In the News

May at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized
Lots going on in May!
We are now on Twitter.  Join us @LatahRecoveryCr
In addition to our full calendar of regular groups, look for these special offerings:
1.  Want to make a difference by mentoring people as they come out of corrections?  We have the program for you!  Idaho Department of Corrections Free2Succeed Mentoring Training May 18, 5-9.  Go to https://www.idoc.idaho.gov/content/prisons/volunteers_mentors/mentors for full details.
2.  Intro to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint 5/25 and 6/1, 6-7:30.
3.  Peer Social Activity.  Last month was bingo and a potluck.  What will it be this month?  Come find out May 27, 4-8pm.
Thank you to Moscow Yoga Center for hosting Yoga at The Center Tuesdays, 4-8pm!
Have you heard of Recovery Radio?  Recovery Radio is produced by volunteers from the Latah Recovery Center.  (Volunteers like you, perhaps?) It airs locally on Thursdays at 1:05 PM on KRFP 90.3 FM, and we are trying to turn it into a podcast.  This week the topic is “Being Shy.”  What does it mean to be “shy”?  What does “shy” feel like?  Is it a bad thing?  Should you try to get over it?  Is everybody shy some off the time?  We don’t know the answers to these questions.  Do you have some thoughts?  You can write your ideas as a comment to this message or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com.  Or call in your thoughts: 208-883-1045.  What other topics should we be considering?
Here’s the latest from our Write for You blog:  https://latahrecoverycenter.org/2017/04/24/write-for-you-does-and-doesnt/
Did you know we have a wishlist at Amazon?  Check it out, and help us out!
Want to be a Recovery Coach?  The next training is coming soon.  And here’s the good news.  It is in Coeur d’Alene June 5-10!  Go here for details:  http://recoveryidaho.org/
DANG, LOTS GOING ON!  Here is our calendar:

Write for You: Does and Doesn’t

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

by Nancy Casey

For today, you will need a topic to write about, someone or something.  Perhaps that topic has already popped into your head.  If it hasn’t how will you come up with one?

You can always close your eyes, open a book, a magazine, or your folder full of writing and then stick your finger in at random.  Open your eyes and find the “someone” or “something” that is closest to your finger.  There’s your topic.

You might prefer to re-imagine yesterday and choose something or someone you encountered during the day.  Or you could choose someone or something that you expect to come into your life today.  You could choose a someone or something that is so big and important to you it’s overwhelming.  Or to challenge yourself a little, you can choose someone or something that’s so insignificant you think you will have nothing to say.

  • Then write down one thing that person or object does.
  • Then write down one thing that person or object never does.
  • Then write down another thing the person or object does.
  • And another thing they never do.
  • Keep going. You get the idea.

For instance, you could write about the couch:

  • My couch sits against the wall beside the window.
  • It never moves of its own accord.
  • When I am stretched out on the couch it hears everything I say and think.
  • It never interrupts.
  • The couch collects dust all day long whether I am there or not.
  • It never complains when I vacuum all of its dust away…

You could write about your best friend.  Or the most annoying person you know.  Your pet.  Your hammer.  A certain tree.  Anything or anybody will work because there’s nothing and nobody who always does everything, and nothing and nobody who never does anything.

If you get tired of one topic, switch to a new one.  You might end up writing one long thing or a series of short ones. You can find some more examples here.  Don’t forget to give your page a title and write the date on it.

You can share this writing with a friend by leaving out the name of what or who you are writing about and turning it into a guessing game.  For instance, writing about the couch, I could say:

I am thinking of something that sits against the wall by the window and never moves.  It hears everything I say and never interrupts.  It loves to collects dust, but doesn’t complain if I take it away…

At a later time, go back and visit what you have written.  Make up a story in which the person or thing you first wrote about does all the things that you say they never do.  It might come out something like this:

While I was eating breakfast this morning, the couch walked across the room and settled down in front of the bookcase.  I started to tell myself that this was not possible, but before I even got the thought out, the couch said, “Things are different now.  Trust me, you will like it…”

Which is harder to think up, what somebody/something always does, or what they never do?  How often does it turn out that as soon as you say “never” about something, it happens.

Nancy Casey coordinates Recovery Radio, a program put together by volunteers from the Latah Recovery Center.  Listen at 1:10 pm on Thursdays on KRFP 90.3 FM on the Palouse.  She teaches at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times.  All are welcome.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized
Lots of stuff going on!
Want to help with Recovery Radio?  Read on!!!
This week on Recovery Radio the theme will be “Words in Recovery.”  What is a word that has been significant for you in your recovery?  A word you say or think often?  A word for something that you have learned?  A word that describes your experience?

We would like to have at least one word for every letter of the alphabet, so please send in your words! Also tell us why that word is a good one.
You can send in your entries by writing a comment to this message.  You can email an entry to latarecoverycenter.org
Or you can write it down and drop it off at the Recovery Center 531 S. Main Street in Moscow.
You can also call 208-882-1045 and tell the volunteer at the desk about your word.
Recovery Radio always needs helpers.  The show airs from 1:10-2:00 p.m. on Thursdays on KRFP 90.3 FM and online at krfp.org.  We need help with the content of the show.  We need people who want to interview other people.  Thursday mornings we work on organizing the show face-to-face, and during the week we have email conversations about it.  Leave your contact info with the Recovery Center to join us.
The next in Nancy Casey’s ongoing Write for You series is here:
 
In addition to our regular weekly offerings we have some Special Offerings this week:
4/22 10-Noon:  Learn to Crochet and Re-Wire Your Brain
4/22 4-8pm:  BINGO!
Mark your calendar for these special MAY offerings:

May 2 (and every Tuesday after), 12:30-1:30 YOGA sponsored by Moscow Yoga Center

May 4, 4pm Intro to Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
May 18-Idaho Department Of Corrections Free 2 Succeed mentoring program 5-9pm

April at the Latah Recovery Center

Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                       Every day, noon

Positive Affirmations                                                                          Mondays and Weds 1:10-2

YOU Can Create Your Own Job                                                       Monday 4/3, 6

Life Skills                                                                                            Tuesdays 5-6

Chess w/Steve                                                                                     Tues and Thurs 5-6

Narcotics Anonymous                                                                         Tuesdays and Fridays 5:30-6:30

Domestic Abuse Support Group                                                         Tuesdays 6-7

Prescription Addiction Support Group                                               Tuesdays 7-8

SMART Goal Setting                                                                         Wednesday, April 12 12-1

Parenting Support Group                                                                    Wednesday 10-11am starting 4/19

Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group                          Wednesdays 6-7

Get It Written (Writing Group)                                                          Thursdays 11-12 AND 6-7

Write For You                                                                                     Thursdays 3-4

New Volunteer Orientation                                                                Thursdays 4-5

LAMI:  Family Support Program                                                       2nd Thurs of month 7-8:30

Knitting and Spinning                                                                        Fridays 2-4

All Recovery Meeting                                                                         Fridays 5-6

Movie/Games: F. Gump, H. Gilmore, Legally Blonde, Dodgeball    Fridays 6:30-9

BINGO!                                                                                              Sat. April 22, 4-8

AA Speakers Meeting                                                                         3rd Sat of month 11-2:30

Learn to Crochet & Rewire your Brain                                              4th Sat of month, 10-12

Adult Children of Alcoholics, Women’s Meeting                              Sundays 6-7:30 

Classes and Groups are ALWAYS FREE OR AT COST AND OPEN TO ALL. 

RSVP LatahRecoveryCenter@gmail.com Bolded=Regular offering.  Plain text=Special offering for month.

Need an understanding person to talk to?  We have Recovery Peer Volunteers here to help you in recovery from mental health and addiction issues all hours of operation. We are here to help!

Write for You: An Alphabet Book

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

Write for You:  An Alphabet Book

by Nancy Casey

Every once in a while I make an alphabet book.  You know the kind:  A is for this, B is for that…  It is a process that helps me clarify my thinking.  Especially when the thinking is murky, or when the thinking won’t stop.

One of the best things about an alphabet book is the way you make one:  page by page.  You don’t have to start with A.  You don’t have to say what the book is “about.”  There’s not much to plan.  You just get yourself set up and make a page.

To get set up, make an “Alphabet List.”  Write the letters A-Z down the left side of the page.  Next to each letter put words that begin with that letter.  Use words that are significant to you.  Perhaps you already have a collection of words to draw from.  Keep adding to the Alphabet List throughout the project.

To make a page, consult your Alphabet List and pick a word and a letter.  Here’s what goes on a page:

  • The letter, showcased in some fancy way. You can write it extra big, put it in technicolor, decorate it, give it arms and feet, or whatever you decide.
  • The phrase that says what word the letter stands for. (T is for Thing… B is for Bus stop…etc.)
  • A sentence that has the word in it. (“The thing that rattled all night was a shutter that had pulled loose.”  Or, “Here is the bus stop where I see the same seven people every morning.”
  • A picture. You can draw the picture or tape (glue) down a picture you have found somewhere.
  • Lots of other words that begin with that same letter, maybe written in fine print.
  • Some kind of decorative border around the whole page.

You don’t have to put these things on the page in this order, though.  Sometimes when I haven’t decided what letter or word to use, I just start working on the border around the page until an idea comes to me.  Same for thinking up the sentence.  When I don’t know what to write yet, I work on the decorative parts.

After you’ve made one page, make another, and another until you have made all twenty-six.

By the time you have made 26 pages, you will have thought up a really good title.  So make a title page.  Put the author’s name (you!) on the title page along with the date.  Here is an example of a page from an alphabet book and a title page.

Make a cover for the book.  It should have the title and author, and a picture if you like.  It’s nice if you can make it out of heavier paper than the pages.

Making an entire alphabet book is a process that will take quite a while.  But that’s okay, because it’s also the kind of process that you can interrupt and get back to easily.  There isn’t a single big job that you have to do, only a series of little ones—picking a word, making a border, drawing a letter, writing a sentence…

Finish off the book by assembling the cover all the pages and binding them together somehow. You can staple or sew them, put them in a notebook, whatever is going to work best for the book you have made.

Now is not the time, really, to get all focused on finishing the book.  For today, just make a page.

 

Nancy Casey teaches at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  531 S. Main St. in Moscow.  Check the calendar for classes and times.  All are welcome.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

 

 

Recovery Radio Podcast 2 and Call for HELP!

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized
Want to help with Recovery Radio?  Read on!!!
This week on Recovery Radio the theme will be “Words in Recovery.”  What is a word that has been significant for you in your recovery?  A word you say or think often?  A word for something that you have learned?  A word that describes your experience?

We would like to have at least one word for every letter of the alphabet, so please send in your words! Also tell us why that word is a good one.
You can send in your entries by writing a comment to this message.  You can email an entry to latarecoverycenter.org
Or you can write it down and drop it off at the Recovery Center 531 S. Main Street in Moscow.
You can also call 208-882-1045 and tell the volunteer at the desk about your word.
Recovery Radio always needs helpers.  The show airs from 1:10-2:00 p.m. on Thursdays on KRFP 90.3 FM and online at krfp.org.  We need help with the content of the show.  We need people who want to interview other people.  Thursday mornings we work on organizing the show face-to-face, and during the week we have email conversations about it.  Leave your contact info with the Recovery Center to join us.

LRC-Special Announcement

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized
Latah Recovery Center Supporters:
I am pleased to announce three exciting offerings we have in May:
1.  Intro to Microsoft Word and PowerPoint on May 4, 4pm.  Come learn the basics of these important programs.
2.  Moscow Yoga Center is working with us to provide a free beginners level yoga class on Tuesdays starting May 2.  Contact us for more info.  883-1045
3.  We are working with the Idaho Department of Corrections to help with their Free2Succeed program.  This is a volunteer mentoring program for people wishing to help returning citizens as they re-enter society.  Anyone wishing to mentor needs to attend the training at our center on May 18, 5-9pm. Contact us for more info.  883-1045

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

This weeks Write for You blog by Nancy Casey is here:  https://latahrecoverycenter.org/2017/04/10/write-for-you-details-details/

Nancy is also doing a radio show, and could use your help!  Contact us to find out how.  Listen to the show here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0_1XbCKXazmckQzZ3JfdUhHWDQ/view

We have a few specials this week at The Center:

4/11, 4pm is our monthly Board meeting.

4/12, 12-1 is a webinar on SMART Goal setting

4/13, 7-8:30 Latah Alliance on Mental Illness:  Family Support program is meeting.  This group is support for families that have a member dealing with mental illness.

4/15, Alcoholics Anonymous is having a speakers meeting from 11-2:30.  It is open to nonmembers.

We have two mental health related conferences coming to town:

  1. NAMI spring conference May 20-see attached flyer for details.
  2. Palouse Continuing Education Consortium has an excellent opportunity to earn CEUs at their Spring conference.  The CEUs are sponsored by WSU Counseling and Psychological Services.

Workshop description:

Are you working with your clients for an hour and coming back to square one next week?

As health providers and educators, lately, have you felt tired, exhausted, powerless, burned-out, worried, and even short of breath?

 

Health care providers are in the front line of facing the traumatic stress of modern society, whether it’s presented with client’s unsafe behaviors, hostile attitude, or worsening symptoms. Mental health professionals may find some clients’ intense emotions intimidating. Body-focused health professionals may feel frustrated with some clients’ tendency to coming back to the exact same pain spots.

 

This workshop is designed to quickly equip you with basic resilience to traumatic stress. Through recent developments in neuroscience research and somatic psychology, you will gain a better understanding of how traumatic stress affects our body and brain.

 

By applying basic principles, we will together explore ways to enhance our own self-regulation and explore possible ways to facilitate clients moving forward. Also, by understanding how unprocessed trauma is stored in both body and mind, we will gain the initial capacity to collaborate with other health professionals to build a better trauma prevention and recovery network.

Potential participants for this workshop:

Mental health providers (counselor, social workers, psychologists)

Body-focused professionals (massage therapists, physical therapist, occupational therapists, acupuncturist)

Medical providers (nurses, doctors)

Educators (teachers and school psychologists who are interested in developing trauma-inform schools to serve students from underprivileged background)

 

Presenter:

Chia-Chi (Alicia) Hu, Ph.D., Psychologist in Private Practice

 

Before completing her counseling psychology doctoral dissertation in adult children-parent attachment, Alicia was trained and worked as a university counselor in Taiwan. Since 2008, she specialized in the trauma recovery field. In recent years, she received further training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, an approach in somatic psychology that integrates interpersonal neurobiology and attachment theory.

 

With her Eastern background and interest, she received yoga RYT-200 training and other body-based movement techniques rooted in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). Understanding how traumatic stress is often stored in the body, she is going through TRE (Tension/Trauma Release Exercise) training this year.

 

Currently, she provides individual and conjoint therapy in Moscow, Idaho. With the goal of promoting trauma-informed care and trauma-sensitive schools, she wrote a popular psychology book in Chinese Mandarin in 2014.  Most recently, she co-created, along with Ann Westcott, a series of three trauma resilience children storybooks in English, which will be published in both the UK and the US later this year.

 

———- Forwarded message ———-

 

 

Palouse Continuing Education Consortium

Spring Workshop

May 5, 2017 8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Gladish Community and Cultural Center

115 NW State St. Pullman Washington

 

Two Opportunities for Continuing Education

Register for Just One or Both

Registration ends April 28, 2017

8:30 am to 11:45 pm

Mind, Mood, Meds, and More

Presented by

William Cone, MD

3 CEU

v  Understanding of Psychiatric Treatment, its Role and Interface with Other Professions

v  Basic Principles of Neuroscience underlying the Treatment of Mental Illness

v  Principles of Medication Treatment of Mood, Sleep, and Substance Use Disorders and the Overall Care of Those with These Conditions

v  Knowledge of Role of Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Illness

 1:15 pm to 4:30 pm

Building Resilience Toward Trauma Based on Neuroscience and Somatic Psychology

Presented by

Chia-Chi(Alicia) Hu, PhD

3 CEU

v  Window of Tolerance and 3 Different Arousal Levels

v  Traumatic Stress and Self-Destructive Behaviors from a Neuroscience and Interpersonal Neurobiology Perspective

v  Identify Somatic Signs of Dysregulation

v  Self-Regulation Strategies to Prevent Vicarious Trauma

v  Results and Implication of ACE Study

 

Cost for one            $45 Professional                Cost for Both          $90 Professional

$25 Student                                                            $50 Student

 

Register on Evenbrite

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spring-workshops-mind-mood-meds-more-building-resilience-to-trauma-tickets-33295791609

Lunch on your Own

 

Here is our April calendar!

April at the Latah Recovery Center

Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                       Every day, noon

Positive Affirmations                                                                          Mondays and Weds 1:10-2

YOU Can Create Your Own Job                                                       Monday 4/3, 6

Life Skills                                                                                            Tuesdays 5-6

Chess w/Steve                                                                                     Tues and Thurs 5-6

Narcotics Anonymous                                                                         Tuesdays and Fridays 5:30-6:30

Domestic Abuse Support Group                                                         Tuesdays 6-7

Prescription Addiction Support Group                                               Tuesdays 7-8

SMART Goal Setting                                                                         Wednesday, April 12 12-1

Parenting Support Group                                                                    Wednesday 10-11am starting 4/19

Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group                          Wednesdays 6-7

Get It Written (Writing Group)                                                          Thursdays 11-12 AND 6-7

Write For You                                                                                     Thursdays 3-4

New Volunteer Orientation                                                                Thursdays 4-5

LAMI:  Family Support Program                                                       2nd Thurs of month 7-8:30

Knitting and Spinning                                                                        Fridays 2-4

All Recovery Meeting                                                                         Fridays 5-6

Movie/Games: F. Gump, H. Gilmore, Legally Blonde, Dodgeball    Fridays 6:30-9

BINGO!                                                                                              Sat. April 22, 4-8

AA Speakers Meeting                                                                         3rd Sat of month 11-2:30

Learn to Crochet & Rewire your Brain                                              4th Sat of month, 10-12

Adult Children of Alcoholics, Women’s Meeting                              Sundays 6-7:30

Classes and Groups are ALWAYS FREE OR AT COST AND OPEN TO ALL.

RSVP LatahRecoveryCenter@gmail.com Bolded=Regular offering.  Plain text=Special offering for month.

Need an understanding person to talk to?  We have Recovery Peer Volunteers here to help you in recovery from mental health and addiction issues all hours of operation. We are here to help!

 

Write for You: Details, Details

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

Think about a story that you can tell from your life.  Something that happened to you, or something you witnessed.  It can be an event from a long time ago, or something recent.  Something sad, happy, scary, fun, or boring.  It just has to be something that happened when you were there. 

As you assemble your writing materials, let your mind roam around your experience and decide what to write “about.”   You won’t be writing about it in the usual storytelling way.

Your mission will be to write about the event in a way that nobody recognizes it but you.  You will not change any information, or add anything that is false.  Instead, you will write down details from the story, but no details that actually give the story away.

Confusing?  Here’s an example.

Let’s suppose that I went to a party and at that party I had an interaction with someone that had a big effect on me.  Let’s say I was startled at the time, and thought about it for days afterwards.  Maybe it was funny.  It could have been kind, or mean.  Maybe it was a piece of good advice.  Or bad advice.  Maybe I’ve thought about it for years afterwards and it changed the way I see everything.  Maybe I have shared this story with lots of people. Perhaps I have never told a soul. 

How can I write about all that in a way that nobody but me really knows the “true” subject matter?  It’s all about the details.

I could describe the food at the party, tell what I ate and how much.  I could describe the location of the party, what the place looked like from the outside.  Do I remember first thing I saw when I walked in the door?  Maybe I can recall the shoes somebody was wearing.  (What shoes was I wearing?)  Perhaps I can dredge up a recollection of the furniture, the bathroom, the weather, or the music.  Of course I would remember everything about the important interaction, but I would leave all of that out.

Here is an example of the kind of thing that you might write.  Don’t forget to put a title at the top of your page and to write the date on the page somewhere as well.

This is a handy exercise to do when you want to write about something and you don’t know where to begin. 

It is also a good way to maintain your privacy if other people read your writing.

Regardless of what you have chosen to write about, when you return to a page of “irrelevant details” later, you will like it.  No matter who else reads it and or how hard they might study it, nobody will ever understand it the way you do. 

During the week, be alert for an event or two that you could write about in this way.  If you go to the grocery store or out for a meal, look around for details you could relate about the experience without any hints about what the experience really is.

If it’s snowing out and your feet are cold and wet, as you go about your day, take note of everything that doesn’t involve your feet.  If you write these details down, chances are that years from now, you could find that page and say, “Ah, that was the day I had such cold feet.”

 

Nancy Casey teaches at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times.  All are welcome.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.