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Dear PPAL Friends and Supporters,  It's been a month for the record books, at least weather-wise. As we get ready to turn the calendar to March, we are also thinking ahead to May. The first full week in May is Children's Mental Health Week and this year the theme is Mental Health is Fundamental. We are already creating the materials for toolkits and thinking about events. At the end of May will be our conference and we have a great keynote speaker and workshops you'll love. It is May 29 -- so save that date! Snowy weather didn't stop us from posting two wonderful blogs. Marylou Sullivan wrote about psychotropic meds, treatment and the power dynamic in mental health in her post, Bucking conventional wisdom in mental health which you can read here. Her blog was followed up by one of my own. This one was on how privacy laws are applied differently in mental health and medical care and how hard that is for parents of young adults. This post, called Same law, divergent practice
. Why is that?
can be read here. Please feel free to leave a comment - we love knowing what you think.
Warm Regards,
Lisa Lambert, Executive Director
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 PPAL's Norma Mora out there and on the radio
Marcos Rosenbaum hosts the program "NAMI Latino y La Comunidad" on 1600AM and PPAL's Outreach Coordinator Norma Mora was the featured guest on February 3. She spoke about PPAL's statewide meetings, trainings and resources and the CBH (Children Behavioral Health) Certificate offered through Urban College.
Ms. Mora was also part of a collaborative effort with the BBI/CLC (Building Bridges Initiative/ Cultural and Linguistic Competence) that intends to issue a letter directed to residential programs in Boston promoting BBI practice and policy. A Summer BBI training will be held in Andover on August 5th, 6th and 7th, 2015.
Bilingual PPAL: PPAL's brochure has been translated into Spanish. PPAL now offers Spanish translations of a questionnaire for listening sessions and for trainings for CBHI. Ms. Mora has translated the Advocating for Youth Checklist at the police station after arrest, in court after arrest and Probation and ABC Soup which will be used in future trainings as well.
Look for Norma and Beth Pond as presenters at the Federation For Children with Special Needs Conference on March 7th, 2015 at the Seaport World Trade Center. (see below)
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Children's Mental Health Week
is just around the corner.
The first full week in May is our favorite awareness week -- Children's Mental Health Week. This year we will celebrate CMH Week on May 3-9. Events, materials and exciting ideas on how to celebrate are coming soon. It's not too early to order a tool kit for Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, please email [email protected].
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Parent Leaders and PPAL meet for Juvenile Justice
Family support specialists Kristen Solaras, Jan Lamberg and Meri Viano met with new parent leaders from across Massachusetts on January 29th. The meeting kicked off a statewide effort to create hope for families, parents and youth by strengthening family voice, parent involvement and facilitating connectons.
"What I didn't know is, at many times the costs many of us face in our children's lives...is so similar," said Meri Viano, PPAL Director of Community Outreach and Partnerships.
Among the gathering grandparents, parents, single parents, alumni of foster care were represented. Families shared their stories and strategies with each other including many episodes of raising children with needs. Many who attended wanted to become even stronger advocates capable of making change in their own communities: several expressed the wish to do even more.
The weather prevented people from Haverhill, Methuan, Lawrence and Provincetown from attending. However, the communities of Agawam, Amhert, Belchertown, Leicester, Auburn, Worcester, Mattapan, Dorchester, Cambridge, Roxbury, Roslindale, Carver and Taunton were present for this amazing meeting of parent leaders.
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AND
save MAY 29, 2015 for:
PPAL'S 5TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE & CELEBRATION
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Details about speakers, workshops and registration will be announced soon. Stay tuned to PPAL's website for the most up-to-date information. We will return to last year's location: The Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center in Marlborough, MA. |
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Meet Kristen Solaras, Peer Support Specialist
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"Whether it comes from PPAL, family and friends, or state agencies, support is the number one factor to successfully working through the juvenile justice and mental health systems."
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Kristen Solaras is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) and the single parent of an adopted child identified with special needs at birth. She has transformed what she calls severe issues navigating state systems for services for her son and is a PPAL peer support specialist working with individual parents through a grant from DYS.
What brought her to PPAL almost ten years ago was a meeting coordinated between her and state agencies by PPAL on behalf of her son. Ms. Solaras says she would not have made it as far as she has without support. "There were many times over the years that I was either at the hospital emergency mental health department or in the juvenile court process alone and in grief. In reflection, the only thing that seemed to help through these awful experiences was being supported by others that understood the grief," said Ms. Solaras.
Along with understanding the need for support, she understands the frustrations faced by children in the mental health system and parents trying to provide for their children. She said her son was "a school-to-prison pipeline kid" because of his long history of unmet mental health needs.
One of the greatest frustrations they faced were the many schools and providers tasked to help who instead became the ones to file charges against him. In one example he endured, her son was in a residential treatment facility and restrained. A staff member was injured during that restraint which resulted in assault and battery charges filed against her son.
She sees this continuing to occur today with children locked in hardware-secure facilities while they await mental health evaluation and treatment. Ms. Solaras's goal is "to reach out to as many families as I can to support them in these difficult situations." Because throughout her parenting journey, she recognizes "support is the number one factor to successfully working through the juvenile justice and mental health systems."
Parents with children in the juvenile justice system can attend PPAL support groups or receive individual support from Ms. Solaras. Contact her at [email protected] or call the Worcester office at 508-767-9725.
The DYS Family Voice Project offers families support through DYS Service Delivery meetings, court appearances and community based service navigation. DYS families are encouraged to attend PPAL Parent Support Groups. For more information, contact Sandy Maclennan at [email protected] or click here for a complete listing.
Ms. Solaras assures, "The most important thing for parents to know is that they are not alone in this journey. PPAL is here to support you and your family."
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We've got Trainings in March!
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DATE
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TIME
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LOCATION
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TOPIC
| Thursday, March 5, 2015
| 10am-12pm |
Centro Las Americas, Inc.
11 Sycamore Street
Worcester, MA 01608
| Mobile Crisis Intervention: Supporting Families in Crisis
| | Friday, March 13, 2015 | 10am-12pm
| Children's Services of Roxbury
520 Dudley St.
Roxbury, MA 02119 | Crisis Planning: Preparing for a Mental Health Crisis | | Thursday, April 2, 2015 | 10am-12pm
| LMCC - Families and Youth Initiative
112A East Haverhill St.
Lawrence, MA 01841 | Mobile Crisis Intervention: Supporting Families in Crisis
| Thursday, April 16, 2015
| 10am-12pm
| Children's Friend and Family Services
15 Union St. Suite 557
Lawrence, MA 01840 | Mobile Crisis Intervention: Supporting Families in Crisis
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Youth M.O.V.E.rs achieve certifications, congratulate one of their own and remind:
YAYA wants you!
PPAL and Youth MOVE Massachusetts congratulates Jack Watson (pictured below) on his completion of Advanced Microsoft Excel at Workforce Central! Jack has been studying and practicing advanced Excel skills in weekly workshops and recently earned his Certificate of Completion!
Since 2011, Jack has been a weekly volunteer intern with PPAL in our Worcester office. Always dependable and a joy to have in the office, he has furthered his professional and interpersonal skills alongside our team of summer interns and throughout the year by earning his certificates in Strategic Sharing as well as Peer to Peer Communication and Conflict Resolution. He organizes resources, assists staff with prepping materials for trainings and meetings, and is a tremendous support in the spring as we prepare for major Mental Health Month events!
Jack has volunteered at our Annual Conference & Celebration, and we hope he returns in 2015.Currently, Jack is looking forward to earning his Certificate for Advanced Microsoft Access and finding a part time job where he can work with a small, supportive team. In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games.
From everyone at PPAL and Youth MOVE Massachusetts:
Thank You and Congratulations, Jack!
Upcoming Dates at Young Adults & Youth Advocacy (ages 17+)
March 5 (Juvenile Justice) March 19 (Games night!) April 2 (Animal Welfare, with Guests from Second Chance Animal Shelter!) April 16: TBD
Thanks to a mini grant from the Community Health Network Area 9, and in collaboration with You INC Family Center in Gardner, MA, nine youth and young adults were trained in Strategic Sharing by Youth MOVE Massachusetts Peer Facilitators, Britt and Pawel! We are so excited to have these youth and young adults join our network, and look forward to further collaboration in the North Central area of Massachusetts!!! We would like to congratulate each participant on their success, and thank them for their time, effort, and willingness to share their own stories."
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PPAL conducts FOUR Listening Sessions
through the SAMHSA grant
PPAL is excited to announce that we have gathered information from four different listening sessions for our SAMHSA Recovery and Resilience grant, where we are partnered with MOAR (Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery). We have spoken with two separate groups of youth, one set of families and a group of providers
Currently, about five more listening sessions are scheduled to complete before the end of March. PPAL actively uses analysis of the database created from surveys collected from each listening sessions.
Said PPAL Project Coordinator Jessica Childs, "It is very enlivening to be working with MOAR and holding different types of cross-training events to help PPAL better understand the substance use world and MOAR to better understand the mental health world." She said the upcoming months will allow PPAL to complete the listening sessions and begin constructing a strategic plan with action steps to implement and roll out over the course of the next several years.
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PPAL PRESENTS AT VISIONS OF COMMUNITY '15
FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS CONFERENCE
Come See Us There!
PPAL's Beth Pond and Norma Mora will both be presenters at this conference with Norma presenting in Spanish a workshop assisting families with children with behavioral and mental health needs in the home. Beth's skill-building workshop will help parents with tips and strategies to help their child's mental health needs in school.
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2015 DMH CITIZENS LEGISLATIVE BREAKFASTS
DMH hosts an annual series of Citizens Legislative Breakfasts in February and March. It's an opportunity for mental health community members to meet with legislators and discuss how DMH helps people with mental health issues recover and live satisfying lives in communities of their choice. Join the Conversation!
| Thursday, March 12 | Southeast Area | Great Hall, State House | | Friday, March 20 | Western Mass Area | Springfield Tech. CC, Scibelli Hall | | Wednesday, March 25 | Northeast-Suburban Area, Metro Suburban Communities | Great Hall, State House | | Friday, March 27 | Central Mass. | Worcester Recovery Center/Hospital, K2-A2 Conf. Center |
The breakfast begins with registration and refreshments from 9:30am-10am.
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State Employees can easily donate to PPAL
State employees can now select to donate to PPAL via an automatic deduction from their paycheck. To make it even easier, here's a link explaining how you can easily set up this donation through COMECC, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Employees Charitable Campaign. |
ANOTHER GREAT NEW WAY TO DONATE TO PPAL...
 | Board Whisperer Dede Ketover has discovered a new way to make donations to your favorite charitable organization: Amazon Smile. By shopping through the Amazon site, and at no extra cost to the shopper, Amazon will donate .05% of every purchase to the charitable organization of your choice. To find out more about this opportunity, click here. And of course, make PPAL the charity of your choice! |
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Support PPAL through your donation today!
COMECC # 700554
Combined Federal Campaign # 11595
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Monthly Poll
Click here to participate in our March 2015 poll:
What type of respite does your family need the most?
Results from last month's poll: Has your child been suspended from school for:
45.45%
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| 27.27%
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Aggression
| 18.18%
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Poor social skills
| 9.09%
| Noncompliance of work
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Statewide Meeting
Lynn Rachlis,
30 years in advocacy and maintaining a successful private practice. Since 1982 Ms. Rachlis has specialized in children with special needs and since 1998 for students with severe emotional disabilities.
Join Us!
Tuesday, March 10th, 10 a.m. - noon
Networking lunch
and business meeting
to follow Tatnuck Bookstore
Westboro, MA
Special drawing for a $15 gift certificate for Tatnuck
RSVP:
Canceled Meeting
February 10, 2015
Karen Snyder, Court Monitor, Children's Behavioral Health Initiatve (CBHI) was unfortunately canceled due to extreme weather. We will reschedule Karen Snyder.
Please note: Trainings are limited to family members, family partners, family support specialists, parent coordinators and others in family support roles.
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Contact Us
Parent/Professional Advocacy League
Statewide Office (Boston)
45 Bromfield Street,
10th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Toll Free: (866) 815-8122
Fax: (617) 542-7832
Email: [email protected]
Central MA Office
(Worcester)
51 Union Street,
Suite 308
Worcester, MA 01608
Tel: (508)767-9725
Fax: (508)767-9727
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