Spring 2006

Kind WordsFROM TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

HEALING WITH EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY

Continued on page 4

VOLUME 6

ISSUE 1SPRING 2006

or dance; writing; music; or drama. I find that using all of these modes, shifting back and forth between them, seems to help the most.

Responding to a painting with a poem enhances our emotional participation and understanding of the image. Music restores our natural rhythms of life. Awareness of the body and movement help us connect at a deeper level, opening consciousness beyond what the mind already knows. Most often, therapeutic creations are spontaneous and unplanned, allowing us to bring forth what is inside without censorship.

Expressive therapy can occur in individual sessions or in groups that a therapist leads. Groups are very effective because they support creative expression and sharing. We receive feedback that encourages our self-acceptance

and deeper exploration, and we realize how valuable our responses are to others in the group.

How Does the Therapy Help?Expressive therapy helps

us accept our wounded and blocked places and then

transform them through creative expression.

Kathie Bailey is a therapist in private practice in Minneapolis and a member of the Healing Practices Consortium that Touchstone Mental Health sponsors. She has presented her work at the Consortium. Several of our clients participate in expressive therapy groups that she leads. She starts new groups the first week of April. You can reach her at 612-870-6127.

I dream that I am outside with a group of people, holding up a huge mural that I had painted. We place the mural over the land, which is hilly with some lakes, wooded in places and sloping up to mountains at the top. The mural covers most of the land that I can see.

It is a painting of the land, but a little different–deeper blues and greens, pearlescent snow, lakes reflecting a pink sunrise. The painting accentuates the curves and valleys; the whole thing is more beautiful. When we lay the mural out over the land, it helps to form the landscape.

My dream captures the essence of expressive arts therapy. The land and its transformation serve very well as an allegory for the changes that expressive therapy can foster in everyone.

The land itself represents the given in our lives–the cliffs and lakes are like our genes and like the family, culture, and financial conditions into which we were born. We can’t change this foundation, but we can paint murals that shift our perceptions and experience of our lives.

What Is Expressive Arts Therapy?

This therapy uses the creative arts for the purpose of healing. The artistic mode can be painting, drawing, or sculpture; movement

2829 UNIVERSITY AVENUE SE

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MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414-3230

Inside this issue

Winning With Endowments 2

Wish List: Clients 3

Quilting for Life 3

In My Groups 4

Donors 2005—march 2006 5

Mindful Movement 5

Monitoring Sleep 5

Wish List: Program and Staff 6

Roommates Wanted 6


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MINNEAPOLIS MN 55414

Board MembersKelly Robert, Chair

Jonathan Burris, J.D.

Bill Cochrane

Michaela Diercks

Sharon Toll Johnson, LICSW

Merrie Kaas, Ph.D.

Liz Sjaastad

Helen Raleigh, LICSWExecutive Director

Glen Albert, LICSWDirector of Supportive Housing

Birgit Kelly, LICSWProgram Director

Margo Cohen, LICSWTreatment Director

Lynette AndersonFinance and Benefits Director

Peggy WrightCommunications and Development Director

Gabriel BainTechnology Coordinator

Editorial StaffHelen RaleighPeggy Wright

ProgramsASSISTED LIVING APARTMENTS7376 Bass Lake RoadNew Hope, MN 55428-3861(763) 536–[email protected]

CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES2829 University Avenue SE, Suite 400Minneapolis, MN 55414-3230(612) 874–[email protected]

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY3223 East 25th Street, Apt. 5Minneapolis, MN 55406

RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT2516 E. 24th StreetMinneapolis, MN 55406-1209(612) 722–[email protected]

Administrative Team

PAGE 2TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

WINNING WITH ENDOWMENTS

Have you ever wondered what would you do if you won the lottery? Do you know anyone who has won a big sum in Las Vegas? We all daydream sometimes about the fun we could have spending unexpected wealth.

Last summer I received a small inheritance from my parents. I considered paying off my car loan, helping our adult children with their student loans, or taking a trip to Africa. Instead, I donated $25,000 in December 2005 to start the Ceil Raleigh Endowment Fund for Touchstone Mental Health.

So often people wait to make large gifts to nonprofit organizations until they die. I decided that I would like to make a donation to start a permanent endowment fund now and be able to watch it grow while I am still alive.

Donor-restricted gifts typically start endowment funds to provide income for the maintenance of a nonprofit organization, and the donor usually limits use of the funds to a purpose that he or she specifies.

Maya Angelou inspires us to tell stories about heroes in our families, and I want to tell

you Ceil’s story. In dedicating the fund to my Aunt Ceil, I want to recognize her as

a hero in my family.

She turned 90 years old in December 2005, is in good

health, lives independently, and still drives her own car. Very devout in her religious faith, she volunteered for years at the Good Shepherd Care Center and still plays cards frequently.

As she wrote in a recent birthday card to me, she feels a special empathy for the clients that Touchstone Mental Health serves. Starting in her late 20s, she experienced some episodes of severe depression, required hospitalization, and received electroconvulsive treatments.

A nursing student at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul in the 1930s, she became a Registered Nurse and eventually taught nursing at St. Joseph’s. Later she worked in industrial nursing at the Burlington and Great Northern Railroad. She never married nor had any children, but she is a doting aunt to all her nieces and nephews.

She had long periods of stability, and her last episode of depression occurred during her 50s. Her strength and courage have always inspired me, and I want to honor her by naming the endowment fund for her.

Please consider making a donation to the Ceil Raleigh endowment fund and/or including Touchstone Mental Health in your estate planning. Our Board wants to invest this money until it grows to $100,000. Then the agency can use the interest earned on this investment to start new services in the future.

By Helen Raleigh, LICSW, Executive Director

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PAGE 3 TOUCHSTONE MENTAL H EALTH

Clients

• Dental floss• Dental work• Deodorant• Donations for medication copays• Facial tissue• Gift certificates for new shoes,

clothing• Hair care • Multivitamins• Shampoo & conditioner• Toilet paper• Toothbrushes & tooth paste• YM or YWCA or health-club

memberships

WISH LIST

• Art supplies• Bedroom Rugs (approx. 3x5)• Bus passes• Craft kits• Dish soap• Gift cards or certificates to coffee

shops, McDonald’s, Target, Cub• Lamp shade for large floor lamp• Laundry baskets with handles

(net type to carry with one hand)• Laundry soap and antitstatic

sheets for the dryer• Long-distance phone cards• Magazine subscriptions• Microwave, small, digital, for

the countertop• Movie tickets• Paper towels• Pillows, firm • Scrabble game• Table lamps• TV, portable, with

built-in VCR/DVD• VCR tapes/DVDs

PERSONAL CARE ITEMS OR SERVICES

OTHER ITEMS

QUILTING FOR LIFE

Quilting makes me mellow. The voices that I hear don’t bother me when I’m quilting.

Gay enjoys sewing, and Renee, a nurse from Case Management Services, thought that quilting might allow her to attain a goal she set herself and build her self-esteem. Renee, a quilter herself, finds that quilting is the kind of project that gives individuals with serious and persistent mental illness a break from some of the negative thoughts they have.

Quilting and other arts give individuals who practice them a chance to learn new things and feel a sense of accomplishment. Renee says, “When I quilt, I find it very meaningful as I think of the person to whom I am gifting the quilt. It requires a great deal of concentration to make quilts. Quilting is therapeutic because you must focus when doing it.”

Renee started using quilting therapeutically when her own quilting group helped make quilt blocks for clients at a group home where she worked previously. The women living in the home selected their blocks, and Renee worked with them to put the quilts together.

Each person in the group received a quilt. Renee collected many touching comments from those women. One recipient said, “This quilt is the most precious thing I own.” The women took the quilts with them when they left the home. Renee believes that the quilt became a reminder of what they are able to achieve.

Gay and Renee began the quilt in about 2003 and worked on it for about 10 months. Gay has found quilting to be fun and knows that she has learned a lot. She made her first quilt as a gift to her daughter. Renee helped her pick out fabric and patterns. She says, “I expected her

to complete the project, and she did. We worked on it together. Now she is able to do it on her own.”

Gay’s progress with the quilt paralleled her growth and recovery from serious mental illness.

She has worked with Case Management Services for eleven years, and for the past six months, she has been practicing DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy).

DBT helps individuals learn alternate behaviors that support recovery and growth. Gay has learned to distract herself from her negative thoughts by doing something else. Her

quilting keeps her busy on weekends, which tend to be difficult for her.

Gay decided to set herself some other challenges, one of which was decreasing services from Touchstone Mental Health. Slowly, she has reduced the number of monthly visits she receives.

She also has worked to achieve other goals. With the help of her daughter Tia, Gay found an apartment in Chaska that is closer to her daughter and that also meets her dream of living in the suburbs while retaining access to services. She had been looking for an apartment for 2 years. She finally found one and moves there on April 1.

The growth she achieved as part of her journey to her new life was frustrating at times, but she learned many things along the way and is grateful to Touchstone Mental Health for helping her.

Gay also knits and hooks rugs to relax and now wants to teach her daughter to quilt.

PAGE 4TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

HEALING WITH EXPRESSIVE ARTS,Continued

Continued on page 5

An expressive therapy group begins with a brief time for sharing, giving participants the opportunity to bring up any questions and concerns about the group and to share any expressive artwork that they have created at home since the last session. Then I guide the group’s members in centering themselves through paying attention to breath and bodily sensations and through simple physical movement.

The group next uses simple art materials to paint or draw spontaneously their emotions or inner imagery. Rhythmic music or drumming helps the participants stay focused and spontaneous while they are painting.

Participants work further with their paintings, either:

Imagining a dialogue with their pictures and writing it down or

Writing a story or poetry about the pictures or

Expressing the paintings with free-form physical movements, sometimes imagining becoming the painting and expressing it through their bodies.

Usually once in a series of a group’s sessions, people work with costumes and simple ritual to express more deeply the feelings and personalities coming through the paintings. Often each person partners with another group member to share feedback and impressions of their creations. Then the group’s members share their work at the end of the session, discussing their paintings, insights, and experiences with the group.

IN MY GROUPS Comments by some participants in my groups show its benefits: “I have been so energized and excited to

see things from a different view. I have found parts of myself that were difficult to tap with traditional talk therapy.”

“Wow. Put me in touch with feelings in a powerful way. It gave me another tool as a parent as well.”

“I found a place with other caring people where I can express parts of myself safely. I feel more relaxed.”

With spontaneous expression, we learn to make changes as we go, following inner instincts and feelings and becoming more flexible and able to adapt to unplanned situations in our lives.

Shifting our personal stories, images, and conversation changes how we perceive the world. For example, in one of my groups, a woman made a drawing of her heart, which brought her to an important insight and gave her the courage to pursue a new relationship: “I’ve been assuming my heart is broken forever. Suddenly I realized it has healed, and I am ready to go on with my life.”

Research shows that we learn better and retain our knowledge longer when physical movement accompanies learning. When focusing on sensations in the body and on emotions, we move out of our heads and feel more whole, joined with all the parts of ourselves. We become more connected with others and our environment.

For example, in another of my groups, a woman

struggling with an eating disorder was able to pay attention to parts of her body other than her belly for the first time.

Sometimes, as group members, we support others

physically or help each other balance during movements.

From this experience, we begin to accept emotional support and connection.

The arts are expressions of the soul, and the work can affect us in profound ways. Unleashing creativity increases vitality, and allows us to respond more creatively to all areas of our lives,

giving us the fuel we need for the hard work of growth and change.

When creating a picture, dance, or drama, we experience our inner selves making an impact on external reality. We empower ourselves.

Who Can It Help?Anyone. Everyone. Expressive arts help us express emotion, relieve stress, know ourselves

better, and become more creative. We can benefit if we struggle with mental health issues and with physical problems. If our work is in the helping professions, we can experience renewal and recovery from burnout. If we are artists, we can overcome blocks and free up creative

expression. If we don’t think of ourselves as artists, we can discover our creative gifts and apply them to other areas of life. Expressive arts therapy can

help resolve conflicts among individuals, families, and groups, and improve the

culture of any workplace.

ConclusionAt an expressive therapy workshop

that I attended, small groups were practicing movements and

By Kathie Bailey, LICSW

DONORS, DECEMBER 2005—MARCH 2006IndividualsNancy AbramsonAnonymous (1)Marie and Dick BarronSarah Brew and

Denny DraghiciuRhonda Simpson BrownJonathan BurrisBill CochraneCasey and Mishele

CunninghamMichaela DiercksSigne DyskenMarilyn EhlineLyn and Michael GerdisJudi GordonGreg and Janet JohnsonSharon Toll JohnsonMerrie KaasBirgit KellyDick and Madeleine LinckDavid and Karen MillerJeannette NelsonMary Ann and Dick PapkeKatherine Pollock

PAGE 5 TOUCHSTONE MENTAL H EALTH

Helen RaleighMargaret and Carl RoserMary Ellen RossDavid SagulaLinda Silver and

David RampLiz and John SjaastadKarla SwiggumBev and Earl ThompsonRon VillejoCarol WilliamsClaire Wright

In Honor of Anonymous in honor

of Bob MarionAnonymous in honor

of Helen RaleighSusan Armstrong in

honor of Peggy and Milton Wright

Holly and Tim Cashin in honor of Kathy Cashin

Bruce Freidson in honor of Helen Raleigh

Lorrie and Marlyn Johnson in honor of Marnie Johnson

Connie Mortensen-Long in honor of her parents

In Memory of Cynthia RiggsLarry and Susan BourgerieRonald and

Martha Hammer Jennie Leskela, Douglas

Choate, and AidanConnie and Bill RiggsMike and Carolyn Spence

Businesses and OrganizationsOsseo Lions Club

In Kind DonationsIndividualsKathleen Bakke

HEALING, Continued

MONITORING SLEEP

In May 2005, Gary spent the night in jail. He claimed he had a nervous breakdown on his way to treatment. Thinking he was a “bad karate guy,” he choked his van driver for no apparent reason. Then remorseful, he cried for an hour. Because of his aggressive behavior, the police arrested him for disorderly conduct. The next day he moved to the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC).

Gary’s symptoms of mental illness began when he was about 14 years old. His admission to VAMC was his second in a short period of time. Both hospitalizations were due to Gary’s becoming manic and delusional. In part, his symptoms had increased as a result of sleep deprivation.

Touchstone Residential Treatment admitted Gary in July 2005. Sometimes, he would not sleep at night or would get very limited amounts of sleep. With our staff ’s help, Gary began to manage his symptoms with medication and the appropriate amount of sleep. Our staff established the restriction that he needed to be home by 10 p.m. and in bed soon thereafter. When he woke up at night and came down for a smoke, staff prompted him to return to his room for additional sleep. They also prodded him to decrease the amount of stimuli that he received during the evening hours. Too much stimuli wound him up to the point where he was unable to go to sleep.

Soon he was actively involved in his treatments and able to engage other residents and staff socially. He attended most groups, participated in numerous recreational activities, completed his household chores as scheduled, and also frequently volunteered to do other people’s chores when they were unable to do them.

The staff ultimately discharged him to the Veterans’ Home in October 2005.

dramatic enactments for the larger group. One woman sat quietly on the edge of a low platform and began cutting up the painting she had made that day.

I found it a little horrifying to watch. What was she doing? She kept cutting, making small pieces, trimming off edges. As others in her group wound down, she began to lay out the pieces she had cut. They were letters. She put down the last letter at the same moment the rest of her group finished. The letters spelled WELLNESS.

Mental health practitioners widely recognize that physical activity can improve overall mental health and well-being and alleviate symptoms such as depression and anxiety. At Touchstone Residential Treatment, we encourage clients to get regular exercise but often are unsuccessful.

Last fall, we stepped up our efforts by implementing a weekly Mindful Movement Group that draws upon an ancient form of Chinese exercise called Qigong. Integrating a quality of mindfulness with breathing and movement, Qigong promotes relaxation, concentration, and vitality.

It’s gentle, easy to learn, and requires little space and no special equipment. Residents who attend find the movement to be enjoyable and calming. Individuals can continue

to practice it on their own after they leave our 90-day program. Several

participants have asked for handouts of the exercises so they can do them on their own.

MINDFUL MOVEMENT

Ron BellEmily BensonMary Blegen et al at

U.S. BankMichaela DiercksHanna MillerBarry NienstadtLori PeifferBarbara RadkeHelen RaleighJulie RyanMark SmithGretchen Zunkel et

al at Maplewood Health Partners Behavioral Health

Businesses and OrganizationsADJ & CFO

#268 MNFast Print

Kind WordsFROM TOUCHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH

Touchstone Assisted Living Apartments is developing a waiting list of adult women with serious and persistent mental illness to share a large, three-bedroom town home. This town home is separate from our main building in the same complex of town homes.

Residents walk across a courtyard to get medications, eat congregate meals that our staff prepares, and attend program meetings. They must be able to walk up stairs unassisted, handle a stove safely, and if they smoke, smoke safely.

Since they will share this housing, all candidates must be able to live with others. Each resident

ROOMMATES WANTED

Programs and Staff• Copier paper, white• Diskettes, blank IBM • Furniture dolly• Garbage bags (40 gal & 12 gal)• Laundry soap, dryer sheets• Laser Printer, new • Monitors, flat-panel • Mouse, Cordless (1 or more)• Pens, black • Paper shredder, new• Services from a print shop• Snow Removal for

Residential Sites

WISH LIST has her own bedroom and shares a bathroom, living room, kitchen, and dining room.

Staff is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and provides a wide range of assistance with living skills such as housekeeping, budgeting, personal care, and recreational or social activities.

Nurses assist residents with health care and are on-call around the clock.

If you know someone who might benefit from the housing and services at Touchstone Assisted Living Apartments, please contact the staff listed below. They would be glad to talk with you in detail about the services and the resident’s required qualifications.

Claire Wright, Director of Resident Services Kari Baune, Mental Health CoordinatorTelephone: 763-536-8134 Fax: 763-536-8893


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Documents

Spring 2006