The Canvas Health Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Khu Thao, MSW, PsyD, LP, LICSW, as the agency’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective Feb. 28, 2022. Thao will succeed Dr. Matt Eastwood, who will retire after serving as CEO since 2015.
Dr. Thao is a highly respected leader in the mental health care community and is currently the Vice President of Community Mental Health for Touchstone Mental Health in Minneapolis. In that role, she provides executive leadership and oversight of multiple service lines, including case management, behavioral health, residential treatment, and outpatient services. She also has served as Senior Director of Operations at Touchstone. Prior to that, her professional roles have included Clinical Manager at Amherst Wilder Foundation, Clinical Psychologist Fellow at the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis, clinician at Washburn Center for Children, and child protection social worker for both Hennepin and Ramsey Counties.
“We are confident that Dr. Thao is the right person to lead Canvas Health at this pivotal time,” said Karna Peters, Canvas Health Board Chair. “As a clinician, she understands and is fully committed to providing excellent care to clients. Additionally, Khu has a proven track record of persistence and results in driving initiatives and being a positive and insightful problem solver. She’s also a respected leader in advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.”
Thao has an Executive Leadership Certification for Nonprofit Management from University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, a Psy.D. from Minnesota School of Professional Psychology, a Master of Social Work from the University of Minnesota, and a BA from Gustavus Adolphus College. She is a recipient of the prestigious Bush Fellowship and a Title VI-E Welfare Fellowship.
“I am thrilled and honored at the opportunity to lead Canvas Health,” said Thao. “The agency is in a position of growth and is poised to build on its rich history of providing excellent clinical care to those who need it most. I’m most excited about offering my experience and commitment to service of others to Canvas Health’s incredible staff and clients.”
The Canvas Health Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Khu Thao, MSW, PsyD, LP, LICSW, as the agency’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective Feb. 28, 2022. Thao will succeed Dr. Matt Eastwood, who will retire after serving as CEO since 2015. Dr. Thao is a highly respected leader in the mental […]
In the latest issue of the Phoenix Spirit, a publication focused on well-being, is a story about Randy Anderson, a man who went “From Addict to Mentor.”
Anderson was deep into drug use and drug sales at the time of his arrest. Years of prison followed. But it wasn’t until he met with a particularly “hard-nosed” counselor that he finally found a path to sobriety and advocacy for others like him.
Anderson is perhaps most passionate about training other recovering users like himself to be peer counselors. Offering peer counseling services, he believes, is one of the simplest, least expensive, and most accessible ways to address drug addiction. He even helped get state legislation passed to fund peer counseling services in some treatment settings.
Though recent studies seem to show most people with addiction, that doesn’t mean that is easy. But that’s where peer counselors, also called Peer Recovery Specialists, like Randy Anderson now is, can help.
“We want to find out what you think is best for you and to pull that out of you,” says Anderson. “I just want people to be successful. I don’t want people to suffer. I want people to get the help, no matter what that looks like for them.”
Canvas Health offers Peer Recovery Specialists and has found similar stories of success made through this service, like a female client who utilized all available services and had notable success in treatment, including continued care throughout the transition process into MCF-Shakopee. As a result of our collaborative treatment, and her commitment to change, and continued advocacy from a Peer Recovery Specialist, she was afforded opportunities leading to a reduced sentence (nearly 4 years) and entrance into the MCF Challenge Incarceration Program which can help the client rejoin her young daughter.
Sobriety has been even more challenging for people during the pandemic. Canvas Health continues to offer counseling and treatment for clients in person and via telehealth for our community.
Learn more about Canvas Health’s substance abuse program and make an appointment for a chemical health assessment or chemical health treatment.
In the latest issue of the Phoenix Spirit, a publication focused on well-being, is a story about Randy Anderson, a man who went “From Addict to Mentor.” The Path to Sobriety Anderson was deep into drug use and drug sales at the time of his arrest. Years of prison followed. But it wasn’t until he […]
Canvas Health’s Chief Executive Officer Matt Eastwood recently announced his plan for a March 2022 retirement from the agency.
During his years as CEO, Matt led Canvas Health through several key transitions, including navigating through a pandemic that continues to affect virtually every part of the agency’s operation. He also guided staff through the implementation of a new Electronic Health Records system to help improve the agency’s overall efficiency and service to clients.
Matt currently is leading Canvas Health through the process of becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, a sustainably financed model that will help ensure access to integrated, evidence-based addiction and mental health services for our clients.
Matt has served in the healthcare industry for over 42 years, including the past decade at Canvas Health. His plans for retirement include spending time with family, traveling, golfing, and fishing.
“On behalf of the staff and Board of Canvas Health, we extend our gratitude and thanks to Matt for his visionary leadership. The common theme of his accomplishments is his commitment to keeping Canvas Health’s mission of hope, healing, and recovery at the forefront of all of his decisions. Canvas Health is poised for a bright future because of his dedication,” said Eileen McMahon, Canvas Health Board Chair.
Those interested in learning more about the Chief Executive Officer position may contact Walter J. Flynn, W. J. Flynn and Associates, LLC, (651) 287-2370, walt.flynn@wjflynnandassociates.com.
Canvas Health’s Chief Executive Officer Matt Eastwood recently announced his plan for a March 2022 retirement from the agency. During his years as CEO…
This month, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, released the advisory Protecting Youth Mental Health. It’s a 53 page report about a youth mental health crisis made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[I]n 2019, one in three high school students and half of female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” the Surgeon General declares in his introduction, “an overall increase of 40% from 2009.”
Adolescence and young adulthood provide many challenges, but the disruption and isolation during the pandemic has proven harmful to many young people.
“I know so many people have suffered through worse things, but there’s also this feeling of ‘this is supposed to be the greatest time of my life’ and I’m sitting in my room staring at a computer,” said 20-year-old Isabelle Schindler to The Washington Post.
Canvas Health’s staff working with young people have noticed a similar trend. And it one reason Canvas Health like to incorporate family and support networks into treatment whenever possible, so young people, now more than ever, know they aren’t alone.
The Surgeon General’s report makes clear our programs serving youth—who make up half of our 8,500 clients each year—on the frontlines of this national crisis.
If you’d like to learn more about Canvas Health’s youth and family programs, you can visit our website or give our staff a call at (651) 777-5222 or just drop us a message here.
This month, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, released a 53 page report about a youth mental health crisis made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canvas Health’s Early Childhood Behavior Assistance (ECBA) has recently aided both Stillwater Area Public Schools and South Washington County Schools with trainings on early childhood development.
Canvas Health’s ECBA program is an early childhood mental health unit that provides consultation, education, training and support caregivers in the home, daycare, and other settings to help decrease behavior problems while promoting healthy child and family development.
Community education and consultation like this is an important service for a community mental health centers like Canvas Health.
The Stillwater Area Public Schools effort was a series of trainings about trauma with school stakeholders, including early childhood education staff, special education staff, and parent educators. The trainings taught school stakeholders about what trauma looks like in kids, how that trauma affects caregivers, and how caregivers can support kids with trauma.
The South Washington County Schools training was a collaboration funded by a Wellspring grant to support parent education in the schools. Canvas Health led three of a five part series. For the trainings, the supervisor of ECBA, Katie Zacharias, focused on anxiety, what can parents can do to recognize symptoms and to support children, and last, what parents can do to recognize their own needs and care for themselves.
Canvas Health’s ECBA program focuses on the caregiver-child relationship. Though there are many components to a child’s wellbeing—whether it’s trauma, stress, or parenting practices—caregivers can learn to be an organizing partner for children. Their co-regulating relationship can help children practice working through big emotions and big behaviors to until they can do this on their own.
Learn more about ECBA and their Early Childhood Consultation services here.
Canvas Health’s Early Childhood Behavior Assistance (ECBA) has recently aided local schools with trainings on early childhood development.
November is National Gratitude Month, a time to celebrate and give thanks. Reflecting on that for which we are grateful, is an important way for people to feel satisfaction with themselves and current state, rather than dissatisfaction with what they don’t have.
This kind of reflection and giving of thanks are also powerful strategies to boosting self-wellness.
The Harvard Medical School highlights the findings of studies that show the power of gratitude.
“In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
Showing gratitude can make you feel better about your life, manage mental health problems like depression and anxiety, improve self-esteem and sleep, lower your stress and more. Sounds great.
But what are some of the ways to do this?
Canvas Health can offer support for these strategies, as well as formal therapy. For questions about in-person and telehealth services or to make an appointment, please call (651) 777-5222 or email intake@canvashealth.org.
November is National Gratitude Month, a time to celebrate and give thanks. Showing gratitude can make you feel better about…
October is Wellness Month at Canvas Health. As part of the celebration, Canvas Health invited Sharise Nance, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, as well as an author, speaker, and facilitator, to present “When Helping Hurts: Understanding the Impact of Compassion Fatigue.”
Compassion fatigue is the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others, often through experience of stress or trauma. This impacts our counseling staff, but it’s not limited to therapists—caregivers of all kinds experience compassion fatigue.
Compassion fatigue is often mistaken for burnout, which is a cumulative sense of fatigue or dissatisfaction that manifests as anger and frustration. Instead, compassion fatigue manifests as sadness and grief, avoidance and dread of working with some clients, students, and patients, as well as reduced ability to feel empathy towards clients, students, and families.
Sharise Nance led our staff through exercises and exploration of protective factors against compassion fatigue. We learned how staff can help themselves, how colleagues can support each other, and how leadership and protect their staff including:
“This is like the common cold” for health care professionals, Nance said. But our staff, other healthcare professionals, and all the caregivers can recognize compassion fatigue and overcome it.
October is Wellness Month at Canvas Health. As part of the celebration, Sharise Nance led our staff through exercises and exploration of protective factors against…
Canvas Health, through its rape crisis center, Abuse Response Services, provides services to rape and sexual assault victims in Washington County. However, we also work very closely with other advocacy programs whose focus is domestic violence. These issues are linked and many times victim/survivors experience both.
During October Canvas Health and Abuse Response Services are supporting our sister domestic violence advocacy organizations, including:
Please click the above links to learn more about how these organizations help victim/survivors of domestic violence.
This October, Abuse Response Services is partnering with the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) and other state and territorial coalitions across the nation to start a coordinated national conversation about domestic violence and how we can all contribute to changing the narrative on this overshadowed, but fundamental topic.
More prevalent than most realize, one in four women and one in seven men will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. Anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual identity or orientation, or socio-economic status, can become a victim of domestic violence. This year’s campaign theme, #Every1KnowsSome1, strives to highlight how common domestic violence is and that it is more than physical violence.
Throughout October, Abuse Response Services and NNEDV will be sharing content on their social media channels to help raise awareness and educate the public on the complex dynamics of domestic violence. A Week of Action is planned for October 18 – 24, 2021 designed to engage advocates, partners, and the public in starting a national conversation.
You can also follow Canvas Health’s Abuse Response Services on Instagram @Canvashealth_ars
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Canvas Health, through its rape crisis center, Abuse Response Services, provides services to…
“At times all parents feel lost or without a clue about what our child might need from us. Imagine what it might feel like if you were able to make sense of what your child was really asking from you.”
On Wednesdays, from October 13 to December 8, Canvas Health is hosting a Circle of Security Parenting Program at the Pleasant Hills Library in Hastings, MN.
This training is FREE and open to parents and/or caregivers of children ages 0 – 12 in the Hastings area interested in learning how to strengthen their parent-child relationship.
The Circle of Security Parenting™ program is based on decades of research about how secure parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened.
In this 8-session program, parents and/or caregivers will learn how to better:
Pleasant Hills Library-Large Conference room
1490 S Frontage Rd Hastings, MN
Gas cards provided!
Free! but limited to 10 parents/families
Wednesday mornings from October 13 until December 8
Bagels and coffee provided!
9am-11am on 10/13, 10/20, 10/27
11am-1pm on 11/3, 11/10, 11/17, 12/1, 12/8
Drawing for game basket and Walmart gift card on 12/8
Contact Sandra Woolsey by 10/10/21
Phone (612) 562-0022 or email swoolsey@canvashealth.org
Presented by: Rachel Milan, MA, LMFT & Ali Ryan, MSW, LGSW
Please note: Participants will need to be able to commit to attending all sessions as information presented and discussions will be conducted based on previous weeks’ material. When registering, please register all caregiver(s) that will be attending.
The Circle of Security Parenting™ program is based on decades of research about how secure parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened.
Prior to joining Canvas Health, I was a stay-at-home mom, having left my previous job because I needed to put my own mental health first as I was struggling with severe postpartum depression and anxiety. When I began pursuing work again, I told myself that I wanted to pick a position that I felt drawn to, something that would bring purpose to my life and my struggles – a job where I felt like I could make a difference in the lives of the people that I serve.
The Canvas Health Family has welcomed me with open arms since the moment I interviewed. As an Admin Coordinator in the Substance Use department working “behind the scenes” and not direct client care, I see how big of an impact any role at Canvas Health makes in our clients’ lives. I am so proud to be a part of this great agency and a part of giving clients hope and strength again.
Canvas Health means so much to me. I already call it my home. I would recommend Canvas Health to anyone for receiving services or for finding employment. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me here.
~ Aimee Berger, Substance Use Program Administrative Coordinator
Prior to joining Canvas Health, I was a stay-at-home mom. When I began pursuing work again, I wanted to pick a position that I felt drawn to, something that would…
Many people, maybe you or someone you know, turned to alcohol as a way to cope during the pandemic. You might be noticing now, as pandemic restrictions ease where you live, you’re having a hard time cutting back your drinking.
Well, you’re not alone. Alcohol sales and consumption increased dramatically during the pandemic as people used it to cope with stress and anxiety, boredom and isolation, depression, and other symptoms of 2020’s incredible uncertainty.
As you may be feeling right now, alcohol isn’t actually a good tool for coping in normal, nor in abnormal times. What may seem like a reduction in anxiety is only ever temporary, after which point, it comes rushing back, often even worse than before.
And there are all the other negative effects of alcohol, like those affecting physical health (high blood pressure, heart and liver disease), mental health (depression and anxiety), focus and memory, relationships, and immune response.
Alcohol consumption can also lead to addiction. Maybe you’re worried you’re already there. Now what?
For more than 50 years, Canvas Health has provided a wide range of substance abuse assessments to people in our Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota metro communities. Our goal is to help clients understand the possible presence and extent of their issue, and assist them in designing a plan to address their specific circumstance.
We specialize in substance abuse assessments, as well as alcohol treatment for all ages, in addition to other addiction treatments and drug treatments. We also are able to do court-ordered drug or alcohol assessments.
If you’d like to have your questions answered and your concerns about your alcohol use or drug use addressed, Canvas Health’s experienced, patient, and non-judgmental counselor are ready to help. Schedule a substance abuse assessment via our website or by calling us at (651) 777-5222.
You might be noticing now, as pandemic restrictions ease where you live, you’re having a hard time cutting back your drinking.
We are happy to welcome many of our clients and clinicians back to in-person services beginning July 1! We are pleased to be offering in-person services for our clients who take part in our substance use groups and substance use individual therapy, case management, school-based, CTSS, and peer specialist/peer recovery specialist offerings.
More in-person services will become available soon. For questions about in-person and telehealth services or to make an appointment, please call (651) 777-5222 or email intake@canvashealth.org.
We are happy to welcome many of our clients and clinicians back to in-person services beginning July 1! We are pleased to be offering in-person services for…
Happy Pride month! Each year, June is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and its history. We celebrate their members’ contributions, their value as neighbors and community leaders, and their struggle for acceptance and equal rights.
For Canvas Health and other community mental health centers, it’s also a time to recognize and reflect on the health disparities within the LGBTQ+ community due to stigmatization, discrimination, and harassment Pride Month is meant to combat. These forces have a long history and are linked to higher rates in the LGBTQ community of mental health disorders, substance use, and suicide.
Canvas Health serves many LGBTQ+ clients in our outpatient mental health and substance abuse programs. To ensure their care is excellent, we take many intentional steps from intake throughout their time with us, from identifying clients’ preferred name, pronoun, and gender identity to ongoing staff training to hosting conferences for our staff and staff from other agencies, such as in a recent “Waking to Gender Diversity” conference, featuring Dianne Berg, Ph.D. of the PRIDE Institute.
Canvas Health also identifies our providers that have significant interest and expertise in services for LGBTQ+ clients. For many clients that expertise is important to the therapeutic process.
At Canvas Health, we are committed to providing a respectful and inclusive environment for the LGBTQ+ community to receive hope, healing, and recovery. For individuals in and around the Twin Cities, the first step starts with a phone call or message to our intake staff.
For Canvas Health, Pride Month is a time to recognize and reflect on the health disparities within the LGBTQ+ community due to stigmatization, discrimination, and harassment.
Some clients with significant mental health challenges benefit from regular and more intensive treatment than weekly or biweekly counseling provides. Sometimes the clients are served best by several days a week or more of treatment each week. For adults and adolescents with those needs, Canvas Health offers Adult Day Treatment, Group Therapy, and Adolescent Day Treatment in our Therapeutic Learning Center.
Adult Day Treatment takes place in groups of 8 to 12 people for 3 ½ hours, meeting 3 to 4 times per week. Treatment typically ranges from 12 to 20 weeks, with most transitioning into aftercare groups for a minimum of 4 months.
Canvas Health offers two different types of treatment:
Adult therapy groups serve individuals who will benefit from ongoing group support for mental health challenges. Canvas Health offers a variety of outpatient group including: Symptom Management, DBT Skill Building, and coping skills along with Career Wellness and Success. Groups are available multiple days per week in 60 to 90 minute sessions.
Adolescent day treatment services at Canvas Health offer daily therapeutic environment for children ages 11 to 17 with mental health needs that impact learning and school attendance. The program collaborates with clients’ family and school to build the appropriate skills for the child’s successful return to their community school. Special educational needs and other supports including medication management, individual, group and family therapy are built into treatment. Children attend this program daily during normal school hours at Canvas Health’s Oakdale location, including summer sessions, and are referred by school districts.
One adult client’s story from the pandemic shows the power of more intensive treatment tailored to the client:
A client who recently completed day treatment has learned ways to successfully manage her depression and minimize conflict at home. She struggled with significant mental health symptoms related to bipolar disorder, PTSD, and borderline personality disorder. She engaged consistently in day treatment interventions and practiced skills frequently, both when symptoms were elevated and as daily practice. She was able to reflect internally on how she was stuck in an ineffective series of cycles. Her daily reports included noticing skill use was increasingly effective and seeing her family be more skillful, in part, through her role modeling. At the end of the program, the client reported that day treatment “taught me how to love myself again.”
Each year, Canvas Health’s day treatment programs serve 200 individuals and help them gain greater control over their lives. For people who need more help developing skills to cope with their mental health symptoms, day treatment can be an important step in the road to control over their lives.
Some clients with significant mental health challenges benefit from regular and more intensive treatment than weekly or biweekly counseling provides.
Even in “normal” years, years without the COVID-19 pandemic, students and their parents can struggle to keep up in school. It might be grades, completing enough credits for graduation, balancing extracurriculars, or maintaining peer groups.
In 2020, this year where many attend class via distance learning, these problems may be more present and their solutions more opaque. If that’s you or your child, you are not alone.
Emily Johnson, MSW, LICSW, a Canvas Health school-based therapist, wants families to know these are issues we can help address. That process starts with identification.
“Did you know that some common symptoms of depression are a lack of motivation, low energy, problems sleeping, trouble focusing, irritability, and feeling hopeless?” Johnson writes. “A lot of these symptoms can appear to others as simply ‘being lazy’ or ‘just not caring’ about school. Throw in a global pandemic, while being asked to do school in a new way; for some people, the amount of pressure just feels impossible to overcome.”
If that sounds like you or your child, the best time to make changes is right now. Since 1969, Canvas Health has helped students struggling with unhelpful behaviors, negative thoughts, and difficult emotions.
If you’d like to learn more about counseling and mental health assessments, talk to one of our compassionate staff now: (651) 777-5222.
You can reach out today to start to address mental health symptoms and get school back on track!
Even in “normal” years, years without the COVID-19 pandemic, students and their parents can struggle to keep up in school.