988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, substance use crisis, thinking about suicide, or under any type of emotional distress, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. When you call, text, or chat online, you will be connected to a trained crisis worker who will listen to you, provide support, and share any resources that may be helpful to you. Free and confidential support is available 24/7 across the United States.

Mental Health Awareness Events

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Check out some of the annual events happening in our communities, as well as the conferences that Crestwood is a part of.

NatCon25: Crestwood is proud to attend NatCon25, the largest mental health and substance use conference from May 5 – 7 in Philadelphia, PA. We will have a booth in the exhibit hall where we’ll get to share about our programs and services with people from across the nation!

Peerpocalypse: Crestwood is excited to sponsor Peerpocalypse, an annual conference for peers and supporters, which takes place May 5 – 8 in Seaside, OR. This conference is dedicated to peer support, wellness and community, and we are proud to be a part of it!

Mental Health Matters Day: Crestwood will once again sponsor and attend Mental Health Matters Day at the California State Capitol on May 14. Staff from the Sacramento Home Office will represent Crestwood at our resource table. It’s a wonderful opportunity to share what we’re doing throughout the state and shine a light on mental health.

NAMIWalks: There are several NAMIWalks that Crestwood is sponsoring and participating in this May, including NAMIWalks Northern California (May 3) in Sacramento, NAMIWalks Fresno (May 10), and NAMIWalks San Francisco (May 17). Crestwood will be represented at resource tables and by walk teams from our Sacramento Home Office, Crestwood Center Sacramento and American River Residential Services, Kingsburg Healing Center and the Fresno Bridge, as well as San Francisco Healing Center. Our involvement in these annual walks echoes our Crestwood values of Family, Commitment, and Enthusiasm, as we partner with our communities to champion mental health for all!

Thank you to all who are participating in these great events for Mental Health Awareness Month! At our campuses and in our communities, we can all take steps to help stop stigma and advocate for recovery and resilience!!

WRAP continues to thrive at Crestwood as we proudly celebrate becoming an official Center of Distinction with Advocates for Human Potential (AHP)!

Since partnering with AHP, we’ve continued to grow and deepen our WRAP Foundational Tool though impactful efforts, including:

• Earning recognition as an AHP WRAP Center of Distinction
• Hosting multiple WRAP Seminar II Trainings, expanding our pool of certified WRAP Facilitators to over 100
• Facilitating an Advanced Level WRAP Seminar III to certify five new ALFs, increasing our total ALFs to 20
• Expanding Campus Mentoring Support and strengthening our network of vetted WRAP Facilitators
• Continuing our collaboration with AHP on Wellness at Work, enhancing wellness within our organizational culture
• Providing exclusive Crestwood custom WRAP Workbooks to support ongoing learning and WRAP development

More exciting updates and collaborations with AHP are on the horizon for 2025! Check out the 2025 Training Calendar so you don’t miss out on the wide range of WRAP training opportunities available.

WRAP-OWL Newsletters:
April 2025 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
July 2024 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
July 2023 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
January 2023 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
November 2022 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
July 2022 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
April 2022 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
February 2022 WRAP-OWL Newsletter
September 2021 WRAP-OWL Newsletter

If you have any questions about upcoming trainings, mentoring requests, or any WRAP support for your campus, please reach out to Sam Tatro Isbell at employeecenter@cbhi.net.

At Crestwood, we understand that our employees’ well-being directly impacts the quality of care and support that we provide for persons served. With this in mind, through the OWL Project, our mission is to transform the wellness landscape of our organizational workforce. This initiative is designed to strengthen Crestwood’s workplace wellness and mental health services by implementing similar methods that gave WRAP its evidenced-based practice status. At Crestwood, we recognize that our employees are the heart of everything we do! By fostering a culture of wellness, we empower our employees with the tools, resources, and the support they need to thrive both personally and professionally.

At Crestwood, we believe that a healthy and supported workforce is essential to fulfilling our mission of wellness and recovery. The OWL Project is a direct reflection of this commitment, ensuring that every team member has access to meaningful wellness practices. By investing in our employees' well-being, we create a workplace where people feel valued, motivated, and equipped to provide the highest level of care. OWL creates a company culture based on solid values and tools for wellness for everyone.

For more information on the OWL project, please contact Sam Tatro Isbell at employeecenter@cbhi.net.

Validation

What is validation?

Validation is a genuine attempt to understand a person’s experience and communicate that understanding back to them. Their experience includes their behaviors, emotions, and thoughts in any given situation.

Validation doesn’t mean that we agree with what a person has done or is doing. It doesn’t mean that we approve of what led to this situation. It merely communicates to the person that we understand what’s happening from their perspective (or are trying to understand).

What are the benefits of practicing validation?

“If I hear you when you or your emotions whisper to me, then you don’t have to shout.”

Validation is the primary strategy of acceptance in DBT. Whether you are communicating to someone else or self-validating, it is the practice of acknowledging our understanding and acceptance of a person. The benefits of practicing validation with someone include:

• Validation helps to build or maintain the relationship with the person
• Validation models an effective communication strategy
• If the person has heightened emotion validation helps to regulate their emotions (and yours)
• Validating others keeps them from shutting down or getting overly defensive
• Validation shows the person that you are attentive, caring, and nonjudgmental
• Validation makes problem solving possible if you’re providing coaching or support

How do we practice validating others?

When validating others, we should engage in conversation with a nonjudgmental tone and manner, stay focused on their current experience, ask questions, and get clarification when we don’t understand. Below are a few more tips:

• Be awake to the person’s communication (listen, communicate that you hear and understand).
• Accurately reflect what you have been told. Restate without parroting.
• Suggest the unarticulated. Consider what the person is not saying. State your conclusions as a question and be willing to be wrong.
• Validate through the person’s personal history or biology. Behavior is a result of what the person has experienced in their life and/or because of their physiology.
• Normalize the person’s behavior. The person’s responses are what anyone would experience.
• Radical Genuineness. Use a manner and tone that is not condescending, fragilizing or rule bound. Respond to the person as you would anyone else.
• Be a Cheerleader. Respond in a way that communicates your belief in the wisdom of the person.

If you would like to learn more about DBT Skills, please contact Josh Weingarten at employeecenter@cbhi.net.

About Peer Support

Peer support work is an amazing career opportunity that calls upon a testimonial of “having been there.” Peer support specialists have the ITE credential of a lived recovery experience (I am The Evidence that recovery is real). They also undergo specialized training to gain what is called their Peer Support DNA (which stands for distinguished natural abilities) of Recovery & Resilience, Relationship, Authenticity, Mutuality, Empowerment, Integrity, Accountability, Ethics, Lifelong Learning, and Positivity.

It is not “just another job;” in fact, some people even say it is a calling. Since it is one of the most important jobs in integrated healthcare services, we suggest it be viewed through miraculous glasses; otherwise called the sacred lenses. The word sacred is used because it has to do with reverence and is sometimes used to describe holy ground – a place special enough that we take off our shoes when we set foot on it.

This sacred ground gives peer support specialists a viewing point for seeing people in the light of their strengths and potential. They engage with peers in ways that bring their strengths and wellness forward. Peer support is not about pushing or pulling someone down a path we think they need to walk. It is about walking side by side in mutuality and intentional relationship toward the direction of recovery, discovery, resilience, and wellness. Peer support is about being an expert at not being an expert, which takes a lot of expertise. It’s about empowering people with positive energy to do the hard work of recovery. And finally, peer support specialists also model recovery as they support and empower their colleagues and the organization to see through the lens of people being served. ~ Peer Support Learning for the 21st Century”

The Invisible Man

By Chris Martin

In H.G. Wells’ novel, The Invisible Man, the main character Dr. Jack Griffin discovers the secret to invisibility. During a series of experiments, he turns himself invisible and in his sole focus to reverse the process, he neglects the people who love and respect him. Instead, Dr. Griffin uses his invisibility for personal gain without regard for others. The tragedy of this story is that he did not use his unique position in life for the greater good but instead allowed his invisibility to corrupt his integrity.

Living a Life of Integrity

What is integrity? Integrity is a quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, staying true to our values, remaining accountable, and keeping our word. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, Integrity is a state of being whole. Another popular definition comes from author C.S. Lewis who said, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” In essence, the potential for great integrity—when it really matters—presents itself in the moments when we may not be visible. We might ask ourselves during those times, “Are we acting and speaking with integrity? Are we staying 100% true to our ethical standards?”

Is 99% Good Enough?²

Giving less than 99% integrity misses the mark. Consider the impact when integrity is met at 99%:

• 268,500 defective tires will be shipped this year.
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written in the next 12 months.
• 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next 60 minutes.
• 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.
• 107 incorrect medical procedures will be performed by the end of this very day.

The Invisible Plan

So, how can we stay on track and live a life of integrity without leveraging invisibility as a reason to do anything less? Instead of being an invisible woman or man, perhaps we can use an invisible plan. The invisible plan¹ is just reminding ourselves to stay true to integrity even when no one is watching. If we can do that 100% of the time, we’ll be models and mentors for others to do the same. People learn about your heart from your words and actions even if they can’t always see you.

Tips for Maintaining Integrity

Here are a few tips to maintain integrity in our lives:

• Lead by example.
• Keep your word.
• Exercise open communication.
• Be accountable for your actions.
• Be willing to stand up for what is right.
• Be civil and respectful.
• Exercise patience and emotional control.

1. Martin, C.W. The next 40 days to a resilient journey of meaning and purpose. 2020. Crestwood Behavioral Health, Inc.

2. Transforming Healthcare and Strengthening Results. Retrieved on Sept. 19, 2024 from https://chcm.com/if-99-9- were-good-enough/

To learn more about peer support, please contact Chris Martin at employeecenter@cbhi.net.

Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) is an approach in the human service field that assumes that an individual is more likely than not to have a history of trauma. Trauma-Informed Care recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms and acknowledges the role trauma may play in an individual’s life, including service staff.

On an organizational or systemic level, Trauma-Informed Care changes organizational culture to emphasize respecting and appropriately responding to the effects of trauma at all levels.[1][2] Similar to the change in general protocol regarding universal precautions, Trauma-Informed Care practice and awareness becomes almost second nature and pervasive in all service responses. Trauma-Informed Care requires a system to make a paradigm shift from asking, “What is wrong with this person?” to “What has happened to this person?”[3]

The intention of Trauma-Informed Care is not to treat symptoms or issues related to sexual, physical or emotional abuse or any other form of trauma, but rather to provide support services in a way that is accessible and appropriate to those who may have experienced trauma.[3] When service systems operating procedures do not use a trauma-informed approach, the possibility for triggering or exacerbating trauma symptoms and re-traumatizing individuals increases.[3]

Re-traumatization is any situation or environment that resembles an individual’s trauma literally or symbolically, which then triggers difficult feelings and reactions associated with the original trauma.[4][5] The potential for re-traumatization exists in all systems and in all levels of care: individuals, staff and system/organization.

Re-traumatization is often unintentional. There are some “obvious” practices that could be re-traumatizing such as the use of restraints or isolation, however, less obvious practices or situations that involve specific smells, sounds or types of interactions may cause individuals to feel re-traumatized.[3]

Re-traumatization is a significant concern, as individuals who are traumatized multiple times frequently have exacerbated trauma-related symptoms compared to those who have experienced a single trauma. Individuals with multiple trauma experiences often exhibit a decreased willingness to engage in treatment.

Re-traumatization may also occur when interfacing with individuals who have history of historical, inter-generational and/or a cultural trauma experience.