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Northern Lakes Community Mental Health (NLCMH) and the Crawford County Department of Human Services (DHS) are teaming up to provide a training workshop for foster parents and relative caregivers on caring for children who have experienced trauma. The workshop will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Crawford County DHS at 230 Huron Street in Grayling. There is no cost to attend but advance registration is required. Lunch will be provided.
The workshop will focus on understanding how trauma affects children. Attendees will improve their ability to communicate with children who have experienced trauma, learn ways to reduce the stress of parenting a traumatized child, and learn skills and techniques to influence children’s behavior and attitudes.
One of the organizers, Kelly Sauter, BSW, Northern Lakes CMH Children’s Case Manager, explained that, “This training stems from a statewide effort to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and their families. Our hope is to create a community of trauma informed foster parents who can serve as a resource to individuals interacting with traumatized youth.”
Another organizer, Donna Van Brocklin, Services Specialist and Licensing Consultant for the Crawford County Department of Human Services, said, “We find that all children who come into the foster care system have experienced some type of trauma, whether it is from the neglect and/or abuse they have experienced or just from being removed from their family and home. It is important for foster parents to have the knowledge and skills to be able to help these children while they are placed in their home. At this time, Crawford County has 23 foster homes that do an excellent job helping foster children deal with the emotions and feelings they are experiencing and sometimes the behaviors that come along with these. This training will help foster parents and relatives that are helping out as caregivers to add more skills to their bag of tools.”
This project is funded by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
For additional information call Kelly Sauter at Northern Lakes Community Mental Health at (989) 344-3009 or Donna Van Brocklin at Crawford County DHS at (989) 344-5126.
Advocating for Children and Youth
May 3, 2011, marks National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. It is a day to focus on children, youth and young adults living with mental illness and to come together to advocate for a full array of effective services and supports for youth affected by mental illness. To date, a number of pending bills intended to improve the lives of children and families impacted by mental illness have been introduced in Congress:
- the Mental Health in Schools Act,
- the Achievement Through Prevention Act, and
- the Keeping Students Safe Act.
In honor of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. To learn about these bills, check out this Tip Sheet from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
 Children’s staff at Northern Lakes CMH have been planning for a month for this week to celebrate Children’s Mental Health Awareness.
In Houghton Lake and Grayling, there will be coloring contests and essay contests, with gift card prizes donated by staff. In addition, there will be healthy snacks and water in the lobby, also donated by staff, as giveaways.
In Cadillac, there will also be goodies in the lobby all week, including balloons, stickers, coloring books, pencils, snacks, and children’s activity and coloring sheets.
Staff will also be giving away green ribbons (with flyers explaining the significance of the color green – new life, new growth, new beginnings), positive buttons, and temporary tattoos.
Tomorrow, the Cadillac Wexford Public Library will be having a storytime on “feelings“ for toddlers aged 3 to 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
September 1, 2010 – 5:08 am
 As young people move into their teens, parents face seemingly endless challenges to ensure their adolescents’ health and safety – an increasingly difficult and stressful task as teens push for more independence. Parents want to ensure that their teens make the right choices, hang out with the “right” people, and live productive, alcohol- and drug-free lives.
When parents are actively involved in their teens’ lives, teens are more apt to avoid circumstances involving alcohol and drugs. Research shows that teens who are not regularly monitored by their parents are four times more likely to use drugs, compared with regularly-monitored teens.
To help teen parents and families prevent and address teen alcohol and drug abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Health Information Network created Caring for Our Youth Web site. You will find quick links to information, available for quick download or hard-copy mail order, such as these:
 One resource is a publication called Keeping Your Teens Drug Free. This easy-to-read booklet provides ideas and examples of the skills busy parents and caregivers can use to keep their teens away from marijuana and other illicit drugs.
Another resource is a top-quality multimedia CD called The Teen Years: A Road Map for Parents. This CD provides wonderful insights about how teens develop throughout adolescence and offers expert advice for parents on how they can best guide their teens through this transitional time. The CD complements the booklet, Navigating the Teen Years: A Parent’s Handbook for Raising Healthy Teens.
August 26, 2010 – 5:52 pm
 The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has launched StrengthofUs.org, a new online community where young adults living with mental health concerns can provide mutual support in navigating unique challenges and opportunities during the critical transition years from ages 18 to 25.
Developed by young adults, StrengthofUs.org is a user-driven social networking community where members can connect with peers, share personal stories, creativity and helpful resources by writing and responding to blog entries, engaging in discussion groups and sharing videos, photos and other news.
The site offers resources on issues important to young adults, including:
- Healthy relationships
- Family and friends
- Campus life
- Independent living
- Finances
- Employment
- Housing
- Mental health issues
On Saturday, June 19, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., there will be an inaugural Crawford County Health and Safety Fair located at the AuSable Primary School, at 306 Plum Street in Grayling.
This event has only been possible because of the work and support of several different businesses and organizations in our community in an effort to try to assist residents in knowing the services available in our community and to strengthen our physical, mental and financial health.
Some of the highlights include a FREE spaghetti lunch (from 11:00 to 1:00), Child Car Seat safety inspections, the Yellow Jug Program for safe disposal of unused/unwanted prescription medications, and a mercury thermometer exchange for a new digital one.
Kids will enjoy an “up close and personal” view of several different emergency and rescue vehicles to include fire trucks, ambulances, a rollover simulator and the Michigan State Police Bomb Squad truck and equipment.
Many different organizations will also be there with information about services, including Northern Lakes Community Mental Health!
At the same time, there will be a Household Hazardous Waste collection by the Crawford County Environmental Department in the Courthouse parking lot, located at 200 Michigan Avenue. Details are provided in this Household Hazardous Waste Collection Flyer.
Suicide has been a national issue for decades, yet only in the last few years has there been documentable actions taking place across the country to educate and actively prevent this tragedy.
With funding from the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Grant, we are fortunate to be able to address suicide in our own communities!
Crawford and Roscommon Counties were one of eight local grantees awarded funding through September of 2012. During this grant it will be a priority to build a local suicide prevention coalition, write a prevention plan, and move towards educating the community on what to do if they fear someone they love is at risk for suicide.
 Nicole Ellens has been hired as the Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator to head this effort.
Since March, Ellens has been contacting and meeting people throughout the community to form a suicide prevention coalition to meet regularly and formulate a strategy to combat suicide in Crawford and Roscommon Counties. The coalition met in March and April and has established a monthly meeting schedule for the remainder of 2010.
Agencies represented on the coalition thus far are as follows: Michigan State Police, Houghton Lake Schools, Roscommon Schools, Grayling Schools, Second Chance Academy, Kirtland College, COOR ISD, School Based Health Center, Great Start Collaborative, Mercy Hospital, Mid-Michigan Health Park, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health, Crawford County Family Court, Department of Human Services, Grace Center, Third Level Crisis Center, Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, Commission on Aging, Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative, and MSU Extension.
Throughout the next few months this new group will begin to compose a suicide prevention plan, outlining goals, activities and desirable outcomes for the community. They will look at current community data on suicide, suicide attempts and self-harmful behavior as a way to assess progress and changes throughout the area.
To ensure that there are key persons throughout the community with suicide intervention skills, about 45 members of the coalition will become trained in the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) in late August of this year. ASIST is a two-day, intensive training on how to confidently and competently intervene on someone’s behalf when they elicit suicidal talk or behaviors. The group will also look at suicide prevention programs to implement in the local schools to educate youth on how to recognize signs of depression, which adults they can go to in times of need, how to stay healthy, and the importance of not keeping secrets about suicide when their friend or family member discloses suicidal intent to them.
Ellens said, “Having only been operational for three months, it is evident that Crawford and Roscommon counties will be taking big steps towards creating a healthier community for its citizens. Through education, awareness and intervention we hope to instill that suicide is preventable and each of us have a role to play.“
For more information on how you might become involved, contact Nicole Ellens at 989-366-1105 or email Nicole.Ellens@NLCMH.org.
 Here is a public education Web site developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to communicate to parents and other caring adults about how they can help promote their child’s mental health and reduce his or her risk for becoming involved with alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs: http://www.family.samhsa.gov.
| If you or someone you know is at immediate risk of seriously harming themselves or someone else, call 911. |
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