From left: Arabella Perez, Lisa Preney, Chris Copeland, Rep. Brian Bolduc, Dustin Strout, Ani Sebastian, Matt Brooks, Cheyenna Spelman, Hillary Groves, Allie Spear, Rep. Peggy Rotundo, Kyle Prior, Ryun Anderson, Ryan Conrad, Brianne Masselli, Enrico Herring

LEWISTON- Young people who say they now have hope for the future because of life-saving mental health and social services shared their stories with local legislators January 25 at a “Legislative Dialogue Café” hosted by Tri-County Mental Health Services at the Carriage House. 

Five members of Youth M.O.V.E. Maine told Rep. Peggy Rotundo (D-Lewiston) and Rep. Brian Bolduc (D-Auburn) individual stories of how combinations of mental health services, area homeless shelters, subsidized housing, drug court, case management, community-based services, a system of care youth committee, and natural peer supports have helped them and/or their immediate family members manage depression, self-abuse, and the effects of trauma, neglect, and violence. 

• “If services get cut, then I won’t be able to continue working towards my goal to get off disability and go to college to be a nurse or CSI. I want to provide my son the best life. I won’t be able to do these things and stop the abuse in my family if cuts are made.”

• “It costs taxpayers more to keep a person in jail than it does to provide them community-based services. Before I went to drug court, I didn’t know help was out there, and I did not know how to ask for it. In drug court, I learned about services that have helped me stay safe and drug-free so that I can finish high school.”

• “Without all the resources that the foster care and mental health systems have provided me, I wouldn’t be sober now and in college. Because of services, I am studying to become a social worker to help kids like I was– in group homes, foster homes, and homeless.”

The Legislators congratulated the youth on their compelling stories, their strength and their resilience. They explained the struggle Maine is in to close its budget gap, and why the largest cuts are aimed at education and health and human services. 

“I encourage you all to continue telling your stories,” said Rep. Rotundo, who acknowledged the young people’s emphasis that cuts in services will have a negative ripple effect on them, their famlies and their peer supports.

Rep. Bolduc agreed with the youth that short-term gains have long-term consequences, and that services are cost-effective in supporting recovery and independence.

For more information on youth-guided opportunties, go to:  http://thriveinitiative.org/youth-guided/ For more information on youth voice, youth advocacy and Youth M.O.V.E. - Maine, go to:  http://www.youthmovemaine.org/ or call Brianne Masselli at 207-782-5783 x1602.

Yusuf Mohamed, 19, (left) spent four Time Dollar hours building a fence for Sharon Carter (right) and husband Chuck in exchange for weekly driver education lessons. (Photo by Chuck Carter)

Community-Based Program Receives $10,000 Empower Lewiston Grant

LEWISTON – The Lewiston-Auburn Time Bank (http://thriveinitiative.org/time-bank/) is pleased to announce its 100^th member this month and an “Empower Lewiston” grant of $10,000 to help double current membership and triple current Time Dollar exchanges. 

“Time Dollars are virtual currency representing time, energy, skills and talents that are exchanged by people, businesses, and others in the community,” says Sharon Carter, Time Bank Coordinator. “It’s neighbor to neighbor, people helping people.”

Time Banking, the social change movement inspired by Dr. Edgar Cahn in 1980, is practiced in 22 countries on six continents. The L/A Time Bank boasts 106 members and over 1,000 hours of Time Dollar exchanged. Service offerings include elderly companionship, language interpretation and lessons, tutoring for children and adults, minor home repair, yard and garden work, sewing, laundry, child care, and much more.

Thrive System of Care started Time Bank in February 2008 at the request of family members and youth interested in natural community supports. Thrive continues to provide funding, and Catholic Charities’ Refugee and Immigration Services’ Inza Ouattara serves as part-time staff. Time Bank’s guiding “kitchen cabinet” has strong representation from downtown. Now Empower Lewiston’s grant will help sustain and grow the program’s community service mission.

“Every service that someone provides someone else through Time Bank is a building block for a strong community,” says Alyson Stone, Empower Lewiston’s Executive Director. “Each service meets an important individual need,” Stone says, “and each person providing a service and each one receiving is giving back and paying forward.”

Bates College senior, Sarah Davis, immediately caught on to the mutual benefit. She learned of Time Bank through the Bates Immigrant Rights Advocates (BIRA) group and its work with Catholic Charities. With a self-designed major in sociology, anthropology and politics called “Difference, Inequality and Conflict: Global Studies of Social Justice,” Davis is writing her thesis on how Time Bank facilitates refugee integration. Last semester, she recruited a half-dozen student volunteers to be job coaches, tutors, and to help one mother study to apply for citizenship.

“The minute Inza told us about Time Bank, we were so excited,” Davies says. “What a cool idea!” she says, “We knew we could build a student volunteer program to support it.”

BIRA will kick off this semester’s participation in early November with a cultural cooking event. Same as last year, Somalis will be on Bates campus teaching newly recruited student volunteers how to cook ethnic food.

Arabella Perez, THRIVE Director (left), receives Catalyst for Change Award from Sue Henri-MacKenzie, SMPA Executive Coordinator (right), while Brenda Bennett, Executive Director of Learning Disabilities Association of Maine, looks on.

LEWISTON – THRIVE System of Care is pleased to announce that Arabella Perez, Director, received the first-ever Catalyst for Change Award from Southern Maine Parent Awareness (SMPA) at its October 17 Fall Family Conference in Wells.

“Arabella has been instrumental to Maine family organizations working to define a collaborative approach to service,” says Sue Henri-MacKenzie, SMPA Executive Coordinator. “Her dedication to transformational activities for families regardless of barriers is an inspiration to us all.”

SMPA, Learning Disabilities Association of Maine, Maine Parent Federation, G.E.A.R. Parent Network, Autism Society of Maine, Foster and Adoptive Parenting, National Alliance on Mental Illness-Maine, and Helping Hands have formed a coalition to further “family voice” in Maine’s child welfare, mental health, health care, juvenile justice and education systems of care.

“Maine is at a crossroads with statewide initiatives, such as High-Fidelity Wraparound and the Parent Empowerment Program-STEPS,” says Perez, “that are identifying the role of family support partners in the various systems. It’s important for family organizations to come together to define and sustain this peer-to-peer partnering, rather than have it be dictated by outside parties.”

The newly formed coalition also plans to identify shared training opportunities and maximize the uses of its collective data.

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Southern Maine Parent Awareness (www.somepa.org) is dedicated to providing information and referral, support, and education to families who have children with special needs.

Maine Children’s Behavioral Health Services, Thrive System of Care Initiative and The Community Collaborative for Children, Youth and Families of Tri-County announce the launch of Tri-County Network of Care (www.tricounty.me.networkofcare.org).

Network of Care is a breakthrough, multi-lingual website empowering families and youth who are exploring physical and emotional wellness. The site is a community-based resource with “no wrong doors” for researching mental health issues, storing and controlling access to health information, and advocating directly with legislators. Site features include:

             ▪ An easily searchable regional mental health service directory

            ▪ Confidential, HIPPA-compliant folders for family health information

            ▪ Social networking forums for peer-to-peer support

            ▪ The latest nationwide mental health news

            ▪ 30,000 articles on mental illness, medications, recovery and more

            ▪ Advocacy and legislative information

Providers can use the site’s message boards and community calendars to share challenges and ideas, and brainstorm system of care solutions within their own agency or in collaboration with other entities.

The site is accessible regardless of literacy or income level through a text-only version and other adaptive technologies, including large print sizes. It is fully ADA-compliant, Bobby-approved and available in several languages, including French, Italian, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Please join us in promoting this valuable resource for empowering families and improving the coordination of care in Maine!  For further information, please contact: Melanie Swift at 782-5783 x1611 or mswift@tcmhs.org

Healing Invisible Wounds, based on a book by the same title, was a collaboration of the: Portland Schools Multilingual & Multicultural Center, Caring Across Communities Project (Portland), Thrive Initiative (Lewiston), The Children’s Initiative (Portland) and Maine’s Office of Minority Health. The conference drew 180 mental health and health care providers, educators, law enforcement and refugee resettlement workers, families and youth from Maine and the region.

“Seventy percent of conference presenters were racially and ethnically diverse,” says Arabella Perez, Thrive program director. “They used the the power of native language and indigenous healing practices to demonstrate the individual and collective capacity for resiliency and healing.”

From forced displacement to slave trading, holocaust, genocide, ethnic cleansing, civil war, combat, exposure to substance abuse, natural disasters, severe accidents, and all manner of domestic violence, most human beings experience trauma and its related stressors, either directly or indirectly.

“Our people (Passamaquoddy) were told our language was from the devil,” keynote speaker Allen Sockabasin says. Years later, he was in Germany listening to Germans speaking their mother tongue absolutely unconcerned whether non-native speakers understood them.

“I saw a smile in them,” Sockabasin says, “and, from that moment in 1970, I resolved to bring that smile back to my people.”

Sockabasin brought tears as well as smiles to the faces of conference goers when he sang “Amazing Grace” in Passamaquoddy. Other keynote speakers were Kana Enomoto, Acting Deputy Administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Nancy Carter, a leading mental health advocate for communities of color.

The ECCO Recognition Program is sponsored by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their Families, Federal Center for Mental Health Services, SAMHSA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

THRIVE System of Care Initiative www.thriveinitiative.org helps providers and community organizations in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties transform the way services are delivered to children, families of children, and to youth who are affected by serious emotional and behavioral challenges. Thrive trauma-informed trainings and technical assistance are family-driven, youth-guided, and culturally and linguistically competent. The Thrive Initiative is a partnership of Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Division, Tri-County Mental Health Services, and SAMHSA in collaboration with local provider agencies.

CONTACT: Lisa Preney
Social Marketing Coordinator
782-5783 x 1608

Read the complete Sun Journal article…

Watch Dustin’s Story of help and hope

LEWISTON and WASHINGTON, D.C. — THRIVE System of Care Initiative and FosterClub are pleased to announce that Dustin Strout is one of 100 foster care youth nationwide just named Outstanding Young Leaders of 2009. FosterClub recognized Dustin and the others for leadership, accomplishments, educational achievement and community service.

“The award means everything to me,” Strout says. “Now people can read about my life, from how I grew up to what I am now. Everybody has it in them. They just have to try and believe. It’s all a mind set. It’s not just going to fall into your lap. It doesn’t matter what people think, say or do, just be you,” he says.

21-year-old Dustin entered foster care at 18 months and had five placements until the age of 9, when he ran away for the first of many times. In and out of group homes for eight years, he also spent a year in a lockdown mental institution. Despite these obstacles, he graduated from high school and just completed his first college semester aiming for a degree in human services, so he can “help kids in my position.”

Strout advocates for homeless awareness, including starring in the autobiographical “Digital Stories: Where there is Help, there is Hope.” The 12-min video aired throughout May at Flagship Cinema in Auburn and is available to schools and other community organizations through THRIVE, where Strout is a member of the Youth Committee. For more of Dustin’s story, go to: http://www.fosterclub.com/young-leaders/dustin-strout

“Despite the hardships and setbacks these Outstanding Young Leaders faced, they are committed to making a difference for the children and youth still in foster care,” said Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), chair of the U.S. House Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the nation’s child welfare system.

Foster care was designed as a temporary solution to remove children from abuse and neglect, but children often languish in foster care before returning to their families, joining new adoptive families or living permanently with relative caregivers. More than 26,000 young people “aged out” of foster care last year without a permanent family to rely upon. Research reveals that many youth who “age out” of foster experience homelessness, unemployment, incarceration or illness – fewer than 3% of youth who age out of foster care graduate from college and nearly 1 in 5 become homeless.

THRIVE System of Care Initiative is building a network of services and supports for children and youth who have experienced severe emotional disturbance and their families in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. The Thrive Initiative promotes family-driven, youth-guided, culturally and linguistically competent, and trauma-informed services. It is a partnership of Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Division, Tri-County Mental Health Services, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in collaboration with local provider agencies.

FosterClub is the national network for young people in foster care. FosterClub’s mission is to improve life for young people in foster care through a national network that is built for youth and powered by youth. The organization is founded on the principle that young people in and from foster care deserve to be connected, informed, inspired and represented.

Hillary-Groves, Jennifer-Thompson, Dustin-Strout

LEWISTON – Three area youth advocates will represent THRIVE System of Care Initiative and Youth M.O.V.E. Maine at the June 22, 2009 Youth Summit in Portland, OR.

Jennifer Thompson and Dustin Strout, both of Lewiston, and Hillary Groves of Mechanics Falls will join 40 mental health and systems-experienced youth and young adult leaders for a day of peer-led activities. They will focus on uncovering shared experiences, gaps in youth-focused services, priorities and strategies for service and system change, and research and resource needs.

The resulting youth-voiced “Call to Action” will outline positive solutions to improve the health and human services that young people like themselves receive.

A national board of peers is planning and will facilitate the Summit, which is hosted by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health in Portland, OR.

THRIVE System of Care Initiative is building a network of services and supports for children and youth who have experienced severe emotional disturbance and their families in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. The Thrive Initiative promotes family-driven, youth-guided, culturally and linguistically competent, and trauma-informed services. It is a partnership of Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Division, Tri-County Mental Health Services, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in collaboration with local provider agencies.

Youth M.O.V.E. (Motivating Others Through Voices Of Experience) is a national youth led organization devoted to improving services and systems that support positive growth and development by uniting the voices of individuals who have lived experience in various systems including mental health, juvenile justice, education, and child welfare.

The THRIVE System of Care Initiative in Lewiston, Maine, hosted, participated in, and/or helped organize the following activities during the month of May 2009, to celebrate and promote Children’s Mental Health and its national awareness week.

May 7: “Digital Stories: Where there is help, there is hope” and Community Dialog

Premiere of an 11-minute video filmed at original locations of two separate autobiographical stories of youth resiliency in the face of foster care/homelessness and suicide/substance abuse. In addition to the moving stories, the video displays relevant statistics as well as crisis hotlines and shelter numbers. It stars, as well as is written, directed and produced by Thrive Youth. Following the showing, a youth panel hosted a community dialog.

Outcomes: In addition to media publicity, 25-30 community members attended, including a middle school principal, school staff, youth and adults. Discussion is ongoing about offering Digital Stories to area middle and high schools and/or using at conferences.

May 8-31: “Digital Stories: Where there is help, there is hope”

Digital Stories aired full-length prior to “Wolverine” at Flagship Cinema, Auburn, Maine, each Fri-Sat-Sun during the month of May.

Outcomes: Two full-size movie posters with movie stills, shelter and crisis phone numbers were posted in and outside the cinema for the month of May. Older youth and general movie audiences saw youth-narrated and produced stories of hope and recovery from homelessness and suicide. Posters will be reused at other venues.

May 8: Hall of Flags “Know Us, Know Our Stories”

Hosted by Maine’s Children Behavioral Health Services with organizational planning by G.E.A.R. Parent Network and THRIVE, which managed agenda, exhibitor coordination and provided five speakers, including two youth and a parent. Thrive youth told stories of hope and recovery from homelessness and suicide/substance abuse. Thrive family member and a Thrive family partner explained the elements and benefits of the family partner program. Thrive staff summarized Family and Youth programs.

Outcomes: Event coverage by local ABC afilliate WMTW-TV 8; more than 60 attended, including exhibitors, youth, visitors and legislators. The 32 exhibiting organizations were nearly double the number from the prior year.

May 11, 18 and 26: THRIVE Family Committee Open Houses

Outcomes: These *first-time* events hosted by Thrive Parent Partners in three separate counties received both print and repeat radio publicity. Participation was: 15 providers and families in Lewiston, ME; 20 in Farmington, ME; and 13 in Norway, ME. Area families learned more about community resources, including family organizations, and providers. THRIVE networked with all participants increasing awareness of its supports.

Hosted by Thrive Family Committee members, the open houses offer families, service providers and other community representatives the opportunity to get to know each other one-on-one in a convenient, informal setting.

• LEWISTON: May 11: 3:30-6:30 pm, Central Maine Medical Center, Conference Rooms A, B and C.
• FARMINGTON: May 18, 3:30-6:30 pm, North Dining Hall, Section C, University of Maine at Farmington.
• NORWAY: May 26, 5-7 pm, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Harper Conference Center. Light refreshments will be served at each venue.

For more information, call Alice Preble, Thrive Family Coordinator, 1-877-784-4705 x1603.

THRIVE System of Care Initiative is building a network of services and supports for children and youth who have experienced severe emotional disturbance and their families in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. The Thrive Initiative promotes family-driven, youth-guided, culturally and linguistically competent, and trauma-informed services. It is a partnership of Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Division, Tri-County Mental Health Services, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in collaboration with local provider agencies.