In the right "Frames Of Mind": A collaboration with Kearny Street Workshop

RAMS is excited to be collaborating with Kearny Street Workshop on an upcoming project entitled "Frames of Mind".

Funded through a grant of the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Frames Of Mind project will focus on Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) living with or who are at high-risk for mental health issues and connect them with teaching artists/photographers who can equip them with the skills and confidence to creatively tell their own stories through the use of photography. In doing so, we aim to increase visibility and awareness of the daily challenges and experiences of individuals with mental health problems, and build support within APA communities which tends to stigmatize these conditions.

Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) is the oldest APA multidisciplinary arts organization in the country. Founded in San Francisco’s Manilatown/Chinatown neighborhood in 1972, KSW has long been an institution for community-based arts in San Francisco and has greatly impacted the cultural development of APAs in the Bay Area, and consequently, around the country.

This project is slated to commence in mid-2015, with program planning, outreach, and workshops taking place over 2015-2016. It is the goal of RAMS and KSW to release the published work in 2016.  Stay tuned on this blog, where we'll provide updates on this groundbreaking new project.  We are all very excited about this unique collaboration involving the Arts and Community-Based Mental Health sectors, and look forward to working with Kearny Street Workshop in the coming years.

For more details, see: The Arts Commission announces the recipients of the FY2014-2015 Cultural Equity Initiatives, Arts & Communities: Innovative Partnerships, and Individual Artist Commissions grants.
And also: FY15 Arts & Communities: Innovative Partnerships Project Summaries

 Photo credit:  Daniel Dionne on Flickr

Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate -- Now Accepting Applications for Spring 2015 Class

RAMS, in collaboration with SFSU, is excited to announce that the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program is currently accepting applications for the Spring 2015 Class!

Funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program provides a 12-week long training for consumers of behavioral health services or family members who are interested in becoming peer counselors/peer specialists in the field of community behavioral health.  Already in its 5th year of operation, this program has had around 120 graduates, the majority of whom are actively engaging in work, volunteer, and educational opportunities as a direct result of taking the course.  This program is free of cost for the attendee, with books and materials included.

We are looking for individuals who:

are at least 18 years old residents of San Francisco 

have completed at least a high school level education or GED

are current or past consumers of behavioral health services and/or family members 

are interested in helping others in the community behavioral health setting

Application and course timeline is as follows:

Wednesday, January 7th - Application Release 

Tuesday, January 20th & Thursday, January 22nd - Optional Program Open Houses (see Flyer HERE for details) 

Friday, February 13th @ 5:00pm - Application Deadline 

Week of March 9th - Notification of Application Status 

Friday, March 27th - Registration Forms Due for Accepted Applicants 

Tuesday, April 7th - 1st Day of Class 

Tuesday, June 30th - Graduation Ceremony 

Click HERE for the program brochure


Click HERE for the application form

Please feel free to contact us at (415) 668-5955 x386 or certificate@ramsinc.org should you have any questions. Materials are also available for download at: http://www.ramsinc.org/peer.php

We look forward to receiving applications for the Spring 2015 class, and beginning another great cohort!

Photo credit: The Sanguine Bee on Flickr

The Wellness Initiative 2013-2014 Profile

The San Francisco Wellness Initiative, a program dedicated to improving the health, well-being and academic success of the city’s 16,000 public high school students at 19 campuses, released their 2013-2014 profile which highlights the program's achievements and notable accomplishments this past year.

The Wellness Initiative and the school-based Wellness Centers is a collaboration with leadership from the SF Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), Department of Public Health (DPH), San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and RAMS. Confidential student services are provided on-site at Wellness Centers located in SFUSD high schools, at which RAMS provides the integrated behavioral health services component (mental health & substance abuse). This includes confidential on-site Mental Health and Substance Abuse Assessments, Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Crisis Intervention/Consultation, Grief & Loss/Trauma Counseling, Referrals to community resources, and Consultation to school staff and community.

Here's an excerpt of the 2013-2014 Profile which provides an infographic on the services, as well as a feature profile of Dr. David Shephard, RAMS Behavioral Health Counselor at the Wellness Centers program.   View the document by clicking on the images below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

The full 2013-2014 Profile can be viewed by clicking HERE.  More information on the results and impact of this program can be found HERE.

A Day with Dr. Janet Helms

RAMS is pleased to present the Ninth Annual Evelyn Lee Diversity and Cultural Competency Training!

A Day with Dr. Janet Helms 

Using Racial Identity in Everyday Life 

WHEN: December 5, 2014 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (Registration at 8:30am)
WHERE: West Bay Conference Center, Grand Ballroom 1290 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115

ONLINE REGISTRATION: http://www.ramsinc.org/register.html

Course Description: People in the United States are afraid to talk about race and racism. As a result when racial tragedies, such as the Ferguson police riots or the George Zimmerman trial occur, there is no common language for coming to a shared understanding of the significance of the events across racial groups. Without empathy toward “the other,” there can be no peaceful resolution of societal racial problems. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn to use racial identity theory to understand their own and others’ within-group and between-group perceptions and reactions to race-related events.

Course Objectives: • To learn to differentiate race from culture • To learn to recognize the dimensions of White racial identity • To learn to recognize the dimensions of People of Color identity • To use social interaction theory to understand how people do or do not talk about race

Featured Speaker: Janet E. Helms, PhD is the Augustus Long Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology and Director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College. She is the past president of the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17 of the American Psychological Association [APA]). She has written over sixty empirical and theoretical articles and four books on the topics of racial identity and cultural influences on assessment and counseling practice. Dr. Helms' work has been acknowledged with numerous awards that include "Distinguished Career Contributions to Research" award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, awarded at the APA convention, among many others.

Seminar Rates: 
- $50/General
- $35/Former RAMS Staff/Intern/Trainee
- $20/Student
* Meal: Additional $12
* Continuing Education: Additional $20
* On-site Registration: Additional $10

Continuing Education Credit: Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS) is approved by the California Psychological Association (RIC121) and California Board of Behavioral Sciences (PCE4601) to provide continuing education for Psychologists, MFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs. RAMS maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Course meets the qualifications for 6 hours of continuing education credits. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credit.

CANCELLATIONS are subject to a $20.00 processing fee and must be received 5 days prior to be eligible for a refund.

For any questions, you may contact Ocean Sun at oceansun@ramsinc.org and/or (415) 800-0699 ext. 209

To view the flyer below, right-click and select any option to "Open".
Click HERE to register online.

Reflective Spaces, Material Places

RAMS is excited about the upcoming presentation for the Reflective Spaces / Material Places event this Saturday! As described on the NCSPP website:

In community mental health (CMH) work, clients will often receive long-term therapy through a multitude of clinicians. This practice involves practicum trainees, interns, and staff clinicians alike. Building rapport and establishing a therapeutic alliance becomes all the more difficult when needing to process crucial aspects of the end of the previous treatment. This dynamic is common to many public clinics, yet it can be under examined or dismissed as just part of the reality of CMH work. Clinicians in CMH settings encounter a shifting array of clinical and cultural dynamics and navigating both can be overwhelming, particularly when acting as a replacement therapist.

Peggy Kim, a counselor at RAMS, will discuss a case focused on an adolescent with shifting identities, whose sense of belonging is compromised, and reality and fantasy mix together. Peggy will discuss her experience of being the “replacement therapist” and will be joined, in this presentation, by Yuka Hachiuma, director of Child, Youth & Family Outpatient Services at RAMS, who is Peggy’s supervisor. Yuka and Peggy have the added experience of transferring long-term clients to each other. Together, they will invite us all to think about how our cultural worlds and clinical sensibilities combine, intersect, and diverge when seeing transfer clients. As is the norm for RSMP events, all participants will share in a lively group discussion. 

DATE: Saturday, November 8, 2014
TIME: 2:00 - 4:00 pm
PLACE: A Better Way, 1663 Mission Street Suite 460 San Francisco, CA 94110

Attendance is free but registration is required (click HERE to register)

Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology, together with the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC) and Access Institute for Psychological Services, are co-presenting this event.

Photo credit -  Rachel James on Flickr

This presentation is part of the Reflective Spaces / Material Places event series, collaboratively created by the three organizations listed above as a way to "to bring community-based work together with psychoanalytic thinking" in response to "an even greater need to carve out spaces, both within our minds as clinicians and within our places of practice, to reflect on our work and connect with one another."
Dr. David Cushman, clinical staff at RAMS, is chair of the organizing committee.

This event is open to all community mental health providers, licensed mental health professionals, graduate students in training, as well as members of the lay public who have an interest in psychoanalytic psychology.

Free Showing of an award-winning movie that pries the lid off a cultural taboo

An Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) family trying to make the best of their circumstances. A wife haunted by traumatic memories of her past. A husband battling his own issues while having to keep his job, his sanity and his marriage together. A very realistic but truly sympathetic portrayal of mental illness that affects many Filipino households.

Mga Anino ng Kahapon (Shadows of the Past) starring Agot Isidro and TJ Trinidad is an acclaimed landmark film about a family's heart-wrenching journey through mental illness juxtaposed against the lingering traumas of martial law and the challenges of OFWs.

The movie directed by Alvin B. Yapan earned the Special Jury Prize at the Metro Manila Film Festival New Wave Division and won Agot Isidro the Best Actress award for the same division.

Mga Anino ng Kahapon will be shown for the first time in the Bay Area for FREE.
Date: Saturday, October 25, 2014 
Time: 4:30pm-7:00pm 
Location: Skyline College (Building 4, Room 4148) 3300 College Drive, San Bruno, CA 94066
The movie is in Tagalog with English subtitles.

Sponsored by Positively Filipino, the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo (FMHISMC) and RAMS Inc., a nonprofit mental health agency serving Asian Americans, the film screening will be followed by a Q&A led by Dr. Jei Africa of FMHISMC with the special participation of Manila-based journalist and mental health advocate Cathy Sanchez-Babao, who was instrumental in the making of this movie.

The public is invited. Light refreshments will be served.

Seats are limited to please RSVP immediately to fmhismc@gmail.com or at gemma@positivelyfilipino.com.

To view the flyer below, right-click and select any option to "Open"

Mental Health First Aid training in Tagalog and English on October 26

RAMS' Asian & Pacific Islander Mental Health Collaborative is pleased to announce that its community collaborator, San Francisco Filipino Mental Health Initiative, will be continuing and offering another Mental Health First Aid course in Tagalog and English.
 
When a mental health crisis happens, people are often wondering what to do and generally unable to detect early signs of mental health issues. Mental Health First Aid training addresses these questions and offers participants with the knowledge & skills to recognize warning signs, how to assess a mental health crisis, and how to act during the crisis situation.  The course will train seniors, caregivers, and community members.  The training is FREE, sponsored by RAMS and funded by Mental Health Services Act through Community Behavioral Health Services-San Francisco Department of Public Health.

When: Sunday, October 26, 2014, 9:00am to 5:00pm 
Where: Bayanihan Center, 1010 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Lunch and light snacks will be provided.
For more information, and if you are interested in this training, please contact Joyce Vives-Diloy, MSW, Filipino Cultural & Language Specialist at the San Francisco Filipino Mental Health Initiative, at: sfofmhi@gmail.com

Space is limited, please RSVP to sfofmhi@gmail.com by October 20 to reserve your spot.

According to the National Council on Behavioral Health:

WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID?  Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour course that introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health concerns, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments. The course uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect persons to professional, peer and social supports as well as self-help resources. Mental Health First Aid allows for early detection and intervention by teaching participants about the signs and symptoms of specific illnesses like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and addictions. The program offers concrete tools and answers key questions like “What can I do?” and “Where can someone find help?” Participants are introduced to local mental health resources, national organizations, support groups, and online tools for mental health and addictions treatment and support. 

WHY MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID?  One in five Americans has a mental illness and many are reluctant to seek help or might not know where to turn for care. The symptoms of mental illness can be difficult to detect — even when friends and family of someone who appears to be developing a mental illness can tell that something is amiss, they may not know how to intervene or direct the person to proper treatment – which means that all too often, those in need of mental health services do not get them until it is too late. As a society, we largely remain ignorant about the signs and symptoms of mental illnesses, and we ignore our role as responsible community members to help people experiencing these illnesses. 

To view the flyers below, right-click and select any option to "Open"