Last November, Humboldt County Department of Human and Health Services, through a grant from California Office of Statewide Health, Planning and Development (OSHPD) hosted a 10-day Peer Support Specialist Certification training that was led by Recovery Innovations (RI) to train 10 mental health staff and volunteers in the Eureka area. A lucky member of our Crestwood Eureka campus, Rebecca, a Peer Support Specialist through Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network, was invited to attend. This training is designed to enhance the peer support skills of participants, while empowering them to be more self-directed and competent in providing recovery and resilience services to clients. “The Peer Support Specialist Certification training turned out to be one of the most interesting classes I have ever taken. I was excited to be included in the two-week course, which opened new doors for me to learn how I could partner and relate to people seeking services.” It has been a year since Rebecca began working as a Peer Support Specialist at Crestwood Eureka, and she is grateful for the conceptual framework and the set of skills which this training gives to her job. “I felt empowered to learn these things in the company of other peer support and mental health workers, who have been working to combat stigma and provide support within the county mental health system,” said Rebecca. “I have learned to better understand my role in the comprehensive health facility that I work in. I have gained valuable resources to guide me, to set my own goals, and to provide meaningful direction for my work. This Peer Support Specialist Certification training provided a wealth of a wealth of information and skills to participants. Rebecca reported that the train- ing was relevant not only to her, but to anyone doing mental health work. She said, “The concept of helping people find their own strengths to make decisions leading to recovery is a powerful idea and is useful at any level of the mental health community.” Contributed by: Rebecca, Peer Support Specialist, Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network, Crestwood Eureka Campus

At Crestwood Center San Jose MHRC, they have been going through major changes, both physically and programmatically. The campus has undergone major reconstructive surgery, and now has a beautiful design similar to our other Crestwood programs. The design changes have brought about a more homelike environment and their clients are enjoying new areas, such as two living rooms, a comfort room, a serenity room, a group room, a library, and a den. Walls have been painted in soothing colors, lovely decor has been placed throughout the building, and new, stylish flooring has been installed. On the program side, a mindful effort has been made to not only embrace the Crestwood Values (Family, Commitment, Compassion, Enthusiasm, Collaboration, Character, and Flexibility), but to also actively practice them in the staff’s daily activities. They have also incorporated a more comprehensive program schedule, opened up the patio area, and expanded their outing and pass policy. With these efforts, they continue to maintain the important focus on recovery, program success, and preparedness for community re-entry for their clients. During this remodel and program changes, the staff learned some important lessons, such as any major change starts with the Administrator and Department Heads, and then it needs to be embraced by the entire team. “The change process may be challenging for some, even if it is perceived as positive or good, because it means saying goodbye to what we are familiar and comfortable with,” said Angele Suarez, the MHRC’s Program Director. Campus Administrator, Michael Bargagliotti, added, “It is human nature to be drawn to comfort and security, regardless of the outcome, because it is something that is known and we know what to expect. The change process introduces an insecurity and emotional instability that can cause people to react with resistance, fear or anger.” To help with managing the challenges of change, the staff at Crestwood Center San Jose found that implementing a few key measures such as maintaining an open mind, being optimistic, asking questions and helping others with the changes, made a huge difference in how everyone dealt with what was happening around them. “By maintaining an open mind, even though we may not always agree with the changes being implemented, we can actively listen and analyze the information, and then we can form an honest and genuine opinion about the changes. We might even surprise ourselves on how much we like the ideas,” said Angele. The staff found that by being optimistic, even though people might be currently unhappy with the changes, can be helpful since negativity usually comes from a fear of the unknown. By not being able to predict the future, a good strategy is to then focus on the present moment with a positive attitude, which can create an optimistic outlook towards the future. The staff also encouraged everyone to ask a lot of questions because it is important for each person to not only be notified of the changes that are occurring, but to also understand the reason behind the changes. Asking questions provides everyone with the needed information to make informed choices. “And we found that one of the best ways to help ourselves with change is to focus on helping others with change. Helping others takes the focus off ourselves, allowing us to connect with our peers, and we can then become a part of the change process through positive interactions,” said Angele. “At Crestwood, we know that we will always be part of innovative recovery practices and leadership. The best part of innovative change is that you end up creating a culture that is not only open to the concept, but takes on that personality. At Crestwood Center San Jose, as we continually work towards providing the best recovery program for our clients, going through change will allow us to continue our evolution, and never stop searching for our better self,” said Michael. Change is inevitable in life and usually out of our control; however, how we respond to the change is completely in our control. How will you choose to change and how will you choose to respond? It is all up to you. Contributed by: Angele Suarez, Crestwood Center San Jose MHRC, Program Director, Michael Bargagliotti, Crestwood Center San Jose, Campus Administrator

National Award Recognizing Dr. Gordon Muir Giles’ Innovative Neurobehavioral Rehabilitation Approach at Crestwood. Crestwood Behavioral Health’s own Dr. Gordon Muir Giles, Director of Neurobehavioral Services at Crestwood Treatment Center in Fremont and Idylwood Care Center, was awarded the most prestigious honor related to clinical practice in the occupational therapy profession, the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award . This award was made in recognition of his “innovating the clinical practice of cognitive neurorehabilitation” through his groundbreaking work with clients who have severe neurological impair- ments. Dr. Giles was presented with the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award by the Ameri- can Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) at its 2017 Annual Conference and Centennial Celebration on April 1st in Philadelphia. The Eleanor Clark Slagle Lecture- ship Award was named after a pioneer of the occupational therapy profession, and recog-nizes achievements in research, education, and clinical practice that make substantial and lasting contributions to the occupational therapy profession’s body of knowledge. This award recognizes Dr. Giles’ efforts to improve the lives of Crestwood’s clients through innovative clinical practices, including his relational neurobehavioral approach to neurorehabilitation. This non-aversive method, which has been described as “relentless kindness,” assists clients with severe behavioral and emotional problems by empowering them through person-centered care and building positive relationships with them, rather than relying on confrontation, seclusion, or restraints. Dr. Giles uses this compassionate approach to treat clients whose neurological impairments have caused many of them to fail in other treatment settings due to difficult-to-manage behaviors. An example of this compassionate approach is being used with a client at Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont who has had post-severe Trauma Brain Injury for 23 years. This client believes that he is a billionaire and that people are stealing his money. He would joke to the staff that they are stealing from him and if they would joke back, he would become very upset. To help deescalate this behavior, the staff now meet with him daily to review any areas of concern, assist him with solving any perceived problems, review his finances with him weekly and have him sign-off on any expenditures. Additionally, the staff responds to any of his questions about money by stating that taking money from him is unlawful and that if they did steal from him, they would go to jail. This increased focus on interpersonal factors and therapeutic relationships has made an amazing difference in this client’s life by helping to reduce his anxiety, stress, and negative attributional bias. Karen Scott, Program Director at Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont said, “The positive impact Dr. Giles has made with both his clients and colleagues is immeasurable. He is a tireless advocate for persons with neurobehavioral differences.” As part of winning the Slagle Award, Dr. Giles will deliver an AOTA lecture in 2018 that will discuss how best to meet the needs of clients with neurobehavioral disability in a changing healthcare environment. Contributed by: Karen Scott, Program Director Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont

The proposed Fallbrook Healing Center will be a secure Mental Health Rehabilitation Center (MHRC) in the former Fallbrook Hospital and will serve 100 clients. It is built on a foundation of Crestwood Behavioral Health’s 49 years of providing mental health recovery and wellness services throughout California. Crestwood will purchase the site (which has been closed since December 2014), secure the facility, improve it for appropriate use, and open the new center in 2018. Mental health issues such as depression, bi-polar and suicide affect one out of every five families in our country, and this facility will provide much-needed help for many in this and surrounding communities. We know that there are many questions about the new facility and its relationship with the Fallbrook community. We are committed to becoming a community asset and being responsive to your questions and concerns. To learn more about the Fallbrook Healing Center please download the documents below: Fallbrook-Proposed-Factsheet Fallbrook-Presentation-May-2017 Fallbrook-Presentation-July-2017 Fallbrook-Jobs  Crestwood-Testimonials

Crestwood Behavioral Health’s whole person approach to healing, wellness, recovery and resiliency includes a focus on enhancing or developing a meaningful role in one’s daily life. As psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, observed, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” Research in positive psychology has found that a meaningful role can lead to a positive attitude, increased happiness, sense of belonging, sense of purpose, increased self-worth and promotes self-accountability. At Crestwood we embrace the need for meaningful roles and it is one of our four Pillars of Recovery that also includes Hope, Empowerment, and Spirituality. It is defined as positive identities within the places we live, learn, work and socialize, which creates a sense of purpose and value. Crestwood’s healing and resiliency-building campuses promote this in many ways. The people we serve contribute daily to our campuses, including co-creating schedules of activities, participating in the functions of the day and educating staff, either through co-presenting at staff education meetings or participating in change of shifts. Meaningful roles also come from those we are in a relationship with. Our clients are recognized and valued for their relationships as a roommate, parent, child and community member. As a community member, our clients contribute in positive ways such as volunteering at local homeless shelters or animal rescue groups. Clients often also take on the role of teacher or mentor as they come together to support their fellow residents in their healing. Our Crestwood campuses also provide opportunities for meaningful roles through shared group activities such as art shows and sporting events like the Crestwood Olympics, where more than seven campuses get together for fun and friendly competition. At Crestwood, opportunities for meaningful roles for our clients do not stop at their discharge. Clients are supported in their recovery and wellness journey by being given the chance to come back and contribute through sharing their personal experiences of recovery at our campuses, volunteering in our communities or continuing with a job they achieved through Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network. Patty Blum, Crestwood Executive Vice President, says, “Supporting and encouraging meaningful roles at our campuses helps to provide our clients with a connection to their values, ethics and higher selves. All of these responsibilities -great or small- give their daily existence purpose, and as such, become their meaningful roles.” Contributed by: Cindy Mataraso, Director of Operations Crestwood Sacramento Home Office

Crestwood Behavioral Health, Inc. is an organization that is built by and for people desiring to make a change in the world by creating a continuum of services that empower our clients to live and succeed in their communities. As an organization, we lead the mental health community by example. As individuals, we lead our community of staff, clients, peers, families, business partners, county stakeholders, faith communities, schools and neighbors by example. Our greatest resource at Crestwood is our human resource. The humanity in human resources is the gift Crestwood brings to this field. The humanity in Crestwood leadership is the cornerstone in the framework of service to others. We exemplify the eight dimensions of servant leadership-listening, empathy, healing, mindfulness, stewardship, growth, and community building, all of which are clearly aligned with our Crestwood values of family, character, flexibility, commitment, enthusiasm compassion, and collaboration. Our values are also linked with our recovery pillars of hope, empowerment, meaningful roles and spirituality. These values, pillars, and dimensions become the lens from which we lead, drive the work we do every day and what we use to develop new leaders from within our Crestwood family. Our staff members embody these values and they serve as the foundation for the programs and services we provide. It is the responsibility of each of our campus Administrators and leadership teams to uphold these values on a daily basis, in all aspects of their positions and roles. Our Administrators are expected to lead, manage, supervise and demonstrate a wide- array of skills and abilities on a day-to-day basis. Crestwood is a learning community. It is expected that a person in leadership will be trained, oriented, coached, developed and recognized in all areas of their roles. In order to support and grow servant leaders in our organization, we have created a leadership training curriculum and a full mentorship program. Crestwood’s mentorship program process starts with a robust orientation and onboarding that welcomes our new Crestwood family members. The orientation is designed to create an inviting and compassionate community of employees who care for themselves, each other, and the clients and stakeholders we serve. Orientation is infused with tools for engagement and culturally relevant adult learning methods. After orientation, mentorship continues for our employees with our Crestwood Academy. Through our Crestwood Academy we engage employees through coaching on the fly, in-services, trainings, workshops, conferences, webinars, environmental practices, demonstrations, mastery of skills and competency building opportunities. Throughout this process, our employees are encouraged to look for ways to achieve their goals, to reach their aspirations, as well as to advance their careers at Crestwood in their field of choice. Our employees are given the opportunity to achieve advanced degrees, licenses and certifications through our Crestwood Scholarship Program. Advancing leaders may also engage in our succession planning process, where management and leadership team members, including Administrators, identify possible new candidates for leadership positions. Our succession planning at Crestwood involves developing our servant leaders, in all departments, through our comprehensive values-driven mentorship program. Although the mentorship has training, homework, and benchmarks for success, the cornerstone of this program is the relationship built among leaders – a relationship built on honesty, collaboration, compassion, transparency, integrity and love. Crestwood proudly achieved the rare CARF Exemplary Conformance to the Standards for our leadership succession planning process and mentoring to identify future potential leaders in our organization and then providing them with training, education and support to prepare them for these roles. At Crestwood we are determined and motivated to continue to lead, inspire and keep the humanity in everything we do as we develop our next group of leaders that will take us well into the future and will continue to make a difference in the world we live in. Contributed by: Patricia Blum, PhD Executive Vice President

Imagine a group of people sitting in a circle coming together for a unified purpose, to celebrate the graduation of one of their own. The graduating peer excitedly sits in the middle of the group, with a huge smile on their face, because their day has finally come; they’ve made it to graduation! A beautiful rock has been painted and tailored specifically for that person. The rock is passed around the circle into the hands of all those in attendance, as they share their memories and best wishes for the graduate. Within that rock all the good thoughts are wrapped up into it and then given to the graduate. At Crestwood Chula Vista, they started a tradition to honor their graduates. When faced with their first successful graduation in December 2015, they wanted to start a special and unique tradition, so they gathered together the people they serve and asked how they would like to celebrate their graduation. Many of them offered insightful and valuable input and all these great ideas were then considered by the community. When all was said and done, the most popular idea for a graduation ceremony came from one of their dearest residents, who has since graduated, to start a goodbye group with a “good memories” rock. The good memories rock, which is decorated according to the desire of its future owner, is passed around from person to person in a circle that surrounds the person who will soon be leaving the campus. Each person who holds the rock is then asked to speak, sharing kind words, dear memories and warm wishes to the graduate. And so, the tradition for their peer goodbye group was created and continues to this day. For the last goodbye, right before the graduate is completely discharged, they go through what is called their “High-Five Goodbye.” Clients and staff line the sides of the hallway leading to the exit with extended hands and then whistle, cheer and chant the graduate’s name. The graduate walks down the hallway, usually with a huge smile, and receives high-fives, and sometimes hugs. Some cry, some laugh, and some shout. The one thing they all have in common is their excitement to move onto the next chapter of their lives and recovery; they’ve made it! This tradition has carried over to not just client graduations, but also when their staff move on from Crestwood or are promoted to other campuses. Wanda Anderson, Service Coordinator at Crestwood Chula Vista, said, “Goodbye groups provide closure for staff and the people we serve and are a wonderful opportunity to give honor to those who so deserve it. We love our special tradition and if your campus does not have a tradition to honor your graduates, we hope that this may inspire you to start one of your own.” Submitted by: Wanda Anderson, Service Coordinator and Shanel Stec, Activity Coordinator, Crestwood Chula Vista

Crestwood San Diego Honored at the 31st Behavioral Health Recognition Dinner On the night of June 9th, staff from Crestwood San Diego, Crestwood Chula Vista and the Crestwood Home Office, gathered at the San Diego Mission Valley Marriott to attend the 31st Annual Behavioral Health Recognition Dinner. The Behavioral Health Recognition Dinner is a chance to celebrate and recognize individuals and groups who provide outstanding service in San Diego County’s behavioral health field. Behavioral health and substance abuse programs are invited to submit nominations for any of the 12 categories of community awards.  At this year’s event, Crestwood San Diego was the proud and humble recipient of three awards - Support Person of the Year, Clinician of the Year and 24-Hour Facility of the Year! Frank Chargualaf, who is the Transportation Coordinator at Crestwood San Diego, was awarded Support Person of the Year. Frank’s incredible passion and dedication to connecting clients to needed medical appointments helped him win this award.  He has assisted so many clients to overcome obstacles with their insurance, California IDs, Social Security cards and pre-authorizations so that they may connect to their needed medical appointments in the community. “Frank has enhanced so many lives by improving their health and wellness and we are so proud of him,” said Robyn Ramsey, Administrator at Crestwood San Diego. Clinician of the Year was awarded to Dr. Krauz Ganadjian. Dr. Ganadjian is the Psychiatrist and Medical Director at both Crestwood Chula Vista and Crestwood San Diego. Robyn said, “Dr. Ganadjian honors the Crestwood values and has a compassionate treatment approach, as well as the flexibility to work with the team and clients to develop individualized plans to best help each client.  We are so grateful for the wonderful working relationship we have with Dr. Ganadjian!” And finally Crestwood San Diego took home the big award of 24-Hour Facility of the Year! Crestwood San Diego has only been open for three years, but has become a key part of the continuum of care in San Diego County.  Their stakeholders and clients have embraced and appreciated what makes their campus special such as compassionate care, a warm and homelike environment, WRAP, DBT, Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network, Zumba, Yoga and more. Janet Vlavianos, Crestwood’s Director of Development and Corporate Initiatives, accepted the award on behalf of Crestwood San Diego. Joining her on stage was Crestwood San Diego’s first program graduate, Julie, who has also been employed at the campus for two years. She made a powerful speech to a room with more than 650 attendees and truly portrayed what Crestwood stands for and honors. Congratulations Crestwood San Diego, Frank Chargualaf and Dr. Krauz Ganadjian for receiving the recognition you all deserve for the incredible work you do every day for our clients that makes it possible for them to succeed in their recovery. Contributed by: Robyn Ramsey, Administrator, Crestwood San Diego

For decades we have been studying stigma in mental health from the research of Irving Goffman in Asylums in the early 1950’s, to the more recent work of Patrick Corrigan’s Don’t Call me Nuts and Robert Whitaker’s Mad in America . Today we continue to study stigma as evidenced in the recent 2015 research by Patricia A. Carlisle’s, Mental Health Stigma: How to overcome mental health stigma in America . So we have to ask where we are as a society in terms of stigma, fear and mental health. What have we accomplished? Have we made any progress or changed attitudes? Have we created inclusion for our friends and family with mental health issues? Have we shifted beliefs? Are we any closer to creating an environment where teenagers can tell their parents or friends about their voices? Can a 20-year old let a college know they are taking a semester off to go into a behavioral health program? Can a 32-year old nurse ask for accommodation because they are experiencing severe symptoms of bipolar type 2 and still be eligible for a promotion? Can we bring a behavioral health program to a vacant community hospital, bringing 50 to 200 jobs to that small town and be welcomed, rather than attacked? Sadly, in 2017, the answer to these questions is still no. So the mandate today, more than ever, is to wage war on mental health discrimination, stereotypes, stigmatizing images and inflammatory media coverage, national leaders who ridicule and mock, shaming language, intolerance and hatred. It is fear that stops people from telling someone they are experiencing a mental health crisis. It is fear that prevents people from getting help. It is fear that stops parents from getting treatment for their children. It is fear that creates the environment where a community feels vindicated in fighting mental health services coming to their community. This fear and hatred is the stigma that people who have mental health issues live with every day. Stigma is more debilitating than the diagnosis or symptoms. It is a dark shadow hanging over you. It is the barrier to accessibility. It is the barrier to friendships and relationships. It is the barrier to finishing a degree, pursuing a career or even working at all. It is the barrier to recovery. It keeps you sick and disabled if you let it and if our society accepts it. Today we must speak up, make political choices, and fight legal battles to impact this fear and hate of mental health issues. During a recent California land use legal battle, an 85-year old mother, who is a leader in NAMI, closed the public comment section in the meeting with the following statement, “There are two four-letter words - FEAR and HOPE. You choose.” Fighting stigma, fighting fear, fighting hate and discrimination is a battle to be fought by everyone. We must make it our battle and we must win. We must join with the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions (CIBHS) and other national movements such as Stamp Out Stigma, NAMI, and Each Mind Matters to fight and eliminate stigma in our services, families, communities and our world. Until the stigma and fear that surrounds mental health has been eliminated, the world will be a darker place, making it more difficult for people to get the help they need and deserve. As former President Bill Clinton said, “Mental health issues are nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.” Contributed by: Patricia Blum, PhD Executive Vice President

The evening of Sunday, October 8th in Napa County started out for many of us as a calm night, watch- ing football, enjoying the return of loved ones from trips away and a night to prepare for the next work day. Later that night, with very little warning, the weather took a horrific turn, with winds that tore through the area at 70 miles per hour. And with the winds, came deadly fast-moving fires that became infernos almost instantly. Shortly after 1:00 am on that Monday morning, many of us were awoken to the notification sound on our cell phones, alerting us that a Nixle alert had been received. Then our phones became this continuous beeping of alerts notifying us of the fires and evacuations. The notifications were so widespread, it was hard to comprehend what was occurring. Multiple fires were being reported in Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties. The winds were so strong that it fueled the fires faster than anyone had anticipated. People were forced to flee from their homes with very little warning and had to leave everything they had behind. Sadly, not everyone was able to evacuate in time and some people perished in the fires. Our Crestwood Leadership Team moved into a heightened state, first assuring those we know, love and are responsible for, that they are safe. Then as leaders, we moved into a place of support and compassion for our staff and clients, to ensure that they and our campuses were safe, and that we were addressing the needs of everyone that needed help. For many of our Angwin staff these fires triggered prior trauma, as they had already been through the Rocky, Jerusalem, Valley and Clayton fires that had caused significant destruction in 2016 and 2017. Those staff now became the fire veterans to support the staff that were now experiencing firsthand the fear and the power of destruction that fires can do. Many of them were evacuated or had family and friends that were evacuated. Their concern then turned to the possibility of evacuating our Napa Valley 52-bed campus, which thankfully did not happen. In the days that followed it was amazing to see the outpouring of support from staff from other campuses who offered assistance in the form of vans, evacuation sites, masks, emergency phone supports, donuts, hugs, prayers, and just a “How are you and how can I help.” To those of you who were visibly present and those sending silent prayers and good wishes, we all thank you! As the fires were contained and people were let back into their homes or learned that their homes had been destroyed, our Crestwood staff rallied around everyone with love and support. We have learned so much from this experience and we will take those lessons forward to help us in our development of our next emergency preparedness plans. One thing that I know is we will never be the same. When you experience the fear, the lack of any control and the absolute love and compassion of people, you are changed. It is an appropriate time to again reflect on our mission and values as an organization. They were created to help guide our organization. They are the foundation of who we are, not only as a business, but at the core of who we are as people. I am so proud to work for an organization where I was blessed to experience those values from people when we needed it the most! To all who have suffered loss or pain in the Northern and Southern California fires, our prayers of support are with you and your families.   Contributed by: Pam Norris, Director of Operations

At Crestwood Chula Vista, we celebrate our spirituality. We strive to create an open and free environment for all clients and staff to embrace their spiritual beliefs and practices and who identify with various faiths such as Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, and Judaism. We also have those who consider themselves agnostic or atheist. We do not judge anyone for what they choose to believe and how they choose to express those beliefs. When people think of spirituality they may automatically think about a certain religion, but spirituality is so much more than that! Spirituality is one of our Pillars of Recovery at Crestwood and we define it as a connection to a greater power, others and self and a way to find meaning, hope, comfort and inner peace in life. Spirituality is a lifestyle, and for many, it is the very core of who they are as individuals. We live in a multicultural society and we are surrounded by an array of religions and spiritual practices. Our world is rich in culture and that is a beautiful asset to healthy living. Each week I have the wonderful privilege of facilitating our spirituality groups with our clients. We have created learning and hands-on experiences with each culture, belief and spirituality practice we’ve studied. We devote an entire month to a specific faith/spirituality practice and we post flyers throughout the campus announcing that month’s spirituality group and topic. For example, last July, we focused on Judaism and we went through a PowerPoint presentation that laid out its foundation. The next week we learned about the Israeli flag and painted that flag as we listened to Israeli music. For our next group meeting we watched a documentary on Judaism, which our clients absolutely loved! The final group was centered on what Challah bread means to the Israeli people and learned about Shabbat and ate Challah bread together. During August, we studied Islam. One of our clients is from Afghanistan and since Afghanistan is an Islamic country, we chose to focus on his home country. Our first week started out with a PowerPoint presentation that helped clients and our staff learn the fundamentals of Islam. The following week we learned about the significance of the Afghan flag as we all painted it. We also painted mosques as we learned about the roles they play in Islam. The next week, I read to the clients from the Quran as they completed Islamic word searches. They really enjoyed hearing the words of the Quran, which for many of them, was the first time. For our last group session that month, we gathered in the recreation room and watched an excellent documentary on the Islamic faith and spiritual practices. When choosing the topics for each month we invite the clients to select what they would like to focus on. For the month of September, they requested that we learn more about Christianity; for October, the clients asked to discover the treasures of Buddhism; and in November, they asked to learn about the traditions of Catholicism. At the end of each group, I like to ask clients what their golden nuggets are of what they have learned and what they will take with them. Each week I am amazed at the insightful answers that they share with the group and it is wonderful to see they truly are enjoying this experience. I am so blessed to have the support and encouragement from our leadership team to fully engage our staff and clients in our spirituality groups. As Billy Corgan, the musician with Smashing Pumpkins, said, “I think a spiritual journey is not so much a journey of discovery. It’s a journey of recovery. It’s a journey of uncovering your own inner nature. It’s already there.”   Contributed by: Wanda Anderson, Service Coordinator Crestwood Chula Vista

Last Fall we welcomed two new family members into our community at Crestwood Treatment Center in Fremont These individuals became instant local celebrities with their inquisitive demeanors, gentle dispositions, and feathered feet. Our new family members are two hens that have provided our residents and staff with the opportunity to deliver nurturing care, revisit childhood memories, and stimulate cognition, as well as being a source of therapeutic amusement. Our residents consist of men and women who have had brain injuries, as well as a combination of psychiatric and dementia-related behaviors. Many have resided here for many years, supported by the structure, consistency and kindness of our environment. Our staff’s primary goal in developing the Hen Program was to promote a sense of well-being and self-worth for our residents, that by caring for an animal, offers an opportunity for companionship and a calming and emotionally regulating experience. By promoting participation in our Hen Program, we hoped to educate our residents and minimize a sense of boredom and isolation. Our Hen Program officially started months before the arrival of the hens themselves as a truly interdisciplinary collaboration between our Administrator, Lilian Fong, our Rehab Staff/Occupational Therapists, Maintenance staff, and Program staff. A large enclosure was constructed in our Zen Garden, with a smaller henhouse inside; both are able to be locked to protect the hens. Food, wood shavings, and hay, along with storage containers, were purchased from a local feed store. When our hens arrived, residents submitted ideas for names, which were then voted on by everyone and the winning names were Buddy and Gismo. Residents then got to know each hen’s distinct personality traits, favorite foods, and daily routines. Residents are an integral part of each hen’s care and wellbeing. “We make sure the chickens know they’re loved, safe, and welcome here,” said Patti, one of the residents. The chicken coop has now become a favorite destination for socializing, restorative ambulation programs, 1:1 meetings, gardening groups, and the official Chicken Welfare Committee. Another resident, Gloria, observed, “Buddy and Gismo have potential. They help us feel good when we go outside by playing together and taking care of each other.”   Our Chicken Welfare Committee (CWC) consists of a group of 6-10 residents who meet weekly to discuss and make decisions about Buddy’s and Gismo’s health, as well as to ask questions and research answers to better understand these animals’ behavior and preferences. Each meeting begins with an egg count, overview of each hen’s health, and any significant changes in their routines/behaviors during the past week. The group then delves into activities such as cage beautification projects, scientific articles about the anatomy/cognition/evolution of chickens, or group discussion and personal anecdotes about chickens. The CWC has also led to improving our hens’ wellbeing by adding a dust bath to their enclosure, discovering a favorite treat (freeze-dried mealworms), and providing companionship. Perhaps the most notable accomplishment of the CWC was the celebration of Gismo’s and Buddy’s 1st birthday party in February. The residents spent time making a celebratory banner and birdseed birthday cakes, then converged in the Zen Garden to prepare a fruit salad and enjoy the party. This experience was immensely meaningful for the residents, who continue to talk about it. Residents are not the only ones who benefit from our chickens. Our staff, many of whom grew up in rural areas, have expressed delight, concern, and nostalgia regarding our hens. Staff is invited to take home the eggs and often compete playfully to get to the eggs first. One CNA reported that she made a quiche with our eggs and brought it to share with her co-workers. Rehab staff often elect to have their meetings outside in the garden to enjoy the calming effects of nature on their overall wellness. The hens have provided a warm and fun meeting place for residents and staff to relate to each other and share experiences. Cortney, another resident, remarked, “The chickens are role models for us; they teach us about companionship and how to interact with each other.” Buddy’s and Gismo’s presence here at Crestwood Treatment Center has benefitted our entire community immeasurably. The hens are thriving under the dedication and care provided by our residents and staff, and the humans are thriving through the provision of that care. Our Hen Program embodies our Crestwood values and will continue to do so in the years ahead. Contributed by: Amanda Lord Occupational Therapist Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont