Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions

Nenana Wellness Coalition MINUTES

May 27, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

There were five at meeting today: Kat McElroy, Bill and Rebecca Troxel, Aerin and Ethan Troxel. We had chicken and wild rice soup for lunch with home-made wheat bread Rebecca had just taken out of the oven.

We had a very informal meeting today. We did not have a chair-person or follow our usual format.

Bill showed a copy of the flyer he has made up to advertise our first Summer Celebration hot dog feed and Freecycle. This will take place at the Troxel’s house of first street the afternoon of June 7, per our WIN discussion last week. The public is invited to attend, have some bar-b-que, bring a side dish if you’d like, bring items to recycle (clothing, house wares, etc.), rummage around, take whatever you can put to good use.

Kat brought a flyer for a training that Railbelt is hosting. This four hour workshop will provide an introduction to many of the basic issues important in the first or safety stage of trauma treatment. Counselors and other mental health and substance abuse providers, primary care providers, first responders, clergy, educators, and others who work closely with trauma survivors are the primary audience. Topics will include: personal safety, learning about trauma, dealing with medical issues, stress management, grounding, self-regulation, grief and loss, anger management, boundaries, goal setting, problem solving. Some of the workshop will be lecture oriented; there will also be opportunities for discussion and other forms of more active learning.

This workshop is open to the public and all members of the community are invited to attend. Lunch will be provide. There is no fee for this event.

The presenter at this workshop will be Wendy Arundale who holds a Ph.D. in anthropology. In 2006, she completed a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the Union Institute & University. Her subsequent research and clinical training has focused on trauma, substance abuse, Native Americans, especially Alaska Natives, and women.

We discussed the Troxel’s ministry in Iowa, doing outreach to incarcerated criminal offenders in prison as well as to their family and loved ones outside of the prison. We brainstormed strategies for reaching out to members of our community who are struggling with issues of addiction. We discussed the need to be active across all domains of the community to be an effective agent of change. Rebecca and Bill affirmed their commitment to stay in Nenana.

WELLNESS THOUGHT

We are familiar with carrying backpacks full of anger, hate and resentment. The spiritual warrior carries a backpack filled with solutions, a love based thought system, and values that move us towards a life of harmony and balance. Others will want to join this walk, strengthening the Healing Forest that we all share together. Don Coyhis

Meeting adjourned at 2:10 P. M.

Nenana Wellness Coalition
MINUTES
May 20, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.
There were nine in attendance today including: Susan and Rob Thomasen, Laura Vance, Deloris Eldridge, Terry Thompson, Miles Martin, Bill Troxel, Kat McElroy and Tim Horn. We had chili, green salad and corn bread for lunch.

WELCOME: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn, followed by the
READING OF MISSION STATEMENT.

PRAYER: was lead by Terry Thompson, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were submitted electronically by Kat last Tuesday with no suggested changes or addendums.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Deloris has been with us previously; she introduced Terry Thompson who works at radio station KIAM.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Envisioning Wellness: Harm Reduction – Kat McElroy spoke about Drive-By Soupings—Harm Reduction Strategies: a new way to look at addiction and recovery. She began by challenging the group: Close your eyes. When I say, “Imagine there is an alcoholic walking down the street, coming towards you.” What do you see?
When I say, “There’s another addict….” What picture does this bring to your mind?
What people usually see is a middle aged man, drinking alcohol from a bottle in a brown paper bag, probably homeless, maybe sleeping under the bridge. This stereotype is what people visualize about the word alcoholic. Or an addict, they see a criminal. A man with jail-house tattoos, badly in need of dental work, skinny, wild hair, a crazed look. These stereotypes are inaccurate and yet they are deeply embedded. Our culture holds a bad image of alcoholics and addicts.
Yet, addiction is what happens to approximately 10% of any group of people who regularly use any mind/mood altering substance. An addict is a person who begins to organize their life around the use of a mind/mood altering drug. Addiction becomes their primary process of connecting to the world around them. Addiction becomes limiting. People are less and less able and likely to care for themselves as their addiction progresses.
Addiction is viewed by many as a moral issue. Addicts and alcoholics are looked upon as weak-willed people who have “done this to themselves.” What this view fails to take into account is the damage that the addict experiences in the downward spiral of their addictive process.
Recovery from addiction is the exception to the rule. Addiction usually results in death. Jails, institutions and death, this is what we know about addiction. When recovery happens, it generally begins in fits and starts and progresses erratically. Seldom does anyone addicted to any psychoactive substance spontaneously remiss. More likely, they stop slowly, over time, the result of (progressively more successful) multiple attempts, with varying degrees of support from their environment.
Typically, any period of abstinence will be followed by a period of increased use and increased discomfort due to the increased negative consequences of the use. These consequences occur as damage across all domains: physical, emotional, mental, psychological, spiritual, medical, legal, and social. The pain of this damage will spur the addict on to another attempt to control, reduce or cease their addictive substance use.
Harm reduction is a frame for looking at the addiction process in a non-judgmental manner with no agenda in mind for the addict. Harm reduction presumes that the addict is the best person to make decisions for his or herself. It honors the addict where they are at and views any small step towards reducing the harm of the addiction as positive. In the Harm Reduction movement, we learn to use a different vocabulary for talking about drug use, and people who are using drugs. We try to reduce that negative stereotype: we come to realize these people are our family members, and our neighbors. They are not bad people who deserve every bad thing that happens to them. We learn to talk about people who use drugs, as opposed to the more heavily-charged and negative “addict,” and people who drink as opposed to “alcoholic.” People can be put off by judgmental language and it is vital to attempt to reduce that.
Drive-By Soupings began as a result of Railbelt’s involvement with the WIN coalition. Once we began preparing simple lunches for our WIN meetings, it became a logical extension to pack up left-overs and use them to do outreach to members of our community who are actively involved in the addictive process. Bringing quarts of soup or casserole into homes where people are actively engaged in mal-adaptive alcohol or drug use provides an opportunity to provide a service (nutritious food) as well as to make a positive connection.
The shame that addicts experience tends to reduce their circle of social contact; ultimately they tend to associate primarily or even almost exclusively with others who are using substances as heavily as they are. Feeding someone is a primal act of care. It creates a bond that can become powerful and effective in altering the dynamics of the addictive process. We know that people who eat nutritious meals are less damaged by the ravages of heavy alcohol use.
We began using another harm reduction strategy we came to call Visiting Around. Instead of waiting for people to recognize a crisis and seek out our behavioral health services, our agency began making home visits within our community. Sometimes the visits were the result of anecdotal information received informally around the community. Sometimes the visits were the result of observations by staff. We have used these opportunities to provide information about resources that are available but more importantly merely to connect in a good way. Just sitting and talking, having tea, listening to another person, these are often the best supports that can be provided.
We consider our community dinners and sober events to be harm reduction. We have used staff meetings to brainstorm strategies for bringing wider segments of our communities into our various celebrations. We know from conversations with people who are heavily involved in drinking and other drug use that they do not feel welcomed at community events; therefore we began making a determined effort to invite them to our events by doing self-confident outreach.
As the result of these harm reduction strategies, we have experienced a dramatic increase in self-referrals to out agency for alcohol and drug problems. People in need of our services have a very different perception of our agency from that held five years ago.

This engendered animated discussion about our community, observed patterns of substance use, our collective and individual reactions to that, and various ways WIN might begin to change those dynamics. Bill Troxel described some of the outreach efforts his ministry made and the success of that. He agreed that food is a good way to reach out to people and said that his family has been doing that by having evening bar-b-ques on their front deck and inviting all passer’s-by to come up and eat with them. Further discussion lead to the idea of having a bar-b-que with free food in conjunction with River Daze on June 7th. It was also suggested that we use that as an opportunity to have a freecycle of clothing. We brainstormed various strategies for that. Miles has food that he would be willing to donate to a Food Pantry type storage, to be used for outreach purposes. Bill said he has a shed at his place that could be used for such storage.

WELLNESS THOUGHT
Every journey begins with a single step. Chinese Folk Saying

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Friday is the last day of school.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

ADJOURNMENT: 2:10 P.M.

Nenana Wellness Coalition
MINUTES

May 13, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

There were 13 in attendance today including: David Poppe, Maryellen Kanayurak, Virginia Young, Mara Bacsujcaky, Tim Horn, Beverley Joseph, Susan and Rob Thomason, Miles Martin, Bonnie Reed and Kat McElroy. We had bear lasagna, green salad, and cookies for lunch.

WELCOME and READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn

PRAYER: led by Beverly Joseph, followed by the PEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: Agenda presented, with two calls for additions: Miles wanted a minute to talk about the community garden and Tim to speak on Envisioning Wellness.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: submitted electronically last week by Kat and posted to the web site: http://railbelt.com/?cat=1

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Beverly Joseph and Mara Bacsujcaky were welcomed.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Cooperative Extension—Mara Bacsujcaky brought worms which she divided up and handed out. They are red wigglers. Discussion ensued about the care and feeding of worms which is called vermaculture. She gave some background on the berry project. This is a research grant as opposed to a demonstration grant, involving six Interior villages: Nenana, Minto, Holy Cross, Galena, McGrath, and Tanacross. The research involves winter survivability. Berries provided by this grant include: gooseberry, raspberry, service berry, honey berry, red currents, black currents, strawberry and rhubarb (which of course is not a berry). Brent was unable to come to the meeting today but emailed a short report on the berries, at least some of all types planted out at TCCC of which seem to have survived the winter.
Mara said that after September 2009, the berry plants can be divided up and farmed out from the TCCC site but until them they need to be kept together and someone needs to be willing to take lead on collecting data as to output, growth, survivability, etc. For the garden, she will be bringing starts including: swiss chard, beets, turnips, onions and onion sets, brocciflower, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, peas, beans, lettuces. She also offered squash, tomatoes and peppers which would need to be in a greenhouse.
Virginia Young volunteered to do a blanching/freezing workshop in the fall. We discussed how best to utilize the produce within the community including the Senior Center, NSLC, give-away to Elders, etc. Consensus opinion seems to be to keep the berries and garden on site at the former TCCC campus if that is possible and Brent is willing. Mara agreed to come back and do an Envisioning Wellness presentation in September on Community Development. She also told us about the Community Foods Project which is designed to support people getting better secure access to healthier foods and suggested we may want to explore selling produce from this garden to generate funds towards developing our own community foods project.

WELLNESS THOUGHT: “The future depends on what we do in the present.” Mahatma Gandhi

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Miles Martin read a letter he received from the department of natural resources regarding forming a Farmer’s Market Association in Alaska, what services/needs could they provide. Miles thinks that we should look into this for our local Saturday Market. He also brought our attention to a teleconference of a public meeting to discuss Food Safety for Farmer’s Markets and other direct sales. It will be Thursday the 15th, 6-7 P.M. in Fairbanks ay the Legislative Information Office at 1292 Sadler Street, Suite 208. People can participate telephonically by dialing 1-800-315-6338. The access code is 2178.

Rob announced there will be an 8th grade graduation and awards ceremony tonight at the school, in the Pit, at 5:45 P.M. High school senior graduation will be Sunday at 2 P.M. in the gym.

Beverly announced that there will be a re-blessing of the clinic Sunday at 10 A.M. and a blessing of the river at 11 A.M. She asked if Kat would do a presentation on Thinking Errors for the community. Saturday beginning at noon there will be a sober Bar-b-que at the Pavilion down by the river beginning about noon, open to everyone in the community. Lastly she announced that she wants to start and Inspiration one night a month at St. Mark’s church in the Parrish Hall. It would be open to all in the community for people to bring guitars and other instruments and sing and praise together.

Bonnie announced River Daze will be Saturday, June 7th. Vendors will have tables outdoors. There will be a gun and knife show in the Civic Center. There will be a weight pull for dogs and a ride for sobriety. She also announced that per the city council meeting, the city will be doing a pickup the Saturday after clean up day (which is this Friday, may 16) for people needing to dispose of large items: refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, etc. This generated a conversation about the usefulness of some manner of recycle platform or ways so people could give away things they no longer use. Mara said that the reuse platforms in Fairbanks get trashed; they need to have it under a roof, out of the elements, and some control so the stuff doesn’t get trashed. She suggested a community free board or free-cycling. Miles asked idf we might be able to have a give-away table at community events like Tripod days, River Daze, etc.

Kat announced that she will be attending the Rural provider’s Conference in Copper Center the first week in June. Also she is slated to be in anchorage for a Train the Trainers training on SAMSHA Tip 42, Treatment for People With Co-occurring Disorders. She also said that Rosemary Allen will be spending a lot of time in the Denali Park area this summer which will allow Railbelt to expand their outreach and prevention efforts in that community. Lastly she announced that Wendy Arendale will be doing a training for Railbelt, open to all, on initial responses to trauma, June 11, 10 A.M. – 2 P.M. The training will focus on how trauma affects the brain and ways to avoid PTSD and other mental health complications by proactively dealing with trauma events.

David Poppe announced that he has asparagus several inches high in the garden planted last year, good news! He has more asparagus starts to go into the garden this summer. He mentioned that he had heard about using hoop houses for growing berries with some success at the sustainable agriculture conference last month in Fairbanks. He also announced that he has bought a two year old heifer, a Dexter cow, which he hopes to bring into milk production.

Tim said that she would email the link to the web site for instructions on caring for and feeding worms, also Mara’s rough draft document on this. Kat will make large print copies for Beverly. Tim also announced that Kat will be doing a presentation on Harm Reduction next week for Envisioning Wellness.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2:15 P.M.

Nenana Wellness Coalition
MINUTES
May 06, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.
There were eight at meeting today including: Laura Vance, Ray Fox, Pat Phillips, Kat McElroy, Rebecca Troxel, Tim Horn, Bonnie Reed and Miles Martin. We had lunch: enchiladas, brown rice with pine nuts, green salad, sliced apples and mixed nuts with raisins.

WELCOME: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn, followed by the
READING OF MISSION STATEMENT.

PRAYER: was lead by Kat McElroy, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There was no call for modifications.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were submitted electronically last Tuesday and posted on the WIN web site.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Pat Phillips was welcomed by all.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Envisioning Wellnesss—WIN at large. Tim read an email she has received from Mara at the cooperative extension, who has been working with Brent on the berry project. She provided some background on the berry project; she says that in addition to the berries, they had discussed doing some vegetable plots. The cooperative extension provided a roto-tiller and industrial scales and their expectation is that people track the produce, weigh it, etc. Any produce raised would need to be distributed within the community. She wants to see if community members are interested in this project, if the berries will need to be relocated. It has to be some entity, not just a private individual’s property. When she comes to WIN next week, she would like to meet with people and discuss Who, Where and How this project might be furthered. Tim says this does not particularly fir into what Envisioning Wellness was intended to be but all agreed that we would like Mara to come speak to us next week as this project seems to be important and of potential benefit to the community. Per previous discussion and Ray’s specific suggestion, we discussed asking Vickie Moyle to be our Next Envisioning Wellness speaker on May 20th. Kat will contact Vickie to see if she is willing to make herself available at that time. Tim will contact Brent and Mara regarding next Tuesday’s WIN meeting.

Positive Parenting—Tim Horn has not heard back form the former director of Resource Center For Parents and Children regarding her request that she help us set up positive parenting workshops. Tim is thinking that this idea may go better in the fall time, as summers become so busy.

WELLNESS THOUGHT: “The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ray: He has been talking to Wayne Walters about the possibility of getting the ice rink paved this summer when the city paves the roads. This would allow our youth to roller skate and skateboard there during the warm months when there is no ice. Ray also announced he has filled out an application for a scholarship to attend a SAMSHA conference in Buffalo, New York, in October, “Creating Community Through Active Citizenship.” The purpose of the conference is to create a national voice for consumers of mental health programs. Lastly he announced that the Nenana AA group is hosting a sober bar-b-que down at the pavilion Saturday May 17th beginning around noon.

Miles: The Nenana Cultural Center is open for business.

Laura: She and Liz from the Healy office attended the Healthy Flip-Flop Festival health Fair last Saturday. There was a good turn-out with many of the same exhibitors we had at the Nenana Health Fair. She and Liz took 2nd place in the 3K foot race.

Rebecca announced that her little red garden worms are doing well, feeding on lettuce leafs and apple cores.

Tim announced that she has not heard back from Robin about the worms that she got but eagerly anticipates getting some soon. Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. at the school is the Spring Music Festival, in the gymnasium.

There will be a memorial service for John Beedle Saturday, 2 P.M. at the school gym.

Bonnie announced that she will be leaving May 18th for an extended visit to the Lower 48 to visit friends and relatives.
Also, May 16th is Clean-up Day. May 17th we will have free trash pick-up; all items must be bagged—no major appliances.
May 30th, Memorial Day Picnic up on the hill, at the parking area of the cemetery, 2 P.M.
May 31, Energy Conference, 11 A.M.-6 P.M., at the Civic Center.
June 7th is River Daze.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

ADJOURNMENT: 1:40 P.M.