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Part-time Residential Aides Needed

If you are or someone you know is interested in becoming a part-time residential aide, please have them to contact Ashley at the Farm for further information.

Japanese Visit

Our japanese visitors will be arriving next week. All staff are encouraged to be involved in the visit. Here's the schedule:

Tuesday
7:00 PM - Welcome party (Farm)

Wednesday
8:00 AM - Breakfast (Farm)
9:00 AM - Peace Pole Dedication
10:00 AM - Intro Group
12:00 PM - Lunch (Farm)
1:00 PM - Jeff Jay (Farm)
3:00 PM - Ron Harrison (Farm)
5:30 PM - Dinner
7:30 PM - A Vision For You AA Meeting

Thursday
8:00 AM - Breakfast (Farm)
9:00 AM - Tour of Jail and Daybreak
11:00 AM - Tour of Detox
12:00 PM - Lunch
1:30 PM - History of Dawn Farm (Farm)
5:30 PM - Dinner and meeting(Jim Balmer's house)

Friday
8:00 AM - Breakfast (Farm)
9:00 AM - Trip to Akron

Saturday
8:00 AM - Breakfast
9:00 AM - Airport

If you would like to help or be involved, please let Nancy Thom know.

2005/2006 Dawn Farm Education Series

The 2005/2006 Dawn Farm Public Education Series ended last night. The series was a big success again. Here are some of the highlights:

• We had total of 817 attendees for the entire series with an average of 41 attendees per workshop. That's a 53% increase in attendance!
• We had 685 feeback forms submitted with 94% of all feedback being positive.
• Attendees came from 11 Michigan counties and two other states.
• 57% of attendees identified themselves as a family member of an addict or alcoholic, 34% identified themselves as an addict or alcoholic, 17% identified themselves as a professional helper, and 13% identified themselves as a student.

Thanks to all of our presenters and a special thanks to volunteer Jess Antanaitis.
The 2006/2007 Public Education Series will begin in October. Information will be posted this summer.

Spam

If you've been having problems with spam in your Dawn Farm email account, please let me know. I'm looking into options to improve filtering for all of us before it gets to our email accounts, but it will probably take some time.

In the short term, I can help you set up some pretty good solutions if you're stuck sifting through lots of nasty spam. Email me if you want help with this.

CPR and First Aid

This Monday, June 19th @ 5:30 AT THE FARM a cpr class from 5:30-approximately 9:30. The following evening, June 20th from 5:30-9:30 will be a first aid class, also AT THE FARM. If you can attend these sessions…that would be great. I have scheduled first aid/cpr together on July 15th from 9:00am-3:00pm for those of you who want to complete it all at once. Meals will be provided at each class. If you’re curious about your status or have any questions, please email Ryan Besaw. Thanks!

Computer maintenance

I've heard that some staff have the impression that I don't want our computers to be turned off. This isn't the case. Rebooting your computer occasionally (every 2 to 7 days) can improve perfomance. Rebooting is the first thing to try if your computer is slow, buggy, or something has stopped working. However, I do ask that you keep you computer on at night. Our computers are set to download Windows and antivirus updates overnight. Thanks.

Employee Of The Month

Mary Susan Royce, MSW is the Dawn Farm employee of the month. She is a recent graduate of the UofM School of Social Work. Mary has contributed compassion and stability to the Huron Street House clinical expertise. Mary's mental health knowledge base helps the treatment team better serve our residents in removing barriers to recovery.

Important Dates

All Day Staff Training - July 20, 2006; 8:30am-4:30pm. Topics include Dialectical Behavioral Therapy by Joann Heap, MSW and Dr. Pat Gibbons from 9:00am to Noon and the Dawn Farm Quarterly Training in the afternoon. It will be held at the Washtenaw United Way. All staff will be paid and are encouraged to attend the training. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided. CAC credits will be available for the morning presentation. The quarterly training is mandatory for all Dawn Farm staff, therefore, if you can not attend the inservice, an alternate Saturday training will be scheduled.
Note: Please park next door at the Vineyard Church.

Japanese Visit

We have a group of 20 Japanese visitors coming June 27th through 30th. It's just two weeks away!

They'll be arriving the evening of Tuesday, June 27th and we will have a welcome reception for them at the Farm. The next two days will be training and the final day will be a trip to Akron, Ohio. We'll share more details as we have them. If you want to be involved, please tell Nancy Thom.

Volunteer of the Month

Volunteer of the Month- Pat Gibbons
Pat has been working diligently and patiently with our clients in both residential and transitional housing. He has also been a support to our staff in providing suggestions and feedback on how to better meet the needs of our clients.

Recovery is everywhere explodes

Recovery is everywhere orders exploded in May. We had over 900 orders during the course of the month including orders from Nigeria, Estonia, Russia, Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, India, Pakistan, England, Australia and New Zealand. Our website traffic also jumped from 2300 unique visitors to over 5000 during the month.

Quote of the Month

From: Smoking Gun: Nicotine Use and Recovery from Chemical Dependence

Hartigan (Author of: Bill W.: A biography of Alcoholics Anonymous cofounder Bill Wilson) goes so far as to suggest that it would have been a different world if, instead of promoting Niacin, Wilson had quit smoking himself, and had spent the remainder of his days helping other AA members to do the same. By the 1940s, Wilson’s health had begun to show the effects of smoking. Some suggest that he may have been trying to quit since that time. By the 1960s, he knew that he had emphysema, yet he continued to smoke. He was believed to have quit smoking in 1969, but several people confirmed that he continued to smoke, hiding cigarettes in his car. The last few years of Wilson’s life were not easy for him because of his health, and his scheduled appearances suffered; either he was unable to attend them, or he attended but could only speak briefly (Hartigan, 2000). On January 24, 1971, pneumonia and emphysema killed Bill Wilson. Hartigan (2000) says it well:

It seems beyond comprehension, but the evidence is inescapable. The man who pioneered the approach to addictive illness that has helped millions free themselves from alco¬holism and a myriad of other addictive problems - including smoking - literally smoked himself to death (p.208).

One wonders how many other recovering alcoholics died from smoking-related illnesses. To be fair, smoking was not popularly believed to be detrimental to one’s health until the 1964 Surgeon General’s report. AA as a movement was less than 30 years old at the time. But Wilson’s unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking, possibly for as long as 20 years, speak to the addictive nature of nicotine. At the time of his death, Wilson had enjoyed 36 years of sobriety. He was clearly successful in kicking one addiction, even if the other killed him. The fact that the founder of AA was unable to give up nicotine may also indicate that quitting smoking may be more difficult than quitting drinking.

New Criminal Justice Outreach

We recently started a new program with Washtenaw Community Corrections. The program is almost identical to our jail outreach. It takes place at the Washtenaw Community Corrections offices and serves people who have been released from jail or serves as an alternative sentence to jail. The program is being run under our outpatient umbrella and most of the groups are facilitated by Pete.  

Website of the Month

The Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addictions is one of the most important hubs of information on addiction treatment. It is the home of A. Thomas McClellan, one of the leading advocates for the adoption of a chronic disease management model in addiction treatment. Spend some time checking out the section on treatment effectiveness and the store (lots of free materials!).

What We Believe

Our annual report is going out in the mail over the next several days. This year it included a document entitled "What We Believe." It is a concise statement of our organizational beliefs. I hope you'll take the time to read it. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Is there anything missing? Is there anything listed that isn't communicated clearly and consistently to staff. Please email us and let us know what you think.   

 

Welcome to the new employee news site

This will replace the monthly newsletter and will be continuously updated.