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TRANSCRIPT
Vision
We envision
communities where
consumers and family
members from all
cultures have quality
of life, justice and fair
treatment, are free
from stigma
associated with
mental health, and are
empowered to
provide and receive
linguistically and
culturally competent
services, resources
and support.
Mission
To utilize the unique
experiences and
knowledge of
culturally and
ethnically diverse
communities in
support of mental
health.
Program Activities Outreach and education
Consumer and family support and education
Advocacy
Staff training
Santa Clara County, Department of Mental Health
In this Issue
2 ...…. ECCAC Profile
3,4 … .Activities
5 …... .Resources
6 …….Staff Spotlight
Native American Heritage Month
November 2012, by Sharon Torres
In the 1950’s through to the 1980’s many Native
Americans began to move from reservations to 7
major urban areas where jobs were assumed to be
plentiful. San Jose California was one of the major
cities. Many individuals struggled to adjust to the new
change. The disconnection between cultural values
and traditions is seen as a key factor contributing to
the fragmentation in the community. Much of the
Native population became at risk to mental health
issues and alcohol and drug abuse. Over time
community members began to organize community
meetings and events, and eventually develop
non-profit organizations. Through this process the
community was able to establish regular gatherings
for the purposes of learning, teaching, sharing, and
creating a sense of belonging for Native peoples, new
to the area. Since then, regular community events are
organized to address the needs of the Native
Community. One of these events come in the form of
Powwows. These are drug and alcohol free gatherings
for Native Americans and non-natives to come
together to dance, sing, socialize and honor Native
American Culture.
A Healing Dance
The Story of the Jingle Dress
There was a young girl who was ill and
was not getting better. Her grandfather
had a dream of a spirit. In this dream
the spirit told him if he was to make this
dress and put it on his granddaughter
that she would become well. So the
grandfather told others in the
community and they helped to make this
dress exactly the way the spirit
explained. When they gathered at a
ceremony the child wore the dress,
began to dance, and eventually was
healed. Today, some of the women in
the community wear a Jingle Dress and
Dance to bring healing to the
community.
Recent Event
5th Annual Honoring Sobriety Powwow
November 18, 2012
1775 Educational Park Drive
San Jose CA 95133
A Native American community member
wears a traditional Jingle Dress.
ECCAC News Ethnic and Cultural Communities Advisory Committee
Family Outreach and Engagement Program Fall 2012
Languages
ECCAC offers services in Amharic, Cantonese, English, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese
2 | ECCAC News | Fall 2012
ECCAC Profile
African Heritage Community
Melody Hames and Carla Hudson
Phone: 408.792.3941
African Immigrant Community
Mohamed Ali, Semert Haile, and
Ali Robleh
Phone: 408.792.2153
Chinese Community
Brian Cheung
Phone: 408.792. 3922
Latino Community
Leticia Medina
Phone: 408.792. 3921
Filipino Community
Eddy Alvarez
Phone: 408.792.3933
Native Family Community
Sharon Torres and Manuel Ortega
Phone: 408.792.3923
Vietnamese Community
Thong Le and Michael Sharpe
Phone: 408.792.3919
A Message from the ECCAC Manager
Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Stakeholders, ECCAC staff had put together a quarterly newsletter to give you a sense of who we are and the support and services we provide to underserved ethnic communities. The front page of the newsletter is dedicated to our Native American team, as November was the Native American Heritage month. ECCAC services include outreach and education, consumer and family support, and advocacy. Since July 2012, because of the transition from ECCAC staff providing services as dependent contractors to coded County employees, the number of staff had drastically reduced (from 40-60 to 12-15). ECCAC staff had to focus less on direct support and cultural specific outreach events to consumers and family members, and more on MHFA trainings and outreach at community events. In this quarter, we would like to recognize Percival Cruz and Le-on Diep. They were first hired by the County as half-time coded employees in ECCAC. They have received a lot of training and gained valuable work experience in ECCAC. Now they are hired into full-time coded positions, with higher pay. They are part of our ECCAC success stories. We miss them, and we thank them for their passion and dedication to serving ethnic communities.
ThuHien Nguyen, Ph.D.
408.792.3912
Learning Partnership Division ECCAC Family Outreach and Engagement
1075 E. Santa Clara St., 2nd Floor, San Jose, CA 95116
Outreach and Education (July 2012 to September 2012)
ECCAC Hosted Events 9/22/2012, ECCAC Vietnamese Summer
Gathering in San Jose, CA. 9/29/2012, PinoyLimpiks in Sunnyvale, CA. Hosting Resource Tables at The Santee Resource Fair, the Disability Pride
Festival, the Town Park Towers Well Elder Fair, the Stanford Mood Disorder’s Education Day, the SSA Cultural Diversity, the San Jose Gay Pride Festival, Universal Day of Peace, and the Community Health and Resources Fair.
Outreach and Education (October 2012 to December 2012)
ECCAC Hosted Events 10/20/2012, ECCAC African Heritage
Empowering the 55+ Conference at Maranatha Outreach Center in San Jose, CA.
11/18/2012, ECCAC Native American Honoring Sobriety Pow Wow in San Jose, CA.
11/27/2012, ECCAC Chinese “Asian American and Pacific Islander Leaders in the Work Place” at Learning Partnership in San Jose, CA.
12/21/2012, ECCAC Chinese & NAMI Santa Clara “Holiday Party” in Santa Clara, CA .
Hosting Resource Tables at The Day at the Park, Take Flight for Kids, Day at
the Bay, the Open Air Health Fair, the Elder Health Fair, the Native American Family Fun Day, the, ACT for Mental Health Wellness Fair, the Tzu Chi Health Fair, the Consulate General of Mexico, and St. Lucy Catholic Church.
Consumer & Family Support and Education African Immigrant, Eritrean, Ethiopian, and
Somali support groups meet at various locations in San Jose, CA, Contact [email protected] .
Chinese mental health support groups meet every
Thursday evening at various locations in Cupertino, San Jose, Mountain View, and Santa Clara, CA, Contact [email protected] .
Native American Talking Circles meet Monday
through Friday, at various locations in San Jose, CA, Contact [email protected] .
Vietnamese mental health support groups every
Monday evening at the Asian Pacific Family Resource Center in San Jose, CA
Contact [email protected] . Additionally, ECCAC provides individual and family
peer support and linkage to County Mental Health services and resources.
Accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2013
ECCAC teams hosted six unique events (see “Outreach and Education” to the right).
ECCAC Native American, African Heritage, African Immigrant, and Chinese gave cultural presentations at Mental Health Board Minority Advisory Committee Meetings.
ECCAC completed a Microsoft Access
database for data collection and evaluation, and collaborated with Learning Partnership Decision Support to create a database for the Santa Clara County Suicide hotline.
Mental Health First Aid Trainings (See page 4)
Activities
www.sccmhd.org | 3
August 2012, Eddy Alvarez hosts an ECCAC resource table at the San Jose Gay Pride 2012
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
MHFA is the initial help given to a person showing symptoms of mental illness or in a mental health crisis (severe depression, psychosis, panic attack, suicidal thoughts and behaviors...) until appropriate professional or other help, including peer and family support, can be engaged.
This 12-hour course teaches people how to give first aid to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis situation and/or who are in the early stages of a mental health disorder. ECCAC provides MHFA trainings at the Learning Partnership, community centers schools, businesses, and organizations.
To request a free MHFA training your group must provide:
A minimum of 10 participants.
A room with a projector, sound equipment (eg: speakers), a computer that can support Microsoft PowerPoint, and table space.
To request an MHFA training for yourself or your group contact [email protected] .
Upcoming MHFA Trainings
12/1/12 & 12/8/12 at the Family & Children
Services, LGBTQ Youth Space in San Jose, CA. 12/12/12 & 12/13/12 at the Center for
Employment and Training in San Jose, CA.
Past MHFA Trainings
We have taught MHFA at the Tzu Chi Foundation, Mekong Community Center, the Asian Pacific Family Resource Center, the Ethiopian Community Center, and the Bay Area Ethiopian Muslim Center.
What our communities are saying about Mental Health First Aid
“ I feel like everyone should take this
course to raise their awareness of Mental Illness.” - A.L.
“Engaging, easy to understand, and practical; (MHFA) will help save lives and livelihoods!”
- M.G.
“This course was full of knowledge to utilize in professional and day to day encounters” - C.B.
“ (MHFA showed me) how to deal with severe mental health issues and how to approach it.”
- M.M.
“I enjoyed what I learned ... It was very informative and helpful.”- L.R.
“The exercises really helped demonstrate
concepts.” - A.A.
Mental Health First Aid Numbers
4 MHFA trainings have been provided by ECCAC Staff in Q1 of Fiscal Year 2013.
10 MHFA trainings have been planned by ECCAC Staff for Q2 of Fiscal Year 2013.
50 MHFA trainings have been provided by ECCAC Staff since January 11, 2011.
478 Community members have been certified in MHFA since January 11, 2011.
41 ECCAC Staff and 12 County and contract agency staff have been certified as MHFA instructors since January 11, 2011.
MHFA Trainings have been provided to Amharic, Mandarin, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Tigrinya speaking communities.
4 | ECCAC News | Fall 2012
www.sccmhd.org | 5
July 2012, ECCAC African Immigrant outreaches to community members at the African Immigrant Family Day in San Jose, California.
Resources Mental Health Contact
Call Center Mental Health Department
800.704.0900
Bilingual Spanish Hotline 800.572.2782
Emergency 24 hours/7 days per week. (Ask for a C.IT. Officer - trained to assist in Mental Health Crises)
911
Suicide & Crisis Hotline 855.278.4204
National Crisis Hotline (Suicide)
800.784.2433
National Crisis Hotline (A person to talk to)
800.273.8255
Emergency Psychiatric Services (EPS)
408.885.6100
Mental Health Urgent Care 408.885.7855
Support Group for Survivors of Suicide Loss
408.885.6216
Health & Human Services Information and Referrals
211, or 408.248.4636
NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness
408.453.0400
Drug, Alcohol, and Addiction Recovery
Contact
Gateway Referral Services
800.488.9919
Emergency Food & Shelter Contact
24 hour shelter 800.774.3583
Food Connection 408.266.8950
Police (Non-emergency) 311
Older Adults Contact
Golden Gateway Mobile Outreach
408.295.5288
County and Health Trust Meals on Wheels
408.975.4861 408.961.9807
Outreach Paratransit, Transportation service
408.436.4860
Youth Contact
24/7 Teen Hotline 888.247.7717
Teen Web support www.chat4teens.org
www.ReachOut.com
Our Hope
By the ECCAC African Immigrant Community
To whom do I turn in my darkest of nights?
When I cannot sleep due to the turmoil of my inner plights?
I only have myself to confide in,
I only have myself to rely on
Yet the tragedy is actually the reality
That so many of us think this way
That there’s no one that cares for what we have to say
We crawl deeper into ourselves
Become recluses in our minds
Never reach out and attempt to relate with another and
that’s fine?
This detachment from one another has created
A community of isolated sisters and brothers
It is even fair to call it a community?
We need more unity
Respect, love, hope
We need to understand that out there it can get cold
But the only way that hope and happiness becomes real
Is by sharing exactly how you feel
So I’m thankful for my friends
I’m thankful for my family
I’m thankful for the beauty of the world that empowers me
And when my thoughts turn to darkness
I don’t give up
I turn to someone and ask them to listen up
6 | ECCAC News | Fall 2012
ECCAC Staff Percival Cruz Leon Diep
Start Date October 2010 February 2012
ECCAC Team
Filipino Vietnamese
Favorite ECCAC
memories
I enjoyed outreaching at events like Rosaria, Day at the Park, and Day on the Bay. They were very
meaningful. We met many organizations, had many opportunities to talk about mental health,
and met almost all of the communities. Additionally, (with ECCAC) I have learned how to
work with people from different cultures.
I really enjoyed working with consumers and family members in the Education Workshop at the Asian Pacific Family Resource Center. My
knowledge grew after every session of the workshop. I also enjoyed the interactive
activities at ECCAC meetings.
Hope for your community
I hope that as we provide [mental health] information, especially among the elderly, there will be reduced stigma among Filipinos. Also, I
want caregivers and family members to be more equipped to assist with mental health issues. I
hope that ECCAC Filipino can have more staff to do our work. Our team needs a lot of help. If
there are more staff, a lot more can be done for mental health. I hope that ECCAC expands to other
large communities; such as Indian, Korean, and Japanese.
I'm hoping there will be more Vietnamese speaking professionals who are passionate and
willing to assist underserved individuals experiencing mental health illnesses. I believe the family members and friends of consumers will play a big role in this fight against mental
illnesses and stigma.
How do you promote your own mental
health?
I continually learn. I want to have a holistic balance with time to work and relax. I spend time with family, talk with friends, and vent my feelings to people kind enough to listen non-judgmentally. I
coach basketball with kids, hang out at the mall, and eat.
I keep a balance between work and life. One should focus more on things that they can do well and spend more time on things that they
enjoy doing. One hundred years of life are there for us to experience things, not to struggle. Most
importantly, I talk to someone when I feel stressed.
Percival Cruz and Leon Diep have provided invaluable mental health outreach services to Filipino and Vietnamese Communities. Starting in November 2012, they will be serving Santa Clara County Social Services as Eligibility Workers. Congratulations Percy and Leon!
Staff Spotlight