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Visionary JournalVisionary Journal Vail Uptown | Minneapolis MN | US

March 2018 Let Us Give

You A

SHOUT OUT

In This Issue: Shout Outs 1

Day On The Hill 1

Orientation Help 1

Vocational Updates 2

Saving Grace 3

Social Media 3

BD Updates 4

Reach-Out All Stars 4

Social Rec 5

Newsletter Contributors 5

Clubhouse News 6

Birthdays 6

Member Spotlight 7

CHD Update 7

Wellness Team 7

Change Matters 8

Garage Sale Team 8

Did you accomplish something

recently that you’d like others at

Uptown Vail to know? Let us

give you a shout-out!

Michaela S– Congratulations on

passing your test and becoming a

Member Banker!

Paul G, Stephen S, Aaron E-

Congratulations on your new

housing vouchers!

Joseph S—Sober since January

1st!

Lisa B– Got a job!

Patrick K– Wrote a letter of invite

to Mayor J.Frey!

Mitch S—Had a job interview!

Tom N– Smoke free for 3 months!

Frank D—Getting to the YMCA to

go swimming!

The Wedge- Thanks to The Wedge Co-op for their gracious support and donation of over $7,600 through the Change Mat-ters! Program!

Nothing About Us Without US!

Hi, I’m Gayle W. and I want to

invite you to a public event in St

Paul at the Capital on

March 15th

.

It’s the Day on the Hill an annual

event that has been held for over

20 years that I have been going.

A person goes and hears differ-

ent speakers talk about mental

health issues that our legislators

are discussing and deciding

mainly here in Minnesota but also

in Washington. Some of the

elected officials do come speak

also and usually a person with

lived experience is also a speak-

er. I have spoken there twice

and it is an awesome experience

not only to speak but to listen to

all the things that go on. Because

there should be nothing in the

mental health system that goes

on without input from us consum-

er members of the system! Sign

up to attend this event with the

Clubhouse.

By: Gayle W

We’re looking for people to

help us welcome new mem-

bers on Thursdays for orienta-

tion! Come share your Vail

stories and spread the word

about this place! See Jean or

Danielle if you’re interested in

joining our team!

2018 Legislative Education at the Club

If you plan to attend Day on the Hill with Vail Place or the Thursday sessions at the Capital please join us Monday night March 12th 5:30 – 6:30 at the Clubhouse as we watch a live webinar to learn the basics of lobbying and why it is important. The 2018 legislative session is about to begin! Mental Health Minnesota co-chairs the Mental Health Legislative Network, which is made up of more than 40 organizations working togeth-er to improve the state’s mental health system. Join us on to learn about lobbying and what YOU can do to make your voice heard this legislative session.

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Vocational News & Updates

Transitional Employment:

Charles C.— Kowalski’s Hennepin Ave

Bob W. — Kowalski’s Chicago Ave

Supported Employment:

Randall T.— Crosstown Covenant Church Mike J. – Coastal Seafood Thomas C. – Coastal Seafood Thomas S.— Coastal Seafood James S.— Kowalski’s Hennepin Ave Mike B.—Kowalski’s Hennepin Ave. Tommy W.—Kowalski’s Hennepin Ave.

Vocational Book – Are you looking for a job? Wondering what types of jobs are available in the community?

Office Assistant, House Keeping/Janitorial/ General Labor; Food & Beverage, Cashier and Customer Service.

Come in and review the department book of listings. There are two Vocational Books in the Clubhouse; one is

located in the Employment space and the other is in the Community room on the first floor. These books have

job leads listed in them for you to review. We work on these job leads in the Business Department, so come

up and learn how to view these and add to our books.

Vocational Assistance hours allow members to sign up for 1:1 time to work on tasks such as: employment

searches, applying online for jobs, creating a resume and or cover letter or to discuss employment topics or

concerns; finding a volunteer site for YOU and searching your options for returning to school. You can sign up

for assistance in the “green sign-up” binder located in the Vocational Department. Times are available Tues-

day, Wednesday and Thursday.

Education -Congrats to Tamara, David, Mykea and Kandace. They are back at the books studying

and are in school this semester. Reminder: we are looking for tutor or study buddies in the club-

house. Come to the Vocational Office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to learn more on how you

can help.

JOB FAIR INFO

How about working at Target Field this summer?

Vail Place will be taking a van to the job fair on Tues-

day, March 6, 2018 at Sabathani Community Center.

Delaware North will be interviewing potential employ-

ees for positions ranging from culinary workers, wait

staff, food runners, host/hostesses etc. See flyer at

the clubhouse for further details. Bring your resume

and dress professionally. The van will leave at 10:45.

Next Job Fair: Monday April 2, 9am – 2pm at the

Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis Central.

Vocational Celebration Dinner

Tuesday, March 20th

5:00 to 7:00

March is our next month to acknowledge

those in our community who have been

working, going to school or volunteering.

Come to this dinner and learn from them on

how they have added this to their life, why

they do it and ask questions that might help

you get started.

Employment

Congrats to our 17 members

who started a new job last

year and have maintained

employment. The adjust-

ments to this new change in

ones life, meeting new peo-

ple, changing your schedule

etc. GREAT JOB!

Mike B / Russell B / Burton C / Charles C /

Thomas C / Zara G / Greg J / Kandace K / Nate

K / Jude M / David N / Mike S / Thomas S /

James S / Stephen St. / Bob W / Thomas W

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Shaving Grace was a huge success! This was a Vail

Place fundraiser that was right after the Vail Mem-

ber History Theatre Performance Tuesday evening

2-13-18. We raised over $13,000 and will now be

able to receive a $5000 matching grant (since we

raised over $5000). There was lots of laughter and

good natured ribbing as several brave members and

staff had their hair or beards shaved off. Chad sac-

rificed his hair braid, and the following folks also

gave up their hair for Vail: Kevin and Richard W

from Hopkins (beards), David B (beard), Frank D

(beard & head shaved), Paul (beard), Tom L (beard), Bill M (haircut) and Kevin (haircut). Chad B gave up his

beard, hair & the ponytail that he has had for 12 years, and Eric gave up the beard that he has had for 20 years,

and Jonathan now has a shaved head. Feel free to ask them their name if you don’t recognize them! Many

thanks to everyone who was part of this fundraiser- especially to Richard W and Chad B who came up with

this idea, Stephano LoVerso (Vail Place External Affairs) & Vicky Couillard (Vail Place Executive Director),

Bonnie (Vail Place Marketing Manager) , Paul from the MN History Theatre, the 3 barbers who donated their

time and skills to do the shaving & haircutting (inc. Ralph from Vail Hopkins), the many people who donated

money, or their time and skills, and to everyone who came to cheer everyone on!

By: Michele M

Our Clubhouse is making its presence known on our Facebook page, with pho-tos being shared at least once a week! Our Facebook Live video at Shaving Grace was also a huge success! We are excited to share more of what we do on social media so that the Clubhouse is not a well-kept secret and we have oppor-tunities in both departments to be involved in expanding our social media pres-ence. Be on the look-out for Bonnie, our social media guru, to be joining us in March to guide us in how to be successful marketers of the Clubhouse. We have lots of great opportunities coming up and your ideas are needed! In the mean-time, we ask that you sign our photo release form called “Authorization for Use and Disclosure of Information/Photos for Use in Marketing and Advertising” and return to Katie. This helps us keep track of folks who want to be photographed for our publications. If you have event photos for our Facebook page, see Katie!

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NEW BANK HOURS!

Monday: 10-12:00, 1:30-3:00

Tuesday: 10-12:00, 1:30-3:00

Wednesday: 10-12:00

Thursday: 10-12:00, 1:30-3:00

Friday: 10-12:00, 1:30-3:00

NEWS FROM

THE

BUSINESS

DEPARTMENT

The past few weeks the Business Department has been focusing

on organizing our projects and we would love to have you join us!

We have re-vamped the Finance area and have lots of opportuni-

ties available if you’re looking to try your hand at finances! Maybe

money isn’t your strong suit? No biggie… Come join us in creat-

ing Newsletter articles and getting the stories out! Still not strik-

ing your fancy? … How about helping your community with their

Employment and Vocational needs? Our Vocational department

is in full force and could always use your help!

So next time you think, “Man, I wonder what’s going on up there

in the Business Department?” stop by and say hello! We hope to

see you for our weekly Business Department meeting- Thursdays

@ 11:00 a.m.!

Come see the re-vamp of our

Finance area! Here’s Carrie

searching for any lost coins !

At the International Seminar, I attended a break-out session called, “Through Think & Thin: The Critical Role of Reach-Out”. A few things to consider… Instead of a list of names, re-frame Reach Out as a relationship. We care about each other and we need their gifts and strengths here! Imagine how much it would change things around here if 10 more people came every day.

Voicemails can still make someone feel appreciated- leave a message thanking someone for the work they did in the department!

Imagine how much it would change things around here if 10 more people came every day.

Check in with the person sitting right next to you!

Knowing members’ patterns and reaching out when their pattern changes

Get buddied up with a new member!

“When are you coming in? Can we call you if you don’t come in?”

Add it to your department meeting “Is there someone we should reach out to today?”

Call someone for reach-out and get a group together to sing them a song!

Join me at Reach-Out All Stars on Tuesday March 6th and March 27th at 11:30am to share your ideas and make them happen!

When’s the last time

you made your way up

to the

Business Department?

REACH-OUT ALL STARS!

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This month’s newsletter contributors:

Carrie F: Articles Rose M: Article & Photos

Katie L: Article & Photos Michaela S: Article

Sam: Photos Chad B: Photos & Article

Addie P: Editor & Photos Michele M: Article & Photo

Gayle W: Article Josh S: Articles

Be a part of the newsletter team—join us in the Business Depart-

ment on Wednesdays at 11:00 to discuss newsletter content and

production.

SOCIAL

REC

In January, 7 members went on a C-O-O-L outing! We

went to Rice Park to see the ice palace; as well as drag-

on, trees, and fairy ice sculptures. Cheese curds were

shared and some members had apple cider. Then we

went on to the fairgrounds where only 3 (CJ, Sam &

Rose) ventured out of the warm van to enjoy about 20

fabulous snow sculptures! An invigorating, grand time

was had by all… Hope to see you next snowfall!

Michaela & Sam with delicious home

made treats for Valentine’s Day!

The group enjoying cheese curds at the Ice Palace!

Valentine’s Day cooking crew!

On Feb 17, 3 adventurous Vail Placers ,

plus Sam & C.J., headed to Lowry Park

and went out on snow shoes. It was a

beautiful day, beautiful park and very ex-

hilarating . There was a nature center to

explore as well as a set of “unknown” ani-

mal tracks we discovered on the lake!

By: Rose M

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DECISION MAKING MEETING UPDATES:

As a reminder to everyone; we will only have one topic per meeting in

addition to reviewing the standards.

Decisions made in January were:

1. The return of the Government in Action committee to the Clubhouse. This committee meets the

last Friday of each month, at 10:00 AM in the dining room. The focus of this meeting is to educate

the Clubhouse regarding mental health issues and legislative efforts. The actions that Club mem-

bers can take are; attending Day on the Hill, and other government events as well as contacting

their legislators and city council members.

2. Modifying of decision-making meetings to only one topic per meeting. The topic may only be dis-

cussed for half an hour so as to leave the remainder of the hour to review standards.

International Clubhouse News

Three new clubhouses have kicked off in 2018!

Venture House Staten Island in NYC opened on January 10th. This is an additional clubhouse for

the family of clubs in NYC that has been around for 30 years. It is located in a cozy single-level

house and has 18 members on board so far. Congrats!!

Norway Coalition is expanding. This country is the fastest growing nation for our Clubhouse move-

ment and they now have 14 clubs. They have added programs in Gjorvik and Trondheim and

have goals of reaching 20 clubs by 2020.

Juliette S 3/1 Kathleen C 3/15 Gail F 3/27

Tonderleauh D 3/2 Janet F 3/16 Burton C 3/28

Travis M 3/3 John R 3/16 Kristin I 3/30

David W 3/4 Patrick C 3/17

Paul G 3/5 William L 3/18

Michael J 3/5 Timothy J 3/20

Michael O 3/7 Christine S 3/20

Megan H 3/8 Bailey F 3/21

Dennis N 3/8 Lynette B 3/24

Eric A 3/9 Phillip C 3/25

Jeff A 3/10 Courtland Z 3/25

Ruth Ann V 3/14 Terry P 3/26

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An interview with Travis- spoken by Travis and written by Michele McG

Hi! I’m Travis and I live with Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s is an

inherited disease that you can’t catch from me. It affects the cells in

my brain- so it affects my movements- making me unsteady on my

feet and giving me some jerky move-

ments called Chorea, when I am sit-

ting. It also affects someone’s think-

ing and moods. There are now tests

people can take to see if they have

inherited the disease.

Before my Huntington’s disease- I did lots of different kinds of work. I

worked at mines in Alaska – part of it was in the Artic Circle. I’ve also

worked for the railroad, worked as a trucker and a painter. I was pret-

ty active before I developed Huntington’s disease. I’ve done skydiving, skiing, river rafting etc. I’m

open to talking about Huntington’s and to answer any questions that you may have.

Community Hospitality Department Update

Our department has updated the daily tasks boards used at the morning and afternoon meet-

ings. Rather than signing up for a certain task, members and staff will choose “teams” they would

like to join. Each team will then work together to complete team tasks. Please visit the department to

look at the new teams and review the clipboards listing the tasks for each team.

Wellness Presentation – Gym Memberships

What: Come learn about free/discounted gym memberships!

Why: Moving your body is the #1 way to care for your health!

When: Wednesday, March 14 @ 11am

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Ch

an

ge

Re

ally

Do

es M

atte

r!

Vail Place was The Wedge Co-op Change Matters! recipient for

the month of December. This program offers to Wedge Co-op

members to “round up” their bill as a donation to a recipient or-

ganization for the month. This event was a tremendous success

increasing the visibility of our agency and Clubhouse The

Wedge Co-op Community through several tabling and employee

education events throughout the month of December. Numer-

ous Wedge staff and customers stopped by the Vail booth to

learn more about what how Vail helps to support the hopes and

efforts for the recovery of our members and offered thanks,

words of encouragement and even a few donations. In January

we found out that The Wedge Co-op community added to this in

person by “rounding up” a donation of over $7,600 for Vail

Place. We offer a special shout out “THANKS!” to The Wedge

Co-op community for their support!!!

Do you want to help shape how our open house looks this year? Have a really great idea for the Vail Place Garage Sale this spring? We are seeking committee members to help pull

together the details and help us make these spring events succeed.

Sign up in the Community Hospitality Department under the special projects board if you'd like to be a part of the team to

help make these events rock and roll!