Fibromyalgia patient finds comfort in starting a support group | By Candace Diemart

When community volunteer Rebecca McKanna was in need of a fibromyalgia support group she checked a variety of community resources, one of which was the online support group database coordinated by the Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) and funded through an initiative by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. The database is one of the longest listings in the United States with over 2,000 community support groups, national organizations and websites. Groups on the list cover a wide range of topics, some of which include medical conditions, parenting, caregiving, grief and a variety of other topics.

“I just needed one,” said McKanna. “My family didn’t want to hear about it anymore. I prayed about it and when I couldn’t find a group, I decided I needed to start my own.” 
 
McKanna held her first meeting in April. Only one other person came, but subsequent meetings have grown with as many as 16 people in attendance.

“Because of this group, I feel less crazy, less doubtful and a huge sense of relief. It’s wonderful being able to talk to people who know your struggles,” said McKanna.

Support groups are a responsible, cost-effective and practical means for people coping with life crises and health issues. Most groups are available free of charge and are led by peers. People who have been through similar circumstances not only sympathize, they know where others are coming from and can show that they are not alone.

CCSR recently updated the support group database and McKanna’s fibromyalgia group is a welcomed addition. The database can be found at www.supportgroupsinkansas.org.

For information on the support group services project, contact Angela Gaughan at angela.gaughan@wichita.edu or 316-978-5496.

CCSR Undergoes Leadership Restructure

In January 2013, CCSR announced a re-organization of its leadership:

The following staff have new positions and management roles at CCSR:

Seth Bate – director of leadership development
Amy Delamaide – director of community and organizational development
Tara Gregory – director of research and evaluation
Randy Johnson – director of mental health initiatives
Heather Perkins – director of operations and finance
Kevin Bomhoff – director of strategic development
Scott Wituk – executive director

CCSR helps individuals, organizations and communities with leadership development, organizational capacity building, community-based consulting, research and evaluation and through its Mental Health Consumer initiative.

In 2012, the center helped more than 100 Kansas-based nonprofits, community coalitions and government agencies.

Read more in WSU News.

Across Kansas, CCSR Responds | By Scott Wituk, PhD

WSU Center for Community Support and Research released its annual report at the end of last week. Here is a letter from Executive Director Scott Wituk which opens the report. View the whole report on our website (PDF).

Scott Wituk, PhD, Executive Director

Across Kansas, CCSR Responds.

In 2012, the Center for Community Support & Research assisted over 100 Kansas-based nonprofits, community coalitions and government agencies to better fulfill their missions. Our ongoing partnerships with these groups are guided by several important factors.

Experience. For nearly 30 years, CCSR has helped organizations of every shape and size handle virtually every situation imaginable. We tap into our collective experience whether we’re assisting a small group of committed Kansans looking to improve the health of their community or a large city government hoping to cultivate their leadership to better meet the needs of those it serves.

Excellence. We help organizations, individuals and groups become more effective and efficient. Our researchers have developed useful tracking mechanisms to help groups determine their progress on selected goals. For planning, we frequently use individual- and group-based assessments to identify strengths and challenges. Through this process, groups are able to strategically respond to an increasingly complex environment. 

Integrity. In order to help individuals, groups and organizations better fulfill their missions, it is critical that we understand them. CCSR staff approach each project with care and sensitivity. Our “design team” system helps us clearly define expectations and how our assistance can best meet their needs. Commitments made to, and by, the design team allow for the appropriate follow-up to determine the extent to which progress is being made.

Capacity Development. Over the years, we’ve made a lot of good friends in Kansas. One of the things that excites me most is seeing individuals, group and organizations grow stronger and better prepared to meet the needs of Kansas because of capacities we have helped them develop.

Partnering. Often Kansas communities and organizations face tough challenges that cannot be solved solely by one individual or organization. More often than not, it takes multiple organizations across community sectors to make progress. CCSR recognizes the need to develop strong partnerships that can help contribute to a collective impact.

I’m sure there are other factors that have contributed to CCSR’s responsiveness. I would be remiss to not mention a highly committed staff, volunteers, students and advisers who truly want to see Kansas become the best possible place to live. It is my pleasure to work with them and I look forward to working together in the future.

A Call to Action | By Bailey Blair

On Tuesday, January 8, I addressed a panel of the state legislators representing the south-central region of Kansas; below is the statement I prepared and delivered regarding the imminent need for increased mental health awareness in our public school system and the impending cuts to mental health services.  

Bailey Blair speaking at Legislative Forum

My name is Bailey Blair, and I currently work for Wichita State University’s Center for Community Support and Research, facilitating a grant aptly named Youth Leadership Initiative in Kansas, or YLinK, which assists youth and their families struggling with mental health issues to establish leadership skills, develop social skills and healthy peer relations, transition to productive adult lives, and promote advocacy for youth state-wide.

Tonight, I am here to speak to you about mental health in the public school system. As a former high school teacher, I’ve experienced first-hand the demands that planning, instructing, and extra duties place on our teachers. I’ve also seen what impact teachers can have on individual students, both positively and negatively. I realize that budgets are tight for every sector right now; this cannot excuse negligence to one of our most marginalized populations. Despite incredible measures taken to ensure equity of treatment and provision of services to the developmentally delayed population and those with physical limitations in our schools, access to mental health services and training for teachers on these issues is falling severely behind.

It is my professional, and personal, opinion that each individual in our public education system must be provided continuing education in the fields of childhood mental health. Our teachers are the first line of defense for our children; never has this been more evident. However, many teachers report receiving little to no training on how to address mental health issues, how to establish rapport with youth with mental illness issues and their families, and how best to ensure the emotional safety of their students.

Youth with mental illness face stigmatization from educators each day. Recent studies have shown that nine out of ten young people who experience mental health issues are affected by stigma and experience negative treatment as a result of their disorders in the school and in the community. Nearly 50% of students report that this stigmatizing behavior comes from their teachers. I firmly believe that this is through no fault of the teachers or the administrative staff; they are simply not prepared to deal with such issues, and therefore, exacerbate the problem.

Specifically, teachers and school staff need training on identifying mental health issues, establishing appropriate lines of communication both with the student and with their caregivers, providing appropriate referrals to school social workers or counselors, and trauma-informed care to avoid further emotional distress to youth in their care. Most of our teachers are in the field of education because of their love of learning and their dedication to children; if provided the appropriate training in the fields of mental health, they would be our greatest resource.

Of course, this requires adequate funding for both education and mental health services. Rick Kagan, director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness recently spoke regarding mental health funding in the state, saying, “At a time when we should be increasing access to treatment, we’ve been reducing that access… The problem isn’t going away. Mental illness knows no boundaries.” However, in recent years, state funding to community mental health centers has been cut by tens of millions of dollars.

I am calling you to action. The Governor's Budget, we are told, includes more cuts to mental health this year. Kansas funding for uninsured and underinsured Kansans in need of mental health treatment has been reduced by $20 million, or 50% since FY 2008. The Governor will present his budget, January 14. Please act as your constituents will you to – protect funding for mental health services, and promote funding to educate our teachers. Our children need you to.

On Friday, January 11, Governor Brownback announced $10 million for mental health care in Kansas. I urge the south-central legislative delegation to work with the Governor to ensure adequate funding for mental health services in Kansas. For more information about the YLinK initiative, reach me at bailey [dot] blair [at] wichita [dot] edu.

Governor Brownback Proclaims January as Support Group Awareness Month

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback proclaimed January as Support Group Awareness Month in a signing ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 10 in Topeka.

As stated in the proclamation, support groups have been recognized national and internationally as an efficient, practical, cost-effective means of coping with life crises and physical and mental health care concerns.

“It is very exciting to have the governor recognize the importance of support groups as a supplement to health and human services in Kansas,” said Angela Gaughan, support group services project specialist at Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research. “I constantly visit with people who are looking to make a connection with a support group in their community or who lead and organize groups around specific issues.”

In Kansas, more than 3,000 community support groups, national organizations, and websites provide help for a broad range of specific issues. Groups gather around many medical conditions, parenting, caregiving, grief, and a variety of other topics. Contact information for support groups can be accessed online or by calling (800) 445-0116 or (316) 978-3843 in Kansas.




Governor Brownback at the Proclamation Signing

The photo includes (l to r)  Suz McIver, director of supportive care, Midland Care, Topeka; Stacy Davis, director of mental health promotion, Mental Health America of the Heartland, Kansas City; Sheli Sweeny, advocacy and member services coordinator, Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas Inc., Topeka; Kelly Potter, forensics coordinator, Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, Topeka; Randy Johnson, director of mental health initiatives, Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research, Wichita; Angela Gaughan, support group services project specialist, Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research, Wichita and Governor Brownback.

International Organizational Development

CCSR Community and Organizational Specialist Teresa Strausz, LMSW, had an opportunity to go to Bolivia in June to do organization development consulting with the nonprofit organization Hospitals of Hope. Her experience was an international component of her Master of Organization Development program at Friends University.

One of the ways the students worked with this organization involved hosting a World Café for the staff of the hospital in Cochabamba, Bolivia. World Café is an event that provides structure for creative and open conversations about topics that are important to an organization or community.

Jim Maddox, MSOD program director at Friends, posted about the World Café this group hosted. It was the first World Café documented for this country. One story he tells is particularly moving: 

A cleaning woman talks with Dr. Ricalde, Medical Director at the hospital.

"There were many thanks and a lot of hugs from participants to the hosts/facilitators. One cleaning lady, with tears streaming down her cheeks, thanked us, saying she had worked at the hospital for 7 years and this was the first time anyone had asked her ideas or what she loved about the hospital or what the hospital could become; for the first time, she was given a voice. This was powerfully moving."

If you’re interested in hosting a World Café for your organization, contact CCSR at 316-978-3843 or send us an email.

What's it like to work with CCSR?

Photo courtesy of Ramon Soto

When organizations want to work with the Center for Community Support and Research, they might have some idea of what they want to get done, but they need help figuring out how to do it. In this post over on the American Evaluation Association blog, Dr. Tara Gregory describes one creative way CCSR might help an organization complete a logic model:

"We ask participants to think of their program and its outcomes in terms of a movie trilogy. ...We specifically ask them to think of Part 1 as the story of what people experience while involved in the program; Part 2 picks up at a later date (the specific timeframe depends on the program) and reflects the progression of outcomes; and Part 3 represents the transition to 'happily ever after.'"

The American Evaluation Association is a group of evaluators committed to improving evaluation practices and methods. CCSR has ten researchers on its staff and regularly provides program evaluation services to nonprofit organizations and government agencies across Kansas.

If you are interested in CCSR's research and evaluation services, contact Dr. Tara Gregory at 316-978-3843 or email us.