcome me back when I stumble and fall. I no longer feel like I am alone. I have been given the strength to fight the demons that dwell within me. You have helped me get back my life. Author’s Bio

Janet L Furia continues to work for Turning Point, she has been employed for over a year. She has a personal goal to help others in need and has expressed a desire to become a peer mentor. She is appreciated for her dedication to educating others about the journey mental health consumers experience.

KIDS CORNER

No Monkey Business One hot day as I was walking home from school when my aunt called me on my cell phone “Hello”? I said, my aunt says “I will pay you two hundred and fifty dollars to baby sit my friend’s baby, Lewis. He is the best baby in the whole wide world”. I thought about all that money and all the candy I could buy, and besides it could be the start of my new business. “I would love to baby sit baby Lewis”. I said. So my aunt brought baby Lewis over right away and you know what, he was a monkey! That’s right! Lewis was actually a baby monkey! “I thought Lewis was a baby!” I yelled. “He is,” said my aunt “a baby monkey”. Thinking about all that money and all that candy I could buy, I took Lewis in my care.

PUZZLE WORLD

Lewis was calm until my little brother gave him a candy Bar. After eating the candy bar, he went wild! He was acting like he was in the jungle. He climbed on the table and jumped up and down like he was bananas! “Don’t do that!” I screamed. “Don’t swing from the ceiling fan. That is dangerous!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. I was worried about how much cash I would lose if he was hurt. So I had to think of something quick. I gave Lewis three bananas and put him in my little brother’s toy car. I wanted to throw him out of my house, but I thought about all that cash. How long will he have energy? I don’t know how much more I can take. I decided Lewis, my brother, and I would have a party. We turned on the radio to D.J. Jam, D.J. Jam, played the music while we danced. Lewis was happy. I thought about all the money I was going to make, and I began to dance. It was so much fun. D.J. Jam played my favorite song and Lewis danced his tail off. He danced all over the place. My brother and I chanted, “Go, Lewis! Go, Lewis!” Something went terribly wrong when Lewis went in my room. He was jumping up and down on my bed. Then, he started screaming. I was just about to catch him by his little tail when something strange happened. Lewis fell fast asleep just like that. I guess it was naptime for both of us because I fell asleep right next to him. Lewis snored like a loud elephant and he also slept with his eyes open. It was so scary. RING! RING! The phone woke me up. I answered. It was my aunt. “I am on my way, and if Lewis had a good time, the money is yours”, she boasted. Now all I could think about is my new friend. He is different from my other friends, but that doesn’t matter. Do you want a new friend? Dr. Deonna Wilemme Author’s Bio

Your opinion is welcomed, as well as any new ideas or suggestions, that you have for the Kids Corner. Contact us at info@sacpros.org or by phone at (916) 222-7541

POETRY CORNER

You Are the Only One You Have I sit here alone, lost in thought, when I become suddenly aware that someone has quietly settled down next to me. At first I attempt to remain focused on the task at hand, my meditation session, which has not been part of my daily routine for quite some time now. Just then I reflect momentarily on that simple fact, and the sadness it brings to my heart. Then my mind jostles me back to my task. I relent with a deep inhale and exhale to re-center (or try to). As I sit with my eyes closed, refocusing on my breathing, I once again raised to that place in my inner eye that is my sanctuary. My mind lingers, watching a gorgeous butterfly that has alit onto the top of the coneflower. How majestic they are. So delicate with their paper-thin, crisp wings emblazoned with color and gentle sloping curves of their poised, balanced bodies, swaying ever so slightly in the cool breeze. Wait! Something almost undetectable moves (shifts) and my fluttering wings of color have disappeared. At the same moment I get an image of someone watching me (my eyes are still closed) ever so intently. I hesitate to look as I have yet to know who it was that settled next to me. I carefully peek through one eye as I slightly turn my head just a bit so I can discover who resides there in the next space. To my shock, gasping loudly (hand quickly covering my mouth to stifle the sound), I find that it is myself, staring back at me with the same intent look as I saw in my flash of an image previously. I also notice that there is something more behind her gaze. I quickly calm myself as panic has no place here. After all, it is only myself sitting there, but how disconcerting that can be at first, to fully realize the image of yourself staring back at you. I ask the presence of myself why she is there. Not speaking, she continues to gaze at me whilst smiling, serenely, without judgment, and with great sadness that mirrors the one inside my soul. I cannot go back to my meditation because I just have to know what "I" want. My mind races as I try to understand. I ask again with still no response. I relent to wait for an answer, hoping that there truly is one. As we both sit in silence I turn my focus to the texture of the grass I am sitting on, and running my left hand through. Crisp – soft – slightly wet from the dew and miles and miles of it undisturbed. After a space of time indefinable in my mind, I do not recall how long, the image next to me speaks. Softly, quietly, simply she says "it's wonderful to see you here; it's been a long time since you last visited your sanctuary". That catches me off guard, I asked "what do you mean?", knowing deep down that she meant my meditation sessions. She smiled sadly again and says, "You must take care of you every minute of every day. Remember your mindfulness; remember your joys as well as your losses. Honor them equally so you can recall where you been, where you are, and where you need to go". "Remember this...You are not and cannot be perfect, you will continue to grow, but only if you allow yourself to – you will fall short – you will triumph– you will have to stop and start according to your progress on any given day. Reflect on who you were, who you are, and who you can be. Remain true to yourself, grow as you need to for you, make changes in yourself and your life that are for you not everyone else. Love yourself now as you are and who you may become. Acceptance will be your best companion; you have forgotten yourself that is why I'm sitting next to you. You are not embracing all of you. Let us become one again, don't let me die away. Let us grow, prosper, you are too valuable to lose. Be gentle with yourself, you are the only one you have. RavenSong Frisella MyFreeCopyright Registration Number---MCN:CNLS2-X62LM-YN535 Author’s Bio

Ravenson is a true artist at heart. She was a published poet before the age of 18. She is an avid reader, always inquisitive and yearning for knowledge taking every opportunity to learn new ways to help her own recovery and health. She is in process of writing a book about her life.

Quina Lasagna Recipe This is an original receipt by Melanie Martinez of Sacramento, California. The main ingredient in this delicious dish is called Quina; what is Quina? Quina is a seed that originated in South America, but it taste and cooks like a grain it often mistaken and called a grain. Quina has several health benefits therefore; it is also called a super food a complete protein. Quinoa contains all 9 essential amino acids that are building blocks for your muscles. High levels of Magnesium to help relax your muscles and blood vessels. Fiber to nourish and tone your colon and Manganese and copper they act as an antioxidant in the body. Melanie introduced the Quina Lasagna to Phommasone Griffith who loved it so much and now makes this dish on a regular base. except she added her own twist into the dish.

The receipt Use your favorite 24 oz jar marinara, tomato or spaghetti sauce, Quina 1 cup – cook in two cups of water ½ small Onion Cheese shredded or sliced 2 cups 1 Red Bell Pepper Egg plant – sauté before adding to receipt Mushrooms ½ cup 2 Zucchini 2 Yellow Squash Trader Joe’s meat less breakfast sausage – cut in round slices brown in a pan

About Phommasone Griffith Phommasone has been working in the mental health field for more than 12 years. She has a bachelor's degree in Social Work from Sacramento State University. She has many hobbies but her favorite pastime is cooking and feeding family and friend healthy delicious meals.

About Melanie Martinez Melanie is an advocate for people with disabilities and homeless. She holds an AA degree in Human Services; she is currently a volunteer at the Wellness and Recovery Center facilitating an art expression group and an assistant co-facilitator in the Nutrition support group. She enjoys creating nutritional meals for friends and family.

Seasonings – Rosemary, Oregano, Parsley, Thyme or Italian seasoning Melanie’s version MMM MMM good Phommasone took out the egg plant, meat less breakfast sausage and add broccoli, garlic power alone with the other seasoning and couscous to the Quina to have a rice like texture (watch your high carbohydrates content with eating couscous) Lasagna pictured above Add sauce to the bottom of your dish, layer with your vegetables then a layer of Quina with cheese over the top. Repeat the prior step up to 2 layers cook for 45 minutes to one hour at 350 degrees let cool and serve. Try this nutritionals dish and add your personal touch.

Summer 2011

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WINTER 2011 ISSUE SUBMISSION CONTRACT

Below is the SUBMISSION CONTRACT for 2011 Winter Issue. The links below allow for downloading the form in MS Word or PDF format. Please fill out this form and return as soon as possible.

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Living My Life with a Mental Illness by Janet L. Furia

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Living My Life with a Mental Illness by Janet L. Furia I was diagnosed with a mental illness in my early teens and have had this cross to bear since then. Although I am able to maintain a relatively “normal” lifestyle, my world is punctured by episodes of drama brought on by my illness. Over the years I have been helped by an assortment of medications that help keep me within bounds. I am keenly aware of which medications and dosage I need to control my psychotic episodes. I am also aware of the circumstances that trigger these episodes, and I can only control them with the help and intervention of others. I came to Sacramento in late 2005 from Santa Rosa Acute County Hospital. I was having some trust issues with the staff and my doctor that led to me lashing out and behaving in certain destructive ways. For a period of time we had a very hostile relationship. When the staff there found out I had a daughter in Sacramento, they packed my few belongings into a paper bag, drove me to her house, and dropped me off there with no medications and no information on available support services. It was a very dark period in my life. I was disoriented and in a strange new town.It was not easy for me to adjust to this situation, and hence I had several breakdowns and did some cuttings, which landed me in the hospital. It was from there that I was directed to an agency with wraparound services. In the beginning my outlook on my life was gloomy, and my relationship with staff was an extension of the relationship I had with the Santa Rosa staff. I didn’t trust the staff or doctors. As far as I was concerned, they really didn’t care about me. It was at this time that I met a person by the name of Eugene who for some unknown reason saw in me something no one else saw. Over the next several years he patiently and compassionately taught me other ways of reaching out to those who were trying to help me and to trust in them, all the time while dealing with the horror that was my life. It was because of him that I finally started to accept the treatment that was being offered and to begin to build a relationship with my counselors and doctors. Being mentally ill most of my life, I lacked coping skills when I became overwhelmed or stressed. My usual behavior when faced with drama I couldn’t resolve immediately was to attempt suicide. The only way for me to break this cycle was for my doctors to balance and monitor my medication and for the staff to be present early on in my crisis prevention and to be proactive in helping me to stop a full-blown episode. This has not been easy, as a review of my records will show. I am aware of many circumstances that trigger my episodes and I can only control them with the help and intervention of others. It is important to know the triggers that can and will cause episodes, such as incorrect medication, frustration, anger, sleep deprivation, anxiety, isolation, and the failure to respond of those I ask for help. After that it becomes a combination or a chain of events that leads to my breakdown, usually ending in self-mutilation as I again try to kill myself. It is an endless cycle that those close to me have seen all too often. From experience I know what the beginning signs are when I am about to have an episode. It is during this initial stage that I have learned to ask for help. But sometimes asking for help is like telling a drowning person who is gulping water to relax and swim calmly to shore; it is not easy in the moment. As I have grown with the assistance of this agency, I began to attend more of the group sessions that were offered. I learned better ways of coping with the difficulties of my life. I was better able to call and talk to the staff during the night, a very critical time for me. Many times that was all I needed to avert an episode. As I began to gain more self-control and more self-esteem, I was better able to become responsible for controlling my own medication. I found the confidence and with the assistance of my counselor, I was able to move out of the “room and board” rotation and into a single room at a family residence. I am better able to manage my money, to the point where I am responsible enough to pay my rent and associated bills plus to budget my income so as to provide nutritious meals for myself throughout the month. The hallmark of my accomplishments http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/LivingMyLifewithaMentalIllness.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:02:57 AM]

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Living My Life with a Mental Illness by Janet L. Furia

has been that I am able to work part-time as a receptionist at Turning Pointâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s front desk, which they have kept available for me even after I have had setbacks. Over the years I have had some very difficult times. Through all this, the staff has always treated me like a person who has a mental illness and not like the illness itself, which is the way I have been treated most of my life. Because of the support, the education, and my commitment, I am learning to value my own life and to look for other ways of responding to difficulties and breaking lifelong habits. I will always have a mental illness. I will never be able to handle the consequences alone. Because of the way staff treat me, I no longer feel like I am just a case number. Now I am a person, a person who has a new family. The staff looks out for me in my darkest hour and continually reaches out to welcome me back when I stumble and fall. I no longer feel like I am alone. I have been given the strength to fight the demons that dwell within me. You have helped me get back my life.

Janet continues to work for Turning Point. She has been employed for over a year. Janet has a personal goal to help others in need and has expressed a desire to become a peer mentor. She is appreciated for her dedication to educating others about the journey mental health consumers experience.

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/LivingMyLifewithaMentalIllness.aspx (2 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:02:57 AM]

Tough Times by Cynthia Wakefield

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Tough Times by Cynthia Wakefield

Tough times don't last, tough people do. ~ Robert Schuller

I think, we can all agree, life is getting tough. It seems as if everything around us is collapsing, and crumbling before our very eyes. Many people are uncertain about the future, money, relationships, health, and careers. In fact, we are beginning to question the very nature of life itself. In these uneasy times, my advice is simply: When things go wrong, don't go with them. Have you watched the news lately? It's quite depressing isn't it? With all of this mess going on around us, you have to monitor your mind and mouth. I'm not oblivious to shocking headlines and a poor economy, but I can't consume myself with it; because, whatever you focus on the longest becomes the strongest. Everyone has one friend who calls with nothing but bad news. I have to talk to people who see opportunities in the eye of the storm. Not the person who advises me to put my money under a mattress, or recommends taking self-defense classes because crime rates are increasing. I have to observe my surroundings for mental protection or else, I'd be afraid to live!

Elise Robinson said, Things may happen around you and things may happen to you, but the only thing that matters is what happens in you. In the midst of chaos, you have to brace yourself, build your faith, feed your mind with positive materials, and seek opportunities you've never considered before. You should be getting stronger, smarter, and strategizing to launch a new life, blindsiding everyone with your success and tenacity.

In times like these, we have to look for opportunities and act fast like never before. I agree with speaker Steve Duncan, Opportunity stands by silently, waiting for us to recognize it. And remember, opportunities may not come in cute, carefully wrapped packages. Opportunities may come in defeats, setbacks, and failures. Dr. Robert Schuller once said, Tough times never last, but tough people do. Make no mistake about it, times are tough, but you are tougher. What are the odds of surviving 400 million sperm? Those are the odds you beat to get here! You are resilient beyond your wildest imagination. Stop looking at the circumstances around you and as Tony Robbins would say, bring out the Giant Within. Lastly, find your true self. We live within the conversations in our heads and the recommendations of others. For years, I operated as the broken girl, which was my families’ nickname for me. Believe it or not, I answered to it! There was one person, my former teacher, who interrupted the years of negativity and low expectations for me by saying, “Never let someone's opinion of you become your reality.” Author’s Bio Cynthia has her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and is currently working on her Masters in Counseling. She has over 15 years of experience working in the mental health field and her passion is working with the low income and/or homeless that have experienced trauma in their lives. She http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ToughTimes.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:03:01 AM]

Cynthia Wakefield

Tough Times by Cynthia Wakefield

is currently a Medication Support Mentor with the Wellness & Recovery Center, North and is excited to be back in the Non-profit sector. She will continue working with those with PTSD by facilitating support groups and offering others educational information about trauma related disorders.

If you find this story useful, please share with a friend!

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You are The Only One You Have

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You are the only one you have Written by RavenSong Frisella, February 4, 2011

I sit here alone, lost in thought, when I become suddenly aware that someone has quietly sat down next to me. Asked first I attempted to remain focused on the task at hand, my meditation session, which has not been part of my daily team for quite some time now. Just then I reflect momentarily on the simple fact, and said this it brings to my heart. Then my mind jostles me back to my task. I relent with a deep inhale and exhale to re-center (or try to). As I sit with my eyes closed, refocusing on my breathing, I once again raised to that place in my inner eye that is my sanctuary. My mind lingers, watching gorgeous butterfly that has a lit onto the top of the coneflower. How majestic. So delicate with their paper-thin, crisp wings emblazoned with color and gentle sloping curves of their poise, balanced bodies, swaying ever so slightly in the cool breeze. Wait! Something almost undetectable moves (shifts) and my fluttering wings of color have disappeared. At the same moment I get an image of someone watching me (my eyes are still closed) ever so intently. I hesitate to look as I have yet to know who it was who settled next to me. I carefully peeked through one eye as I slightly turn my head just a bit so I can discover who reside there in the next space. To my shock, gasping loudly (hand quickly covering my mouth to stifle the sound), I find that it is myself, staring back at me with the same intent look as I saw it in my flash of an image previously. I also notice that there is something more behind gaze. I quickly call myself this panic has no place here. After all, it is only I sitting there, but how disconcerting that can be at first, to fully realize the image of yourself staring back at you . I asked the presence of myself why she is there Not speaking, she continues to gaze at me whilst smiling, serenely without judgment, and with great sadness that mirrors the one inside my soul. I cannot go back to my meditation because I just have to know what "I" want. My mind races as I try to understand. I ask a can was still no response. I relent to wait for an answer, hoping that there truly is one. As we both sit in silence I turn my focus to the texture of the grasslands sitting on, and running my left hand through. Crisp http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/RavenSongFrisella.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:03:05 AM]

Photos

You are The Only One You Have

– soft – slightly wet from the due and miles and miles of it undisturbed. After a space of time indefinable in my mind, I do not recall how long, the image next to her speaks. Softly, quietly, simply she says "it's wonderful to see you here; it's been a long time since you last visited your sanctuary". That catches me off guard, I asked "what do you mean?", Knowing deep down that she meant my meditation sessions. She smiled sadly again and says, "You must take care of you every minute of every day. Remember your mindfulness, remember your choice as well as your losses, honor them equally so you can recall where you been, where you are, and where you need to go". "Remember this...You are not and cannot be perfect, you will continue to grow, but only if you allow yourself to – you will fall short – you will triumph– you will have to stop and start according to your progress on any given day. Reflect on who you were, who you are, and who you can be. Remain true to yourself, grow as you need to for you, make changes in yourself and your life that are for you not everyone else. Love yourself now as you are and who you may become. Acceptance will be your best companion; you have forgotten yourself that is why I'm sitting next to you. You are not embracing all of you. Let us become one again, don't let me die away. Let us grow, prosper, you are too valuable to lose. Be gentle with yourself, you are the only one you have. About Ravensong Frusella Ravenson is a true artist at heart. She was a published poet before the age of 18. She is an avid reader, always inquisitive and yearning for knowledge taking every opportunity to learn new ways to help her own recovery and health. She is in process of writing a book about her life.

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/RavenSongFrisella.aspx (2 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:03:05 AM]

The Box You Made For Me by Tammy Dyer, M.S.W.

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The Box You Made For Me by Tammy Dyer, M.S.W.

Children come into this life, sparkly and new. “Oh how beautiful” the world exclaims! “10 fingers, 10 toes She’s perfect, well nearly perfect, in every way”

There is no light, no love, no joy Plenty of air, but I can hardly breath

Then we begin to grow: walk, talk, express Alarm bells ring! Merciful heavens look how she acts. What will people think? She’s a wild child, a heathen. If she is to succeed she will need to conform We must help her achieve the social norm To keep her safe and in her place, so she will fit inside the box

Finally I realize where things had gone so wrong All the best parts of me were left outside the box I must get out of here I am dying, Dying in the box, The box they made from love

And so they begin their daunting task, to fulfill moral obligation They take that which is sparkly and new Perfect, well nearly perfect, in every way and work to make her fit.

I find my way to freedom Spread my wings Begin to fly How good it is feel alive and sing a dreamer’s song

Fit for service, fit for life, fit to make a lovely wife Fit inside the box please dear; we know you will be safe in there For we made it out of love With hammer and chisel they go to work. Tap tap, tap tap A bit more off the top please, she still does not quite fit I want them all to love me; I see their heart’s concern I must find a way to fit, Fit inside the box The box they made from love As time goes by, the dilemma grows clear Not all of me will fit It is time to make hard choices, time to finally decide Perhaps if I let go of a few non-essential items Then I can fit, Fit inside the box, The box they made from love What to put in, what to leave out, well… I must have my body for without it life will cease My soul will have to stay out; it just takes up too much room http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/TheBoxYouMadeForMe.aspx (1 of 2) [4/21/2013 11:03:08 AM]

I see their puzzled faces, hear their sighs of dismay “Dear, why must you think about those things? You shouldn’t feel that way! You know how much we love you. Did you take your pills today?” “She’s crazy you know, but it’s ok, she’s medicated” Will that help all of you, to label me this way? Is this how you can make sense of my rejection of the box, The box you made from love If giving me a label will free me up to think and feel, Express and create, Breathe the air and stretch my wings, Design my own fate Then I accept. As a matter of fact, I’ll take two, they’re small. Being crazy’s not so bad. It comes with certain freedoms. I can create my own box. Some can see the new box and they cheer me on. Those who cannot say “We know there’s no box there, but we let her think there is… it seems to make her happy.” Will you see, ever see, the beauty that is truly me? How can you love me if you don’t know me? How can you know me if you don’t understand? How can you understand, if you refuse to see,

The Box You Made For Me by Tammy Dyer, M.S.W.

My body cannot function without my heart and brain But how to make them fit? I know, I’ll empty them first They should fit just fine now, void of thought and feeling

The box you created, created from love, Was meant to comfort you, not me

My lungs must come to fill me with air, But my wings will need to stay behind That’s probably best, there’s no room to fly in here anyway Look everyone, look at me! I have finally fit, Fit inside the box, The box you made from love “Marvelous dear, we are so pleased! Of course, if you lost a few pounds YOU would be more comfortable in there” More comfortable? Yes that’s what I need I need to be more comfortable, Here inside the box, The box they made from love But it is so dark in here Never mind flying: I cannot even move I cannot think or feel

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Tammy Dyer, M.S.W.

2011 Winter Contact

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Thank you for your interest in submitting an article/photo to Empowerment Magazine. You may also want visit www.empowermentmagazine.org/ Pages/Submissions.aspx for more information on the kind of articles we are looking for.

Submission Timeline

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2011 Winter Contact

Fall 2011- Submission Agreement - PDF Fall 2011- Submission Agreement- Microsoft Word Doc Thank you for your interest in Empowerment Magazine! We look forward to working with you! If you have further questions, please call us at (916) 2227541 or send us e-mail atcontact@empowermentmagazine.com

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Articles Being Reviewed

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Articles being Reviewed for Publication ●

Zumba Fitness with “Hmong” Flavor

Spiritual Retreats in Mental Health Programs by Cindy Tuttle

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ArticlesBeingReviewed.aspx [4/21/2013 11:03:12 AM]

Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer. M.S.W.

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Hope as Resiliency Factor by Tammy Dyer. M.S.W.

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/TammyDFall2011.aspx [4/21/2013 11:03:14 AM]

Immigration Resources

Immigration Resources http://www.newusimmigrants.com

www.NewUSimmigrants.com provides a wealth of information related to preparing children for school, all compiled into one user-friendly website.

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ImmigrationResources.aspx [4/21/2013 11:03:15 AM]

Living in the Present by Terry Zick, M.A.

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Living in the Present by Terry Zick, M.A.

http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/TerryZFall2011a.aspx [4/21/2013 11:03:17 AM]

Phommasone's Kitchen, Recipe for Mushroom Tacos

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Phommasone's Kitchen, Recipe for Mushroom Tacos

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Phommasone's Kitchen, Recipe for Mushroom Tacos

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Read the Magazine Online

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Read the Magazine Online

Click here to read The Empowerment Magazine Summer 2011 Issue online

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Spiritual Retreats in Mental Health Programs by Cindy Tuttle

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Spiritual Retreats in Mental Health Programs by Cindy Tuttle For more than 30 years, Cindy Tuttle has been dedicated to enriching the lives of adults and children challenged by mental illness or physical disabilities. She is the author of Joining the Dance of Life: Thirty Days to a Happier You!. She provides spiritual retreats for family members of adults with mental illness and consumers. These non-denominational retreats provide a time and space to reflect on our purpose in life, our holiness, and how love is with us each day. Cindy has organized retreats for residential homes, churches, conferences, and mental health programs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My hope is to offer a peaceful and fun environment where people can experience their own sacredness and share their challenges and how they have overcome them. My vision is to provide a place where people will walk away with a sense of hope and realize how precious and holy they are and have some practical spiritual tools to take home with them to create their own spiritual path which they have already started

You can contact Cindy at cindytuttle08@comcast.net. She would be glad to come to your program, conference, hospital, board and care; etc. This could be a one hour retreat on up to a week retreat. Details would be discussed to suit the programs needs. Below are examples of short retreats I offer. www.cindytuttletheauthor.com Spiritual Retreats for Caregivers of Adults and children Prayers of the Soul http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UBGARW If you find this page useful, please share with a friend!

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The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain by Deonna Wilemme, PhD

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The Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain by Deonna Wilemme, PhD

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Zumba Fitness

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Zumba Fitness with â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hmongâ&#x20AC;? Flavor After the birth of my fourth child, I was at an unbelievable 160 lbs for my 5 feet frame. My knees hurt, my back ache, and I was walking up the stairs short of breath. I was devastated and depressed. I had become the stereotypical Hmong mother, short, stalky, and definitely very pear shaped.

As a Social Worker, I understood I needed something to help myself. I attempted running again however the weight was not coming off. In October 2010, I was introduced to ZUMBA Fitness. ZUMBA Fitness is a Latin and International music based dance exercise. I instantly fell in love with ZUMBA Fitness. ZUMBA Fitness worked out my core, back, lower, and upper body.

In 10 months working out with Zumba Fitness, I have reversed my body 13 years to the weight I was before my first child. I currently weigh 120 lbs. I feel stronger and look better now than I did when I was a teenager.

The feeling of being able to fit into clothes which I like, run pain free, and have the energy to keep up with the children is an amazing motivator. ZUMBA Fitness is such a strong inspiration in my life, that I decided to become a LICENSED ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR. When the Hmong lived in the rural mountains of Laos 50 years ago, we had minimal worries about diabetes, blood pressure, and obesity. The Hmong worked hard on their mountainside farms climbing up and down the land, http://www.empowermentmagazine.org/Pages/ZumbaFitness.aspx (1 of 4) [4/21/2013 11:03:34 AM]

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Zumba Fitness

carrying heavy tools, and ate only when necessary.

As we, Hmong live in a modern world where food is plentiful and at the tip of our fingers, our Hmong obesity levels and health complications have increased. The 3rd and 4th generation Hmong youth waistlines are double the size of the first generation Hmong from the 1970-80’s. Therefore, we the Hmong need to adapt to different forms of exercise. ZUMBA Fitness is a modern exercise that is effective in combination with a good nutrition program. I lost all my weight naturally. I trained extremely hard, running with 10 lb weights on feet, strength exercises, and balancing my nutrition. I did not use diet pills or go on any crazy diet fads. Diet pills and extreme dieting roller coasters weight loss making weight gain easier. When I saw an unhealthy food or snack I would tell myself “…food/snack, you are not my friend…” and walk away. I started using a smaller plate to eat my meals in and only one serving of the food. When I was finished eating, I would put my spoon down and push the plate away or get up from the table. I have tried all different forms of exercises. My list includes P90x, Tae Bo, Step Aerobics, Yoga, Tai Chi, Jogging, Bicycling, Bula Ball, and the Helix Machine. I enjoy each form and still incorporate these exercises into my fitness routing.

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Zumba Fitness

I have tried all different forms of exercises. My list includes P90x, Tae Bo, Step Aerobics, Yoga, Tai Chi, Jogging, Bicycling, Bula Ball, and the Helix Machine. I enjoy each form and still incorporate these exercises into my fitness routing. However, I use the ZUMBA Fitness program every day. I look forward to teaching the ZUMBA classes and can feel the excitement emerging throughout the day. I teach in a variety of environments such as private houses, gyms, studios, therapy groups, classrooms, conferences, and parks. Zumba Fitness can be done everywhere and anywhere. There is a difference in the feeling of attending a 60 minute ZUMBA class vs a 30 minute run on the treadmill. I teach private and public classes ranging from 1 student to 50 students during a one class period. Women, men, and children have attended ZUMBA classes. I have had random people jump in on the classes I have held at the park just because the class and I were having such a great time exercising with Zumba Fitness. One of the Hmong participants in my Zumba Fitness classes stated “You and your weight loss is believable because you’re Hmong. You eat the same thing we eat!” I am very proud to be a HMONG woman who is a LICENSED ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR. As Beto, the creator of Zumba Fitness always says “Add your own flavor!” Here it is Zumba Fitness with Hmong Flavor and I want to share this with the whole Hmong community. For further information on and to book a classes with Zumba Fitness, do contact: kaabzaub@

If you find this article useful, please share with a friend!

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Zumba Fitness

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