Toggle font size

CCC Wednesday Communique – January 25, 2017

Happy Wednesday!

This is the Community Caring Collaborative Weekly Communiqué where we share announcements about trainings, meetings and other events, including announcements from our collaborative partners. Look for links to meeting minutes and agendas in the Meetings section, training registration forms and flyers in the Events section, and job postings and other items of interest in the Announcements section. Subscribe here to get the Communiqué.  Gmail users, make sure to add Community Caring Collaborative to your contacts so this newsletter doesn’t end up in Promotions.  This mailing goes out every Wednesday, so if you have announcements, please send them to Christine by 5 pm Monday to be included.  Thanks!   

Photo above Courtesy of Julie Redding

Announcements

Training Cancelled: Please be advised that the Youth Mental Health First Aid Training scheduled for Saturday, January 28 in the Machias area has been cancelled. This training is currently scheduled for Saturday, March 18 at the Charlotte White Center in Dover-Foxcroft if you would like to attend.  To register for this event, please go to the NAMI Maine website.

CHCS wins award: Community Health & Counseling Services is excited to announce a $20,000 award from the Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund-General Fund, Bank of America, N.A. Trustee to support socialization and wellness activities for its clients with mental illness in Washington County. CHCS will provide wellness groups, and fitness activities, and assist with transportation to these activities for those who need it. Through participation in these wellness activities, clients will improve mental and physical health, and decrease their level of loneliness and isolation. Research demonstrates a strong link between loneliness, a lack of social connections, and, morbidity, mortality and chronic disease rates. If you are a client of CHCS and would like more information about this grant or about CHCS services, please contact Debbie Dodge in the Machias office at 207-263-2002, or by email at Ddodge@chcs-me.org.

Certificate in Grandfamilies: The University of Maine Center on Aging is pleased to offer an online certificate program for professionals and volunteers who work with grandfamily caregivers. The online Certificate in Grandfamilies Leadership program provides core education, technical support, and leadership development for professionals delivering grandfamily and kinship programming across the country. The course will begin on Monday, February 27, 2017.  Participants will complete the 9 modules over a 12-week period ending May 22, 2017.  Learn more here.

Washington County Provider Meeting: Weather permitting, Cheryl Hathaway from Child Behavioral Health Services is convening a meeting of Washington County providers of children’s services on February 3, 2017, from 11 am to 12:30 pm at the Kay Parker Building in Machias. What are the real needs of children? What are the gaps in service requests for children? Cheryl wants to hear from you! Come join the discussion on how to meet the needs of children waiting for HCT & RCS services.  Note: this meeting will be cancelled if local schools or schools in the Bangor, Brewer or Ellsworth area are closed due to weather.

New CCC Fax Number: Our new fax software is working well, so please continue to send your fax to us at 207-835-4500.  If you encounter any problems, please let us know asap!  You can also always email Hope Fund applications to Charley’s attention at cmartinberry@cccmaine.org.

Dementia Basics: Designed for all types of Direct Service Workers, this 4-hour training provides basic information needed for dementia care, the impact of changes to thinking skills and communication expressed through behavior. This course is one of the free online continuing education modules offered by the Maine Direct Service Worker Training Program.  Visit their website to learn about this and other courses.

Your announcement could go here: email the details to Christine by 5 pm Monday for inclusion in Wednesday’s Weekly Communiqué.

Events

Play Therapy Workshop: By The Sea Seminars will be hosting a Roundtable workshop, Play Therapy Interventions to Teach Coping Skills (on a shoestring budget) March 31, 2017, 9 AM to 4 PM at the Harrington Family Health Center. Robyn Greene, LCPC, will be the presenter.  Space is limited to 16.   CEU’s will be offered.  For more details and to register, visit By the Sea Seminars website.

Recovery Coach Training: Healthy Acadia invites community members to enroll in a 4-day Recovery Coach course to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to guide and mentor others through their own recovery process. This training will be held at the DHHS offices in Machias, 8 am to 5 pm, February 13, 14, 15 & 16.  Pre-registration is required.  Registration fee is $100, but scholarships are available.  Download the flyer for more information.

Cultural Competency Training:  Registration is now open for this free training on February 15th, presented by Elizabeth Neptune and sponsored by the CCC.  Held in the Assembly Room of Washington County Community College in Calais from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, this training is geared for FFD staff and partner agencies, medical providers, mental health and social service providers, school guidance counselors and more.  Learn more and register here.  Download a flyer to post in your office here.

New G.E.A.R. Workshops: The G.E.A.R. Parent network has scheduled 2 new workshops that are free to all parents/guardians/caregivers of children with emotional and behavioral health needs:

  • Do You Speak Teen? “mnE Ps dnt bleev der is a gNR8N d/c b/t em n thr teen” on February 15th
  • How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop on March 15th

Both workshops will be facilitated by Cynthia Cullinane from 9 – 11 am at Downeast Horizons, 77 Union Street, Ellsworth.  To register, email Cynthia or call her at 1-800-264-9224 or 266-9523.
Donna Beegle Institutes in Augusta: Donna M. Beegle, EdD, is coming to Maine this summer to hold a Poverty and Coaching Institute in the Augusta area.  Registration for these 2 trainings is open – visit her website for more information.   

FASDs Webinars:  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is offering a series of three 30-minute educational webinars focused on enhancing the education of pediatric primary care clinicians regarding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs). The educational webinars will feature clinical practices including identification, diagnosis and care planning for children with FASDs. The webinars are open to all clinical personnel, with practicing primary care clinicians strongly encouraged to attend:

Needs & Offers

Binders Needed: Family Futures Downeast students are looking for 10-inch binders to organize photocopied class material this semester.  If you have an extra 10-inch binder or two taking up space, or maybe have a few training binders filled with outdated material you no longer need, please contact FFD Coach Lori Joy.

Fuel & Utility Assistance – don’t pass this up! Energy benefits like LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) exist to help people get through our rugged winters, but the majority of residents in Washington County who qualify never apply. Did you know that the average benefit in our area between fuel and electric is $920?  Here are some facts about eligibility you may not know:

  • If you or your spouse is 60 or older, you can earn up to a total of $2270 monthly and still qualify.
  • A single parent with a child less than 2 years old can earn up to $27,234 annually and qualify.
  • A family of four can make up to $36,450 annually.

For more information on this program, call WHCA at 664-2424 or visit their website.

Prescription Assistance: MedHelp Maine is a non-profit organization that works with medical providers to enhance Mainers’ access to affordable prescription medicines. At no charge to patients, physicians, or institutions, MedHelp Maine coordinators guide the development of hospital-managed prescription assistance programs to identify the best sources of free or low-cost drugs and then manage the access process on behalf of both patient and prescriber.  Visit their website for more information.

Meetings

Work Group & Poverty Busters:  Read the notes from our meeting on January 4th.  Next meeting is on February 1st, 1-3:30 pm, with special guests Cheryl Robbins, WHCA’s transportation director, and Heather Biggar from Maine Behavioral Healthcare on DV resources for providers.  It’s not too early to sign up for this meeting, and don’t forget – we have moved to 7 Ames Way, the white house with the anchor next door to the Machias Grange, at the bottom of College Hill.

St Croix Community Connections: This is Poverty Buster’s sister group in Calais, organized by Christine Morris. This group meets monthly on the 4th Tuesday from 3-5 pm, weather permitting (yesterday’s meeting was cancelled due to the icy weather).  New members welcome!