Integrated Care for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities: A Blueprint for Action

RAMS is excited to be able to share with our community the official copy of the Integrated Care for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Communities: A Blueprint for Action: Consensus Statement and Recommendations.  This document truly represents a group effort, which RAMS was delighted to be a part of, and the Blueprint reflects years of dedication by so many individuals & organizations who have given to improving the quality of care for our communities.  The document was published, in January 2012, by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, and authored by DJ Ida, Ph.D., Janet SooHoo, MSW, and Teresa Chapa, Ph.D., MPA.  It was an honor for RAMS to be invited to participate in this process.  In addition, several staff from RAMS assisted & volunteered at the expert consensus meeting & summit that was held in San Francisco, hosted by National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association.  Please feel free to distribute this document so we can all build on the recommendations, educate stakeholders/providers/decision makers, and take action!

Click HERE to read the document online.

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for the Peer Specialist Certificate Program

RAMS, in collaboration with San Francisco State University, is pleased & very excited to announce the start of Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate program for the Spring 2012. The Brochure, Application, and Open House information is posted on the RAMS website (click HERE).

We are accepting applications through March 2, 2012, at 5:00pm.

About the Program: Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. and San Francisco State University Department of Counseling jointly developed and are offering the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program. Funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the primary goal of the Certificate program is to prepare consumers of community behavioral health services or family members with the basic skills and knowledge for entry-level peer specialist/counseling roles in the community behavioral health system or to further their career in the field.

For more information, you can also contact Christine Tam, Program Coordinator, with any questions at christinehtam@ramsinc.org or by phone (415) 668-5955 x386.  You can also join us at our Open House - click on the flyer above for more details.

We look forward to the Spring 2012 class in April and continue training the next generation of Peer Specialists/Counselors.

Fu Yau Project Winter Newsletter

Check out the latest Fu Yau Times, a semi-annual newsletter with great articles and tips on parenting and resources for the community. Check it out by clicking HERE.

About the Fu Yau Project:

The Fu Yau Project is one of the many Child, Youth & Family Services offered at RAMS. It is a collaboration of RAMS and Chinatown Child Development Center (CCDC) and is located at 720 Sacramento Street, in San Francisco's Chinatown district. This innovative program provides prevention and early intervention mental health services to the childcare community that cares for children, ages 0-5 years old. Services includes the following: On-Site Program and Child Observation; Clinical Consultation with childcare staff and families; On-Site Intervention with individual and groups of children; Parenting Classes and Support Groups; and In-Service Training for the childcare staff relating to child development and mental health related issues. The Fu Yau Project staff includes child psychiatrists, licensed and license-tracked clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists, all of whom reflect the unique language skills and cultural competence needed to provide services for the children, families, and teaching staff of the childcare programs.

Through the Fu Yau Project, RAMS currently provides services at more than 43 childcare centers, eight family childcare providers, five family resource centers, and one after school site, which are located in over nine San Francisco neighborhoods.

Graduation Day - Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program Fall 2011

We are so excited to announce the graduation of the Fall 2011 Cohort of the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program on Thursday, December 8th, 2011. This is the third graduating cohort of the program. Friends, family, and members of the behavioral health community gathered on that day to support and celebrate this special occasion with our graduates at the San Francisco State University downtown campus.

Kavoos Bassiri, RAMS CEO, along with Dr. Rob Williams, Chair of the Counseling Department at San Francisco State University, Dr. Mya Vaughn, Assistant Professor at San Francisco State University, and Christine Tam, Program Coordinator, conducted the ceremony to recognize the hard work, dedication, and commitment of the graduates that led them to successfully complete the program.

Throughout the past 12 weeks, students went through an intensive training that taught them the skills and knowledge of being a peer counselor in the field of community behavioral health. They devoted themselves to attending eight hours of lectures each week on topics related to counseling individuals with mental health conditions and/or substance use related issues. In addition to attending class regularly, the program demanded students to spend time outside of class to review lecture materials, complete reading assignments, and work on class projects. Many of the graduates from this cohort faced personal challenges outside of the course throughout these 12 weeks, yet, they continued their hard work and dedication in spite of these challenges to meet the demands the program. Their resilience and ability stay committed are highly commendable.

At this time, graduates are looking for opportunities to continue their pursuit in the field of community behavioral health. Several of them have already expressed interest in further education in the field while others have started the process of looking for employment and internship opportunities. We look forward to hearing from them as they continue to develop professionally. We anticipate hearing many future contributions to the community by this graduating class. .

The next cohort for the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program will begin in April 2012. Details about how to apply for the next cohort will become available in January 2012. Please contact Program Coordinator, Christine Tam at (415) 668 – 5955 x386 or christinehtam@ramsinc.org for additional information.

Youth Council Fall 2011

In September of this year, Youth Council reconvened with vigor and new faces. This year’s Youth Council has 9 youth attendees and two RAMS staff advisors who meet once a month to discuss mental health services and issues pertinent to the adolescent and young adult population. The opinions and perspectives of youth participants are gathered to better address the delivery service within RAMS and the larger CBHS system. Over the past months, we have screened clips from the documentary, “Race to Nowhere” (2009), discussed the academic pressures that our teens face and explored tips for self-care and connecting teens to mental health services. Sai-Ling Chan-Sew, LCSW, RAMS Clinical Supervisor/Consultant and also former Director of the Child, Youth and Family System-of-Care, Community Behavioral Health Services, visited and joined our discussion regarding stress management.

In 2012, the Youth Council will be accepting new members who have an interest in participating in this program. If you know of a youth who would be a good fit, please contact Nira Singh, PsyD. or Stephanie Chen, Ph.D. at (415) 668-5955 for more information. For a sneak peek--topics of the new year will include teen-friendly recruitment and outreach strategies as Summer Bridge will start gearing up for their third year.

Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF) awarded a sizable grant to RAMS

We are extremely pleased to announce a $32,430 generous grant award from the Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF), a donor-advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, to RAMS.

The YEF funding will support the high school-based trauma/grief & loss counseling and outreach services RAMS provides through the Wellness Centers. Over the course of the past 10 years of providing bilingual & bicultural services at the high school-based Wellness Centers, RAMS has identified gaps in service delivery for interventions for trauma/grief & loss. Community linkages have proven challenging due to the severe lack of resources for students & families, especially for those living in poverty. In the 2010-2011 school year, about 200 students receiving services through RAMS Wellness Centers’ Behavioral Health Counselors reported being affected by community violence and 450 youth reported grief & loss as one of their main issues. As issues of community violence occur abruptly, having enhanced trauma/grief & loss counseling services greatly strengthen the capacity of schools and the community to intervene. By intervening early and helping students identify feelings and learn strategies to manage strong emotions, we can enable them to function academically and socially in their lives. Furthermore, by providing immediate intervention, we aim to prevent or lessen the biological responses to trauma that often create academic barriers that snowball to close off further education and/or vocational opportunities. In the long term, students are taught coping and de-escalation skills to ameliorate the effects of trauma/grief & loss. Through community building and teaching positive coping skills, we aim to reduce at-risk behaviors including isolation, substance use/abuse, violence and retaliation while increasing retention in school and promoting academic success.

With the YEF funding, there will be enhanced capacity and resources to meet these growing needs of adolescents who are impacted by trauma, grief, and loss issues. Speaking about this grant, Kristin Chun, LMFT, RAMS Director of Behavioral Health Services at Wellness Centers said, “We are truly honored to have the inspiring support of YEF. In a time when economic support for community services is compromised, it’s invaluable to have acknowledgement from the private sector that supporting students to succeed emotionally and academically in schools is a priority. “

Founded in 1999, YEF, one of Yahoo! Inc.’s social responsibility programs is a unique grassroots philanthropic organization that brings together the talents, time, and financial resources of Yahoo! employees to serve the needs of communities around the globe. YEF is a unique foundation that is entirely employee driven and all the money is donated by employees as well as all the activities are run by a volunteer committee of Yahoo! employees.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to RAMS Board of Director member and Yahoo! employee Ms. Pueng Vongs for championing this grant.

API Circle Holiday Celebration!

Once again, RAMS is very pleased to be a community supporter of the exciting & fun API Circle event. The API Circle is an alliance of San Francisco Bay Area Asian & Pacific Islander American leaders and organizations with the mission to create meaningful relationships and collaborative efforts that are cross-generational, ideologically neutral and diversely representative.

The first API Circle’s project was the Asian Pacific American Closing Night Celebration which was held at Carnelian by the Bay in San Francisco on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 in conjunction with over 30 community partner sponsors, generous food donors, and over 50 co-hosts, supporters, and volunteers as well as over 600 guests in attendance. As a follow-up to the last very successful event, the next project is an end of the year holiday celebration gathering and the planning is currently underway!

When: Thursday, December 1 • 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Where: Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 Ninth Street, Suite 290, Oakland, CA

Your co-hosts are in the planning stages right now, but expect the same wonderful features ...
- GREAT people
- TERRIFIC co-hosts and co-sponsoring organizations
- AWESOME entertainment
- highlighting & supporting community non-profits and their work
- food & drinks
- raffle drawings

All are welcome so please help us spread the word by inviting your friends to attend too! Guests need not be over 21.

RSVP:
Eventbrite: http://apicircle-endoftheyear.eventbrite.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=132753860162219

This will be inter-generational & multi-ethnic event and just a whole lot of fun!

Your co-hosts:
Chris Chang - Christopher Do - Claire Chang - Colbert Tse - Doreen Lew - Jason Kwan - Jenny Lau - Jonathan Leong - Kavoos Bassiri - Keesa Ocampo - Manufou 'Fou' Liaiga-Anoai - Melanie Lew - Nwe Oo - Paul Yep - Ron Lee - Rose Chung - Ryan Takemiya - Sandra Siharath - Stephanie Balon Wong - Taiko Fujimura - Tamiko Wong (Partial list)

Community supporters:

American Legion Cathay Post #384 - Asian American Donor Program (AADP) - Asian Peace Officers Association (APOA) - Bay Area Benefit - Books for the Barrios - Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA)- Genki for Japan - JAB - Lunar Giving Circle - National Association of Asian American Professionals - San Francisco (NAAAP-SF) - Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) - Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area Coalition (PAAWBAC) - Pacific Islander Community Partnership-SF Samoa - RAMA - RAMS, Inc. - SEACHAMPA (South East Asian Cultural Heritage & Musical Performing Arts) - TaiwaneseAmerican.org - Taiwanese American Citizens League (TACL) - Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP) - Wa Sung Community Service Club - Weaving Through Change (As of this date)

Business Supporters:

Blue Salud Special Events - Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services - Jewelry by TR (As of this date)

P.S. This location is close to BART, paid parking for $2/hour is available downstairs, and there should also be some street parking available but carpooling is suggested (greener and it's more fun, right?). http://www.oacc.cc/visit/directions.html

Attire: Ethnic or cocktail (which means more fun than business attire) suggested - but business or business casual is fine too.

Things are just getting started so please let API Circle know if you can help in either of the following ways:

Volunteer: http://tinyurl.com/apavolunteer

Donate: http://tinyurl.com/apadonation

Hope we will see you on December 1st!

Photo credit - Mukumbura on Flickr