Fourth Annual Art of Recoveryby Sherone Rogers

On the evening of Friday, October 16th, the hard work of Shore House members, staff and interns culminated in the opening reception of our Fourth Annual Art of Recovery member art show. This show offers Shore House member artists a unique opportunity to show and sell their work to the general public. Speaking for myself, it’s a very exciting thing!

The show was held at BelmarArts this year, which is a lovely space and took us out of our Two River area comfort zone, so to speak. Much to our pleasure, there were many new faces at the reception, which was our hope. As an organization that serves all of Monmouth County, we are eager to spread the word about Shore House outside of our immediate area. I happily spoke to several people, both about my art and about Shore House and what we have to offer.

Rebecca and the team at BelmarArts were extremely accommodating and made sure all of our needs were met and that our show was well-presented. I think our patrons were as pleased with the arrangement as we were; we sold several pieces of art that night.

If you missed the display, come see the artwork hanging in our Clubhouse! Call us at (732) 759-1595 extension 10 to see our space and meet some of the artists!

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Shore House GazetteNovember 2015

Our heartfelt thanks go out to…Rebecca and the Belmar Arts Council, George Mazzeo, our event underwriters, our patrons, and the Shore House staff, who worked tirelessly with us to make this event a success!

Unit UpdatesBusiness and Administration:This past month, B&A has been busy with the Art of Recovery. We have been working with BelmarArts to put the finishing details on our public opening which happened October 16 th. In addition, we have had a steady stream of tours, mostly of prospective members. Our members have been busy keeping up with entering the Mentor Survey and Member Survey into our database. Reach Out continues to be a priority as is producing this newsletter.

Research & Development: Members and staff will be participating in ServSafe cooking classes to become certified to cook in the kitchen. We will be scheduling one member and one staff to take the manager certification and two members to take the food handler certification, on a rolling basis until we have a total of five members/staff certified as managers and ten members certified as food handlers. We will be learning how to properly defrost and store food, proper temperatures and how to sanitize equipment.

Wellness: We are collaborating with St. James’, a church across the street from our Clubhouse, to cook our lunches in a full service kitchen. Once we are certified through the ServSafe classes, we will be cooking twice a week. We will plan our menus so that what we cook in the kitchen, we will be able to serve the following week for lunch. We are very excited at this new partnership with our neighbors.

A Saturday OutingPictured are Susan Mazzeo and a few of the members who went to Asbury Park and a street fair in Ocean Grove, where Anthony was excited to see the alpacas!

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Spotlight on:Intern: ASHLEY

By JimWhere are you from? Matawan, NJ

How did you hear about Shore House? Field Placement Advisor

What is the reason you want to be a social worker? I want to help people who may not have the appropriate resources in their communities

Do you think interning at Shore House has helped you with your skills to be a better social worker? Yes, because it gives me another perspective on how social workers can help people in a different environment compared to a traditional setting.

If you didn’t want to be a social worker, what job or career would you want and why? I would like to be a food critic because I am interested in trying new places and different variety of foods.

Who are your role models and how have they affected you?My parents are my role models. They have worked hard to be get where they are now and it motivates me to be just as good or even better.

What is the best piece of advice you have gotten and who provided it to you?The best piece of advice I’ve gotten was to never give up in times of distress

What is something most people don’t know about you?I love traveling

Who is your biggest supporter and how have they helped you?My family is my biggest supporter. They go above and beyond and I am very appreciative

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If you could have any wish come true what would it be?My wish would be to have my aunt back

Did You Know? Smoking and Mental Illnessby Kerri Zeblisky

Facts taken from the CDC website.

Smoking Prevalence is Much Higher Among People with a Mental Illness

Nationally, nearly 1 in 5 adults (or 45.7 million adults) have some form of mental illness, and 36% of these people smoke cigarettes. In comparison, 21% of adults without mental illness smoke cigarettes. (Mental illness is defined here as diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional conditions and does not include developmental and substance use disorders.)

There are other troubling statistics from the report:

31% of all cigarettes are smoked by adults with mental illness.

40% of men and 34% of women with mental illness smoke.

48% of people with mental illness who live below the poverty level smoke, compared with 33% of those with mental illness who live above the poverty level.

You can read more about smoking prevalence among people with mental illness in the Vital Signs Report.

What Contributes to Higher Smoking Prevalence in this Population?

While many mental health providers and facilities have made progress in reducing smoking in their facilities and among their patients, others are just now beginning to address tobacco use. Because they are more focused on treating the mental illness of their patients, some providers and facilities may not consider smoking to be a problem, or ignore it.

Smoking can cause unique issues for people with mental illness. Nicotine has mood-altering effects that put people with mental illness at higher risk for cigarette use and nicotine addiction.However, recent research has shown that adult smokers with mental illness—like other smokers—want to quit, can quit, and benefit from proven stop-smoking treatments. These treatments need to be made available to people with mental illness and tailored as needed to address the unique issues this population faces.

What Can Be Done to Reduce Smoking Among People with Mental Illness?

Mental Health Professionals:

Find out if patients smoke. Sometimes patients aren’t asked whether they smoke when beginning mental health treatment.

If they do smoke, offer to help patients quit by providing proven quitting treatments, including referring them to the toll-free 1-800-QUIT-NOW quitline, the Web site www.smokefree.gov, or other resources.

Make quitting tobacco part of an approach to mental health treatment and overall wellness. Mental health professionals should be especially aware of the behavior changes that may occur

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when withdrawing from nicotine, and should make sure that their patients are aware of them. Medicines used to treat mental illness may need to be monitored and adjusted for people with mental illness who are trying to quit tobacco use.

Profile of a Former Smokerby Sherone Rogers

When I was a kid, I thought smoking was a dirty, disgusting habit: I told my father and grandparents so very often. I don’t know if it was a shock to them when I became an adult and began smoking, myself. I know it was a shock to many of my longtime friends. My childhood words were echoed back to me frequently: “I thought smoking was a ‘dirty, disgusting habit,’” they’d say. “It is,” I’d reply between drags, “It’s also really unhealthy.” They’d shake their heads, wondering what had possessed me.

So, what made me pick up the habit that became an addiction? I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is that I smoked regularly for over two decades. For a while, I was chain smoking three packs a day. I set limits for myself that never quite worked (“The day I pay $2 for a pack of cigarettes is the day I quit!” The most I ever paid for a pack of cigarettes was $11). I gave up my Camels and decided that, if I truly needed a cigarette, I would bum a Parliament from my college roommate. I thought Parliaments were nasty, so I thought I was on the road to quitting. Instead, I acquired a taste for them and started buying my own.

I “quit” several times using different methods, only to go back, time and time again. I feel I’m somewhat of an expert on the many ways there are to quit smoking: my step-mother went to a hypnotist who helped her ditch cigarettes years ago; Wellbutrin helped some of my friends, others used step-down nicotine patches or gum. Still others simply decided they would no longer be smokers. When I was encouraged by several people to quit for the Great American Smokeout of 2010, I declined. However, four days later, I realized that it was time. People warned me that, four days before Thanksgiving (when I was sure to overeat) and a visit to my Grandma’s (she was a heavy smoker), I was setting myself up for failure. I quit, anyway.

November 22, 2015 will mark the fifth anniversary of the day I quit cold turkey, using only the buddy system (I quit with my close friend and fellow Shore House member Lucile). I’ll be honest-- the first few days were horrible; I was irritable and, sometimes, downright nasty. For the first year or two, I missed cigarettes. Actually, what I missed was the act of smoking. With the support and encouragement of friends and family, I made it through, though. Now, I barely remember that there was a time when I was a slave to cigarettes, reeked of smoke, and had to wash the nicotine off of my apartment walls regularly. I try not to think about all of the things I could have done with

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the thousands of dollars I wasted on cigarettes; I can’t change the past. If I could, I would never have picked up that first cigarette.

Movie Review

The Walk- PG

by Dave Pavick and Dan PineiroDave-(4/5 Stars) This movie is rated PG. It’s a good movie for your kids and family. It’s a tight-roper’s dream to walk on a wire between the Twin Towers. Will he succeed or fail? The only way to find out is to bring your family to see this movie.

Dan-(4/5 Stars) This movie is a great film for the whole family. It’s rated PG and based on a true story of a tightrope walker from France whose dream is to walk across the span between the Twin Towers in New York

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City. Does he succeed? Does he fail? I won’t give away the ending. So make sure you go see this great movie.

Word of the Monthby Nancée Labrecque

Closure

What is closure? What does it mean to confront your innermost feelings about what is unfinished business in your life? Who cares to live that refined life? What does it mean to seek closure?

Closure defined:

1. To attempt to move on following the termination of a relationship.2. The act or process of closing something, especially an institution,

thoroughfare, or frontier, or of being closed.3. A sense of resolution or conclusion at the end of an artistic work.

To confront your innermost feelings isn’t easy if one must change one’s methods or grieve, or detach from a loved one. It doesn’t take an investigator to figure out what in life needs the most closure. Your mind or body sensations let you know.

Sometimes I think of closure in a global manner. It helps to have closure on small goals as well as large goals. Achieving closure on a given day could be as simple as having a set of keys duplicated. This fosters integrity as well understanding the benefits of acting incrementally and spiritually.

Give yourself permission to work on closure. The results of its completion are multiple. One can study the path taken and feel relief, wholeness, and growth.

Joke of the Monthby Carol Castellano

Q: What did the lightning bug say to the other one?

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A: Light Up!

Standard Readingby Jennifer Kline

18. The Clubhouse is organized into one or more work units, each of which has sufficient staff, members and meaningful work to sustain a full and engaging work-ordered day. Unit meetings are held to foster relationships as well as to organize and plan the work of the day.

This standard is particularly important this month as we recently launched our new unit, Research and Development. The Clubhouse Model is focused on working with the strengths of the members and understanding the importance of doing what best works for each particular Clubhouse. In our case, we decided to shift the Education and Employment Unit to Research and Development as we have many members interested in advocacy work, both on an individual basis and with larger-scale lobbying opportunities. With the launch of our new unit, we hope to move closer to ICCD Accreditation and get members more involved by hitting on some new interests in our daily work!

Youth Encouraging Success! At BCC Freeholdby Sherone Rogers

On the evening of Tuesday, October 20th, several members, staff and interns attended YES, a wonderful, interactive event presented by CIACC (Children’s Inter-Agency Coordinating Council) of Monmouth County at the Freehold Campus of Brookdale Community College.

The event was for youths aged 16-24, we were very excited about the prospect of reaching more young adults in need of our Clubhouse. We also had a chance to network with other agencies and organizations who had tables set up in order to (a) educate them about Shore House, and (b) increase resources and information for our members.

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We met some wonderful people, one of whom was a judge who gave welcoming remarks and imparted pearls of wisdom helpful to all of us—not just the young adults. If we were able to help one person, I believe it was time well-spent.

Shore Fitby Susan Mazzeo

Walk Across New JerseyThe holidays and winter months will soon be upon us. This makes keeping our fitness levels a little challenging. A good way to maintain fitness regime is with a group. It keeps you accountable and it keeps it fun.

To that end, we have decided to Walk Across New Jersey. We use the route that River to Sea uses for their annual relay race. The 91 mile route begins in Milford and ends in Manasquan. We will divide ourselves into two teams and use a combination of our daily walk and the treadmills. Progress will be tracked on a course map we will have designed. In order to keep it a little more interesting, we will add some surprises on the course that may cause a team to go back a couple miles, or to skip ahead.

We would like to thank Mark Zenobia, race director of the River to Sea for sending us the course map. He is just as excited as we are about our walk across the state, especially using his course.

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Quote of the Monthby Carol Castellano

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Do your work with great enthusiasm. Work as well as you can.

Question of the Monthby Ashley Conyers

What does Thanksgiving mean to you?Dan: Being thankful to God for everything we have and eating lots of turkey.Nancée: I miss my family – therefore I spend Thanksgiving with friends.Scott: Thanksgiving is a pain in the @#$*!Sherone: I am thankful every day of the year, so Thanksgiving is a reason to spend time with my family and friends.Asa: It is a time to count your blessings and be thankful for the people and things you have in your life. Although we should do this every day, it’s easy to get caught up in the struggles of life and forget to be thankful.Carol: Thanks for all I have!Tyshawn: I am thankful for my family and health.Ashley: Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy the company of loved ones and recognize your blessings.Jennifer: Thanksgiving means doing for others and spending time with those who mean the most to me.

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GOODSOffice Supplies-

Pens and pencilsCalculatorsCopy PaperBulletin boards

Electronics & Software-Sharp toner cartridges (MX-C30NT-B, MX-C30NT-Y, MX-C30NT-M, MX-C30NT-C)Ink Cartridges (HP 564XL black, HP 564XL yellow, HP 564XL cyan, HP 564XL magenta)1 Mac Book Pro (for graphics and media)Adding machineAdobe PhotoshopInDesign

Paper Goods-Paper TowelsToilet TissueFacial TissueKitchen BagsSmall Garbage Bags

Clothing & Household Goods-Women’s Plus SizesMen’s Clothing (all sizes)

SERVICESEmployersLegal AidDoctor ServicesGroup Fitness Instructors

VOLUNTEERSTutorsMentorsTravel BuddiesEmployment H.R. Prep (mock interviews, assistance preparing resumes)Evening & Weekend Social Activities Coordinators (Creative Writing, Art, Photography, etc.)Videographer

19TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR CONFERENCEAirline MilesPartial Sponsorship of a Member Delegate

* Please note: If something is checked off and you would like to donate it, we can always use more! Thank you!

Kitchen- Blender

Food ProcessorKnives

Leisure-Art Supplies (canvasses, paper, mattes,

paints, charcoal, etc.)Books

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Wish ListOur wishes are broken into four categories: GOODS, SERVICES,

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES, 19TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR CONFERENCE

NOVEMBER 2015

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Shore House wishes Deborah, Margaret, Nancy D., Dan H.,

Tara, and Brandon N. very happy