YOU CANT SPELL LOVE WITHOUT THE Vee!!!

HI my name is Desmond Gordon & I represent the YES CLUB!!!

I was born & raised in Newark Ohio. So I'm the product of my environment. Thanks to Mrs. Vee Hottle for giving me an opportunity to help shape & better the children's lives from my own community. I feel that Vee is the greatest person I know because she really believes that every child has a chance to succeed in life no matter what you have come from or what you have been through. Also I believe the same because I'm living proof that you can come from nothing and become something great. There is no better job in the world to me then a place that I can became a teenager & play all day while getting paid for it. HA HA HA!!!! Also at the same time be able to give & present a positive male influence on the children of Licking county. I take great pride in my work because I can relate to majority of these kids because they come from the same places and situations that I've already been through. That's why we are such a tight knit family at YES CLUB. When we have discussions children understand & realize that they are not alone in their lives or situations. It feels so good that everyday these children show up to the club house because they also see Mrs. Hottle's vision & I'm so thankful to be a part that. Also we are all so excited to move into our new YES CLUB HOUSE! I would love to thank everyone who took part in creating the new HOUSE.

SINCERELY YOURS
Desmond Gordon (YES CLUB)

Modern Times

Jan GreenRiver

Director of Prevention & Programs

Mental Health America of Licking County

Summer time is the time when children are often running free – free from the boundaries of the classroom, free from the chains of homework, free from the confines of home…but are they ever free from the possibility of abuse? In 2008, we are painfully aware that things have changed over the years & children are not free to roam their neighborhoods from dawn to dusk they way they used to. I remember riding bikes all over Heath as a pre-teen/teen or walking to the pool & spending the entire day there. My parents did not need to worry about my well-being the way I worry about my children today.

When I began working for Mental Health America, I began as a CAPP presenter – the Child Abuse Prevention Program. For years we have been trying to help children stay safe in our community. Many times at trainings, conferences, etc., we are asked how long have we been doing the work that we do. While I have only been doing this work professionally for a few short years, I say that I have been working in this field for nearly 20 years – since I became pregnant for the first time. Aside from all the physical & medical prenatal care of my child, I realized that the world this baby would enter was not as friendly as the one I had grown up in. I could do all in my power to give him a safe birth, a safe home, but what happens outside all that?

Now as a professional in the world of mental health promotion and abuse prevention, after going to numerous classrooms to talk with our young ones about personal safety, it’s clear how much more is needed to protect our children.

Back to the Future

As with many of my peers, whose age approaches, or surpasses, the posted speed limit on secondary highways, I am astonished by the change that those of subsequent generations take for granted. As an illustration, I can remember asking why I would need an MP3 player when I have perfectly good cassette tapes. And, of course, long after iPods have become as common as, well, cassette tapes used to be, I figured out that there were advantages to being able to store my entire collection of records and tapes in the same amount of space taken up by just one tape. Long after instant messaging and “texting” had entered the public consciousness, I was still trying to figure out what the charm was of sending what looked like nonsensical gibberish through the air when you could call. Clearly, I am not an “it”-getter when it comes to many of these technologies.

This is all by way of rationalizing why, after “myspacing” has become an accepted verb, I wanted to write about social networking.

I came across an article about leveraging the power of online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook to raise money. And, as the search for money occupies a significant portion of my time, I elected to educate myself about Facebook. I hasten to add that, even from the relative anonymity of the computer, this was a bold step for a lifelong wallflower. And most likely, had there not been the professional connection, I would not have done it.

For those who may not have done anything like this before, the process of “joining” involves completing a form with as much, or as little, information as you care to disclose. You can fill in your hometown, your high school, your political and/or religious view; you can provide information about your work history, your marital status and your favorite movie and/or television program. The database then looks for other members with points of commonality and identifies them as people you can invite to be your “friend.” Obviously, the more you disclose, the more potential friends you can be introduced to.

In an age of identity theft and cyber stalkers, it was a little scary to think about putting all of that information out there—and, before you go looking, I didn’t put it all out there--but I also was forced to admit that I was curious to know who, among all of the people I have met and then let go of, might be out there. I suppose it’s the cyber equivalent of the same impulse that drives people back to their high school and college reunions. I have such clear “before” pictures of who those people were and there is a part of me that is morbidly curious to see what they have become after life has played a few rounds with them.

So I posted my partially completed profile and invited my sister to accept me as a friend—a real breakthrough given the rocky start to our relationship some decades ago.

Very quickly, I got a message from one of my sister’s old roommates and then I heard from someone I knew in high school. And then I heard from someone I used to coach in debating. And then I heard from someone else, who I remember, and who I worked with both in high school and in college, but I never had the sense that we were “friends.” I was surprised that he wanted to connect with me after about 30 years.

It's not that there was a flood of friends, because, as I write this, that is my entire list, but the three people I knew from high school and who reached out to connect with me are the ones that I marvel about. I would never have reached out to them, mostly because I am, to my very core, a shy person and couldn’t think they would be interested in anything that I might have to say.

But they reached out to me and I think of each of their “friend requests” as a gift. Completely unsolicited, they have “checked in” and that has impressed me. I have no other choice than to think that they remembered something about that moment in time when our lives intersected and that they wanted to revisit those memories—even if only for a moment—by contacting me.

I don’t mean to come across like some sort of an egotist, because that ain’t me. I am someone who believes that he has passed, and will continue to pass, through life without making much of a ripple. In fact, I work hard not to make any waves at all, but, right or wrong, good or bad, significant or not, I have impacted three lives and it has changed how I think about myself.

Changing how you think about yourself is an important part of recovering from a mental illness.

During the month of May, we talked a lot about the importance of social connections for persons experiencing mental illness. The lack of these connections can promote the onset of symptoms and prolong their duration.

Because of their very nature, mental illnesses cause people to withdraw and to shrink, and in many cases dissolve, their social networks. Like the old song, when you’re happy and you know it, you clap your hands and draw attention to yourself. When you’re depressed, you go to your room and isolate yourself.

When you are ready to come out of your room then having a social network—wherever you find it: online or in life—can accelerate your recovery. This is the concept behind MHA’s Compeer program.

So, if there’s a name on your email list, or in your address book, that you haven’t contacted in a while then check in with them. You don’t have to say a lot. Just contacting them can mean a whole lot. You never know the power you have to impact people’s lives.

Graham Campbell
Associate Director
Mental Health America of Licking County

Single mom works on getting out of near-poverty

Judith Allee, Parent Support Coordinator

I love success stories, don't you? Here’s a story about one of our first graduates (Spring 2006) from Getting Ahead classes for low-income parents.

On her own, Marilyn was raising a teenager and her other daughter's little girl, age 4. Marilyn’s diabetes was out of control and her depression was making it hard to get through each day. Marilyn's car was--how shall I put it?--a piece of, um, doo-doo. Without reliable transportation, she was in the position of frequently begging for a ride to work. Seeing a doctor for medication to help with depression was last on her long list of survival "to-do's." She just had to let some things go and that was one of them.

Marilyn joined the Getting Ahead classes that I teach (well, facilitate, actually) for people who want to learn how to escape from poverty or near poverty. By the end of 18 sessions, each class member creates his or her own personal plan for becoming financially stable. Class members help each person break down their "big hairy audacious goals" (BHAG's), like owning a home, into baby steps. . .like a phone call on Tuesday or picking up an application for a job on Wednesday. Those tiny Tortoise steps are the only thing that can move you forward, even if they are imperceptible at times.

Marilyn worked in a deli for about $9 an hour. During the course of the class, she got a 25-cent-an-hour raise. Good news, right? Except that the $10 a week raise triggered cuts of over $200 a month in--

• food stamps
• child care assistance
• housing subsidy

Then things got bad. Because of her raise, she also lost her medical card, which she depended on for diabetes medication. Her job provided no health insurance yet, although she had been working there for over three years.

When this woman earned a little more, it left her worse off than before. To escape from near-poverty, she’ll have to earn a lot more and somehow survive the transition. This chasm between poverty and middle class keeps people trapped. Every time they try to swim to shore, it feels as if someone pushes their heads under water. Some people accept their plight and stop trying.But what Marilyn did was drive 25 minutes each way to Newark--after a long tiring day in the deli--to take Getting Ahead classes. Then she put her Getting Ahead plan into action. One of her goals, for example, was to work on her health—physical and mental. Here's what she accomplished during the 18 months following graduation:

1. With determination and hard work, she lost 25 pounds and carefully monitored her blood sugar. Eventually she was able to control her diabetes with diet—no more insulin!
2. She called her mental health clinic and inquired about transportation. Although they often can't help with that, Marilyn was able to work out a ride to see a doctor to get back on anti-depressant medication and to start seeing a counselor.
3. Slowly, she caught up her bills. When I last talked with her, she hadn't used a payday lender in over a year.
4. Marilyn became a volunteer with Mental Health America, tutoring other parents as they complete their Getting Ahead workbooks, and facilitating parenting classes based on the book "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk" by Faber and Mazlish. Marilyn has helped other parents a lot--and learned a lot in the process.

She was also excited about finally fulfilling another of her goals. Once she got out from under the payday lenders, she opened a savings account for emergencies with an automatic deduction of $5 per paycheck--in her case, $10 a month.

It's a "baby step" in the right direction, but it is also huge! Her plan to get out of poverty is alive and well and living in Licking County. There are setbacks. She picks herself up and keeps going.

One of the goals for Getting Ahead, locally and nationally, is that when communities make decisions that affect people in poverty, that people in poverty are "at the table." Although in our culture, people in poverty are often seen as lazy, stupid or deficient in some way, studies show that they typically excel at problem-solving. We need their expertise on poverty. (Reality check: In their decision making process does your church, city, township county, or other local helping organizations include representatives who are in poverty or are in transition?)

Fortunately (yay!), we received notice that Job and Family Services and the Women's Fund of Central Ohio anticipate continuing the funds for Getting Ahead. We expect to start classes in August or early September, but we are hosting information sessions now. If your family is a member of the "working poor" and you are ready to make significant changes in your life, contact me about coming to one of our information meetings, starting in late July. People who participate in financial classes, or one-on-one financial coaching, will receive first priority. If you are selected to participate, you will receive gift cards you can use for gas, diapers, Christmas, or other expenses. The gift cards serve as a stipend for your work in investigating poverty and solutions in Licking County and sharing that information with the community. It can also help you manage the long commitment of attending an 18-session class.

If you are in middle class or wealth and would like to get involved, let's talk! You can make a real difference with as little as three hours a month, not only for the low-income family that you mentor, but also in your own life.

Contact me at 788-0300 or at JudithAllee@MHALC.org. Enthusiasm is contagious and we've got plenty to share!