RAMS is honored to receive the 2015 Grant from The Sophia Mirviss Memorial Fund

This summer, the Child, Youth, and Family Program at RAMS, Inc. was awarded a grant from the Sophia Mirviss Fund. The Fund was established in 1957 to honor Sophia Mirviss, M.D., a child analyst and pioneer in bringing psychoanalytic thought and practice to everyone who worked with children. She was particularly dedicated to reaching out to those who worked with children from economically disadvantaged communities.

Our grant proposal was to explore how to bring psychoanalytic ideas to work with children in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). RAMS clinicians are involved in the SOAR (Success, Opportunity, Achievement, Resiliency) Academy program, a classroom for students with severe emotional needs. Additional support, including on-site mental health services, and resources are provided with the goal of helping these students be able to return to a regular classroom. There are myriad challenges to a traditional therapeutic model in this setting. Students often have mixed feelings about being in the program in general, much less in therapy. Teachers tend to prioritize education. The schools themselves are not set up to promote a confidential, self-enclosed space to explore internal worlds.

We applied for the grant in order to provide a space for our clinicians to grapple with the challenges to the model, and to consider what psychoanalysis can contribute to clinical work in a school.

Once we were awarded the grant, the first task was to find a consultant who would be a good fit for the project we had proposed.  We were fortunate to find Audrey Dunn, LCSW, a proverbial needle in a haystack.  She has both provided mental health services in various collaborations with San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) for decades (in an adolescent day treatment program, on-site at middle school, etc.) and is actively involved in the psychoanalytic community.

We began the program in September, two monthly meetings held throughout the school year (Sept 2015- June 2016):  a reading group facilitated by the project coordinator and a consultation group.  Dr. Loong Kwok, a supervising psychologist who is part of the CYF team at RAMS, assigns readings in advance of his group (with input from Ms. Dunn based on what comes up in the consultation group) and discusses the readings with the clinicians.  Ms. Dunn provides a space for the clinicians to apply the readings to their experiences of running groups in the SOAR Academy classrooms and have clinical discussions with their colleagues.

Clinicians participating in the training series have observed that they are incorporating the ideas they’ve been reading when running the groups.  In addition to attending to behaviors, they  have also been paying attention to how the individuals interact with each other in the therapy group, and how the group itself fits into the school.  We have come up with some answers to specific questions about how to incorporate psychoanalytic approaches to our school-based groups. We are still working on joining these together into a cohesive plan. In the coming months, we will be considering the specific contributions of ethnicity and trauma in this work. By this summer, we believe that we can create a list of questions that need to be answered as we continue group therapy within the school system, and a list of preliminary answers.

Photo credit - Noel Z Gondek on Flickr

RAMS co-presenting at CAAMFest 2016

RAMS will be co-presenting a feature film, Please Remember Me, at CAAMFest 2016, held by Center for Asian American Media.

Please Remember Me

Octogenarian couple Feng and Lou have been married and inseparable for over 40 years. Ever since Lou was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Feng has utterly dedicated himself to her care. As he witnesses his wife’s mental decline and his own propensity to illness, Feng considers moving them to a nursing home — much to his wife’s disapproving bewilderment. How does one manage the care of an ailing life partner, all while dealing with the intractable march of old age?
Executive produced by award-winning filmmaker Ruby Yang (MY VOICE, MY LIFE, CAAMFest 2015), PLEASE REMEMBER ME is a tender portrait of a longtime couple who, like many elderly Chinese today, live alone as their children have settled overseas. Director Zhao Qing follows her great-uncle and -aunt over three years as Feng works pragmatically to remedy his beloved wife’s increasing dependence and loss of memory. Told with great tenderness and sensitivity, this documentary evokes the importance of personal histories and pays tribute to navigating the joys and troubles of old age with quiet courage, love and dignity.
— Chanel Kong

RAMS will be co-presenting the screening to be held on Saturday, March 12th at 1:00PM, at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 2550 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94110.

Click HERE for info & to purchase tickets.

Click HERE to read about the true-life love story behind the film, described by the filmmaker as a "story about memory, love, and dignity".

Please join us at the screening and the following discussion, and check out the exciting line-up of events in this 11 day celebration of film, music, and food! CAAMFest 2016 runs from March 10-20. We hope to see you there!

Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate -- Now Accepting Applications for Spring 2016 Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Entry Course

RAMS, in collaboration with San Francisco State University (SFSU) Department of Counseling, is excited to announce that the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program is currently accepting applications for the Spring 2016 Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Entry Course!

Funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Entry Course provides a 12-week long training for consumers of behavioral health services or their family members who are interested in becoming peer counselors/peer specialists in the field of community behavioral health. Having already successfully completed 11 cohort cycles, this course has had 150 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, and a modest stipend is provided upon completion of the course.

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 of consumers
• are interested in helping others in the community behavioral health setting

Application and course timeline is as follows:
• Thursday, January 14th - Application Release (click HERE for the application)
• Wednesday, January 27th & Monday, February 1st 10am-12pm - Optional Informational Open Houses (see FLYER HERE for details)
• Friday, February 19th @ 5:00pm - Application Deadline 
• Week of March 1st - Notification of Application Status
• Friday, March 11th - Registration Forms Due for Accepted Applicants
• Tuesday, March 22nd – First Day of Class
• Thursday, June 9th - Graduation Ceremony

Please feel free to contact us at (415) 579-3021 x102 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 2016 class, and beginning another great cohort!

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

How to Raise Independent Children with Great Social Emotional Skills

Today's guest post is from Yi Zhao, LMFT, who serves as Mental Health Consultant at the RAMS Fu Yau Project which provides prevention and early intervention mental health services to the family resource centers and childcare community that cares for children, ages 0-5 years old.

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The book “How to Raise Independent Children with Great Social Emotional Skills” was born on SF MUNI. I was approached by a publisher in China to write a parenting book to address the concerns by Chinese parents— young children nowadays are very dependent and have poor social skills. Over the past four-years at RAMS Fu Yau Project, I have been working with young children in Chinatown and having weekly conversation with my mentor, Christina Shea, LMFT (RAMS Deputy Chief and Director of Clinical Services) about parenting, early childhood education, immigration and acculturation.

Thanks to these inspiring conversation and the precious experiences of working with young children and their families provided by Fu Yau Project, I actually have a lot to think, process, talk about and write about. Somehow, I am very productive when I am in movement, maybe because of my educational background in Somatic Psychology, so writing on the go- on MUNI- became my hobby. What I wrote, I believe many of my RAMS colleagues know very well, so in a sense, I am writing down the collective wisdom of Fu Yau Project. I also integrated Drama therapy, Play therapy, Somatic Psychotherapy, Expressive Art therapy, and Mindfulness practice into my writing. To me, the process of writing this book, is an embodied process. This book is written in simplified Chinese. I welcome critiques and reviews. You can feel free to purchase the book and/or share your comments on Amazon.com.cn and Dangdang.com. Thank you!

-Yi Zhao, MA, LMFT 

Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate ADVANCED COURSE -- Now Accepting Applications for the Winter 2015-2016 Cohort

RAMS is excited to announce that the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program is now accepting applications for its NEW 8-week Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Advanced Course, with classes set to begin on Tuesday, January 26th, 2016!

Funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program (part of the Division of Peer-Based Services at RAMS) provides training for consumers of behavioral health services or their family members who are interested in becoming peer counselors/peer specialists in the field of community behavioral health. In addition to the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Entry Level Course that is currently offered, RAMS has designed its Advanced Course to support and educate individuals who are providing, or have recently provided peer-based services to clients in the community (or possess relevant training, volunteer and/or educational experience), and would like to obtain more specialized peer counseling training and professional development opportunities.

We are looking for individuals who: 

• Are at least 18 years of age and a resident of San Francisco, 
• Have successfully completed at least a High School education or GED, and 
• Are able to attend 8 weeks of classes, which will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays (3PM-6PM). 
• This program is funded by MHSA through San Francisco Behavioral Health Services. As such, the course is targeted to individuals with personal experience with the Community Behavioral Health System of Care and family members. 
• Individuals with current or past work experience, education, and/or training (including volunteer and advocacy work) in the peer counseling field are highly encouraged to apply 

 Application and Course Timeline: 

• Friday, November 13th: Application Release 
• Thursday, November 19th & Tuesday, December 1st: Optional Program Open Houses 
• Wednesday, December 16th @ 5PM: Application Submission Deadline 
• Week of January 4th, 2016: Notification of Application Status 
• Friday, January 15th, 2016: Registration Forms Due for Accepted Applicants 
• Tuesday, January 26th, 2016: First Day of Class 
• Thursday, March 17th, 2016: Last Day of Class & Graduation 

Materials are available for download at: http://www.ramsinc.org/peer.php.

Please feel free to contact Program Coordinator, Kristin Snell, at (415) 579-3021 x102, or via email at kristinsnell@ramsinc.org should you have any questions or would like any additional information.

Community Voices: Stories From The Frontline

All RAMS staff, interns, and trainees are invited to this presentation & discussion at the 10th Annual Evelyn Lee Diversity and Cultural Competency Training:

Community Voices: Stories from the Frontline 

Friday, November 13th, 9am – 12pm 

State Building, Milton Marks Auditorium, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco

This presentation will describe grassroots efforts for community and capacity building, strategies for advocacy and community empowerment, and engagement with leaders and legislative groups.

PRESENTERS:  Gordon Chin, MSW, and Robert L. Okin, MD

Robert Okin, MD was chief of service at SFGH Department of Psychiatry; professor of clinical psychiatry at UCSF; and vice chair of the UCSF, School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, where he oversaw the development of crucial services for San Francisco’s most acute & chronic patients with mental health conditions, including the SFGH Department of Psychiatry’s culturally focused inpatient units and Emergency Department Case Management Program (which received the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems’ Safety Net Award in 1999). He has been quoted numerous times in the New York Times, was featured on ABC’s 20/20, and in 2009, he received the American Psychiatric Association’s prestigious Human Rights Award.

Gordon Chin, MSW is the founding Executive Director of San Francisco’s Chinatown Community Development Center, serving in this position until his retirement in October 2011. He has been active in San Francisco’s Chinatown community for over four decades, and has served on many community and civic boards including the national boards of the Center for Community Change, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, and the SF Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Chin was selected as one of six inaugural fellows for the Fannie Mae Foundation’s James A. Johnson Community Fellows Award, and was one of the community development leaders honored at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s Silver Anniversary with a Mike Sviridoff Leadership Award.

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If you have any questions about this training, please feel free to contact Angela Tang at angelatang@ramsinc.org or (415) 800-0699.

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

Hire-Ability: A Light Of The Village

The Mental Health Services Act - San Francisco held its 5th Annual Award Ceremony at the Scottish Rite Masonic Auditorium on October 15, 2015. It was a thoughtfully coordinated event that included stories and poetry from those mental health consumers with lived experience, as well as delightful musical entertainment from pianist, Mr. Walter Earl, and beatbox vocalist, Mr. Carlos Aguirre. With the tagline “It Takes a Village to Recover,” the event celebrated the recovery of over 100 consumers, each of whom received an Achievement in Recovery Award.

It was a big year for RAMS Hire-Ability Vocational Services, which saw its i-Ability Vocational IT Training program receive two distinctions. A graduate of i-Ability, was honored with the MHSA Consumer of the Year Award. His inspiring speech echoed the award ceremony’s sentiment, as he thanked those who were key to his recovery, including RAMS, AA, and his community behavioral health providers.

The i-Ability Vocational IT Training program also received the MHSA Team of the Year Award. The program’s entire staff was welcomed onstage to accept this award, including IT trainers, counselors, peer staff members, and management. RAMS i-Ability provides on-the-job vocational IT training to consumers through its partnership with SF Dept. of Public Health - Behavioral Health Services (BHS), where i-Ability serves as a critical component of the IT operations at BHS.

The i-Ability program will begin recruiting in January 2016 
for IT training cohorts that will begin in April 2016.  

For more information, please contact Nancy Gobaleza, Intake Coordinator
at 415-282-9675 Ext. 207 or nancygobaleza@hire-ability.org