Today we celebrated the upcoming graduation from Baker College of Randal Dame, a counselor at WMT, and of Roger Oliver, a Baker College intern. We also celebrated the upcoming graduation of Mark Dennis from Spring Arbor University. Mark has completed a 100 hour Practicum and 600 hours Internship to complete his Masters degree in Counseling. Congratulations to you, all!
A Rotary International grant of $250,000 given to Southeast Michigan Rotary clubs and the country of Guatemala is in part targeting treatment of trauma. Approximately seven Guatemalan health care professionals from physicians to nurses, social wokers and aides will arrive in Southfield, Michigan for a series of training sessions. On June 15th (WMT's Clinical Director) and Jolie Perez Van Lente, Life Coach (WMT Life Coach), will present a 6-hour training program in the treatment of both acute and post-traumatic stress disorder. The program will be given in both English and Spanish and will be under the supervision of Dr. Jay Eastman, Pediatrician and liaison to the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Dr. Eastman is the medical director of Casa Colibri, a clinic and health care delivery system to a remote mountain rainforest region in northern Guatemala. Departamente Huehuetenango is situated approximately 45 kilometers south of Chiapas State of Mexico, and the remote villate of Barillas located in the heart of the rainforest region is the focal point of the group's services. Services began in 2001 when Dr. Eastman along with Mr. Van Lente conducted an epidemiology study to assess the types of health care needed, using a sample of 300 related persons in two separate villages. In 2002 they returned to conduct training with a public health care nurse from British Columbia and another pediatrician from University of Pittsburgh. thanks to the organizational genius and unremitting mission of Linda Eastman, the good doctor's wife, funding for these efforts have increased, including the grant victory, a product of her detailed abilities. Currently, the contributions arriving include the entire Rotary Clubs of Vancouver and Squamish, British Columbia, two East Michigan Districts and several others located around the United States. Ueli, an engineer and developer and a member of the Squamish, British Columbia Rotary Club, has driven large equipment to a remote site and constructed a state-of-the-art medical clinic central to the group's training efforts. The Van Lentes will follow up their Michigan training program with an onsite Guatemalan visit to deliver services with this new team. A few days later, we are getting into our new flow. Still have many boxes to unpack, books to place on shelves, and things to hang on the wall. Our Internet connection is working, but some of the phones are not. We are functioning well, and our outpatient clients are being served. All in all, it's been a smooth move. The Housing Navigation Center staff will be the next to move to the new building, probalby It started yesterday, but today was the REAL moving day. So much activity! Desks, chairs, filing cabinets, shelving, boxes, boxes, and more boxes! They were packed up at Apple, and brought over to Commerce Street. Staff was busy serving clients at Apple AND getting settled at Commerce. Desks were taken away from staff at Apple and replaced with weak tables for the afternoon to support computers. Then, ComCast several hours ahead of schedul, disconnected the phones and computers in the early afternoon, obviously hampering business activity! We'll all spend some time over the weekend getting settled in our spaces. We've already got one room ready for Group Sessions next Monday. We'll be ready to serve our outpatient clients Monday morning. And we are so excited to be able to serve our clients in this comfortable, spacious facility. Call us at the same phone number, 231-728-2138, if you have questions or need directions. Our work session on August 20 went great - we power washed the building, removed lots of old dry wall screws in preparation for hanging new dry wall, pulled out old, overgrown shrubs, and removed film from windows. United Way has already recruited about 300 volunteers for the Day of Caring! They'll be arriving at 9 a.m. on Friday, September 9 to paint the building's exterior, rip up old carpeting, paint many of the interior rooms, demolish some really bad walls and replace those as well as some others that have already been removed, landscaping, weeding and cleanup around the building and parking lot, and lots of cleaning inside. All of this will get us closer to our goal of moving at least some of our operation by Thanksgiving. Anyone interested in helping can contact Lynn Keech at United Way of the Lakeshore at 231-722-3134 to volunteer for the morning, the afternoon, or all day, 9 am - 4 pm. Plumb's will be providing lunch. There's also a pancake breakfast at Mullally Park at 8 am for early birds. United Way of the Lakeshore has selected West Michigan Therapy's new building at 1823 Commerce St. for one of its 2011 Day of Caring sites (the other is Mullally Park) . The clean-up event will be held Friday, September 9 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Just about anyone can volunteer to help -- contact Lynn at United Way at 722-3134. Projects that day will include lots of painting, some demolition of walls, hanging drywall, weeding, some repair work, etc. We're very pleased United Way's DoC committee selected WMT as one of its two sites tihs year. This will really speed up our moving in. The Commerce St. building will soon house WMT's Transitional Living Center for Women (currently on Jarman St. in Muskegon Heights) and housing program, substance abuse outpatient treatment services, and administrative offices. Join the Day of Caring - you'll do lots of good work, make new friends, hang out with people you know, make a great contribution to the community -- and have lots of fun! What a blessing Plumb's has been to us. In the last several months, we've had coupons at the registers in all 5 Muskegon County Plumb's stores. Customers, when checking out, could make a contribution to West Michigan Therapy's Housing programs -- to help people who have lost their home or who are in jeopardy of losing their home. During this time, customers have donated $1,831.96. Donations have ranged from change -- going along with our Million Quarters Drive theme -- to $500.00 -- cash! I'm still bowled over by that story that came from the Sherman store. If the unknown donor is reading this blog...thank you! We'll be wrapping up the project at Plumb's pretty soon. In the meantime, if you are shopping sometime this week or next, you'll still probably have the opportunity to donate your change to the Million Quarters Drive at any Plumb's store in the county...and we'd thank you!   Charles Nash greets donors at the intersection of Henry and Seminole. 14 volunteers and staff of West Michigan Therapy - WMt Recovery and Housing Center, standing at 3 busy intersections on a drizzly Saturday morning, June 11, collected 5,563 quarters from drivers passing by. The donations, totalling $1,390, will be used to support WMT's housing programs. State and federal budget cuts led the agency to launch a fund-raising campaign, the Million Quarters Drive, to maintain these critical housing programs. There were 2,413 homeless persons in Muskegon County in 2010. WMT served 1,339 of those who were homeless and an additional 662 who were about to lose their homes, providing prevention services to help keep those individuals and families in their homes. WMT's board and staff appreciate the volunteers and staff members who volunteered their time. We also appreciate the cities of North Muskegon and Norton Shores for allowing this event to take place at busy intersections in their communities. Most importantly, we appreciate the hundreds of citizens who showed their concern for their "neighbors" by giving. Anyone interested in giving to this campaign can go to area Plumb's stores and contribute when checking out, or can send a check to West Michigan Therapy. Watch for announcements on the next opportunity to help us reach our goal of One Million Quarters. To get involved as a volunteer for this campaign to end homelessness in Muskegon County contact Jackie Fisher at jfisher@wmttlc.com. | AuthorJackie Fisher, Special Projects Coordinator at WMT. ArchivesMay 2012 Categories |
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