Visiting Skid Row December 16, 2016 | PRA Work | Abigail Lemon Photo: Skid Row Housing Trust’s Star Apartments In September 2016, I flew to Los Angeles (LA) to attend a Social Security Administration (SSA) Field Hearing, as well as several other meetings to discuss the best way to collaborate and gain buy-in for SOAR in LA. We met with community members, agencies, and officials that had flown… Read More
Friendship FTW December 7, 2016 | PRA Culture, PRA Work | Nicole Vincent-Roller Health nuts know all the rules. Granted, I’m the kind of health nut that primarily knows what rules she is currently breaking, but there’s one area of wellness I’ve come to take very seriously as I’ve gotten older. My commitment to it matches the degree of its hyperbolic benefits: Supports brain health! Promotes recovery! Prevents… Read More
SongwritingWith:Soldiers Revisted December 1, 2016 | PRA Work | Michelle Cleary Read Dan Abreu’s blog about SongwritingWith:Soldiers, written in 2014. During our recent seminar on Songwriting with Soldiers, our presenter, Mary Judd, the Executive Director of SongwritingWith:Soldiers (SW:S), invited seminar participants to attend a performance during their upcoming retreat weekend. The performances are not open to the public, so I knew this was a special opportunity.… Read More
Substance Use and the Goals of Healthy People 2020 November 17, 2016 | PRA Work | Pamela Root Healthy People 2020 Goal: Attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death The dramatic spike in heroin addiction and overdose deaths is staggering and unlike anything our country has ever seen. Heroin use has increased across most age groups and all income levels; it has more than doubled in the… Read More
Turning the Addiction Tide Together November 10, 2016 | PRA Work | Donna Aligata Just after viewing Generation Found as part of PRA’s Recovery month celebration, I was asked by someone at PRA if I could share information about a new drug being used on the streets called W-18, also known as “beans” or shady 80s”. It is very dangerous painkiller that has been in the public eye lately. This… Read More
Spiritual Wellness November 2, 2016 | PRA Culture, PRA Work | Rosanna Volpe I love reading and talking about spirituality, so I enthusiastically volunteered months ago to write this blog. Did I mention that when we took the 8 Dimensions of Wellness assessment that I scored the lowest on spiritual wellness? I think that’s called irony. Were any of you shocked by your scores? I wasn’t. Winston Churchill… Read More
The Value of Employee Assistance Programs October 5, 2016 | PRA Culture, PRA Work | Pam Heine When life struggles begin to interfere with your job responsibilities and productivity, taking advantage of your company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can help you get back on track, especially when you know you’re not working to the best of your ability. Decisions you make to grow personally may have unintended consequences, which can hinder your… Read More
A Family Reunion at a Grantee Conference September 21, 2016 | PRA Work | Kristin Lupfer I had the great opportunity to attend SAMHSA’s Homeless Programs Branch Grantee conference this past August 15-17. It felt so much like a family reunion because the conference brought together so many people united around the same purpose and so many people that I have known for years, feel forever connected to but don’t get… Read More
National Wellness Week 2016 September 14, 2016 | PRA Work | Crystal Brandow, Holley Davis National Wellness Week is Sunday, September 11 through Saturday, September 17. Each day has had a different theme, and PRA staff have gotten in on the fun! PRA staff were asked to share their favorite Wellness Tip! Their answers were compiled into a Flipagram—watch to see their best tips! As Wellness Week falls during Recovery… Read More
Ramona Gardens: Trauma Recall September 8, 2016 | PRA Work | Guest Post Image By Tedder (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons Guest post by Magdalena Morales-Aina, LPC-S, LPCC While attending a conference in Anaheim in June 2016, I decided to visit the Ramona Gardens Housing Projects with my friend and colleague Lisa. I was born in East Los Angeles and lived in the housing projects with… Read More
Not Separate and Still Not Equal August 16, 2016 | PRA Work | Jacqui Greene The current controversy over the use of the slogan Black Lives Matter resonates very deeply for me. As the wife of an African American man and the mother of three biracial children, two of whom are boys, it speaks to my fears about what they may encounter as they head out into the world each… Read More
John Hinckley, Jr. and PRA August 10, 2016 | PRA Work | Henry J. Steadman On Wednesday, July 27, 2016, Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote an opinion that John Hinckley, Jr. no longer posed a danger to himself or others and should be released from federal supervision. Hinckley had been found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) in June… Read More
