STAR Center | Events — General Resources

Event Archive | Shared Resources (General)

Topic: Healing Our Hearts: Honoring our Black Ancestors and Ourselves

Date: February 16th, 2009

Time: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

Lead Presenter/Facilitator:

Mertice “Gitane” Williams is the Vocational Wellness Educator at Crestwood Behavioral Health and travels across the state to support and educate consumers, staff and families throughout the Crestwood network and beyond. Gitane has over 20 years experience as a community self-help leader in California. Her expertise include housing, cultural competency, SSI and collaborating with others to build learning communities for all ages. She is currently part of the Crestwood Leadership team, where she creates and designs pre-vocational and re-entry programs.

As a Vocational Wellness Educator and community navigator of the human race, having a spiritual experience, her deepest intention includes increasing her consciousness to enable transformational systems that are inclusive of everyone personal wellness and spiritual growth. Her vision is to support and enhance client/family members in welcoming attitudinal changes to allow healing in all cultural communities. Her prayer is that we also embrace the healing of the environment, inter-generational racial trauma, and leave peace as legacy to the next generation.

Other Presenters:

John Aldam is a Licensed Practical Nurse who worked ten years as an emergency room, medical/surgical, and psych nurse. He is also a Certified Peer Specialist and Wellness Resource Consultant leading healthy lifestyle groups and workshops both within the mental health community and at private retreat centers. He has presented at Medical Grand Rounds at hospitals in Western Mass. He has facilitated workshops at local and national conferences on wellness and trauma-informed practices.

In 2005 John received the Advocacy Award from the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium, the 2005 Massachusetts State House of Representations Citation Advocacy Award, and the 2005 Outstanding Community Service Award from the US House of Representatives, presented by John Olver. In 2006 John received the NAMI Heroes in the Fight Award. He has served on the boards of the Berkshire County NAMI chapter and the Citizen Monitoring Committee, Transformation Center in Boston. John is currently an active member of the Health Initiative task force in Mass.

John does consulting work for local community mental health centers in Western Mass, as a peer educator, mentor of transitional age youth, and leader of recovery groups and a WRAP Facilitator. He is a member of the Recovery Task Force that promoted recovery services in Berkshire County, and since 2006, has volunteered as a peer supporter and recovery group leader in the inpatient units at local community hospitals, where doctors in training have been required to attend one of his groups as part of their rotation.

Can Truong does advocacy, educational training, and consulting on recovery, mental health empowerment, and spiritual/cultural healing. He is alumni of the University of Chicago and Wright State University. In addition to his recovery consultant work, he is a certified NexLeveL Business Plan Instructor, teaching entrepreneurial skills to support and strengthen small businesses and promote economic development. He is also an advanced level WRAP trainer.

As one of the few Asian American mental health advocates in this country, he serves on numerous boards and committees. In 2005, he represented the U.S. consumer movement at the World Federation Mental Health Congress in Cairo, Egypt.

Introduction:

During the month of February, we acknowledge and honor Black History Month!

Black History Month shares the same timeframe with Valentine’s Day which can, perhaps, be seen to invite us to revisit, review, and appreciate our lives and valued relationships with a genuine kind of love for ourselves and others.

Co-Learning Objectives:

To pause, review, revisit and celebrate aspects of our lives and other from valuing Black History
To experience sharing comments with others during a supportive time that values learning from our own lives and from others’ lives
To explore assumptions, beliefs, values, and feelings in a multicultural context

During this teleconference and discussion you are invited to make of this time together an opportunity to share comments about yourself, your feelings, and about how someone who happens to be Afro-American has mattered or does matter to you!

Audio

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If you have any questions, please feel free to contact STAR Center staff.