"Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale" in Chicago | Seth Bate

KICT/Wichita, Kansas, listener Seth Bate recently won our killer prize package to catch the Broadway-bound metal musical, Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale in Chicago. Seth wrote us to share his (and wife Jenny’s) experience...check it out:

Seth Bate

We can’t say enough about what a great time we had as the winners of the “Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale” contest. At first, we were afraid we wouldn’t be going at all. The Wichita airport was fogged in, and we were told our flight was cancelled. As it turned out, we were barely delayed. You can’t stop rock & roll!

Friday night, we had an amazing four-course meal at RPM Italian from the housemade ricotta starter to the cannoli for dessert.

Saturday we visited the National Hellenic Museum, which we have wanted to see for a long time, and ate and shopped in Greek Town. Then we went to be in the throngs of shoppers at the BMO Harris Bank Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. Everywhere we looked there were taxis advertising “Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale,” and you can tell the whole town is excited for it.

The show itself is everything you could want in a Christmas story – equal parts Jean Shepherd and Gene Simmons. We were in the front row looking directly up at Dee in his distinguished narrator’s chair. The stage graffiti even says “I heart Jenny,” which we decided was a good sign. Producer John Yanover checked on us many times before and after the show, and everyone we talked to knew our contest entry story. It was like we were the celebrities.

As soon as the show was over, [Dee’s wife] Suzette Guilot-Snider ran over to greet us. Believe us, you know when you have been hugged and kissed by Suzette! Dee spent a generous amount of time with us, signed everything we brought – including my 1983 12” single of “The Kids Are Back” – and we were on our way.

If you can possibly make it to Chicago this holiday season, go see “Dee Snider’s Rock & Roll Christmas Tale”! And remember that metal miracles do happen!

Horns up,

-- Seth Bate and Jenny Muret Bate

Shared from The House of Hair, linked here:

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8b0d3bf813e629c2280953147&id=d62eaa7a4d

CCSR Behavioral Health Team strengthens Consumer Run Organizations

Members of consumer run organizations participated in peer
support training this summer.

The Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) has recently expanded its services to Kansas Consumer Run Organizations (CROs). CROs are grass-roots organizations led by mental health consumers dedicated to promoting recovery among their members. Historically, CCSR has provided organizational capacity support to CROs, such as board development and strategic planning.

Through a new contract with the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), CCSR’s Behavioral Health Team is starting an initiative with CROs to increase their use of peer-to-peer support based on a model that is recognized by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as one of the best practices for adult mental health support.

“It’s really exciting seeing the impact that the CROs are having on individual lives as their organizations provide more peer-recovery based activities. I’ve been working with our behavioral health partners for years and it is great to be in a position to provide tools to help strengthen organizations across the state,” said Sam Demel, community and organization specialist at CCSR.

In addition to the existing CROs, CCSR is also working with several Regional Recovery Resource Centers in Kansas to promote peer support practices by mental health consumers in areas not currently served by a CRO.

“CCSR has been a proud partner of the Kansas mental health recovery movement for more than half of our 30 history,” said Randy Johnson, CCSR director of Behavioral Health Initiatives. “It only makes sense for an organization rooted in the principles of self-help to live that commitment in the form of service to groups such as these.”

Support for this initiative is provided through a grant from the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services. To learn more about our work with CRO’s, contact Sam Demel at samuel.demel@wichita.edu or 316-978-6474.

Reflections on Lived Poverty | Austin Burke

I thought I came prepared for my year of service in AmeriCorps VISTA. As a VISTA member, you spend a year serving poverty efforts while being paid a living stipend at the poverty level. I would have the opportunity to experience being in poverty while simultaneously fighting it. I knew that it would be challenging but that I could do it. I figured that if 14.5% or 45.3 million Americans are living at the poverty line (https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/), I would be able to do it for a year.

I came in with every advantage possible. I am college educated, have my own car, and had ample

time to research and prepare. I think it’s worth noting that many people are living two paychecks away from poverty and don’t have time to prepare. I read blogs from other VISTAs, got cheap housing with reliable roommates, downloaded a cookbook for people on SNAP (food stamps),

figured out the minimum I could budget for food through the USDA ($190/month), and figured out how far my work commute would be and estimated my gas costs. I set what I thought was a reasonable budget and hoped for the best.

My term started off alright in July with my position at the Center for Community Support and Research at Wichita State University. At first I was able to keep to my budget. I cooked every meal, planned my car trips to the store and Laundromat to save on gas, didn’t spend money on clothing or entertainment, and took advantage of SNAP benefits and the YMCA slider scale membership fee. However, I was running at capacity with no room for error. The amount of effort and time it took to live like this is immense and I found there couldn’t be much deviation from my daily plan. Not to mention all the relationship and family obligations that doesn’t go away when you are poor. Once one thing went wrong, everything snowballed. I found that even with a good plan, it was exhausting to keep up.

Also, there are things about poverty that aren’t talked about and I didn’t plan to happen. Nobody talks about the amount of guilt and fear you feel every day because of your circumstance. There is the guilt of using SNAP. Do I really need them? I could get by eating canned ravioli and ramen noodles. One day I forgot my lunch at home and bought a healthy lunch for $6.50. This may not seem like much, but it’s the amount I budget for food for the entire day and I wasn’t full. I felt guilty, kicking myself for the mistake. There was another time when I was mistakenly charged for a hotel room and would be refunded once the credit card company cleared the transaction. It temporarily left me with under $100 in the bank. It’s a pretty scary feeling knowing you may not have money for gas to get to work. Every mistake, no matter how small, feels like the start of an out of control snowball.

However, I am very happy I decided to do this year of service, even with all of the challenges. I’ve gained insight on poverty that only those in poverty understand. I’ve been supported by my work colleagues and organizations that help the impoverished. I’ve learned great skills, both at work and at home that I’ll use for the rest of my life. I’m grateful for this opportunity to serve and for those who serve the impoverished. 

Recovery is Possible | Christine Young

Recovery Is Possible: Inducing Hope Through Recovery-Based Models of Mental Health

Adapted from “Recovery is Possible: life on the other side of a psychiatric diagnosis,” a speech by Christine Young.

According to the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH), there were an estimated 9.6 million
adults aged 18 or older in the U.S. with a “serious mental illness” (SMI) diagnosis in 2012. This represented 4.1 percent of all U.S. adults. About 1 in 5 Americans can expect to suffer from some type of mental health challenge during their lifetime.

With the prevalence of Mental Health diagnosis being 1 in 5, the odds are that either someone you know or perhaps even yourself have been labeled with a diagnosis. But life on the other side of that diagnosis is possible. Recovery is possible.

 As a Peer Educator and Certified Peer Specialist Christine Young has spent the last five years training and educating people on the possibility of recovery after a mental health diagnosis. In her work, the prevalence of mental health diagnoses has made the message that recovery is possible particularly important to convey.

Key to the idea that recovery is possible is that it is a non-linear process of gaining control over one’s life and life direction.

According to Young, “When people receive a mental health diagnosis like depression, bi-polar or anxiety disorder, they are often left to feel like that is it. This is the way that the rest of their lives will be. They often face stigma and self-esteem issues around the belief that they are permanently ill or somehow broken.” 

A recovery orientation rejects that idea and recognizes that there are things people can do to get well and stay well. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines recovery as “a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential.”

According to Christine Young, “Hope plays a pivotal role in recovery. A person has to have both the ability and the opportunity to engage in the recovery process. So this includes access to recovery based services.” Recovery-based services include peer support, services based on a person’s strengths instead of deficits, and self-supported tools such as the Wellness Recovery Action Plan, among other activities and interventions.

According to Young, we’re often hindered in our recovery by what the Appalachian Consulting Group has called the “disabling powers” of a psychiatric diagnosis, including one’s self-image, the side-effects of medication, stigma, and sometimes the mental health system itself.

The Appalachian Consulting Group’s Stages Model of recovery gives us one idea of how to approach a person’s relationship with those disabling powers as we move through the “impact of illness,” a period where “life is limited,” a point at which we see that “change is possible,” where we go through a “commitment to change,” and where we make “actions for change” in our lives.

We may engage in these stages in a non-linear way, at times feeling overwhelmed and ill, but perhaps skipping quickly to seeing hope as we realize that change is possible.

None of the ideas about recovery presented here mention that symptoms have to go away, as long as they aren't a barrier to engaging in the process of controlling one’s life and life direction.

By communicating that all are able to enter into the recovery process, people can live lives of hope and opportunity. As stated on the SAMHSA website, “Today when individuals with mental and/or substance use disorders seek help, they are met with the knowledge and belief that anyone can recover.”