So sorry that it’s been a while since our last issue of ClubNotes. A lot is going on at our clubs and programs:
Beginning this past January, we have begun to follow a commitment to triple the number of members who are competitively employed. Great progress is being made: Synergy Center itself has now crossed over 25% of its members working while Club-Ronk is nearing 40 active members employed. This doesn’t include the growing number of members attending school or volunteering in community positions (including our food pantry).
We are extremely honored to have been named the beneficiary charity for this year’s Annual Golf Outing of the McArthur Business Alliance. The event is set for Wednesday, September 29th at Swan Lake Golf Club. Proceeds will go to support the development of our mental health programming in our collaboration with Suffolk County United Veterans. For more information, please contact our NEW Director of Development, Ruth McDade, at x1329.
More on our collaboration with the Vets: We were very pleased to be alongside SCUV at last week’s annual Stand Down for Homeless Veterans at Suffolk Community College. Our staff was able to engage a number of Vets to connect with housing services, applying for case management services, as well connecting with our psychiatric rehabilitation and clinic services. For more information, contact Mike Stoltz at x1304.
And still more on collaboration: We are very happy to participate with a number of other Long Island agencies on the Planning Committee for the 20th Anniversary of the ADA. The LI celebration of the signing of the Act event will be held on Saturday, July 17th at the Holtsville Ecology Center --- following up last year’s VERY successful event which Clubhouse proudly hosted. Suffolk Independent Living Organization (SILO) is taking the lead facilitating role on this celebration -- and is doing a great job. More info to come on this!!
One of our members of the Board of Directors, Ginny Cravotta, has been selected to serve as a presenter this Friday, May 7th at the annual Geriatric Mental Health Conference in Brooklyn. Ginny will be presenting on a panel addressing “Creating Alternative Residential Approaches for Seniors”.
A heck of a great time was had by members and staff at the annual Leykis-Bloom Whiffleball game. Players (and fans) divide up by their allegiance to area teams, Mets vs. Yankees. This year, in a tense, back & forth battle with a foreboding outcome, the Mets won 19-18. ‘Just maybe it is sign of the tide turning in New York?
The growth of our agency is allowing for some specific new innovations – all of which emanate out of the lives and goals of the people we serve. In addition to our work with the Vets:
§ Our Clinic services in Ronkonkoma and Synergy Center has seen an expansion of service offerings to our members. We have expanded our Clinic staff with the addition of Nurse Practitioner Kathleen Bowen. Also, Social Worker Vivian Pollack, LCSW has joined our staff to provide individual and group psychotherapy services. In a PROS license, psychotherapy services are uniquely positioned to supplement rehabilitation services by addressing behavioral and cognitive barriers to one’s goals
§ Dual-disorder services, (aka IDDT), within our clinic services, to address substance use and addiction that, similarly, act as barriers to rehab goals.
§ Quality Initiatives: Former Club-Ronk Assistant Program Director Ruth del Rosario has rejoined our staff to assist us with developing Quality Assurance and Improvement initiatives. More to come on Ruth’s work with her committee but, suffice it to say, we are well on our way.
Our Member Advisory Board has completed its work on the annual Member Satisfaction Survey for our two clubhouse programs. Almost 200 members of our clubhouse programs completed surveys and provided feedback on such topics as the quality of working relationships with staff, staff skills, the range of program offerings, and especially the attunement of our program to facilitating all aspects of recovery. Results will be discussed with members, staff, and Board as part of our desire to constantly improve our work.
We are also very pleased to have been invited to participate in an initiative with the Mental Health Association of New York State (MHANYS) that will address the legal, social, advocacy, and mental health needs of people with a psychiatric disability who are parents. Andrea Hopkins, our Program Director for our Supportive Case Management program(x1207), will be our point person for this initiative.
While it was a few months back now, over 25 members and staff of our SCM and clubhouse programs were able to participate in the annual Legislative Day in Albany. This years’ Day was a collaboration of a number of mental health associations, including NYAPRS, which advocates for many of our mission-driven concerns. Over 1000 people were in attendance to hear about the latest legislative trends and learn skills of talking with elected officials about individual and group concerns.
And, another Clubhouse staff member has been published for research work conducted at our prorgams! See the January Issue of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal for an article on Cognitive rehabilitation – co-authored by our very own Diane Schiano (now Sanchez, x1327) ) along with Dr. Susan McGurk of Dartmouth.
Plans are underway for our next Mental Illness Awareness Day, our 18th!! To see photos of our 2009 Day, go to our website at www.clubhouseofsuffolk.org. Included is a special message from Deborah Norville, last year’s Featured Speaker.
Job Leads Please… If you know of "enlightened" employers willing to give as opportunity to someone who wants to get back to work, please give a call to Marie O’Donnell (x1350) in Ronkonkoma or Saadia Safian (x1213) at Synergy Center.
