Mental health awards, support offered
Mental health awards, support offered
By: Liz Davis
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
Viewed 580 times
1 response 0 comments As we conclude the series on mental health, we want to leave readers with a positive outlook. Although there is no cure, mentally ill individuals can lead productive lives.
Marion Santana, office manager for College Community Services, is in an excellent position to notice that an absence of compassion can be destructive.
Santana wrote, “Because of a lack of education or understanding of the many different mental illnesses and their symptoms, it is not uncommon for a person suffering from a mental illness to be perceived as strange, dangerous or discounted as a productive member of society. This perception negatively impacts the mentally ill by perpetuating a stigma that so often is the barrier to seeking treatment.
“Often a person’s own discomfort with the possibility of being diagnosed as mentally ill can prevent them from addressing their own symptoms. Without treatment some mental illnesses can become severely destructive to the individual and their community.
“Heightening our awareness and increasing our community’s acceptance of behavioral differences symptomatic of mental illness can lessen the negative perceptions towards the mentally ill within our society. This in turn will assist those needing and seeking treatment of mental illness by decreasing the emotional distraction of society’s misperceptions and affording them more focus on addressing their illness.”
Paula Jones, a longtime schizophrenia sufferer, writes about how important encouragement has been in her recovery. She has written, “Compassion can bring about healing and those of us, who can teach, see someone get better when they are shown a little caring.”
Each May, the Kern County Mental Health Department encourages individuals by honoring them at a special luncheon. This year our own Joanna Roberts received the recovery and well-being award. Dan McClure was recognized and received a certificate for his accomplishments. Susan Stewart, a member of the Tehachapi family support group, was given a family member advocate certificate for her extraordinary commitment and service.
College Community Services
The benefits of mental health services are often overlooked by many people until crisis or trauma occurs. Although counseling and support groups are extremely effective after a traumatic event, preventative treatment can avert many situations before they result in a crisis. College Community Services offers Tehachapi a variety of services addressing many preventative and ongoing mental health issues for children and adults.
Available services include family intervention services; psychological testing; individual and group therapy; a 24-hour crisis line; evaluation, assessment and diagnosis; psychiatric evaluation; medication support; substance abuse evaluation and treatment planning; clinic home and school-based program services; and CalWorks assistance with overcoming barriers to self sufficiency.
Group services offered by College Community Services:
Anger management: Mondays from 11 a.m. to noon
Health and wellness group: Fridays from 1 to 2 p.m.
Children support group: Tuesdays from 4 to 5 p.m.
Preschool social group skills: Wednesdays from 9 to 10 a.m.
Schizophrenia Anonymous: Wednesdays from 2 to 3 p.m.
Parent and caregivers support group: Tuesdays from 4 to 5 p.m.
Goal support group: Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m.
Women’s group: Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Men’s group: Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Seeking safety group: Thursdays from 1 to 2 p.m.
Community parenting class: Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m.
CalWorks process group: Fridays from 10 to 11 a.m.
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