Save the date: May 14 & 15 Preparing for Healthcare Reform

May is API Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month!
SAVE THE DATE for May 14-15, 2012: Preparing Our Agencies and Staff for the Next Round of Healthcare Reform
Cost: no charge

Monday May 14th
Noon – 4:00
Target audience: Open to all but focusing on administrators – no limit on numbers
Content: policies, Medicaid expansion in California, Accountable Care Organizations, getting ready for the future

Tuesday May 15th
9:00 – 4:00
Target audience: providers and consumers – limited to first 50
Content: Preparing for integrated care, addressing common health problems in behavioral health settings, model AANHPI integrated care programs, looking to the future

Location: Fort Mason Center, Landmark Building A (between Buchanan and Marina Blvd), San Francisco, CA 94123

Registration Required: please use the following link to register
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MDNBQRY

For information call NAAPIMHA at 303-298-7910

Directions to site: http://www.fortmason.org/aboutus/visitor-information/directions
Registration and agenda: Go to http://naapimha.org/preparing-for-health-care-reform/

View the flyer by clicking on the image below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

RAMS congratulates the Champions of Change

My Linh Vo, a clinical psychology student at JFK University who is also currently volunteering at the RAMS Asian Family Institute, was chosen as one of the White House AAPI “Champions of Change”. Her story was selected as part of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders' "What’s Your Story" Video Challenge. She writes about her experience, which you can read by clicking HERE.

As released from the White House, Office of Communications:
In the Fall of 2011, the White House launched the “What’s your story?” video challenge. The challenge aimed to highlight the personal stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country who have impacted their community through their dreams, experiences, and dedication to a cause. The White House received over 200 videos and 35 essays. From these entrees, the nine inspiring leaders were chosen to represent their communities as part of White House’s Champions of Change program.
The Champions of Change represent the millions of Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders who are making a difference in their community, many of whom continue to make a difference without being formally recognized. The nine leaders and organizations have stood out as demonstrating exceptional leadership in civil rights, immigration, community empowerment, LGBT engagement, anti-bullying, health, and the arts. Their work has been an integral part ensuring that the underserved among them are given a voice.
“These nine champions have demonstrated what it means to be a force of inspiration and change in their communities. It is because of their work that the AAPI community is as strong as it is today. And it is their leadership that will enable us better address the various needs of the underserved,” said Director of the Office of Public Engagement Jon Carson. “We are delighted to have them here at the White House to honor them for the work that they do.”
The Champions of Change program was created as a part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative. Each week, a different sector is highlighted and groups of Champions, ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community leaders, are recognized for the work they are doing to serve and strengthen their communities. On April 5th, the nine AAPI Champions will be honored for their work, and engage in a discussion about the work they have done to inspire their communities.

My Linh Vo is currently a doctoral student in clinical psychology at John F. Kennedy University in California, Vo is developing her skill set to provide culturally-responsive services to underserved, underrepresented, and marginalized individuals and families. She is passionate about her profession, rooted in her Vietnamese American immigrant background, and proud of her family history. She hopes to honor her family, teachers, mentors, friends, and many others who have come into her life through her community involvement, leadership, and advocacy work.

DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Field Trial

RAMS, Inc. is proud to serve as the San Francisco field site for the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Field Trial. In collaboration with UC Davis, we are excited to participate, as one of the 12 field sites in this international DSM-5 Cultural Formulation field trial study. 
You can read the article by clicking on the image below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

Meet RAMS - The Wellness Centers

RAMS is proud to be the core behavioral health provider for the San Francisco Wellness Initiative whose mission is to improve the health, well-being, and educational outcomes of San Francisco’s public high school students by providing comprehensive, school based student health programming. Founded in 2000, the Initiative is made possible by a unique partnership between the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), the San Francisco Department of Public Health/Community Behavioral Health Services (DPH/CBHS), and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Leveraging the resources of each agency, the Initiative allows the school district, city departments, and community-based organizations such as RAMS to align and coordinate their efforts to address student health needs. Focused on prevention and early intervention in areas critical to student wellness, the San Francisco Wellness Initiative is one of the first networks of high-school-based health centers that has been brought to scale in a school district.

RAMS employs 21 Behavioral Health Counselors, 3 Clinical Case Managers, and a Trauma/Grief & Loss Counselor to work in 15 of the public high schools’ Wellness Centers throughout San Francisco. As a multidisciplinary team (i.e. psychology, marriage & family, counseling, social work), our counselors are able to provide mental health and substance abuse support services to approximately 1700 students each year including; individual & group counseling, assessment & triage, crisis intervention, consultation to teachers & parents, and case management services. Each counselor works as part of a team member of the Wellness Center, who is responsible for serving, primarily, non-academic needs of the students. In addition to RAMS, the core staff typically includes the Wellness Coordinator, a school health nurse, and a Community Health Outreach Worker (CHOW). In addition to providing confidential, behavioral health counseling and medical services to the students, the Wellness Centers’ team also works to link students and their families to resources outside of school, and to bring community based organizations that serve youth onto campus. Wellness Centers’ core beliefs take a holistic view of a student, maintaining that a student whose health & wellness is considered has the best chance for academic and personal success.

One example of the many activities and services provided to students is the Wellness Newsletter.  This is created by the Wellness Team at School of the Arts/Academy Arts & Science, and contributed to by Behavioral Health Counselor Shana Averbach.  Previous newsletters were also profiled on this blog.  Click HERE for the latest newsletter.


Photo credit: desk by Robert S. Donovan

Business Community Supporters

We are proud to recognize two local business who are supporting RAMS in our community.

GoGo Senior Dog Veggies

The RAMS Hire-Ability production services is pleased to partner with GoGo Senior Dog Veggies, a local start-up online business. The inspiration of this business started when the owner, Steve Loving, was having difficulty finding good healthy dog snacks for his senior, diabetic dog, GoGo. He adopted the idea of introducing vegetables in GoGo’s diet to see if there would be a change in his health. Sure enough, GoGo has more energy and his diabetes is much more manageable. Now, many other dogs who suffer from chronic health conditions can enjoy these freeze dried vegetables either through snacks or as a regular part of their diet and hopefully see improvement with their health. Hire-Ability is responsible for managing the online orders, packaging and shipping of product. To learn more about this great business or to order product, please visit their website by clicking HERE.

Sports Basement

Sports Basement will be sponsoring a private happy hour event on Thursday, April 19th for RAMS. Not only will they be providing snacks, drinks, beer and wine, but everyone will also receive a 20% discount off their entire purchase during the event. 

WHEN:  April 19th, 6:00-8:00pm

WHERE:  1590 Bryant Street, San Francisco.  (415) 575-3000
Sports Basement engages with the community, hosting and helping hundreds of community groups and partners at their 4 store locations on an annual basis.  Click HERE for more information.

We would like to express our gratitude to these local businesses for supporting RAMS, and for providing us with these exciting partnership opportunities.

Check out a prior blog post HERE for more details on other RAMS Hire-Ability business partners.

National Problem Gambling Awareness Week

RAMS is actively participating in National Problem Gambling Awareness Week, which is being held from March 4-10 this year.

As part of our ongoing outreach and awareness-raising efforts, Dr. Eddie Chiu, Director of RAMS Asian Family Institute, together with Kent Woo, Executive Director of NICOS Chinese Health Coalition, participated in a press conference held by NICOS at Donaldina Cameron House regarding Problem Gambling in the Chinese Community.

 

The press conference revealed new data which indicates a 10% increase in the number of Chinese seeking assistance in gambling-related problems, which signifies that the Chinese community has increased awareness of such problems, although overall usage is still relatively low compared to other population groups.  Issues such as youth gambling as well as success rates in gambling addiction were also discussed.

For more information and to view video coverage of the press conference, visit the KTSF Channel 26 website HERE.

RAMS collaborates with NICOS in offering problem gambling services, which provides assessment, counseling, support groups, outreach, and educational services for problem gamblers and their family members in the Asian American communities. The project also operates the Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-888-968-7888 and provides counseling, information and referral in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin languages/dialects.

Meet RAMS - Asian Family Institute Fee-for-service Program

The RAMS Asian Family Institute (AFI) has updated information regarding our Fee-for-service program offerings.

The services we offer include Testing & Evaluation, Psychotherapy, and Psychiatric services for both adults and children. Click HERE for our program brochure and more details on each of these culturally competent services.

Other services also available at AFI include the Problem Gambling Project (a collaboration with NICOS) and the CalWorks project (a collaboration with Westside Community Services.

The AFI multi-disciplinary staff team includes the fields of psychiatry, psychology, marriage & family therapy, clinical social work, and psychiatric nursing with diverse cultural backgrounds and experience in helping clients deal with a wide range of issues. The staff include bilingual and bicultural professionals who can provide services in Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Tagalog, and Russian.

To schedule an appointment or to receive more information, please call our intake coordinator at (415) 668-5998 ext 21. Your information will be kept CONFIDENTIAL, as required by law.