For people who need treatment and don’t re-ceive it–may they rec-ognize their need, be-lieve life can be better, and find people who can help. For those burdened by shame and stigma–may they walk into the light and find compassionate people.

Lord, we pray for light in the darkness. We pray that people with vulnerable minds will find hope and help among your followers who will love them and point them toward what they need while letting them live with that need. We pray for ac-ceptance and grace–the same kind of grace you offer so freely to all. We pray that faith com-munities will embrace the opportunity for messy and sometimes thankless ministry among the marginal-ized, in the name of the one whose love knows no margins.

Pastor Tim Davenport–Herbst read this prayer at the NAMI Texas of San Angelo Community Rally for Mental Health earlier this month. We all loved it so much, we wanted to share!

Loving God, God of Hope: we pray for all whose brains have been hurt by dis-ease, injury, stress, trauma, and other factors in this won-derful but often pain-ful world. We pray for all who love them and want to help. We pray for your comfort in their grief, hope amid loss, and the balm of community with people who un-derstand.

For people with men-tal illness–may they find hope in you and feel your longing for them. For parents of chil-dren with mental ill-

ness–may they know the limits of their power both to cause and to cure. For children of parents with mental illness–may they know you as loving parent and find places where they can grow up in safety, no matter how old they are. For friends of suffering people–may they resist the temptation to try to “fix” their friends and rec-ognize the simple power of their loving presence. For spiritual leaders–may they deny both helpless-ness and overconfidence, courageously serving as first responders and faith-ful shepherds.

Prayer for Mental Illness

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Our favorite

recipe

2

MI and the

Holidays

3

Our Garden 4

Your ad here! 5

SleepOut

America

7

My job at

McDonalds

7

Director’s

Corner

8

S A N A N G E L O

C L U B H O U S E

San Angelo

Clubhouse Caller D E C E M B E R , 2 0 1 9

U P C O M I N G

S O C I A L S :

• 1/1: New Year’s

Day Pot Luck

• 1/7: In-House

Movie Night!

• 1/18: Saturday

Bowling

• 1/22: Painting

Class

• 1/29: Escape

Room

Call or come in to

register for socials by

the day before!

By: Tim Davenport-Herbst Adaption of prayer by Amy Simpson

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread By: Kristy Rodriguez

Welcome to the culinary unit! I hope your family and friends can enjoy our sweet tooth

recipe. We recently attended a luncheon, for MHMR and this is what we prepared. We

would like to share our recipe with you and wish you happy holidays. This takes 15

minutes to prep and an hour to cook

Ingredients:

1 2/3 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Cup White Sugar

1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Pinch Ground Nutmeg

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/2 Cup Melted Butter

2 Eggs

1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a loaf pan.

2. Stir flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together

in a large bowl.

3. Whisk pumpkin, butter, and eggs together in a separate bowl. Stir in chocolate

chips. Fold pumpkin mixture into flour mixture. Pour pumpkin batter into prepared

loaf pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf

comes out clean, 1 hour.

Mental Illness and the Holidays

By: Ruben Gallegos

Hi, my name is Ruben, and I live with mental illness.

Mental illness can severely affect a person’s behavior,

ability to do work, relationships, physical health, and

their feelings and perceptions of the world. These symptoms can affect a person every

day of the year. It can also be devastating times for families dealing with an individual

suffering with Mental Illness.

And as if these symptoms aren’t enough, there is one more devastating issue that can

affect those suffering with mental illness: The Holidays.

What follows is taken from my own experiences with my “mental illness and the holi-

days”, along with suggestions to survive these times.

Holiday Blues

The holidays can be amazing times, full of memories and laughter. But the holidays have

a way of bringing out an incredible amount of anxiety in an extremely short period of

time.

And for people with mental health issues, who already feel different from everyone

else, the holiday season can trigger and worsen already feelings of:

Depression

Being overwhelmed

And two of the worst things to feel over the holidays: isolation and loneliness.

Loneliness can cut deep. Individuals who experience chronic loneliness may carry pro-

found scars from past emotional experiences. (Continued on pg. 6)

By: Ruben Gallegos

While participating in Clubhouse Foundations training at Fountain House in New York City, I volunteered in the Home and Garden Unit. In working in the unit I saw daily the wellness benefits resulting from the gardening activities. In returning to the San Angelo Clubhouse, we saw a story in the Standard-Times written by Allison Watkins about preparing the fall harvest. We decided it was a sign for us to get started, and that we would attempt to grow some vege-tables and flowers, and to hopefully reap the wellness benefits for our Clubhouse. In planning our new endeavor, we became aware of some challenges:

It was late summer, with regular 100+ degree temperatures, and home improvement stores were not selling starter vegetable plants.

We had an approximately 70-80 days before the first freeze in the fall (important if we wanted to harvest fully ripe vegetables).

The ground around our Clubhouse would need considerable preparation before we could plant.

So, we gathered as a Clubhouse and decided to take on our challenges by doing the following:

With a seed catalog, Culinary Unit members choose varieties that had the shortest seed-to-harvest times and could be used in meals.

We decided to establish the seeds indoors to give the plants the best start in life. We decided to grow the plants in large plant containers to better control the growing envi-

ronment and water needs.

When the seeds arrived, we planted.

Over the next few months our vegetable plants grew with a lot of TLC from Clubhouse mem-bers (and staff).

The whole exercise provided excitement and camaraderie for the Clubhouse. Even a tad bit of anxiety when we transplanted our seedlings to pots outdoors in 100+ degree temperatures.

And, we were successful!

From seed-to-harvest: Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant, Jalapenos, Cucumbers, Tomatoes. And, we were successful!

Our successful San Angelo Clubhouse Garden provided members (and staff):

• a sense of responsibility in looking after the plants

• allowed us all to be nurturers

Our Garden at the San Angelo Clubhouse

• allowed us to be connected to other living things

• and allowed us to relax and let go of anxiety

We are already looking forward to next year!

Your Ad Here!

Starting in 2020, we will be selling ads in the San Angelo Clubhouse Newsletter!

You can either submit camera-ready ads (i.e., business card) for $25, or our members can design an ad for

you for an additional $10. Call for pricing on ads larger than business-card size.

Submit ads to sanangeloclubhouse@gmail.com, or call 325-617-7884 for more information.

Family and Organizational Support

Individuals, families and friends should know symptoms and watch out for each

other

Allowing people with mental illness to be open and honest to the degree they

are comfortable with seeking help during the Holiday season, such as an event

like this, allows them to feel included and a part of the celebration as opposed

to being on the outside looking in.

Seeking Help

I have survived the holidays by following a few tips:

• Be honest with the people you trust and tell them you’re feeling lonely. Di-

vulging these feelings can be hard, but most people will appreciate it, and

even try to help.

• The simple idea of not being alone in a tough situation can often be enough

to make it tolerable. As one of my counselors told me, never worry alone!

Attend a holiday celebration. Call a close friend. Go out for coffee or to shop

or gifts.

• If the holidays are difficult and you are in treatment, perhaps it’s time to in-

crease the frequency of therapy. You take pain medication to manage pain

before it gets too bad. In the same way, it’s important to make sure you

make those appointments before a problem worsens.

And people mental illness should try to override the instinct to isolate. Loneli-

ness feeds on itself.

Conclusion

Living with Mental illness is just that – Living. It is important to remember to

create new memories and have some fun.

We all need to reach out and watch for each other in keeping with the spirit

of the season.

Continued from page 3

Hello, my name is Ben Jensen and I work

at the McDonalds on Southwest Boule-

vard. I’ve been working there for about 2

months now. Some of my job duties are

to make sure the bathrooms, lobby and

playroom are swept and the trash taking

out. It is also my responsibility to check

the ice makers for ice and fill them when

needed. One of the reasons why I really

enjoy my job is because I get to greet and

socialize with people. I am grateful for

the opportunity to work at McDonalds.

My job at McDonalds

Sleep Out America

By: Julie Graham

On Friday, November 22nd, we got together to hangout and sleep outside to raise money and

awareness for children who are homeless. We watched some videos to learn about kids who are

homeless throughout the U.S., played games, made s’mores outside, and had a lot of fun. A few of us

got together and made three no-sew blankets. While making the blankets, I remembered that there

are people who have it much worse than I and I need to feel grateful for what I have. This made me

want to do more to help homeless children in our city. This night was a great blessing to me because

it made me think about someone other than myself. (Note: We raised $580 for Covenant House, and

collected items to donate to our local youth who are homeless)

ance on Mental Illness is a

grassroots organization that

that supports, educates, and

advocates for people with

mental illness and their fami-

lies. The San Angelo Club-

house is excited to host this

important community re-

source.

In November, we raised

funds and awareness for

Homeless Youth, raising

more than $500 for Covenant

House and starting some

great conversation about the

issue of youth homelessness

in our own community. We

also celebrated with a HUGE

Thanksgiving meal. It was so

wonderful to spend the

By: Ami Mizell - Flint

So much has happened at

the San Angelo Clubhouse

since our last newsletter, I al-

most don’t know where to

begin.

In September, we had a

Wizard of Oz-themed Home-

coming Dance, sponsored by

Superior HealthPlan, where

the Clubhouse morphed into

the Land of Oz and we danced

(and ate) the night away.

Can’t wait to do it again next

year with a new theme!

In October, the San Angelo

Clubhouse hosted it’s first

NAMI Texas in San Angelo

meeting! The National Alli-

Thanksgiving holiday with our

Clubhouse Family.

In December, we decorated the

Clubhouse for Christmas, deco-

rated stockings, exchanged gifts

as Secret Santas, and enjoyed

another Clubhouse Family meal

together.

All of this, with weekly socials,

daily activities, employment as-

sistance, and our new Clubhouse

Coffee To-Go delivery service

(more on that next month!), have

kept us super busy!

Looking forward to a fantastic

2020~ If you haven’t been to the

Clubhouse, or haven't been in a

while, come and see all the great

things happening. We look for-

ward to seeing you soon!

404 S. Irving

San Angelo, TX 76904

Phone: 325-617-7884

Email:sanangeloclubhouse@gmail.com

What is the San Angelo Clubhouse?

The Clubhouse is NOT just a “place to

hang out!” It is a place where people

with mental illness come to work on

their recovery, while learning job skills

and social skills.

It is a community, where we work to

grow stronger, together.

If you know someone who has mental

illness (anxiety, depression, bi-polar,

schizophrenia, PTSD), please encourage

them to come by for a tour!

San Angelo Clubhouse

Director’s Corner

Empower-Recover-Independence-Stability

Find us on the web!

www.sanangeloclubhouse.org