Year of AmeriCorps VISTA service provides impact | by Angela Gaughan

In July the CCSR WSU VISTA Fellows Project recognized the first four VISTAs who completed their year of service in July. The year of service profoundly impacted each one of the VISTAs.

Danny Barrera served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Circles of Hope program through Peace Connections, in his hometown of Newton. Through his VISTA service experience, Danny was impacted by the positive changes happening to the people who were being served. Danny entered service with the intention of pursuing a graduate degree post-service, but was debating between a Master’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Social Work. As a result of his VISTA service experience, Danny started coursework at the University of Kansas this month.

Austin, Chloe, Katelyn and Danny

The hands-on experience Austin Burke received with the Public Health Initiatives team at the WSU Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) provided him with the skills to get a technical assistant position in research for Social and Scientific Systems in Raleigh, North Carolina. The research team he was hired to work with is involved with a GuLF study in public health through a contract with NIH. https://gulfstudy.nih.gov/en/index.html. This ties into the hands-on experience he received at CCSR working with local health department to help them become accredited, along with researching what is happening with community health workers across the state.

 “My experience as a VISTA directly assisted me in getting the job, said Austin. “I had a diverse and valuable year that set me apart from other candidates.”

Before Katelyn Hilger started as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Communities in Schools Wichita/Sedgwick County she was considering several paths including medical school and Seminary, among other things.  Following her experience of tracking donor data, recruiting volunteer mentors and compiling resources she applied for a position at COMCARE of Sedgwick County as a crisis case manager with the Community Crisis Center Emergency Services hotline. She is now working in that position.

A VISTA with Rainbow’s United, Chloe Stevenson said, “I originally went to college with the intent of graduating early and going to hair school. When I didn’t graduate early, I changed my plans after graduation and decided to try marketing to see if it was worth pursuing rather than cosmetology school.” 

Through her year of service on the development and marketing team at Rainbows, she commented that it became clear that marketing was a great fit for her and she wanted to pursue the field further. In Chloe’s position she had the opportunity to network with members of Rainbow’s Board of Directors. It was through connections she made that Chloe was hired as a brand coordinator with the advertising agency, Apples & Arrows in Wichita.

5 Good Reasons to Attend the 2015 Recovery Rally | By Lael Ewy

2015 Recovery Rally:  September 25, 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the State Capitol, South Lawn in Topeka

1. It’s a great place to meet other recovery-minded people. We may not all have the same story, but sharing experiences of recovery and hope creates mutually-supporting networks that help make recovery possible for everyone!
2. It’ll be a star-studded event featuring Kansas’ own actor/producer/screenwriter David Dastmalchian, who has a recovery story of his own. In 2014, Animals the feature film he wrote and starred in, received a Special Jury Price for Courage in Storytelling at the South by Southwest Festival.      
3. It’s a great place to celebrate Recovery Month. Recovery Month (September) is a nationally-recognized time to come together and celebrate the victories of those living lives of recovery and their supporters.
4. All the cool kids will be there. The Recovery Rally brings together individuals and organizations who promote peer support and recovery-based work across the spectrum from small Consumer-Run Organizations to big Managed Care Organizations.
5. Your presence will make a difference. There’s no better way to express that we are the evidence that recovery is possible than to make our presence known. The national motto of this year’s Recovery Month is “visible, vocal, valuable,” and the Recovery Rally gives us a chance to tell the world.

And a special bonus reason for CROs. The Center for Community Support and Research will pay mileage for one vehicle per CRO to and from the Recovery Rally—yeah, we think it’s that important. Just RSVP me at lael.ewy@wichita.edu or Sam Demel at samuel.demel@wichita.edu at least a week before the rally (so, by Sept. 18) so we can file all the paperwork and stuff.      

Staff Development at Riley County Health Department | By Brenda Nickel (Riley County Health Department) and Sonja Armbruster

Building on the Past and Looking to the Future 

In March 2015, the Riley County Health Department (RCHD) led its inaugural all staff training with facilitation support from the Public Health Initiatives Team at Wichita State's Center for Community Support and Research. In December 2014, after surveying local health departments, Riley County department directors and presenting the importance of professional and leadership development for public health professionals, RCHD received permission from the Board of Health to hold quarterly in-service for all staff closing the department during those times.

RCHD staff started the training with a timeline activity where staff learned about their peers and the history of the department. After a short review of major public health milestones, Riley County staff mapped their daily activities to the 10 essential services. The afternoon closed with a focus on teams and culture change. In the evaluations, staff reported that the most helpful parts of the event included:

• Learning about the history of public health and how much we do for our community.
• I enjoyed the 10 essentials and how evident it is that we meet those needs and expectations well.
• The timeline was an excellent tool to get to know others in the Health Department
• It was helpful to learn about all employees because I am new to the agency
• Seeing how what I do daily fits into the 10 essential services.

CCSR Public Health Initiatives develops people and organizations to improve the Public Health system in Kansas; empowers people through training, support and coaching; develops organizations through strategic planning, agency performance improvement and capacity building; and strengthens systems by facilitating statewide collaborative initiatives, peer learning, and creating opportunities for change. For more details on facilitation and other services offered by CCCSR contact Director of PHI Sonja Armbruster at or sonja.arbmbruster@wichita.edu or 316-978-3988.

Applying my social media skills | by Allie Acridge

I thought I knew about social media, but I knew it from a personal view, not a business or company view. I started my internship at the Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) during my last semester at Wichita State. I didn’t know anything about CCSR, but I was interested in applying my knowledge of social media to an organization before I graduated.

I quickly discovered that CCSR had a number of different projects happening at the same time. It wasn’t long before I would get something put in front of me to post; it would be too long or uninteresting. It was a challenge to take certain things and make them “social media usable”. Especially since CCSR has a specific audience; it wasn’t students, or the general public, but the nonprofits and community coalition members they work with the most.

Part of the plan was to get employees who used social media to interact, i.e. liking, commenting, sharing and retweeting. Some were on Facebook and others on Twitter. It was interesting to see how people use different social media platforms for different things. I found it common for people to keep Facebook for their personal communications and use Twitter for business and networking communications.

Blogging was not new to me. I’ve done it for a class and I’ve seen plenty. I had the chance to create blogs, edit blogs, and post them on Twitter and Facebook. I think the more I did it, the easier it was. I expected some in-depth, very detailed information for blogs. Some blogs were deeper than others. I found it challenging was posting them on Twitter and Facebook. It was hard to get people to click on the link to go to the blog and read it.

To learn more about what CCSR does I went through every pamphlet and the website and took bits of information and put them on Twitter. I posted one a day for a little over a month. The posts had good feedback. I saved them to be used again because they provide a good, well-rounded look at the organization.

I hope my time at the Center for Community Support and Research helped them. It was fun learning more and also applying what I knew to an organization.

Empowerment and Capacity-Building: It’s About ‘Us’ | Teresa Strausz, MSOD, LMSW

Empowerment and Capacity-Building are words and phrases I hear (and use) in my work almost daily. I often hear these terms used to describe something that is given or provided as if they were commodities that can be wrapped up like a gift and handed out to those in need of them. Those of us in the business of empowerment and capacity-building feel good about this version of the story. We are helping. We are making lives, communities, and organizations better.

February 20, a group of dedicated Wichita State University students and Wichita State VISTA Fellows attended the inaugural WSU Civic Leadership & Service Summit co-sponsored by the Office of Student Involvement and the Center for Community Support and Research. After a couple of hours of panel discussions and workshops about civic engagement and service learning, participants selected one of two sites in which to engage in service. One of the sites, Rainbows United, Inc. provided an opportunity for volunteers to engage with youth with different abilities to make paper chains. The activity was to not only provide the youth with opportunities to engage in a fun activity with the visitors, but also for the volunteers to learn first-hand what it is like for persons with different abilities to be involved in such activities meaningfully.

What a lesson. The tender moment at which this youth and volunteer connected to mutually help each other. That is empowerment. Both gave and received a gift. Empowerment is less about what we do and more about what we do with those with whom we are working. The end result? Beautiful!

Finding relief and acceptance from support groups | Zachariah McCallister

Recovery can be a long, complicated process which everyone goes through in different ways.  Recovery happens for different reasons:  it could be medical, emotional, or about self-improvement.  My recovery occurred because of the brain trauma and nerve damage I received from an accident a few years ago. I have made great progress, but there are some things I wish I had done differently.

A regret I have is never trying to connect with others who have experienced brain trauma.  There were times I felt isolated and alone because of my situation.  During these times my family and friends had a hard time trying to understand the support I needed.  They could not see what my injuries were or how they were affecting me.  I could not figure out how to describe what had changed and what I needed.  There were times when the easiest thing to do was to avoid everyone. 

McCallister

Two years after my accident I started realizing which changes would likely never heal.  I decided to look for a support group.  Even though I found some, I did not attend one.  I tricked myself into thinking that my experiences were unique.  I also felt guilty asking for help when I was mostly okay.  My mind changed and my ability to think was difficult, but I could still walk, talk, and do most of the things I enjoyed doing.  As I look back, not reaching out for help was one of the biggest mistakes I made.

I missed so much by not joining a support group.  Comfort, support, and understanding can be found in a group of people with shared experiences.  You do not have to be guarded or worry about being judged.  Knowledge and wisdom can be gained from the stories each person brings to the group.  You are seen as a whole person who needs support and you are more than a diagnosis that needs medication.  You and the group decide what you need to feel better and how to meet those needs.

Last fall marked the ninth year after my accident.  I finally got the chance to visit two support groups because of my work at the Center for Community Support and Research.  I felt relief to be around people who understood me, even though I had already worked through most of my challenges.  I no longer felt odd.  My personal experience has strengthened my resolve to recommend support groups when someone tells me they feel alone and are facing a difficulty.  Some things in life are already hard to get through, why try to get through them alone?

Editor’s Note: Zachariah is currently in the second semester of his Wichita State University social work practicum at CCSR.

"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.”            

What I've Learned About Public Health | Austin Burke

I don’t have a background in public health. I only had a basic understanding of it when I accepted my VISTA position on the Public Health Initiatives team at Wichita State’s Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR). I get to serve, protect and improve the public’s health? Sure that sounds fun, sign me up! My mom thinks public health is “like that Ebola stuff”. That’s not wrong, but it’s not all public health does. Through my work in Public Health Accreditation, I learned an amazing amount about public health and the people who do this work every day. 

Public Health Accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) is a measurement of health department performance against a set of nationally recognized, practice-

focused and evidenced-based standards. Accreditation is based off of the three core functions (assurance, assessment and policy development) and 10 essential services of public health (pictured). In order to gain accreditation, a health department must perform and be able to document these services in addition to passing a site review. The goal of accreditation is to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of tribal, state, local, and territorial public health departments.

The Kansas Accreditation Readiness Project (KARP) is a learning group designed to build health departments capacity to prepare for this accreditation. Every month CCSR facilitates a webinar where the learning group reviews accreditation standards information, peer reviews documents needed for accreditation, and gain insight from PHAB site reviewers.

This project has opened my eyes to all aspects of public health. The first thing I learned was about the comprehensiveness of public health. The standards and measures document for accreditation is 264 pages long, and it doesn’t go into details! There are hundreds of required documents to demonstrate that a health department meets the measures.

I also learned about some of the barriers health departments face on a day-to-day basis. I was surprised to learn that for many counties in Kansas, the number of health department staff can be counted on one hand. Many of these employees have other duties in addition to the public health work they do. It also made me feel great to see that these people are making an effort to get accredited in order to better serve their community. It can seem like a daunting task for a small department, but they are making an effort to better serve their population.

Lastly, I was able to learn that public health is a small world. I met some of the KARP participants at the Kansas Public Health Association conference in Topeka and ran into other public health professionals that I thought I’d never meet. I’m excited to continue work on this project and meet more great public health workers. 

Meet Jessica, one of our interns!

Jessica Hutton joined the Center for Community Support and Research as a Master of Science in Social Administration practicum student in 2014. An honor graduate from Newman University, Jessica earned her Bachelor of Science in psychology in 2013. She is a distance learner through the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Wichita, concentrating in community practice for social change.

Jessica has contributed to the efforts of the Trauma-Informed Systems of Care team and the AmeriCorps VISTA program and looks forward to contributing to additional projects in the two years she will continue as a practicum student at CCSR.

Jessica is passionate about systems change and program development, especially related to corrections and other traumatized systems. In her free time, Jessica enjoys reading, writing non-fiction, watching movies and spending time with her teen son and life partner.

New CCSR project supports public health agencies statewide

The Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) has recently been awarded a two-year contract from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to build the organizational capacity of health departments. Through this nearly $400,000 contract, CCSR will assist health departments in the implementation of electronic health records and provide training which will increase the number of immunizations health departments provide. If current estimates are correct, there could be a twenty-five percent increase in billing revenue for health departments through the appropriate provision of immunizations.

Financial Planning and Management Skills are among the eight core public health competencies. Nationwide and statewide, local public health officials consistently self-assess their competence with Financial Planning and Management Skills lowest among those eight core skills. Billing is a key component of the financial management process. 

“This effort offers training and tools to sustain local health departments by maximizing access to resources already available in the system, which in turn assures more residents are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases,” says Sonja Armbruster, CCSR director of public health initiatives. 

This project is an implementation phase of a previous planning grant and builds on needs previously identified by local health departments. The CCSR will provide statewide training and create a billing and coding manual for Kansas health departments. In addition, the CCSR will provide more focused assistance to 10 health departments to implement the use of Practice Management Software and/or electronic health records. The CCSR will partner with the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments (KALHD), to select the departments to participate in the project.

The contract originates from a grant the Centers for Disease and Control awarded to the KDHE in September. For more information contact Sonja Armbruster at sonja.armbruster@wichita.edu or 316-978-3988.

Meet Melissa, our new Student Engagement Assistant!

Melissa joined CCSR in October of 2014 as an intern assisting with our student engagement and VISTA projects.

Not long out of college, Melissa graduated from Northern Michigan University (NMU) in May 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. While at NMU she was a member of the varsity track and field team; participating in the pentathlon and heptathlon. She also has been an avid equestrian her entire life with a special love for rodeo. For the last five years she volunteered with the Great Lakes Rodeo as the queen and court coordinator after passing on her own crown in 2009. When she’s home in Michigan, she competes in barrel racing, team penning, team roping and bull riding with her two geldings, Kenny and Scotty. (Pictured)

Melissa is attending Wichita State University and taking graduate classes in sport management. In her free time she volunteers as a coach for Wichita State University’s track and field team and gives horseback riding lesson to children at a local stable.

Meet Alison Acridge, our social media intern

Alison Acridge, goes by Allie, has joined the CCSR team as the social media person. She is a communication major and is graduating with her Bachelor’s in December. She has always loved social media and is now putting it to use for CCSR.

She loves to travel. She has been to 23 states and three other countries. “I loved South Carolina, I’d love to move there someday. You just kind of fall in love with places when you travel so much,” she said, “I hope to some day see all 50 states.” She went to Nova Scotia with her great-grandma, dad and step-mom over fall break. “This year I went to Cozumel, Mexico, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Maine.” She has applied to the Peace Corps and hopes to travel more after graduation.

In her spare time she loves Netflix, reading, sailing, going to the gym and taking photographs. “I’d love to take a whole class on photography. It just hasn't worked out while in college,” she stated.

Meet Emily, one of our new interns!

Emily Chace recently joined our staff as a Masters of Social Work student. She is helping with our Home & Community Based Services Medicaid project and contributing to the Trauma-Informed Systems of Care (TISC) team. Emily earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology with minors in sociology and Spanish at Wichita State University.

Emily Chace

To complete her degree in Spanish, she recently took a 6-week trip to Mexico. “I loved it,” she said. “I liked the people especially. I found them to be very family orientated, loving and accepting. “

Emily appreciated the cultural differences she encountered on her trip. “I think that different cultures can bring different things to experiences,” she said. “By accepting people you can have great relationships.”

This semester she is researching what other states are doing in the area of trauma. This work may possibly contribute to her future interests as she one day plans to continue her education toward a PhD in clinical psychology.

Hunting is a favorite pass-time for this girl who grew up in the country. She’s hunted just about everything, especially deer. We’ll want to watch what dish she brings to the office potlucks because she said that the only thing in her freezer is deer meat. “For fun I like yoga, visiting my one-year old nephew, JW, and being outdoors.”

Meet Zachariah, Our new student at CCSR!

Zachariah McCallister is one of the Wichita State students working at the Center for Community Support and Research this semester. A senior studying social work from Wichita. He graduated from Southeast High School with a focus on math, science and music.

“A near-death experience and an extended recovery caused many changes in my life and I found a new path for myself in the field of social work,” said McCallister. “Many of my life experiences have shown that people can get trapped in challenging situations because of circumstances they cannot control. I want to be an advocate who helps others discover ways to get the resources they need in order to have the quality of life everyone deserves. I decided that becoming a social worker would be the best path for me to succeed, and I have been excited every step of the way.”

CCSR Selected for VISTA Intermediary Sponsor to Address Poverty in Kansas

Public Health Initiatives VISTA Fellows Austin Burke, BS

The Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) was recently selected by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to serve Kansas as an AmeriCorps VISTA Intermediary Sponsor. AmeriCorps VISTA is a national and community service program administered by the CNCS placing volunteers in poverty-fighting organizations across the United States.  Through this award, CCSR will create WSU VISTA Fellows connecting them with nonprofits, government, and public health serving agencies statewide. This project is an innovative way to connect WSU with community organizations that address poverty.

Through the VISTA Fellows Project, WSU graduates will engage in one year of hands-on service in their community while applying knowledge, expertise and skills they learned during their educational experience. “It’s a way to put their degree to use while giving back to their community,” said Teresa Strausz, MSOD, LMSW, CCSR Community Engagement and Learning Coordinator. WSU VISTA Fellows help build capacity of nonprofits and other organizations whose missions and/or services impact those who are economically disadvantaged.

The inaugural group of VISTA Fellows arrived in Kansas on July 18 serving Peace Connections/Circles of Hope in Harvey County, Communities In Schools of Wichita/Sedgwick County, Rainbows United, Inc. and CCSR’s Public Health Initiatives team. You can find these Fellows engaged in a variety of activities including program development, marketing/communications, fund development/grant writing, and volunteer management. 

Scott Wituk, CCSR’s Executive Director said, “We are honored to be selected by CNCS to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA Intermediary Sponsor.  This is a great opportunity for recent WSU graduates to apply what they have learned through their WSU coursework. I think they will learn a lot more through this applied experience and it will also position them to be more engaged citizens for the rest of their lives.  I also know we have a lot of hard, challenging work in front of us, but are hopeful that in a few years, dozens of WSU VISTA Fellows will be actively engaged in addressing poverty throughout Kansas.”

WSU VISTA Fellows serve 40 hours per week for one year, receiving an educational stipend in addition to a modest living allowance. CCSR accepts applications anytime from organizations interested in hosting VISTA Fellows as well as students or graduates interested in serving as a WSU VISTA Fellow.  

More information is provided online at www.wichita.edu/CCSR/AmericorpsVISTA. For the application process or to discuss VISTA contact Teresa Strausz at teresa.strausz@wichita.edu or 316-978-6778.

Positive Changes to Certified Peer Specialist Training and Certification

In order to expand and strengthen peer support in Kansas, CCSR is partnering with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to advance peer specialist training and certification. The details are still being worked out, but here is what we know for sure:

• Multiple levels of certification will be offered to provide a career path for peer specialists (those currently certified will keep their certification)
• Entry level peer support training will be open to all those interested who self-identify as having direct, lived experience with a mental health recovery
• Those hired to provide peer support under Medicaid will now have one year to complete billing-level certification via an “in training” status
• Peer support training will be offered regionally, details to follow

The CPS training team is excited to be able to support a stronger career path for peer specialists and welcomes your input. Please contact Lael Ewy, MFA, CPS, at lael.ewy@wichita.edu with suggestions or questions as the process moves forward.