EXPANDING COMMUNITY

Continued on page 2

VOLUME 6

ISSUE 3FALL 2006

Inside this issue

Knocked off the developmental path that most people follow, individuals with serious and persistent mental illness often are unable to establish careers, forge friendships, create families or participate in their communities. Many live alone in apartments, interact with only a limited number of people and easily become isolated and feel alienated.

As a result of Hennepin County’s recent award of $320,000 in ongoing funds to Touchstone Mental Health for our intentional community (IC), we are able to help individuals rebuild their lives by taking control of their symptoms and their treatment, renewing their relationships and finding their places in the world.

The grant allows us to expand the community to a second location and increases the number of people we serve to 40 individuals.

As of January 2007, our program will provide subsidies that fund scattered-site apartments for 25 mental health consumers. In addition to stable housing for members, the expanded

community will provide two meeting sites for its members’ activities. Our staff will provide home-based supports to these individuals.

Our intentional community combines the advantages of a private apartment with those of a close-knit neighborhood. Members frequently socialize with other members, establish holiday

traditions together, participate in activities that reflect shared interests and generally become good neighbors involved in the lives of others.

To foster social interaction, members enjoy communal meals several times a week. Breaking bread with others has the power to inspire, nurture, build and sustain health and fulfill deep social and cultural needs.

Each meeting site offers recreational activities and open hours for spontaneous sharing and communication

among members. Members at each site plan facilitated groups and classes, such as yoga, visual journaling and creative writing. A lending library provides self-help and inspirational books and reference texts.

Consumers drive the development of each community by establishing communication

Kind WordsFROM TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

2829 UNIVERSITY AVENUE SE

SUITE 400

MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414

VOLUME 6

ISSUE 3FALL 2006

2829 UNIVERSITY AVENUE SE

SUITE 400

MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414-3230

Ancient Wisdom 3

Clients’ Wish List 3

Knowing When to Walk Away 4

Healing and Support 4

Donors 2006 5

Mind-Body Training 5

Staff’s Wish List 6

Board MembersKelly Robert, Chair

Michaela Diercks, Treasurer

Sara Barron-Leer

RD Brown

Bill Cochrane

Sharon Toll Johnson, LICSW

Merrie Kaas, Ph.D.

Shelley Majors

Liz Sjaastad

Helen Raleigh, LICSWExecutive Director

Glen Albert, LICSWDirector of Supportive Housing, Assisted Living

Birgit Kelly, LICSWProgram Director, Case Management Services

Margo Cohen, LICSWTreatment Director, Residential Treatment

Lynette AndersonFinance and Benefits Director

Peggy WrightCommunications and Development Director

Mary WoodburyFinance and Administrative Assistant

Editorial StaffHelen RaleighPeggy Wright

ProgramsASSISTED LIVING APARTMENTS7376 Bass Lake RoadNew Hope, MN 55428-3861(763) 536–8134assistedliving@touchstonemh.org

CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES2829 University Avenue SE, Suite 400Minneapolis, MN 55414-3230(612) 874–6409casemanagement@touchstonemh.org

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY3223 East 25th Street, Apt. 5Minneapolis, MN 55406(763) 536–8134intentional@touchstonemh.org

RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT2516 E. 24th StreetMinneapolis, MN 55406-1209(612) 722–1892residential@touchstonemh.org

Administrative Team

PAGE 2TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

EXPANDING COMMUNITY, Continuedbetween members, building consensus and designing the kind of community they want. Members meet at least monthly to review the functioning of the community, make necessary decisions and plan activities.

Many small advantages exist in forming intentional communities. A member can more easily find someone to help when needed, such as feeding her cat when she goes out of town. Each member also comes to know other members well enough to find someone who shares his interests, such as reading mystery novels, going to a museum or movie or watching professional football.

Members also provide peer support for coping with psychiatric symptoms. Peer-led support is an essential tool for recovery.

The location for our first IC site is the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. We have located an apartment in this neighborhood where a half-time Community Organizer lives. This person is a Touchstone staff member and must be a consumer. The Community Organizer coordinates the activities for the site. We plan to find a similar apartment for the second site, and a second Community Organizer will live there.

With the opening of our second site, which we created as a joint venture with Oak Grove Treatment Center, we are able to offer a continuum of supportive housing and services.

This continuum includes: Touchstone Residential Treatment

in Minneapolis, an Intensive Residential Treatment facility (IRTS)

Touchstone Assisted Living Apartments in New Hope

The new Oak Grove Assisted Living Apartments near downtown Minneapolis, scheduled to open in 2007

Touchstone Intentional Communities Mosaic Apartments, which offers scattered-

site apartments funded by GRH (Group Residential Housing)

Our first site serves only consumers of Touchstone Mental Health, but the second is open to other individuals. Case Managers from Hennepin County Behavioral Health or contracted agencies can refer potential

clients and must authorize all placements to the intentional community. We plan to begin accepting referrals to the expanded Intentional Community in December 2006.

The second community will provide a training apartment for one consumer at time with a length of stay of approximately ninety days. We will give first priority to consumers whom an IRTS or state-operated facility has discharged. Our staff will provide these individuals with training in living skills and will help them develop relationships with other members of the community.

A second priority is consumers at risk of losing their housing. We will consider consumers referred by an ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) team on an individual basis to avoid duplication of services.

We currently are recruiting a Program Supervisor for the program. For more information, contact Glen Albert, Director of Supportive Housing, at 763-536-8134.

PAGE 3 TOUCHSTONE MENTAL H EALTH

• Dental floss; toothbrushes & tooth paste; dental work

• Deodorant• Donations for medication copays• Facial tissue, toilet paper• Gift certificates for new shoes,

clothing• Shampoo & conditioner; hair care • Multivitamins• YM or YWCA or health-club

memberships

CLIENTS’ WISH LIST

• Art supplies, including colored pencils or markers, craft kits, a latch hook for rug hooking, knitting yarn

• Bus passes• Gift cards or certificates to coffee

shops, McDonald’s, Target, Cub• Household products—dish soap,

laundry soap, antistatic sheets for the dryer, paper towels

• Household items—Flatware; rugs; table lamps, lamp shades; laundry baskets; TVs, DVD players; microwaves; firm pillows

• Long-distance phone cards• Recreational products—Magazine

subscriptions, movie tickets, games, VCR tapes/DVDs, 10-speed bicycles; film; Walkman

• Punch cards for the FUMC therapeutic pool

• Free or low cost veterinarian services

• A reliable used automobile

PERSONAL CARE ITEMS OR SERVICES

OTHER ITEMS

Continued on page 6

Stress and anxiety strongly affect physical well-being and the ways in which we perceive the world. They cause strong emotional responses that some people manage through abusing alcohol or drugs, thinking about suicide or behaving impulsively.

MIND-BODY PRACTICES CAN HELP.

Q. What are mind-body skills?

A. Mind-body skills are techniques that individuals can use to affect physiological, emotional and mental states and include relaxation techniques, biofeedback, meditation, breathing, exercise or movement, nutrition and use of imagery.

Based in mindfulness practices, these skills simply mean bringing awareness to what we are experiencing—sensations in the body, thoughts or emotions.

Q. What is your experience with these skills personally? Do you practice some of them regularly?

A. I started practicing a sitting meditation 25 years ago and continue to sit daily. I have a background as a dancer, and I am a long-term student of Tai Chi Ch’uan, which people often describe as a system of moving meditation.

I have practiced journaling since I was a teenager, partly as a way to observe my life consciously but also as a way to allow images and unconscious material to come to awareness.

As a Registered Nurse (RN), my personal experiences in the late 1970s transformed my beliefs about health care. I became dissatisfied with the health-care model that Western medicine uses and began investigating alternative practices.

I radically changed my diet at the time, and I learned massage, relaxation techniques and use of imagery.

Q. Explain some of the interactions between

mind and body?

A. We frequently find ourselves in anxiety-producing situations. Our bodies respond. Our thoughts race, and our stomachs become upset. We tense our bodies and get headaches and backaches.

Prolonged stress alters our nervous, endocrine and immune systems. These changes contribute to every major illness, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, infections, depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Q. How does practice of the skills affect the body over time?

A. We are now learning more about the way in which our minds affect our bodies. We can modify the communication that occurs among the cells of our body and thereby change our physical state. What we practice, day-to-day, moment-to-moment, affects all aspects of our health and offers the possibility of healing.

Q. What training have you received to teach mind-body skills?

My background as a nurse has included work in mental health, holistic healing and treatment for chronic pain. I have worked

ANCIENT WISDOM: THE MIND AND THE BODY

PAGE 4TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

Healing and Support for Mind, Body and Spirit

KNOWING WHEN TO WALK AWAYBy Helen Raleigh, Executive DirectorWhen I think about my six years at Touchstone Mental Health, I think about Eva who spent half her young life in state institutions after being born to a crack-addicted mom. Touchstone Residential Treatment was the first place she lived after discharge from the state hospital.

While living there, she practiced ways to decrease her suicidal thoughts, received treatment for sleep apnea and completed her high school degree by taking the equivalency exam. I remember that the other residents and our staff held a great party for her 20th birthday. I also remember that despite promises, no one from her family ever came to visit her.

Consumers are the reason that Touchstone Mental Health exists.

When I consider the mission of Touchstone Mental Health, I think of Wayne, a middle-aged man injured on the job. He developed severe chronic pain, became addicted to painkillers and eventually suffered debilitating depression because of the pain.

While Wayne was hospitalized, our nurse placed a call to his emergency contact and spoke with his brother-in-law. Wayne’s family had assumed he was homeless or dead. They didn’t know he was receiving treatment. He simply didn’t want to burden his family. I remember Wayne being thrilled when his case manager gave him a used fishing pole. He spent hours fishing at Lake Calhoun.

Thanks to our staff and consumers, we’ve accomplished great things during my years at Touchstone. We revitalized our primary programs and initiated a variety of healing services. We changed the names of the agency and our programs to reflect the quality of our services and launched our web site.

Earlier this year, we sponsored consumers to form our first intentional community, a type of supportive housing. We plan to expand this program by opening a second site in 2007.

Just a year ago, we established the Ceil Raleigh Endowment Fund, named after my late aunt, a nurse who lived with depression much of her life. It is our dream to build the endowment fund to $100,000 or more through individual donations.

Once it reaches that size, the agency can use the funds earned on the investment to start new services that improve the lives of our consumers.

What would it take for you to consider making a donation to the Ceil Raleigh Endowment Fund?

If you have been blessed in this life, please consider helping to improve the lives of persons living with mental illness.

Please send donations to Peggy Wright, Director of Communications and Development, Touchstone Mental Health, 2829 University Avenue SE, Suite 400, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414-3230.

When I think about our accomplishments, I remember Mai, a consumer assigned to one of our case managers. She loves to laugh and is a great cook. She spent two years living at the program now known as Touchstone Assisted Living Apartments.

Mai survived abuse in a resettlement camp in Thailand and came to Minnesota with her family. Her siblings all did well at work and school, but Mai became preoccupied with voices that she believed were magical. These voices made it difficult for her to learn English. While living at Touchstone, she often cut her own hair and always gave away any gifts that she received. She eventually moved in with her father.

Touchstone staff offered Eva, Wayne, and Mai strategies to cope with symptoms, helped them plan their futures and renewed their senses of humor, hope and optimism about life.

While it’s hard to imagine leaving Touchstone Mental Health, I began over a year ago to consider finding a new career while I am still young enough to enjoy it. Earlier this summer, I informed our board of directors that my last day is December 29, 2006.

My decision came with a flood of memories about the people I feel grateful to have known and from whom I’ve learned so much. At the top of the list is our amazing staff.

People ask if I know what kind of work I want to do. I don’t know yet, which is creating a lot of suspense and a lot of excitement for me, but I know that I will find something fulfilling.

My parting wish for our consumers, staff and board and for the readers of our newsletter draws from an Irish blessing, “May you always have a kind word for those you meet.”

Helen Raleigh, Executive Director

In Memory of Scott SandersonCharlene AhrensArthur and

Judith AndersenDick and Ann BergerKenneth and Mary CarterMargaret Anne CullumKenyeon DeGodtLoretta DisneyJeff FlemingDon and Donna FosterMelvin and Mary GratzJerome HaynesMartha KimmerlingThomas and

Patricia MatthewsWilliam and Mary MillerPhyllis Erickson Morton

and Gwyn MortonDeanna PehnertBrad PenceMarilyn RynearsonDick and Rita SandersonDouglas StewartDick and Nancy StillPatricia TharpJeffrey and

Kimberly ThomasGerald Urbach

In Memory of Connie and Bill Riggs

in memory of Cynthia Riggs

Jennie Leskela, Douglas Choate and Aidan in memory of Cynthia Riggs

Jeannette Nelson in memory of Harold Nelson

In Honor of Joan Bilinkoff in honor of

Helen RaleighDon and Betty Cashin in

honor of Kathy CashinSharona and Eugene Irons

in honor of Lyn Gerdis’ 40th birthday

Connie Mortensen-Long in honor of her parents

Devona and Harley Swiggum in honor of Tami Swiggum

Lori and Randall Taylor in honor of Lyn Gerdis’ 40th birthday

Ceil Raleigh Endowment FundAnonymous (1)

PAGE 5 TOUCHSTONE MENTAL H EALTH

Brian and Paula BergsRhonda Simpson BrownArline RaleighJoan RaleighJane Sebeczch

IndividualsAnonymous (2)Roxanne AbbasGlen AlbertRose AllenKathie BaileyAngie BarattoCindy BarnickBrian BergsBirgit BirkelandRandy BirkinbineIngrid BloomLarry and Susan BourgerieSarah BrewBill CochraneMargo CohenLeslie ConnellyRobin CooperSara CurrellPatricia DahlmanJulie DappenMichaela DiercksCharlotte DittmerChristy DowningMarilyn EhlineBarb FarlandWasil FiedorowAl FredricksonLyn and Michael GerdisKathy GlynnDale and Gina GroveErnie GundersonJudy HanksKeith HansenMichael HenleyDeb HesliJacqueline Hill

Muriel and James HilliganLaura JarrettDianne JensenGreg JohnsonLorrie and

Marlyn JohnsonSharon Toll JohnsonBarbara KoropchakCathy LangeJennie Leskela and

Douglas and Aidan Choate

Sue LeskelaCindy LorahSandy ManningBob MarionMary MartinTom and Clare McCarthyNicole McMahonDavid and Karen MillerKaren and James MillerDeb MinerJohn MitchellLeslie NeeserJan NorwineJean ObreskySusan PaggenSarah PetersonLisa PoppKathie PrieveHelen RaleighKelly RobertJulie RolesMichael RonnDavid RoseMargaret and Carl RoserMary Ellen RossMary Kay RomportlDavid RothsteinDavid SagulaGloria and Frank SagulaDiana Schansberg

Charlotte SebastianJulie SiminskiBarb SobocinskiTami SojkaRenee SvobodaTami SwiggumRick ThillBev and Dr.

Earl ThompsonKara VangenCarol WalkerKathleen WhitefordCarol and Dan WilliamsMary WoodburyClaire WrightPeggy and Milton Wright

Businesses and OrganizationsOsseo Lions ClubSt. Raphael’s ChurchTCF FoundationCentral Minneapolis

Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Wellbeing Collaborative

In Kind DonationsIndividualsAnonymous (2)Kathleen BakkeKathie BaileyRon BellMark HildmanBirgit KellyPatricia NelsonBarry NienstadtBarbara RadkeKelly RobertJulie RolesJulie RyanMike SmithRenee SvobodaRon VillejoSusan WeibelPeggy WrightIvy West

Businesses and OrganizationsFriends School

of MinnesotaHealth Recovery CenterMill City MuseumMinnesota State Fair St. Paul Saints

Professional BaseballScratch and Dent

Furniture Warehouse

Mind-Body TrainingOur Wellness program takes a rounded, holistic approach. Each of our five Wellness series consists of six sessions. We look at nutrition, relationships, leisure and stress management as the keys to reducing anxiety, stress and mental health symptoms.

We work on developing healthy coping skills and learning practices designed to reduce stress. It is especially powerful to witness participants when they get their bodies moving!

We have completed the first series on nutrition and health. Funding will determine if we are able to offer the five series again.

November 2 through December 7, 2006Stress ManagementLearning mindfulness, managing mental health, using body and mind exercises and journaling.

January 4 through February 8, 2007Leisure and RecreationUnderstanding the importance of leisure, learning self-soothing, using community resources and creating a chemically free lifestyle.

March 1 through April 5, 2007Mental Health and AdvocacyUnderstanding the biological effects of illness, confronting stigma and working effectively with doctors.

April 26 through May 31, 2007Relationship and Skill Building

Learning to resolve conflicts, creating a window of tolerance and

building a healthy relationship with self and others.

DONORS 2006

• Copier paper, white• Diskettes and CDs. blank PC • Garbage bags (40 gal & 12 gal)• Laundry soap, dryer sheets• Laser printer, new • Monitors, flat-panel • Mouse, cordless (1 or more)• Pens, black • Paper shredder, new• Services from a print shop• Snow removal for

residential sites

STAFF’S WISH LIST

ANCIENT WISDOM, Continuedas a group therapist, taught exercise, movement and relaxation and provided education about health.

More recently, I had the good fortune of attending a program for professional and advanced training in MindBodySpirit medicine. Dr. James Gordon, from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., conducts this training.

Q. How can the practice of mind-body skills help our clients? Are there specific practices that can help individuals with particular diagnoses?

The symptoms of mental illness and some medications can make it difficult for individuals to tolerate being in their bodies. We currently teach mind-body skills to our clients, and we intentionally teach them

in a group setting. This setting provides consumers with a safe space where they can identify emotions, thoughts and physical patterns, learn to use healthy self-expression and obtain the support of other individuals.

A person’s diagnosed mental illness does not cause us to include or exclude use of any one technique, but an individual may respond better to one method than another.

See the schedule for our Wellness program for consumers on page 5.

2829 UNIVERSITY AVENUE SE

SUITE 400

MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414-3230