Crestwood San Diego Honored​

Crestwood San Diego Honored at the 31st Behavioral Health Recognition Dinner

On the night of June 9th, staff from Crestwood San Diego, Crestwood Chula Vista and the Crestwood Home Office, gathered at the San Diego Mission Valley Marriott to attend the 31st Annual Behavioral Health Recognition Dinner. The Behavioral Health Recognition Dinner is a chance to celebrate and recognize individuals and groups who provide outstanding service in San Diego County’s behavioral health field. Behavioral health and substance abuse programs are invited to submit nominations for any of the 12 categories of community awards.  At this year’s event, Crestwood San Diego was the proud and humble recipient of three awards – Support Person of the Year, Clinician of the Year and 24-Hour Facility of the Year!

Frank Chargualaf, who is the Transportation Coordinator at Crestwood San Diego, was awarded Support Person of the Year. Frank’s incredible passion and dedication to connecting clients to needed medical appointments helped him win this award.  He has assisted so many clients to overcome obstacles with their insurance, California IDs, Social Security cards and pre-authorizations so that they may connect to their needed medical appointments in the community. “Frank has enhanced so many lives by improving their health and wellness and we are so proud of him,” said Robyn Ramsey, Administrator at Crestwood San Diego.

Clinician of the Year was awarded to Dr. Krauz Ganadjian. Dr. Ganadjian is the Psychiatrist and Medical Director at both Crestwood Chula Vista and Crestwood San Diego. Robyn said, “Dr. Ganadjian honors the Crestwood values and has a compassionate treatment approach, as well as the flexibility to work with the team and clients to develop individualized plans to best help each client.  We are so grateful for the wonderful working relationship we have with Dr. Ganadjian!”

And finally Crestwood San Diego took home the big award of 24-Hour Facility of the Year! Crestwood San Diego has only been open for three years, but has become a key part of the continuum of care in San Diego County.  Their stakeholders and clients have embraced and appreciated what makes their campus special such as compassionate care, a warm and homelike environment, WRAP, DBT, Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network, Zumba, Yoga and more. Janet Vlavianos, Crestwood’s Director of Development and Corporate Initiatives, accepted the award on behalf of Crestwood San Diego. Joining her on stage was Crestwood San Diego’s first program graduate, Julie, who has also been employed at the campus for two years. She made a powerful speech to a room with more than 650 attendees and truly portrayed what Crestwood stands for and honors.

Congratulations Crestwood San Diego, Frank Chargualaf and Dr. Krauz Ganadjian for receiving the recognition you all deserve for the incredible work you do every day for our clients that makes it possible for them to succeed in their recovery.

Contributed by:
Robyn Ramsey, Administrator,
Crestwood San Diego

 

Celebrating Goodbyes

Imagine a group of people sitting in a circle coming together for a unified purpose, to celebrate the graduation of one of their own. The graduating peer excitedly sits in the middle of the group, with a huge smile on their face, because their day has finally come; they’ve made it to graduation! A beautiful rock has been painted and tailored specifically for that person. The rock is passed around the circle into the hands of all those in attendance, as they share their memories and best wishes for the graduate. Within that rock all the good thoughts are wrapped up into it and then given to the graduate.

At Crestwood Chula Vista, they started a tradition to honor their graduates. When faced with their first successful graduation in December 2015, they wanted to start a special and unique tradition, so they gathered together the people they serve and asked how they would like to celebrate their graduation. Many of them offered insightful and valuable input and all these great ideas were then considered by the community. When all was said and done, the most popular idea for a graduation ceremony came from one of their dearest residents, who has since graduated, to start a goodbye group with a “good memories” rock. The good memories rock, which is decorated according to the desire of its future owner, is passed around from person to person in a circle that surrounds the person who will soon be leaving the campus. Each person who holds the rock is then asked to speak, sharing kind words, dear memories and warm wishes to the graduate. And so, the tradition for their peer goodbye group was created and continues to this day.

For the last goodbye, right before the graduate is completely discharged, they go through what is called their “High-Five Goodbye.” Clients and staff line the sides of the hallway leading to the exit with extended hands and then whistle, cheer and chant the graduate’s name. The graduate walks down the hallway, usually with a huge smile, and receives high-fives, and sometimes hugs. Some cry, some laugh, and some shout. The one thing they all have in common is their excitement to move onto the next chapter of their lives and recovery; they’ve made it!

This tradition has carried over to not just client graduations, but also when their staff move on from Crestwood or are promoted to other campuses. Wanda Anderson, Service Coordinator at Crestwood Chula Vista, said, “Goodbye groups provide closure for staff and the people we serve and are a wonderful opportunity to give honor to those who so deserve it. We love our special tradition and if your campus does not have a tradition to honor your graduates, we hope that this may inspire you to start one of your own.”

Submitted by:
Wanda Anderson, Service Coordinator and Shanel Stec, Activity Coordinator,
Crestwood Chula Vista

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The Art of Bringing Up Leaders

“Clarity of purpose at both a corporate and personal level is an essential ingredient in the successful leader model.”

-Karen de Tyson
A New Generation of Business Leaders 

Crestwood Behavioral Health, Inc. is an organization that is built by and for people desiring to make a change in the world by creating a continuum of services that empower our clients to live and succeed in their communities. As an organization, we lead the mental health community by example. As individuals, we lead our community of staff, clients, peers, families, business partners, county stakeholders, faith communities, schools and neighbors by example.

Our greatest resource at Crestwood is our human resource. The humanity in human resources is the gift Crestwood brings to this field. The humanity in Crestwood leadership is the cornerstone in the framework of service to others. We exemplify the eight dimensions of servant leadership-listening, empathy, healing, mindfulness, stewardship, growth, and community building, all of which are clearly aligned with our Crestwood values of family, character, flexibility, commitment, enthusiasm compassion, and collaboration. Our values are also linked with our recovery pillars of hope, empowerment, meaningful roles and spirituality. These values, pillars, and dimensions become the lens from which we lead, drive the work we do every day and what we use to develop new leaders from within our Crestwood family. Our staff members embody these values and they serve as the foundation for the programs and services we provide. It is the responsibility of each of our campus Administrators and leadership teams to uphold these values on a daily basis, in all aspects of their positions and roles.

Our Administrators are expected to lead, manage, supervise and demonstrate a wide- array of skills and abilities on a day-to-day basis. Crestwood is a learning community. It is expected that a person in leadership will be trained, oriented, coached, developed and recognized in all areas of their roles. In order to support and grow servant leaders in our organization, we have created a leadership training curriculum and a full mentorship program.

Crestwood’s mentorship program process starts with a robust orientation and onboarding that welcomes our new Crestwood family members. The orientation is designed to create an inviting and compassionate community of employees who care for themselves, each other, and the clients and stakeholders we serve. Orientation is infused with tools for engagement and culturally relevant adult learning methods. After orientation, mentorship continues for our employees with our Crestwood Academy.

Through our Crestwood Academy we engage employees through coaching on the fly, in-services, trainings, workshops, conferences, webinars, environmental practices, demonstrations, mastery of skills and competency building opportunities. Throughout this process, our employees are encouraged to look for ways to achieve their goals, to reach their aspirations, as well as to advance their careers at Crestwood in their field of choice. Our employees are given the opportunity to achieve advanced degrees, licenses and certifications through our Crestwood Scholarship Program. Advancing leaders may also engage in our succession planning process, where management and leadership team members, including Administrators, identify possible new candidates for leadership positions.

Our succession planning at Crestwood involves developing our servant leaders, in all departments, through our comprehensive values-driven mentorship program. Although the mentorship has training, homework, and benchmarks for success, the cornerstone of this program is the relationship built among leaders – a relationship built on honesty, collaboration, compassion, transparency, integrity and love. Crestwood proudly achieved the rare CARF Exemplary Conformance to the Standards for our leadership succession planning process and mentoring to identify future potential leaders in our organization and then providing them with training, education and support to prepare them for these roles.

At Crestwood we are determined and motivated to continue to lead, inspire and keep the humanity in everything we do as we develop our next group of leaders that will take us well into the future and will continue to make a difference in the world we live in.

Contributed by:
Patricia Blum, PhD
Executive Vice President

The Power of Meaningful Roles

Crestwood Behavioral Health’s whole person approach to healing, wellness, recovery and resiliency includes a focus on enhancing or developing a meaningful role in one’s daily life. As psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, observed, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” Research in positive psychology has found that a meaningful role can lead to a positive attitude, increased happiness, sense of belonging, sense of purpose, increased self-worth and promotes self-accountability.

At Crestwood we embrace the need for meaningful roles and it is one of our four Pillars of Recovery that also includes Hope, Empowerment, and Spirituality. It is defined as positive identities within the places we live, learn, work and socialize, which creates a sense of purpose and value. Crestwood’s healing and resiliency-building campuses promote this in many ways. The people we serve contribute daily to our campuses, including co-creating schedules of activities, participating in the functions of the day and educating staff, either through co-presenting at staff education meetings or participating in change of shifts.

Meaningful roles also come from those we are in a relationship with. Our clients are recognized and valued for their relationships as a roommate, parent, child and community member. As a community member, our clients contribute in positive ways such as volunteering at local homeless shelters or animal rescue groups. Clients often also take on the role of teacher or mentor as they come together to support their fellow residents in their healing. Our Crestwood campuses also provide opportunities for meaningful roles through shared group activities such as art shows and sporting events like the Crestwood Olympics, where more than seven campuses get together for fun and friendly competition.

At Crestwood, opportunities for meaningful roles for our clients do not stop at their discharge. Clients are supported in their recovery and wellness journey by being given the chance to come back and contribute through sharing their personal experiences of recovery at our campuses, volunteering in our communities or continuing with a job they achieved through Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network. Patty Blum, Crestwood Executive Vice President, says, “Supporting and encouraging meaningful roles at our campuses helps to provide our clients with a connection to their values, ethics and higher selves. All of these responsibilities -great or small- give their daily existence purpose, and as such, become their meaningful roles.”

Contributed by:
Cindy Mataraso, Director of Operations
Crestwood Sacramento Home Office

Fallbrook Healing Center

The proposed Fallbrook Healing Center will be a secure Mental Health Rehabilitation Center (MHRC) in the former Fallbrook Hospital and will serve 100 clients. It is built on a foundation of Crestwood Behavioral Health’s 49 years of providing mental health recovery and wellness services throughout California.

Crestwood will purchase the site (which has been closed since December 2014), secure the facility, improve it for appropriate use, and open the new center in 2018.

Mental health issues such as depression, bi-polar and suicide affect one out of every five families in our country, and this facility will provide much-needed help for many in this and surrounding communities.

We know that there are many questions about the new facility and its relationship with the Fallbrook community. We are committed to becoming a community asset and being responsive to your questions and concerns.

To learn more about the Fallbrook Healing Center please download the documents below:

Fallbrook-Proposed-Factsheet
Fallbrook-Presentation-May-2017
Fallbrook-Presentation-July-2017
Fallbrook-Jobs 
Crestwood-Testimonials

 

An Innovative Neurobehavioral Rehabilitation Approach

National Award Recognizing Dr. Gordon Muir Giles’ Innovative Neurobehavioral Rehabilitation Approach at Crestwood.

Crestwood Behavioral Health’s own Dr. Gordon Muir Giles, Director of Neurobehavioral Services at Crestwood Treatment Center in Fremont and Idylwood Care Center, was awarded the most prestigious honor related to clinical practice in the occupational therapy profession, the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award. This award was made in recognition of his “innovating the clinical practice of cognitive neurorehabilitation” through his groundbreaking work with clients who have severe neurological impair- ments.

Dr. Giles was presented with the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award by the Ameri- can Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) at its 2017 Annual Conference and Centennial Celebration on April 1st in Philadelphia. The Eleanor Clark Slagle Lecture- ship Award was named after a pioneer of the occupational therapy profession, and recog-nizes achievements in research, education, and clinical practice that make substantial and lasting contributions to the occupational therapy profession’s body of knowledge.

This award recognizes Dr. Giles’ efforts to improve the lives of Crestwood’s clients through innovative clinical practices, including his relational neurobehavioral approach to neurorehabilitation. This non-aversive method, which has been described as “relentless kindness,” assists clients with severe behavioral and emotional problems by empowering them through person-centered care and building positive relationships with them, rather than relying on confrontation, seclusion, or restraints. Dr. Giles uses this compassionate approach to treat clients whose neurological impairments have caused many of them to fail in other treatment settings due to difficult-to-manage behaviors. An example of this compassionate approach is being used with a client at Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont who has had post-severe Trauma Brain Injury for 23 years. This client believes that he is a billionaire and that people are stealing his money. He would joke to the staff that they are stealing from him and if they would joke back, he would become very upset. To help deescalate this behavior, the staff now meet with him daily to review any areas of concern, assist him with solving any perceived problems, review his finances with him weekly and have him sign-off on any expenditures. Additionally, the staff responds to any of his questions about money by stating that taking money from him is unlawful and that if they did steal from him, they would go to jail. This increased focus on interpersonal factors and therapeutic relationships has made an amazing difference in this client’s life by helping to reduce his anxiety, stress, and negative attributional bias.

“This is the greatest honor of my professional life,” said Dr. Giles, who has written books and articles on the subject of neurorehabilitation. “It will absolutely raise the profile of our work at Crestwood and our innovative approaches to the practice of neurobehavioral rehabilitation.”

Karen Scott, Program Director at Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont said, “The positive impact Dr. Giles has made with both his clients and colleagues is immeasurable. He is a tireless advocate for persons with neurobehavioral differences.”

As part of winning the Slagle Award, Dr. Giles will deliver an AOTA lecture in 2018 that will discuss how best to meet the needs of clients with neurobehavioral disability in a changing healthcare environment.

Contributed by:
Karen Scott, Program Director Crestwood Treatment Center, Fremont

The Lessons of Change

At Crestwood Center San Jose MHRC, they have been going through major changes, both physically and programmatically. The campus has undergone major reconstructive surgery, and now has a beautiful design similar to our other Crestwood programs. The design changes have brought about a more homelike environment and their clients are enjoying new areas, such as two living rooms, a comfort room, a serenity room, a group room, a library, and a den. Walls have been painted in soothing colors, lovely decor has been placed throughout the building, and new, stylish flooring has been installed.

Crestwood San Jose’s new design of their dining room also includes a living space that clients can also use for Xbox Connect games, karaoke, and entertainment when eating their meals.

On the program side, a mindful effort has been made to not only embrace the Crestwood Values (Family, Commitment, Compassion, Enthusiasm, Collaboration, Character, and Flexibility), but to also actively practice them in the staff’s daily activities. They have also incorporated a more comprehensive program schedule, opened up the patio area, and expanded their outing and pass policy. With these efforts, they continue to maintain the important focus on recovery, program success, and preparedness for community re-entry for their clients.

During this remodel and program changes, the staff learned some important lessons, such as any major change starts with the Administrator and Department Heads, and then it needs to be embraced by the entire team. “The change process may be challenging for some, even if it is perceived as positive or good, because it means saying goodbye to what we are familiar and comfortable with,” said Angele Suarez, the MHRC’s Program Director. Campus Administrator, Michael Bargagliotti, added, “It is human nature to be drawn to comfort and security, regardless of the outcome, because it is something that is known and we know what to expect. The change process introduces an insecurity and emotional instability that can cause people to react with resistance, fear or anger.”

To help with managing the challenges of change, the staff at Crestwood Center San Jose found that implementing a few key measures such as maintaining an open mind, being optimistic, asking questions and helping others with the changes, made a huge difference in how everyone dealt with what was happening around them.

“By maintaining an open mind, even though we may not always agree with the changes being implemented, we can actively listen and analyze the information, and then we can form an honest and genuine opinion about the changes. We might even surprise ourselves on how much we like the ideas,” said Angele.

The staff found that by being optimistic, even though people might be currently unhappy with the changes, can be helpful since negativity usually comes from a fear of the unknown. By not being able to predict the future, a good strategy is to then focus on the present moment with a positive attitude, which can create an optimistic outlook towards the future.

The staff also encouraged everyone to ask a lot of questions because it is important for each person to not only be notified of the changes that are occurring, but to also understand the reason behind the changes. Asking questions provides everyone with the needed information to make informed choices.

“And we found that one of the best ways to help ourselves with change is to focus on helping others with change. Helping others takes the focus off ourselves, allowing us to connect with our peers, and we can then become a part of the change process through positive interactions,” said Angele.

“At Crestwood, we know that we will always be part of innovative recovery practices and leadership. The best part of innovative change is that you end up creating a culture that is not only open to the concept, but takes on that personality. At Crestwood Center San Jose, as we continually work towards providing the best recovery program for our clients, going through change will allow us to continue our evolution, and never stop searching for our better self,” said Michael.

Change is inevitable in life and usually out of our control; however, how we respond to the change is completely in our control. How will you choose to change and how will you choose to respond? It is all up to you.

Contributed by:
Angele Suarez, Crestwood Center San Jose MHRC, Program Director,
Michael Bargagliotti, Crestwood Center San Jose, Campus Administrator