Hopkins Vail Place Newsletter August 2014

CLUBHOUSE GUARANTEES:

◆ A guaranteed right to a place to come ◆ A guaranteed right to meaningful work ◆ A guaranteed right to meaningful relationships ◆ A guaranteed right to a place to return

Please be sure to be green and share, then RECYCLE this newsletter after you’re done with it!! It really is easy being green!!

Here are all the members and staff who worked on this month’s newsletter:

L.A. Karen G. Desi H.

Chelsea E. Kristina S. Ubah O.

For more about us go to www.vailplace.org

THE VAIL VOICE

August 2014- Page 6

15 9th Avenue South Hopkins MN - 55343 (952) 938-9622

We love receiving articles from members and staff for our newsletter! The best method to ensure that we receive your submissions is to email them to us at:

cegenberger@vailplace.org If you prefer to handwrite articles, we would be happy to assist in typing them with you.

Contact Clerical for more information!

Average daily attendance

for the month of July:

37

This year’s Vail Place Hopkins camping trip was two nights and three days,

from July 23-25. Father Hennepin State Park was very adventurous, inter-

esting and amazing. There were 12 of us who went camping, and members

from the Minneapolis clubhouse were camping just along the way.

We got all set up and decided to jump in the lake. When we went to the

lake, the sand was so soft and the lake was so big you couldn’t see the other

side; it was freezing but so clear and after a while you couldn’t tell the lake

was cold.

There were some pretty funny times: When “Cranky Ranger Roy” was upset

that we were playing music too loud-too late, when the hobo dinner caught

on fire and when some became charcoal. Then the amazing late night hike

was on Thursday night.

Abdul, Stella, Patrick, Kristina, C.J. and I walked thru the trail to a dock to

watch the stars. Most of us caught a shooting star and the water was so

calm. We woke up Friday morning to a storm and everything was saturated.

Abdul and Terry were adamant about taking down tents; we couldn’t start a

fire to have coffee, but thanks to Minneapolis Vail we were able to use its

Clubhouse Keeps Embers Burning on Mille Lacs Camping Trip By Desi. H.

Stella C. and Peggy M. take in the soft waves of Lake Mille

Lacs on the clubhouse camping trip July 23-25.

grill for coffee or we would all be crabby.

We left the site about 11 a.m. to go eat brunch at this awesome restau-

rant called Happy’s. We were home by 3 p.m.

THE VAIL VOICE

Hopkins Vail Place Newsletter August 2014

August 2014 - Page 1

St. Paul’s History Theatre to Help Assist Us in Creating Ourselves By L.A.

If clubhouse members are suddenly noticing two strangers at Vail Place these days, there is a logical, even dramatic reason for it.

Two representatives of St. Paul’s History Theatre are spending every Monday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon here to not only learn all

about clubhouse but to help mold our individual and collective stories into, well - - - what they say will be a theatrical presentation of our-

selves.

Signe Harriday and Ellen Fenster, both teaching artists with the History Theatre, are doing everything they can to find out what makes us tick

and what it is about both Vail Place Hopkins and Minneapolis which uniquely represent the Clubhouse International model of recovery from

mental illness.

Harriday is quick to point out that the History Theater won’t necessarily be teaching us or leading us in a theatrical production about Vail

Place when everything is scheduled to come together on their stage later this year on Dec. 18.

Rather, according to Harriday, it likely will not be a production but some kind of theatrical representation of ourselves as members and staff

working together, side by side in an equal way.

“It will be an opportunity for members to tell their stories,” she said. “The reason we’re not really calling it a production is because we don’t

know what everyone will want to create. Ellen and I are going to (simply) guide members through a creative process.”

Just like clubhouse and Vail Place are a community and a welcoming place for members to come, as well as working on a basis of consensus,

or as we so fondly like to call it, “twinkling” agreement with our hands, the History Theatre, too, sees itself operating as a theatrical commu-

nity of consensus or agreement. “It is a collaborative process, said Harriday. “In consensus, we call it collaboration.”

Harriday and Fenster intend to be as much a part of Vail Place every Monday and Wednesday now until Dec. 18 as the clubhouse is a mean-

ingful place for work, relationships, friendships and place to return for us members. “We’re here to create,” she said. And that very much

entails what Vail Place has to share with her and Ellen and what they have to share with Vail Place, all the way up to the stage date, Dec. 18,

barring any unforeseen scheduling changes in the long, but elaborate and creative process.

Mentoring During Work-Ordered Day (WOD) Makes for Memorable Moments By Bethany M.

The unique structure of the clubhouse enables everyone. Both staff mem-

bers and clubhouse members need to learn the structure of the Work-

Ordered Day (WOD), as well as the jobs and responsibilities that go into

running the clubhouse.

While the philosophy between the Minneapolis clubhouse and the Hopkins

clubhouse remains the same, we both do things a little differently; this is

where the role of member mentorship comes through.

Members tell me about how peer mentorship has helped them come out of

their shells and out of their homes; how it helps them make friends and

gives them something to do that matters. Vail Place encourages everyone to

learn and participate, which allows us to grow inside and outside of this

community.

In order to work, let alone be comfortable here, I needed help. I was not even sure of the WOD hours. I was taught how to run the snack bar and

was shown patience by tutors and hungry costumers, who would further their patience while I was learning their names.

Peers teaching peers is one of the best ways we learn. We feel a camaraderie through shared experience and the mentee learns from people who

know and are often experts in their chosen arena.

We gain a greater sense of community and confidence, which we can share in other communities we go to. Thank you, everyone, for helping me

learn not only the rules and procedures, but that I have a community in Hopkins Vail Place.

THE VAIL VOICE

August 2014 - Page 2

The Roll and Stroll for Mental Health Tour de Vail, sponsored and host-

ed by Vail Place Hopkins and Minneapolis for the 13th consecutive year

Saturday, July 12 at Lake Calhoun in south Minneapolis, attracted all

kinds of participants in various shapes and sizes on all modes of trans-

portation.

Whether it was in the form of online skates, bikes and trikes, buggies on

wheels or just plain running, jogging or walking, Roll and Stroll includ-

ed entertainment courtesy of the Out of the Blue band, popular and ra-

dio and television star Nicole Bella Remini and Vail Place Hopkins’

own Faces of Stella face painting artist Stella C. and none other than

member Tim B., sporting his whimsical red and white, coiled-spring

Santa hat.

Tim procured the unusual hat as part of his volunteer work at the Be-

thesda Thrift Shop, now in Robbinsdale where he still volunteers, and at

the earlier Hopkins location. Volunteering at Bethesda, Tim mused,

often gives him the first chance at a variety of articles donated to the

thrift shop.

The 123 some participants taking part in Tour de Vail this year all re-

ceived a colorful tie-dyed T-shirt hand-dyed my both Hopkins and Min-

neapolis members during four different days dedicated to the project in

the backyard of the Minneapolis clubhouse. Participants also received

sparkling bracelets of fluorescent colors hand-made by Hopkins club-

house members under the careful instruction and tutelage of member

Amber D.

Amazingly, the rain held off until at least after lunch, and by then, most

of those taking part in the event were well on their way home.

The Roll and Stroll for Mental Health is one of Vail Place’s largest

fundraisers of the year, not only resulting in the proceeds raised from

participants in the event, but also from generous contributors, according

to Kate Gillen, communication and development specialist for Vail

Place.

The first unofficial year for Tour De Vail in 2002, when Executive Di-

rector Vicky Couillard and three others took a bicycle trip from the

Minneapolis clubhouse around one of Minneapolis’ parks, raised

$7,600, Kate said.

Since then, the amount raised each year by Tour de Vail has fluctuated

but has almost always either hit or come close to hitting its goal before

organizing the event for the summer season.

Thus far this year,

with one last e-mail

still to go to make an additional plea for people to donate, the amount raised has

been about $24,000 for Vail Place Hopkins and Minneapolis programs.

“We’re still going to do one last e-mail to help us toward reaching this year’s

goal,” said Kate.

Of the 123 some people who participated in the 2014 version of Roll and Stroll for

Mental Health Tour de Vail, some signed up to take part actually on July 12, and

there were even some who paid the registration fee to be a part of it all but by-

passed the festivities for the day.

“We had some people come the day of it,” Kate said.

Tour de Vail this year was sponsored by Optum. Additional sponsors were Amer-

prise Financial, North Memorial Medical Center, Hagan and Associates and the

Schatz Real Estate Group. Those who volunteered their time and/or participated

included Tonka Cycle & Ski, the MN Roller Girls, Out of the Blue, the Corner

Balloon Shoppe, MC and Nicole Bella Remini.

Participants bike, trike, skate, jog, run, walk for Tour de Vail By L.A.

Minneapolis Vail Clubhouse Director Carrie Framsted, left,

and Liz N., middle, talk with Tim B., right, donning his goofy,

red and white, coiled-spring Santa hat at Roll and Stroll.

Stella C., armed with all of her Faces by Stella

equipment, paints the face of Robin A. as part of

Roll and Stroll July 12.

A young volunteer assistant, left, arranges scarves while Am-

ber D., right, continues work on her colorful bracelets given

to each Tour de Vail participant.

THE VAIL VOICE

August 2014 - Page 5

Standard of the Month

23) The Clubhouse offers its own supported and independent employment programs to assist

members to secure, sustain and subsequently, to better their employment. As a defining

characteristic of supported employment, the Clubhouse maintains a relationship with the work-

ing member and the employer. Members and staff in partnership determine the type, frequency

and location of desired supports.

Jackie M. Will Be Fishing Around for Jobs as New Employment Specialist By Karen G.

As the new employment specialist at Vail Place Hopkins, Jackie M. has at least a hint of what mental

illness is all about and therefore is particularly well-suited to assist clubhouse members in transitioning in

their recovery to a job in the work-a-day world.

Jackie has a sister with mental illness that keeps her from working. That, along with the clubhouse model

and its unique means of giving members the skills they so need and obtain to be productive in life, was

what attracted her to the position here and motivated her to apply.

Unique to her personality and wanting to get to know the members with whom she would be working,

Jackie almost immediately requested to play a game involving the entire clubhouse, staff and members

included as a part of it all.

The game consisted of going around in a circle with each member or staff member reciting their name

and then their favorite color. The idea was to not only memorize each others’ names but also the colors

associated with them, one at a time.

“I want to get to know everyone and their needs and give them the chance to know me,” she said.

Jackie also pointed out that every day will be different, and, in the course of each Work-Ordered Day

(WOD), she’ll have the opportunity to learn a lot from others.

For lunch at Vail Place, Jackie is looking forward to when we have spaghetti, because, as she noted, it and other Italian foods are her favorite.

When she’s not at Vail Place during the day, evenings and weekends, Jackie enjoys crocheting, going fishing and playing Pokemon with her

son. No doubt, then, she’ll be fishing around for jobs for members.

Jackie M. will be assisting Vail

Place Hopkins members with all

their employment needs.

Embers Burn Bright on Mille Lacs Camping Trip

A combination of meat, potatoes and veggies cooks up on the grill

during the camping trip to Lake Mille Lacs.

The whole clan of campers from Vail Place Hopkins and Vail Place

Minneapolis actually stood still enough for a group photo.