As while we remain in the grip of a pandemic, there have been many articles and studies about the impact of COVID-19’s disruption to our way of life and the impact on people’s mental health and substance abuse.
We’ve written about the compounding of holiday depression and COVID-19 just a few months ago.
In 2021, many will make resolutions and set goals to improve their mental health or substance use, by making a plan, asking for help, or reaching out to professionals to talk, like Canvas Health.
If you are hoping to start with your own efforts to limit your drinking, connect with friends, or get out and move more, it’s important to set goals that are SMART.
The SMART acronym has been used for almost 40 years and is meant as a way to improve the likelihood you successfully reach your goals by making them:
All that is to say, pick a goal you can achieve by a certain time that will improve your life. Assign a really clear number to your goal that will prove when you’ve accomplished your mission.
Examples:
These SMART goals say exactly what I want to accomplish (Specific) for mental health or substance abuse. Each have clear numbers that can show whether a person is successful (Measurable). Depending on the person, this level of walking or drinking is possible (Achievable). For these people, these goals will get them active or drinking less (Relevant) a clear period of time, at which point, then can see their success and choose new goals.
The process of setting SMART goals can be challenging for many people. If that’s the case or if you’re concerned as to whether you can achieve and relevant goal, mental health and substance abuse professionals make it their life’s work to help people design goals and achieve them. Professionals at Canvas Health as always available to talk.
As while we remain in the grip of a pandemic, there have been many articles and studies about the impact of COVID-19’s disruption to our way of life and…
Canvas Health’s Washington County Supportive Housing program serves over 100 people each year, helping them exit homelessness and rebuild their lives over months and years. Clients face numerous compounding struggles along with homelessness, such as mental illness, substance use, damaged community or familial relationships, poor job prospects, etc. Canvas Health’s supportive housing program provides clients residential stability while staff help them develop skills and earn income.
The Washington County Supportive Housing program is rolling out additional supports through Housing Stabilization Services. Housing Stabilization Services can be provided to Medicaid recipients with a disability, which may include mental illness or substance use, who are also homeless or at-risk of homelessness.
Housing Stabilization Services will help current and future clients with both Transition and Sustaining services. Examples of this work include:
An example of how Housing Stabilization Services can benefit clients and their families is very clear in our SHARE (Sober Housing and Recovery Environment) program.
SHARE is a permanent supportive housing project within Canvas Health’s Washington County Supportive Housing program. SHARE serves formerly homeless single mothers recovering from substance use in seven town homes in Forest Lake, MN. Currently, each townhome houses a single-mother and her children, serving a total of 7 women and 16 children.
At SHARE, the women and their children continue recovery while accessing services and increasing their self-sufficiency.
Housing Stabilization Services provided by two Canvas Health staff can help SHARE parents in many concrete ways, such as:
Canvas Health believes supports like Housing Stabilization Services are an important part of ensuring all Washington County residents get the care they need. This is why Canvas Health staff at SHARE use on-site research-based methods of case management and substance abuse counseling, in addition to group therapy, education (financial, housing, life skills), and family recreational gatherings.
Whether in SHARE or in another part of Canvas Health’s Washington County Supportive Housing program, these services can be profound. For example, Patty has been a resident in one of our buildings. She was considered “long term homeless” before she came to us, meaning that she had been homeless for over one year. In Patty’s case it was many years. We asked her what she thought about homelessness and the services she has received through Canvas Health:
“Being homeless is complicated. It is not specific to socioeconomic status, race, religion, gender, or education. The reality of being homeless in Minnesota is different than Arizona where the weather is always nice. In Minnesota you find a place inside so you do not freeze to death. When you have to leave the shelter for 5-6 hours every day, you have the “heavy weight” of your belongings to carry around with you. You wander the streets looking for a place to be safe and warm. If you have money, you can hang out in a Burger King or similar for a while. If you have no money, you can go to the train station or a library. In warmer weather, Rice Park is a place to sit and talk with others, read a book or rest.
“My days at the most recent shelter ended after about a year. One day the social worker asked if I’d like to move to my own apartment in a new building. I met with John from Canvas Health and looked at 3 apartments in this new building. I got to choose which one! That was 6 years ago. With a nice place to live, I could relax. I am thankful that I have a place that is safe and warm, and has allowed me to be me again.”
Canvas Health’s Washington County Supportive Housing program serves over 100 people each year, helping them exit homelessness and rebuild their lives over months and years.
If you think you’re ready to start therapy for a mental health or substance use issue, you’re in a great place because you can talk to a Canvas Health staff member here or by calling (651) 777-5222. If you want a little more information first, read on!
Likely you came to our website by referral—from a friend, family member, or maybe your doctor. Or maybe you were searching for mental health or substance use counseling on Google. Both are great options. It can be very comforting to get a referral from a trusted source. And the internet can provide you with a large list of choices and reviews, especially if you’re looking for something specific, like telehealth.
You can call Canvas Health at (651) 777-5222 right now or send us a message with this online form.
Be sure to:
That’s it!
In the meantime, if you’re sending a message or still waiting to contact us, know there are shorter-term mental health resources available to you.
Mobile Crisis Response lines can provide immediate assistance:
If you live in Washington County, you may contact the following sexual assault 24-hour emergency phone number: (651) 777-1117
Other important numbers:
If you think you’re ready to start therapy for a mental health or substance use issue, you’re in a great place because you can talk to a…
Community mental health centers like Canvas Health are an important resource and safety net for the community. They provide services like mental health, substance use, and counseling, in addition to other important social services like sexual assault advocates, employment support, and housing. A benefit of bringing these services together under one organization is the ability for community members to receive support from trusted providers at every stage of their life. It also allows families the ability for all its member to get help at the same agency and even at the same time.
Canvas Health’s Early Childhood Behavior Assistance (ECBA) program is our early childhood mental health unit. These providers receive special training for working with our youngest clients—ages 0-6—alongside their parents and siblings.
At those young ages, to work through problems a child might be having at daycare or at home it’s often very important for parents to help their child through therapy, and to themselves learn how best to help their child. Early childhood mental health units like ECBA are unique able to meet this needs.
ECBA began in 1998 with a county wide meeting of social service providers who were concerned children with behavioral disorders did not receive adequate treatment or support in Washington County. Canvas Health built the ECBA program to meet that need and to accomplish several clear goals:
Every parent has struggles with raising children. Those struggles differ in every home, but in some cases they can be more severe, long-lasting, and dangerous and disruptive for the family. They require an early childhood mental health unit like Canvas Health’s ECBA.
But what does this look like and how has it changed during covid? How can a child and a family get help via video chat? We asked one of our ECBA therapists and they said:
Seeing young children and their families via telehealth has brought new challenges and obstacles. It has also allowed for creativity, flexibility, and connecting with families in new ways. Many families expressed that they felt doing telehealth in their home was more helpful since it felt like we could see more of the “real life” challenges they faced.
One family with two young children, expressed that engaging in services with the early childhood team has helped them to feel empowered in how to safely, consistently, and confidently handle their child’s “big” feelings and behaviors while continuing to build their relationship.
When starting services, their child struggled with following limits/directions, staying safe when experiencing “big” feelings, and lengthy, frequent emotional outbursts. Through learning and practicing skills to utilize to reinforce positive behaviors and ways to use selective attention in order to decrease negative attention seeking behaviors, they were able to enhance the parent-child relationship.
The family engaged in daily homework to practice their skills and weekly sessions to receive coaching, support, and psychoeducation on attachment, anxiety, and mental health in early childhood. Each week the parents were able to reflect on what their child’s behaviors were communicating and how they could respond in attuned, regulating, consistent, clear ways, through utilizing the tools they learned in therapy.
The parents and child were able to recognize their hard work in therapy resulted in their family feeling calmer, more connected, and safer.
Each year, ECBA serves over 100 children, 150 parents, and 150 siblings. Families consistently report improved relationships with their children and that they’ve learn other community resources to support their child and family.
People can need mental health support at all ages. But people also often benefit if important people in their lives, like parents or siblings, can help with their treatment and recovery. They just need to learn how.
Community mental health centers like Canvas Health are an important resource and safety net for the community. They provide services like mental health, substance use, and…
Canvas Health recently welcomed Conrad Nguyen to its Board of Directors. Conrad is the owner and president of Kortech, a facility management and contract staffing firm. He pursued his dream of entrepreneurship after spending 20+ years in various business leadership roles in corporate.
Difficult challenges in his early life – poverty, addiction, and violence – have made Conrad passionate about helping others. He joined the Canvas Health Board because he believes in the mission to bring hope, healing, and recovery to the people we serve.
Canvas Health recently welcomed Conrad Nguyen to its Board of Directors. Conrad is the owner and president of Kortech, a facility management and contract staffing firm.
The celebration of Black History Month during February is an important—if too short—opportunity to explore and reflect upon the struggle and impact of Black people on the United States. In the context of the mental health community there are many Black leaders who have been profound leaders in advancing the field and how the field serves Black people.
These few of the many Black leaders in mental health show are examples of Black mental health professionals who worked to defeat discrimination in society, but also within their own field.
Mental illness is common, affecting one in four Americans. Though the impacts of mental illness on People of color and Black Americans in particular are often disproportionate, due to conscious and unconscious societal failings of bias and inequity. Black Americans are more likely to be disadvantaged socioeconomically due to cultural and systemic biases.
Black History Month is an important opportunity to acknowledge Black leaders and the challenges Black people face for receiving excellent mental health care. The professionals above are providers who challenged these cultural and systemic biases head-on, advocating to changes within our society and profession. They and countless others are examples of how ordinary people can affect change. Their efforts also serve as a reminder of the enormous barriers that have been erected between Black people and excellent mental health care. We should all do our part of tearing down those barriers together.
Black History Month is an important opportunity to acknowledge Black leaders & the challenges Black people face for receiving excellent mental health care.
Canvas Health’s Service Coordination program provides tools and support systems to seniors and adults with disabilities in 11 Washington County apartment complexes so they can maintain their independence, safely and with dignity, no matter their means.
Independent living for seniors and adults with disabilities can include many challenges, in addition to aging and ability, including interpersonal conflict, substance abuse, and social isolation.
Canvas Health’s two (soon to be three) services coordinators are not direct providers, but they work as a single point of contact for clients in the apartment complexes they serve. During a single day, service coordinators may:
Service coordinators are a liaison between residents and direct providers. They identify needs and use their connections and knowledge to ensure residents get what they need. A resident story, told by a service coordinator:
An elderly couple found themselves overwhelmed when one spouse suffered a severe stroke. The healthy spouse asked me if he could get any help for his wife—he was overwhelmed with the tasks of caregiving and housekeeping. Clearly, he needed respite care, help with household upkeep, and personal cares for his wife. He, as many other independent seniors, was reluctant to ask for help. I shared information about the Alternative Care and Elderly Waiver programs. He wanted to think about it. After a month or so he returned and asked if I would meet with him and his son—we scheduled an appointment. After the meeting and making a call to Washington County to begin the referral process, he told me his son could handle everything from there on out. Approximately six weeks later I saw him and asked how everything went. He told me “we were denied” and “I guess that is that.” I asked the reason for denial and he didn’t know and his son didn’t understand the paperwork/communication received from the County. I asked if I could call and see what I could find out and he agreed. After speaking with the County, the reason for denial was due to being under–income/asset limits! I received permission to make a new referral for the other program and to-date the application is approved and services will be starting shortly.
Service coordinators work to identify needs, connect residents to supportive programs, and follow through to ensure a resident’s needs are met, such as in this story from a service coordinator:
A resident of almost five years failed an apartment inspection for the first time. Property management suggested talking with the service coordinator to possibly get assistance. Although a tenant for almost five years, the resident had never availed herself of service coordination services. After meeting with the resident and gathering information, I was able to begin the processes to pass the re-inspection, receive SNAP/NAPS benefits, change health coverage from Medicare only to MA/MSHO program (no co-pays, increased services including medical visit transportation), apply for and receive energy assistance, apply for and receive a ‘free’ cell phone, provide a resource for dental services, introduced her to our local food shelf, and facilitated enrollment in the Elderly Waiver program which includes housekeeping services. Several months after services and supports were in place, the resident expressed her gratitude with a lovely thank-you card.
Service coordinators do much of this through bringing in volunteers to provide workshops and other health events such as tax preparation, flu shot clinics, blood pressure screenings, and other presentations. One such benefit is in the following story from a service coordinator:
I had a speaker come out to all of my buildings from Midwest Hospice Services to talk about hospice care. A resident was struggling to care for her elderly husband that had Alzheimer’s disease and other health issues. She was burnt out and her personal health had started deteriorating due to the 24/7 care of her husband. She was able to get help from the agency with end of life care for her husband and she was able to have a break from caregiving with the five night facility stay they offer for patients. Everything was paid for through Medicare and the agency took care of a lot for her husband as his health declined. She was unaware of these types of services prior to attending the presentation set up through service coordination. Her husband passed away within a few months of being on hospice but her health had become better with the extra help and support from this agency.
Service coordinators also serve as a listening ear and trusted voice. One such story from a service coordinator illustrates the resident-coordinator relationship:
I had a resident come to me for supportive counseling about her son finding her after she had put him up for adoption 60 years ago. She was overwhelmed and looking for guidance on how to prepare for him and his wife coming to visit her. I helped her decide on what refreshments to provide and talked over what she wanted to ask him as well as what questions her long lost son might have. She was grateful for our conversation and felt more at ease before their visit. I do a lot of supportive counseling at my main building. Many residents just need someone to listen and understand. I am honored to be trusted with their personal lives and I always do my best to try and help.
Canvas Health’s service coordinators are an important part of our continuum of care that stretches across all ages groups, needs, and ability levels. By helping these Washington County residents living independently, Canvas Health’s service coordinators are saving them money and ensuring their lives remain dignified.
Residents of housing contracted by Canvas Health are eligible for Service Coordination. For more information, click here or call (651) 251-5046.
The Service Coordination program provides tools and support systems to seniors and adults with disabilities so they can maintain their independence, safely and with dignity.
To improve your resilience is to improve your ability to endure life’s challenges and weather the symptoms of your mental illness and/or substance use disorder. Resilience can help you cope with stress and keep yourself focused on and committed to your goals.
Though the beginning of the year is often a time of reflection and resolution, it’s always a great time for committing to becoming more resilient.
Stress is going to happen—we all have it—but for some of us it comes on too strong and too frequently. Resilience will help you manage that stress by channeling it or lessening its hold on you.
A lot of building resilience is taking care of yourself. A happier, healthier person can easier avoid, channel, or reframe stress when a particular stressor isn’t adding or compounding an existing stressor.
By starting with a couple of strategies to build resilience from the above list you can avoid the stress than can come with too high expectations of yourself. Start small and slowly add strategies as you feel it’s manageable. By gradually increasing your ability to do self-care, your project of being more resilient will have a greater chance of success.
To improve your resilience is to improve your ability to endure life’s challenges and weather the symptoms of your mental illness and/or substance use disorder.
The news and current events can affect us all differently and sometimes that effect is emotional and traumatic. It is normal to be hurt by the experiences of others in our community and in our world. Whether through human action, accident, or disaster, what we see on the news or social media can impact us profoundly.
You may be confused and hurt or shaken and fearful or overwhelmed and hopeless. These feelings are normal, but sadness and anxiety can worsen your condition or create a new challenge entirely.
If you aren’t yet prepared to reach out to a Canvas Health counselor, it can be helpful to first identify how news or current events are impacting you, then practice some coping strategies to improve your well-being.
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These symptoms are likely familiar, because they can indicate when a person is under stress. News and current events can be very stressful. The question when you’re feeling these ways because of news and current events is how to cope.
Give yourself permission to feel. Your feelings are normal and news and current events can impact everyone differently.
Acknowledge your (changing) feelings. Part of giving yourself permission to feel is to also recognizing that you are being affected by news and current event and that those feelings and symptoms may change over time.
Get active. Start with something manageable, like a walk to a park or just around the block. The exercise can serve as its own distraction and triggers the release of endorphins that can improve your mood and improve your symptoms.
Act on what you can control. This can pull you out of spiraling thinking and show yourself that you can impact your life, whether a task for work or a chore around your home.
Separate yourself from news and current events (when possible). Taking a break from television or social media, especially when being active or engaging in a favorite hobby, can help refocus your thinking and thus improve your mood.
Relaxation. Strategies for relaxing include deep breathing and picturing a favorite calming place, but also taking a bath and getting healthy amounts of sleep at night—neither too little nor too much.
Healthy consumption.
Talk to others. Call a trusted friend or family member to tell about how your feeling. Part of the pain associated with your feelings may be that your feelings are abnormal or that you’re suffering alone. Let people who care about you know that you’re struggling.
It may also be time to reach out to a counselor at Canvas Health. If your feelings don’t improve or if they significantly impact your ability to live your life, a quick way to get help is to reach out to our counselors by message or by phone here.
The news and current events can affect us all differently and sometimes that effect is emotional and traumatic.
Are you concerned about your drinking or your loved one’s drinking and wonder if you have a drinking problem? You wonder if you can get it under control or whether you even want to. You’re worried about what people might think.
Many people like you have their questions answered and learn how to stop drinking with the help of the experienced, patient, and non-judgmental counselors at Canvas Health.
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 by calling us at (651) 777-5222.
Are you concerned about your drinking or your loved one’s drinking and wonder if you have a drinking problem? You wonder if you can get it under control or…
Holiday blues. Holiday sadness. Holiday depression. Feelings like this can be confusing during what we think are supposed to be happy times. But they may not feel that way for you and other people.
In addition to sadness, the holidays often create painful memories, loneliness, and anxiety for people as they try to make the holidays live up to impossible expectations. The necessary measures to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus during this pandemic and the fear of infection are making this year even more difficult.
But what you need to know is that there are other people struggling like you and that there are great ways to cope.
Be honest about how you’re feeling this holiday season, with yourself and others, even if those feelings of sadness, depression, or anxiety seem at odds with how the holidays are “supposed to be.”
If any of these describe how you are feeling, there are things you can try at home explored below. If they seem difficult or you worry it could be worse, please call our intake coordinators at Canvas Health, who would love to talk with you via video appointment. Message or call us here.
Before talking to a counselor, things to remember or try include:
Sometimes these coping strategies may feel like they’re not enough or that your struggles with sadness or anxiety are too much. In that case, reach out to Canvas Health so you can set up a telehealth appointment with one of our counselors. We help a lot of clients every day who feel just like you. Asking for help takes two minutes right here.
Holiday blues. Holiday sadness. Holiday depression. Feelings like this can be confusing during what we think are supposed to be happy times.
This year has been unlike any other – our mental and physical strength have been tested again and again by the pandemic, political and civil unrest, and the overall upending of our daily lives.
We are full of hope as we reflect on the resilience of our Canvas Health community. Our clinicians adapted in flexible and creative ways we never would have dreamed of just a year ago. Our clients continued the hard work of healing in a more uncertain world. And you, our supporters, have been a generous light when times were at their darkest.
As we begin to emerge from the pandemic over the coming months, we believe that the need for mental health and substance use care will continue to increase. We feel honored to be in a place to be able to provide this essential care – and we can’t do it without the help of our generous supporters.
Please consider a tax-deductible gift to Canvas Health today.
This year has been unlike any other. We are full of hope as we reflect on the resilience of our Canvas Health community. Check out our video recap of 2020!
Canvas Health recently welcomed Dr. Oyebode Taiwo to the Canvas Health Board of Directors in November 2020. He is responsible for the development of 3M’s global health strategy, as well as the leadership and management of the medical organization.
Dr. Taiwo serves on the board of directors of American Cancer Society (ACS) and Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI).
Prior to joining 3M, Dr. Taiwo was Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Occupational & Environmental Medicine Fellowship Training Program at Yale University School of Medicine. He also served as Corporate Medical Advisor to Alcoa Inc. in a unique academic/private partnership for 17 years.
Dr. Taiwo received his medical degree from College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama, He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee and fellowship training in Occupational & Environmental Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.
Bode is married with 3 daughters. He enjoys traveling and playing electric bass guitar.
Canvas Health recently welcomed Dr. Oyebode Taiwo to the Canvas Health Board of Directors in November 2020. He is responsible for the development of…
When Canvas Health began moving clinicians home as a safety precaution, Anoka County Mobile Crisis Practitioner Kylie Otte knew it would be challenging to try to find somewhere that would be conducive to working for her, and that would feel calming for her clients when they called in with a crisis.
“I chose the laundry room because I have roommates and no one WANTS to come into the laundry room unless they HAVE to, so I was able to have a private, quiet place to focus.”
Kylie set up a desk and chair, hung a pretty background, and was ready to see clients virtually, offering assessments, interventions, and stabilization services as well as safety planning and short-term therapeutic services to assist in recovery from a crisis.
Kylie and her colleagues work very hard to help people who are experiencing behavioral, emotional or psychiatric situations needing a timely intervention to reduce the possibility of physical harm.
Canvas Health operates mental health crisis services lines for seven counties across the metro.
All counties in Minnesota have mobile crisis phone lines. To find your local crisis number, click here.
After moving clinicians home, Mobile Crisis Practitioner Kylie Otte knew it would be challenging to find somewhere that would feel calming for her clients when they called in.
Canvas Health’s clinicians are providing therapy to individuals of all ages to help with the effects of isolation, increased anxiety and depression, trauma, and other struggles associated with the COVID-19 lockdowns. Canvas Health’s substance abuse counselors are helping adolescents and adults overcome and manage alcoholism, addictions, drug use, and other substance use issues. Individuals can make appointments to see therapists and substance use counselors via telehealth.
In immediate mental health crises, Canvas Health’s mobile crisis response teams respond with assessment, intervention and stabilization services provided primarily via telehealth, and in-person if necessary.
Mobile crisis response staff will also provide necessary safety planning and short-term therapeutic services to assist in recovery from a crisis.
Mobile crisis response phone numbers for all Tribal Nations and Minnesota Counties.
Canvas Health encourages Twin Cities residents to reach out to these community resources for assistance with food insecurity, benefit supports, COVID talking strategies for kids, and stress and anxiety coping mechanisms.
For a downloadable list of these resources, click here.
Canvas Health’s clinicians are providing therapy to individuals of all ages to help with the effects of struggles associated with the COVID-19 lockdowns.