Facts About Mental Illness San Diego and El Centro will be celebrating Community Catalysts Day on May 18th with a hootin’ n’ hollarin’ good time! Pictures in the next issue. Please be on the lookout for any benefit information coming your way. Open Enrollment will take place sometime in June. More information to follow. Opportunity Drawing Ticket Packets are HERE! Please look for them in your in box or check with your office manager/assistant. In honor of our 5 year anniversary, we will be having 3 incentive items each $20 or less. Come to the recognition ceremony to see what they are! Five Years in Flight: Celebrating the Butterfly Club The Butterfly Club Opportunity Drawing Starts Community Catalysts Day Benefits Enrollments A Community Catalysts of California Newsletter May 2007 CATALYSTS ANNIVERSARIES 19 YEARS: Jim Jenkins 12 YEARS: Judy Powell 8 YEARS: Ann Marie Miller 7 YEARS: Jenna Plante Galina Shapiro 5 YEARS: Karen Garcia Abdul Khan 4 YEARS: Catherine Blair Maria Khan Hazel Pickering Nicole Wiley 3 YEARS: Maria Puga 2 YEARS: Shirley Antonio Veronika Borinsky Lupe Chapa 1 YEAR: Laura Cole Eduardo Cortez Ray Wright . Some mental illnesses have been linked to physical brain disorders that could profoundly disrupt a person's ability to think, feel, and relate to others and their environment. . Mental illnesses are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. . One in five Americans, approximately 44.3 million, suffer from a diagnosable, treatable mental disorder in a given year.1 . One in every five families is affected by a mental illness, such as Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia and Major Depression.2 . Approximately 12 million American children suffer from mental illness and fewer than one in five receives treatment of any kind.3 . The treatment success rate for Schizophrenia is 60 percent, 65-70 percent for Major Depression, and 80 percent for Bipolar Disorder. 4 . Not all mental disorders identified in childhood and adolescence persist into adulthood even though the prevalence of mental disorders is almost the same percentage. A substantial number of children and adolescents recover from mental illness. 5 . Four of the ten leading causes of disability in the United States and other developed countries are mental disorders, which include Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. 6 . Approximately 25 -30% of the homeless population is mentally disabled.7 Getting Help If you would like more information, you can call your Magellan program toll-free number. If you don't have the Magellan program, check your employee benefits or with your local human services agency to see what services are available. You can also talk with someone you can trust, such as a doctor or nurse, local mental health professional or member of the clergy. 1 National Institute of Mental Health(NIMH) 2 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill(NAMI) 3 NIMH, 1997 4 NAMI 5 Ibid 6 NIMH Fiscal Year 1999 Presidents Budget Request of NIMH Statement by Dr. Steven E. Hyman, Director, NIMH 7 The Center for Mental Health Services For more information, log onto www.magellanassist.com Fresno On Saturday April 21 our DSA Georgette Solorzano received her theology AA degree from Dominion Bible College. Congratulations Georgette! We were so proud of our own DSA Joanne Bradshaw; she was the Star of the Month for April. She deserves it. Yeah Joanne! Welcome to our newest Rec. Asst. Bridgette Varela. Cuahtemoc Lopez another DSA is vacationing in Europe. How exciting! We will try to wrangle some pictures from him upon his return. Our consumers participated in the Clovis Rodeo parade on April 28th. They rode in the Kwanis speed boats. San Diego Congratulations to IL consumer Rikki on the SE Consumer, Parker, took home the Benny Pin birth of her new son, Stirling. He weighed in at which is given to the consumer with the highest 9 lb. 9 oz. Welcome to new clients: Andy in IL, bowling score. The picture shows last years Mike, Rusby & Lisa in SE. Consumers Connie & winner, Steven, giving the pin to this year’s Kesha have found a common bond. They both winner, Parker. Steven states he will be sure to can use American Sign Language and plan to attend next year so he can win it back. get together to practice with each other. Congratulations to SE consumers who got new jobs in March/April! Jose is working at Von's Our 3rd and Parker has started working at Sears. Chris Annual is now working at Fry's. Benny Bowl was held in Program Leader Sherie spent a week laying April. We around at her hotel and the beach on her recent had 10 trip to Cabo. She now has the start of a great consumers summer tan. SL DSS Jenna is currently touring attend to Europe and will be returning soon with lots of bowl and pictures. We are just waiting for the post card eat pizza. she promised us. Coalinga The month of April was a busy month in the Coalinga Office. Consumers were able to have an Easter Party along with an Easter egg hunt, which they enjoyed very much. They were also able to go to the Swap meet and have lunch at the Fresno Mall. They were very happy with these activities. Towards the end of the month they were also able to participate in the Special Olympics, which took place in Fresno. They participated in events such as the 200, 100, and 400-meter run, shot put, turbo java throw, softball throw, long jump, and wheelchair races. All the consumers stated that they had lots of fun and that they are looking forward to the Special Olympics for the Bocce Teams. for the Incentive Program for April was Lisa Resendez. Marcel R. ~ Merced Lloyd P. ~ Ukiah Merced Congratulations to Yesenya Carmona (Direct Service Aide) on the birth of her bouncing baby boy! Also Veronica Aguayo, Direct Service Aide, became a Grandma with the birth of her new granddaughter. We want to welcome our new Direct Service Aide in Los Banos Danielle Macias. Congratulations to Shelley Cook on her "Award of Excellence". Our winner Consumer Catalysts Anniversaries 16 YEARS Robert O. ~ San Diego 13 YEARS John G.. ~ Visalia Susan R. ~ Fresno 12 YEARS Michelle Y. ~ San Diego Cynthia A. ~ San Diego Forest F. ~ Fresno 11 YEARS Joann C. ~ San Diego Edward G. ~ Fresno Teresa N. ~ Fresno Linda N. ~ Merced 10 YEARS Alicia P. ~ Fresno Loc K. ~ San Diego Michael B. ~ Modesto 9 YEARS Dan B. ~ San Diego Mart W. ~ Santa Clara John K. ~ Santa Clara 8 YEARS Patricia S. ~ Santa Clara Ronald S. ~ Santa Clara Andrew B. ~ Santa Clara Sam F. ~ San Diego 6 YEARS George V. ~ Fresno 5 YEARS Brian S. ~ Santa Clara Douglas S. ~ Santa Clara Melinda O. ~ San Diego Randy S. ~ Merced Paul R. ~ Ukiah 4 YEARS Marisa E. ~ Modesto Danette R. ~ Merced Dylan C. ~ Salinas Primes H. ~ Stockton 2 YEARS Corey S. ~ Fresno Gregory B. ~ Fresno James L. ~ Stockton Dharmesh P. ~ Salinas Nicholas B. ~ San Diego 1 YEAR Jorge S. ~ Fresno Stephen W. ~ Ukiah Paul M. ~ Fresno Stockton The Stockton office has had a busy month! First off, we'd like to welcome Sandy Caldwell back from her time working with the corporate office, we're happy to have her back! The Stockton office move went smoothly and everyone is enjoying the new office. A big thank-you to the Modesto office for showing up to help with the move! The other big news is that Stockton's Supported Living Program has a new consumer, Mr. Vargas. We would also like to welcome their two new staff members- Tina and Lawrence. A big shout out to say Happy Mother's Day to all of the Community Catalysts of California moms! Ray Hyde News Program Leader for REST and Ray Hyde, Paige Alford, had the opportunity to work two weekend shifts at Ray Hyde house. Paige really enjoyed the time spent with staff and their consumers. She would also like to thank her staff for all the hard work they do every day and would like them to know she enjoyed the time spent with all of them. PLACES TO VISIT IN CALIFORNIA Yosemite San Fransciso Ukiah U.V.A.H. put on the annual Spring Fling Dance to enjoy. on the 13th. Most of the Ukiah consumers JoAnn H. has been on attended. Everyone enjoyed dancing and a vacation almost the variety of snacks. Katherine T. and Harry H. entire month of April. Los Angeles/ Hollywood from the Plum House were having so much fun She went to England that they didn’t want to leave until staff started first to visit with old cleaning up. friends. She has been in Paris for the last few Allison J. is enjoying her new apartment. She is weeks. She has every excited about the extra spending money the mailed us a few move has provided. pictures. Her last e-mail had this beautiful Albert P. celebrated his 80th birthday with lots of picture of the Eiffel Napa Valley friends and gifts. tower. She said the tower is much bigger The staff and consumers of the Plum House had than she had imagined and Paris is AMAZING!! a wonderful Easter dinner that everyone seemed Salinas The Salinas office would like to The consumers all participated in an Easter Egg welcome aboard our new DSA hunt. The consumers seemed to really enjoy Jackie Pasikala. socializing with each other. We would like to thank the following business’ for their donations: On April 6, 2007 the Salinas staff Albertson’s, Safeway and Food Maxx. This month at held the CAC Easter event at the our monthly staff meeting Lydia Melendez (DSA) was beach in Monterey. recognized for billing the most direct consumer hours for the month of March. Valerie Gauna (DSA) While at the ocean the consumers was also recognized for her flexibility with enjoyed walking along the beach, consumers, updating case managers and her overall racing each other, tossing the great job performance. This months safety meeting football around and playing winner was Roxana Jimenez. volleyball with the staff. Several consumers even danced away to music that was being played by some very nice transients that were at the beach. Star of the Month ~ April 2007 Community Catalysts of California was proud to announce that Joanne Bradshaw was selected as April’s Star of the Month. Joanne is a Direct Service Aide for the Fresno office. Staff and consumers can rely on Joanne to be on-time, flexible and follow through on her dedication to Community Catalysts of California. She is a kind hearted person who will fill in that “I AM” shift for which someone has called out. Her follow up to consumer concerns and/or issues is awesome. Joanne checks in with Program Leaders to ensure she is on the right track in meeting the needs of her consumers and is someone who doesn’t say “I can’t” but someone who says “let me try to figure out what I can do to help”. When it comes to filling Community Catalysts of California’s purpose, Joanne is trying her best to help our consumers achieve a higher quality of life. Whether Joanne is working Supported Living overnight shifts, ILS medical appointments or handling a social recreation event, she always gives 100%. Joanne’s “can do” attitude is why she is Community Catalysts of California’s April Star of the Month! Congratulations, Joanne! Consumer Catalyst of the Month ~ May 2007 Stephen moved into Supportive Living in June of 2006, and since then he has grown in leaps and bounds. Since the move he has become more social wherever he goes and has really come out of his shell. He now tells people what he likes and dislikes and is the life of any party! His smile can light up a room. Even Stephen’s day program has noticed his growth. They state that they can’t believe how much Stephen is talking and letting his wants and needs be known. In the past Stephen would sit in his chair and say nothing and he would not join in at social events but now he is vocal and engaged! Stephen’s hobbies include shopping, drinking Starbucks and dancing the night away. He is a great dancer too! He also has a great ability to make people laugh and makes friends easily wherever he goes. We are all so very proud of Stephen’s accomplishments and look forward to the many more to come. Congratulations Stephen and keep up the good work! Congratulations, Stephen! Community Catalysts of California 6050 Santo Road, Suite 145 San Diego, CA 92124 Phone: 858-569-1055 Fax: 858-569-1064 www.communitycataslystscalifornia.org