What is Mindfulness? What is its history?Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose in the present moment, without judgment. It’s having body and mind in the same place at the same time.

We often are not mindful. We are in the future, worrying, planning, and trying to control—what if.... Or we regret and rehash the past—if only.... We miss the present, the only time in which we possess any power and control of ourselves and our lives.

We all experience mindfulness at some time. For example, you may sit down to play a musi-cal instrument and think, “I’ll just play for 20 minutes.” All of a sudden, you look at the clock, and 35 minutes have passed. You’ve been aware only of the instrument, the keys, and the sound of the music. You’ve let go of the grocery list, of your plans for the afternoon. Your mind has quieted and focused, and you are deeply connected to the sensations of the body in the present moment, embodied, grounded, not lost in thought, worry, or regret.

Mindfulness’ roots lie in 2,600-year-old teachings from the East. Jon Kabat-Zinn translated these ancient tools and

practices into Western everyday language and activities through his clinic and his book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. His teachings have transformed Western medical and mental-health practice. See the University of Massa-chusetts Medical Center’s web site at http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/research/findings.cfm for the most recent research findings.

How does its use help in the treatment of illness generally? How are medical providers using it?Medical researchers believe that 60% of doc-tors’ visits involve treatment of stress-induced conditions. The medical community uses mindfulness in treating many issues, including chronic pain, skin diseases, cancer, compro-mised immune systems, cardiac disease, and

infertility, to name a few.

Mental health practitioners use it to treat a wide variety of diagnoses, including

chemical dependency, atten-tion deficit hyperactivity disorder

(ADHD), borderline personality disorder, dissociative disorders such as schizophrenia, eating disorders,

MINDFULNESSAn Interview with Judith Lies

Continued on page 2

SLEEPING WITH A MOSQUITO 3

WISH LIST 3

PROFILE OF A BOARD MEMBER 5

HEALING TOUCH GRANT 5

SOMATIC RESOURCING 5

DONORS 5

OPEN HOUSE & TOUR 6

Inside this issueJudith has practiced as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) for 20 years. She uses mindfulness in her practice and also facilitates courses in mindfulness, including courses for mental health professionals on the integration of mindfulness and psychotherapy. See a list of her classes on her web site www.seedsofmindfulness.com or inquire by phone at 612-343-1623.

When the mind is unclouded, only heart is experienced Just as when the heart is exposed, there are no obstacles in the mind The heart and mind only seem separate to the mind To the heart, all things are one.

Author Unknown

Kind Words

2829 UNIVERSITY AVENUE SE

SUITE 400

MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414

FROM TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

VOLUME 5

ISSUE I

SPRING 2005

panic attacks, generalized anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to mention only a few.

What does Mindfulness mean as you are us-ing it for persons with serious and persistent mental illness? Mindfulness can help everyone. We all experi-ence waves and storms of emotions such as anger, fear, and joy, and we all engage in pat-terns of habituated thought and hard-wired behavior, such as wanting to escape what is happening in or around us. Mindfulness helps us to be aware of these waves as they happen and to name them, ride them, and watch how they change, dissolve, and come back.

We also notice the stories that we write in our minds about these waves, such as stories about being powerless, unlovable, guilty, invisible, worthless, or hopeless. These stories lead us to take actions in our lives that match our thoughts, not what is truly happening.

Awareness begins to dissolve our habitual pat-terns. The energy of mindfulness allows us the space and vitality to respond from the deep, natural reservoir of peace, ease, health, and wellbeing in each of us. We make different choices for ourselves from this openhearted-ness, which lead to joy and happiness. We give up trying to control everything and practice acceptance of ourselves just as we are and of the world just as it is, with all its disappoint-ments, messiness, pain, and joy.

Mindfulness costs nothing. It’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s natural and has limitless benefits. Its prac-tice can be as simple as focusing on the sensa-tions of breath in the body or as complex as developing a way of life, deeply studying the many teachings and practices of mindfulness.

How do you teach Mind-fulness? How do your methods differ when you are serving persons who experience seri-ous and persistent mental illness?

I begin with the introductory practices of mindfulness as techniques to calm, focus, and ground a person in the sensations of their body—simply being aware of the breath in the body, eating mindfully, walking mindfully, spending time in nature, and practicing yoga.

People who are appropriate for deeper study will naturally gravitate toward it and reveal their interest to the facilitator or therapist, who then can make a choice about the suit-ability of offering deeper practices and/or of referral.

Therapists need to keep in mind that a mind-fulness practice can be a way to avoid, hide, deny, and/or worsen a number of mental-health concerns: low self-esteem, narcissism, dependency, codependency, failure to meet basic needs, isolation, and withdrawal from the world. These situations would occur for someone in deeper study of mindfulness than the basic practices that we have discussed here.

What results do you expect? How do you measure results? Results are immediate and long-range. Muscle tension, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and reactivity decrease; openheartedness, spon-taneity, calm, and the ability to focus and respond increase. Over time the practice of mindfulness leads to different choices in all areas of one’s life, an improved concept of self, freedom from addictions, formation and tending of relationships with greater ease and confidence—the list goes on and on. Those who practice mindfulness spend less and less time worrying, controlling, judging, and regretting.

The effectiveness of any mindfulness instruc-tion holds a direct relationship to the depth of practice of the people facilitating the instruction. It can be a technique or a way of life. As a technique, it helps in relaxation, calming, self-monitoring, and symptom relief. As a way of being, it truly can be transform-ing, lessening or curing disease and changing the hard-wiring of your brain. In general,

it eases fear, and creates joy, compassion, freedom, generosity, kindness, trust, and gratitude, all of these experienced in oneself and the world. ***

MINDFULNESS Continued

Board MembersKelly Robert, Chair

Jonathan Burris

Bill Cochrane

Michaela Diercks

Sharon Toll Johnson

Merrie Kaas, Ph.D.

Liz Sjaastad

Helen Raleigh, LICSWExecutive Director

Glen Albert, LICSWDirector of Supportive Housing

Birgit Kelly, LICSWProgram Director

Margo Cohen, LICSWProgram Director

Cheryl ButzFinance & Benefits Director

Peggy WrightAdministrative Assistant

Gabriel BainAdministrative and Technology Assistant

Editorial StaffHelen RaleighPeggy Wright

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

CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES300 Clifton Avenue, Carriage HouseMinneapolis, MN 55403(612) 874–6409casemanagement@touchstonemh.org

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

Management Team

PAGE 2TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

PAGE 3 TOUCHSTONE MENTAL H EALTH

Clients’ Needs

• donations for medication copays• shampoo & conditioner• toothbrushes & tooth paste• dental floss• deodorant• multivitamins• gift certificates for new shoes• YM or YWCA or health-club

memberships

WISH LIST

Programs’, Staff ’s Needs

PERSONAL CARE ITEMS

• Bedroom Rug (approx. 3x5)• Bus passes• Craft kits• Firm pillow• Gift certificates to coffee shops• Lamp shade for large floor lamp• Long-distance phone cards• Magazine subscriptions• Portable TV with

built-in VCR/DVD• VCR tapes/DVDs• Table lamps• Movie tickets• Variety of art supplies

OTHER ITEMS

SLEEPING WITH A MOSQUITO

Have you ever felt unsure if you were making a difference? Do small donations make any difference in helping persons who live with se-rious mental illness? Anita Roddick, a British businesswoman, offers an interesting analogy, “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to sleep with a mosquito.”

Last year donors gave $13,700 to furnish the new Assisted Living Apartments in New Hope. We spent those funds on furniture for each apartment’s living and dining rooms, on the bedrooms’ nightstands and wardrobes, and on microwaves, draperies, and lamps. While not a huge amount of money, these funds contributed directly to clients feeling welcome and secure in their new environment.

That amount represents a ma-jor achievement to Touchstone Mental Health. We became a nonprofit organization only in 1999, and in 2000, began to offer ways for donors to improve the lives of adults living with mental illness.

Our donations increased from $1,415 given by six people and five businesses in 2000 to over $35,000 from more than 200 individu-als, 3 businesses, and 2 foundations in 2004. Also last year, more than 50 individuals and businesses donated in-kind items, such as tickets to the State Fair and to Twins games, living room furniture, a portable phone, and hundreds of items for our first rummage sale.

Philanthropy is a litmus test that shows whether the community believes in the ser-vices that a nonprofit provides. Staff and cli-ents at Touchstone Mental Health appreciate the generosity of everyone who donates—not just money but also time, talents, and spirit to sustaining and improving our services.

by Helen Raleigh, Executive Director

Staff and clients view this generosity as an affirmation of the ways we help clients to find hope and optimism and to create meaning in their daily lives. Our Board of Directors leads the way as volunteers who help manage the organization, provide long-range planning, and commit to making this organization one of their top three charitable contributions each year.

Last year, we raised over $4,600 for the Cynthia Riggs Supportive Housing Fund. About one-half of these funds represent our participation in the Walk for Justice. We will use these funds to develop new supportive housing projects—to pay damage deposits and to buy furnishings and household sup-

plies for apartments that we plan to sublease to clients.

We have ventured further into grant writing as well. In the past, we

had received a grant from Minnesota’s Department of Human Services to

work with clients who also are chemically dependent. In 2004, we received a renewal of that grant that includes acupuncture

services to help those clients succeed. We also received $5,000 from Healing Touch International for a small research grant, plus

an additional $325 from various donors who support this cutting-edge service.

Donors also gave $6,800 in 2004 to use wherever we needed funds the most. These funds allowed us to purchase a van that Case Management’s staff uses to transport clients to appointments. They also permitted us to replace some outdated computers.

We also are grateful for some smaller amounts that help clients:

• Meet emergencies, like payment of utility bills and damage deposits and purchase of groceries.

Continued on page 5

• Matching office cubicles for Case Management’s new offices

• IBM blank diskettes• White copier paper• Furniture dolly• Services from a print shop• Black pens

2nd Annual Family Rummage Sale

For more information or to donate items, contact Bob Marion at 612.874.6409 or bmarion@touchstonemh.org

Support Integrative Services!!Healing Touch, Acupuncture, Acupressure, and Therapeutic Massage

July 21, 22, and 23, 2005Thursday and Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Saturday, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

3978 W Broadway, on the corner of County Road 81 and 40th

in Robbinsdale

Elim Lutheran Church

Volunteer to help before, during, or after the sale.

Donate items to the rummage sale. Donated items are tax deductible. Drop off items July 18th to 20th at the church.

Plan to shop at the sale; you’re bound to need something there!

Make a cash donation that also is tax deductible.

As You Begin Spring Cleaning, Remember OUR

Help us obtain a $1600 matching grant from the NW Minneapolis Chapter of Thrivent Financial

In March 2005, Touchstone Mental Health received a second grant from the Heal-ing Touch International Foundation. Kara Vangen, Research Coordinator, will provide Healing Touch energy medicine to address symptoms of mental illness and Post Trau-matic Stress Disorder. The project will start in early summer 2005

In June of 2004, we implemented our first Healing Touch research project to measure the impact of Healing Touch energy medicine on the secondary symptoms of mental illness, such as anxiety and depression. We completed this project in December 2004. Our results were promising, and positive feedback from our clients continues to in-spire us to make this form of treatment available as an option.

We want to thank all participants in this study and also the Healing Touch Inter-national Foundation for their continued support of our efforts to provide holistic resources for our clients.

DONORS 2005IndividualsCasey and Mishele CunninghamMichaela DiercksLyn and Michael GerdisSharon Toll JohnsonAllen NelsonMargaret and Carl Roser

In Honor of Kathy CashinDon and Betty Cashin Mary and Ken Sutherland

Businesses and OrganizationsCaminar SoftwareHealing Touch International Foundation, Inc.

In Kind Donations

Gabe BainConi BellMary Blegen and others at U. S. BankRichard and Ardelle RonnDavid StaehlinRon Villejo

PAGE 5

PROFILE

TOUCHSTONE MENTAL H EALTH

Liz Sjaastad includes these reasons as her impetus for joining Touchstone’s board of directors in October 2004, in addition to her desire to serve in an area where she has an emotional investment. Liz has a family member who lives with serious mental illness.

Liz possesses such ample knowledge of organizations that we feel honored by her statements. With a graduate degree in Human Resource Management and twelve years providing large and small companies with assistance in the human side of business, she has worked with a variety of organizational cultures and business strategies.

Two years ago, Liz postponed her career to become a full-time mother. While motherhood is a job in itself, she has extra mental and social energy to tap. Joining our board is the way she decided to use that energy.

Since a big part of a board’s role is ensuring a thriving organization for years into the future, she believes her activities as a board member should support our mission’s continuation and the expansion of our services to clients. Most important on her list is helping us raise the community’s awareness of our organization to gain additional sup-port and resources. As an organizational consultant, Liz feels that her skills can help us in our mission.

“I witnessed the organization’s smart and analytical, yet compassionate, approach to the large hurdles it faced over the past year.

I learned of employees’ tremendous commitment and of the organization’s remarkable quality of care.

I also was intrigued and impressed by the alternative-care options being explored by Touchstone through integrative services, including Healing Touch.”

• Participate in recreational activities like bowling or theater performances.

We continue our efforts to raise funds for Healing Touch and other Integrative Medicine services as well as to develop addi-tional supportive housing, respond to clients’ emergencies, etc.

We all receive many requests in the mail to donate our time or to make cash donations to groups that want our support. Remember what an impact a little mosquito can have on you when you are trying to sleep. Small con-tributions clearly can make a huge difference. We sincerely appreciate your support.

MOSQUITO Continued

HEALING TOUCH

Lisa Johnson-Taylor, MA, LP is partnering with Touchstone Mental Health to provide an 8-week Somatic Resourcing group, begin-ning April 15, 2005. The group is open to Touchstone Mental Health’s clients as well as to individuals referred by other programs or agencies.

Somatic resourcing teaches clients the con-nection between mind and body and ways to use the body as a resource for mindfulness, relaxation, grounding, and integrating experi-ences. Based on the work done in Hakomi therapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, therapists use its modalities to address trauma, employing the body and its sensations as an access route and a holistic way of integrating experiences and recovering from trauma.

The group is psycho-educational and will focus on skill development and practice.

SOMATIC RESOURCING

OPEN HOUSE & TOURPlease join Touchstone Mental Health on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 from 3:00–5:30 p.m. at our new Assisted Living Apartments, 7376 Bass Lake Road, New Hope.

Light refreshments served.

Call Monica at 763.536.8134 if you have questions or need directions.

2829 UNIVERSITY AVENUE SE

SUITE 400

MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414