california
“The Perception of Growth”, a Poem by Sarah (HomeFront GPD)
We’d like to share an uplifting poem written by Sarah from our HomeFront GPD transitional living program for women Veterans with/without children. She wrote this poem for this year’s Creative Arts Competition presented by the VA Central California Health Care System and was awarded first place in her respective category! Congratulations and thank you for sharing, Sarah!
“The Perception of Growth”
“In the essence of a journey
One gets to decide your fate.
What will it be?
You ask yourself repeatedly.
As I close my eyes, the sandman approaches and sprinkles the dust over my ambiance.
What will it be?
How will you begin your day to move forward he asks me?
How do you want to define yourself on this road?
Day after day I push and I push
Again and again through this chaotic struggle.
With ambition
Dipping my toe into the water
Patiently burgeoning
That’s the beauty of progress
Owning your experience
Not to out run your past
Or bask in the pandemonium
Remember that one who gets to decide your fate?
Look in the mirror
What do you see?
You want me to tell you what I see?
I see a fire in her eyes
The rivers in her soul
I see the improvements she makes day in and day out
Someone who desires for something greater than herself
Using that pain
Breaking that barrier
He whispers, ‘You are a sunflower
of the earth that grew too tall’
She smiled, amicably continued planting those seeds.
This year she learned to walk a new path
This year she learned to adapt to change
She learned what you import, you export
She learned that iron sharpens Iron
She learned to grow.”
– Sarah
For over 40 years, WestCare California has been providing an opportunity for individuals to lead fuller, richer lives. Our team of multi-cultural, experienced and credentialed staff is dedicated to providing the best care to everyone who enters our doors. Our goal is to uplift the human spirit by providing the skills and support necessary for individuals to achieve their dreams and transform their lives.
WestCare provides a wide spectrum of health and human services in both residential and outpatient environments. Our service domains include mental health & wellness, substance abuse and addiction treatment, housing opportunities, education & prevention, criminal justice and veterans programs. These services are available to adults, children, adolescents and families.
Hanford Veteran Finds Success After Reentry
We’d like to share a letter written to our staff by the brother of Tony, a Veteran who was released from prison in August with no place to go. The day after his release, he came to our San Joaquin Valley Veterans (SJVV) office in Hanford, CA and was immediately housed by their staff and shortly after, was enrolled into school to obtain his trucking license! In December, he was discharged from the program having exceeded the requirements from earned income! He has since done extremely well for himself since he first stepped through our doors. We are proud so of all his hard work! Congratulations, Tony!
“Hi Stephanie,
I wanted to share these photos with you. I am so proud of my brother and the progress [that] he has accomplished in such a short period of time. I thank God for watching over him, because only God could create all the milestones in his life to date. I thank you too for being a great support mentor and I know he has great respect for you and your staff at WestCare. Your organization’s name says it all. You CARE.”
With great respect,
Steven L.
For over 40 years, WestCare California has been providing an opportunity for individuals to lead fuller, richer lives. Our team of multi-cultural, experienced and credentialed staff is dedicated to providing the best care to everyone who enters our doors. Our goal is to uplift the human spirit by providing the skills and support necessary for individuals to achieve their dreams and transform their lives.
WestCare provides a wide spectrum of health and human services in both residential and outpatient environments. Our service domains include mental health & wellness, substance abuse and addiction treatment, housing opportunities, education & prevention, criminal justice and veterans programs. These services are available to adults, children, adolescents and families.
The Women of San Diego CCTRP Grow Together
We have the pleasure of operating two Custody to Community Transitional Reentry Programs (CCTRP) in Stockton and San Diego, California. These nine month to two year programs serve female offenders with up to two years left on their sentence in a community setting rather than in the institution while providing them the skills that they need to reenter society successfully and succeed in the future upon their release from the program. We’d like to share a letter written by the women that we serve at our San Diego CCTRP program about a wonderful project that they began in March of 2017 and have since maintained during their time with the program, a community garden!
“Hello everyone,
It is the ladies down in beautiful San Diego, California of CCTRP! We want to share with all of you our latest expansion of our garden!
We currently have an array of different veggies growing such as tomatoes, artichokes, summer squash, pumpkins and a small patch of purple basil as well as some beautiful sunflowers and 4 o’clock flowers! The summer attraction for our sunflowers has brought about 6-8 sets of wild parrots that bask in the sun and munch on the seeds. Now, the summer crop is rapidly coming to an end. We are looking forward to donations and supplies so that we can produce fall and winter vegetation.
This experience has been therapeutic for the clients. It has brought us together on a team building and community level. During visits, families have the opportunity to plant, water and nurture the plants as they grow. This is parallel to the healing process of family re-unification.
Our goal is to continue to get more clients and their families involved. Each client has an opportunity to get educated about gardening as well as take the experience home to be incorporated as a viable coping skill.
Our hope is to be able to maintain this process for future clients by utilizing the latest techniques in gardening such as raised planters (ex.: Bed Building), water conservation and easy maintenance for the future of the garden, ultimately resulting in less work, low costs and more success. We also have a compost pile which we designed and utilize with the veggie and fruit crops to fertilize our garden. We look forward to what more we can do in our garden; working, growing and learning toward a brighter future together as a community!”
With Love,
The Women of San Diego CCTRP
For over 40 years, WestCare California has been providing an opportunity for individuals to lead fuller, richer lives. Our team of multi-cultural, experienced and credentialed staff is dedicated to providing the best care to everyone who enters our doors. Our goal is to uplift the human spirit by providing the skills and support necessary for individuals to achieve their dreams and transform their lives.
WestCare provides a wide spectrum of health and human services in both residential and outpatient environments. Our service domains include mental health & wellness, substance abuse and addiction treatment, housing opportunities, education & prevention, criminal justice and veterans programs. These services are available to adults, children, adolescents, and families.
Mental Health Matters in My Family
I’ve never known a time when mental illness wasn’t a part of my family’s medical history or among our personal challenges. Three generations of my family have experienced mental health disorders including bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and clinical depression. My grandmother experienced what we now would recognize as early onset of her bipolar disorder at the same time she gave birth to her first child, my mother, in 1941. She suffered greatly as a result of the denial, aversion and derision she was subjected to by her own siblings and various family members after the onset of what was then called manic depression. My grandmother eventually became a single parent to 5 children after being abandoned by my grandfather. He refused to deal with a wife experiencing mental illness in a very profound way. The stigma surrounding mental illness was more than he was able or willing to live with. My grandmother was hospitalized several times during an era in which psychiatric conditions and care was obviously less advanced than it is today. It troubles me to know that my grandmother, who was among the people in my life that I cherished more than any other, suffered more than was needed as a result of the stigma surrounding her mental illness and particularly as a result of the lack of awareness on the part of those she loved. The fact that she had to overcome stigma from her own family, people who in every other way I also cherish is difficult to resolve in my heart and in my minds-eye. I witnessed the survivor my grandmother was as she lived a very long life filled with many more challenges. She lived, she loved and she and her children flourished.
Fortunately, in my lifetime the stigma often attached to mental illness has been greatly reduced. I never felt a stigma resulting from my own depression or anxiety disorders though certainly I can relate to other stigmas. My younger brother experienced extreme psychosis and a hospitalization in 1992 as a result of an early adult onset and diagnosis of bipolar disorder in 1992. He was 23 in the midst of completing his master’s degree. Certainly he faced upset and challenges, but he was fortunate to not have to deal with many barriers resulting from stigma. He had extremely supportive friends and family, received excellent care and he is amazingly resilient. He is successful in his desired profession and relationships. I, too, am successful in managing anxiety and depression and recognize that mental health, like addiction and being overweight are simply a part of the many things in my life that further shape who I am and that require attention and self-care. There is no shame in my game and I don’t let mental health disorders define me.
Self-awareness and self-care occur when we are able to remove stigma from our lives. Still, words have so much power and a lack of understanding from those around us can have such long-lasting effects. Internalizing negative messages from others negatively impacts those who may yet flourish and do so more quickly if they were not encountering unnecessary barriers. As someone currently working with mental health consumers and their families, I see others as they experience mental illness. I’m extremely proud to assist them in their stabilization and recovery process and to be afforded that opportunity through an agency that strives to uplift the human spirit in everything they do. As we recognize Mental Health Matters Month, perhaps the greatest thing we can do is to work to reduce stigma and increase awareness of both mental illness and mental health. Are you aware that numerous published studies report that 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness and that 50% of us will experience at least one mental illness in our lifetimes? Such numbers require of us that we embrace and support our community, empower by encouraging self-acceptance and greater self-care. We can confront and rebuke stigma. We still have a very long way to go in advancing greater gains in the mental health movement. We can start by taking a simple pledge to reduce stigma in ourselves, our families and within our community.
– submitted by Mark Leanhart
For over 40 years, WestCare California has been providing an opportunity for individuals to lead fuller, richer lives. Our team of multi-cultural, experienced and credentialed staff is dedicated to providing the best care to everyone who enters our doors. Our goal is to uplift the human spirit by providing the skills and support necessary for individuals to achieve their dreams and transform their lives.
WestCare provides a wide spectrum of health and human services in both residential and outpatient environments. Our service domains include mental health & wellness, substance abuse and addiction treatment, housing opportunities, education & prevention, criminal justice and veterans programs. These services are available to adults, children, adolescents, and families.
“Welcome Home” by Erin Shelton, WestCare California – Housing Opportunities
“Welcome Home”
“Crystal was brought to MAP Point by Tasha Marin at Fresno EOC. Fresno EOC paid for a hotel stay for Crystal and her six year old niece, whom she legally adopted because her mother could no longer care for her. Crystal had been out of work for a long period of time and was just trying to make a better life for her and her niece. Sara Rios of WestCare California was Crystal’s point of contact at MAP Point. Sara scheduled an intake with the ESG program and that’s where i stepped in to help the ESG case managers and completed the intake process for them! Crystal was a very special case because she was handed over to the amazing team (Tasha Marin and Sara Rios). With that being said, Crystal secured housing and came to MAP Point document ready. All that Crystal needed was a little help by caring people and assistance with a deposit. We were able to sign documents with the apartment complex the very next day and move her in that same day! Crystal was so excited, as you can see by the gorgeous smile on her face. She is settling into her new apartment and is so very grateful for the amazing work that the team has done for her and her niece.”
– Erin Shelton, Case Manager, Housing Opportunities
WestCare California focuses on providing critical and quality services to assist individuals and/or families to quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis or homelessness. Programs such as Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and Project LiftOFF provide housing and address the multiple needs of homeless adults & their children. WestCare uses the Housing First Model which has proven that homeless and at-risk individuals are more responsive to interventions and social services support after they are housed, rather than as a precondition of housing.
Multi-Agency Access Program (MAP) is an integrated intake process which connects individuals facing housing, substance abuse, physical health, or mental illness challenges to supportive services matching individuals and families to the right resources at the right time. This is accomplished through an established and formalized collaboration of service providers, leveraging existing community resources, eliminating barriers and assisting consumer’s access supportive services.