Supporting Wellness Minutes

July 16,2004

12:00-2:00

Present: Sarah Starks Katy Minnium

Delores A.Hill Ruthie Gray

Susan Stockdale Fanny Upshaw

Nissa Madyon Bowen Chung

Ted Booker Tanika Spates

Katia Daher-Annenberg, new member Bukhari Madyun, visitor

Murphy Thenarse, new member Dr. Roland Holmes

Dr. Ken Wells Andrea Jones, minutes

(Joni Zuckerbrow Miller was unable to take off work.)

• Welcome! We have two new members, Katia Daher-Annenberg, Murphy Thenarse, and a visitor, Bukhari Madyun. Welcome aboard!

• Introductions: Katia Daher-Annenberg is interested in mold and asthma. She makes visits to low-income homes where children have asthma to see if the homes have mold or other organisms that may be contributing to the child’s asthma, and how she can help. Often the parents do not seem to be listening to her and she feels that this may be because they have so many other problems to deal with that they may be depressed. She wants to learn more about depression so she will be better able to help her clients. Murphy Thenarse owns a printing company. He attended Loyola Marymount University. He met Nissa Madyun when she was having difficulty in printing a brochure for the July 15^th conference. He was able to help her. In the process she explained to him about the Depression Project that we are working on. He became interested, attended the conference, and now would like to learn more. Bukhari Madyun is Nissa Madyun’s son.

• “Report Back” Conference Debriefing: Ruthie Gray began by giving us the feedback she got from her clients, all women who have a history of substance abuse, and in some cases, depression. Most of them came from dysfunctional homes, had difficulty in school, much older boyfriends, and were victims of child abuse, thereby learning to equate abuse with love. They had a problem with question 29, “How much does substance abuse contribute to depression?” They felt the question should have been, “How much does depression contribute to substance abuse?” They felt that depression came before their substance abuse, and in fact, was a major reason for their substance abuse. Ted Booker noted that that’s been his experience too, dealing with male clients. “There’s an inability to deal with life situations, so you escape.” Ruthie Gray said overall, her clients enjoyed the conference, but that question should have been turned around.

• More Feedback: Katia Daher-Annenberg, who saw the conference with “fresh eyes” said she had a hard time concentrating, but she loved the music and the flyer. However, on the flyer, there was no one person to contact and also there should have been a master schedule of the meetings. Delores Hill thought it worked well and the information was accurate. Ted Booker said the venue was different, but okay. The conference had a welcome feel to it and an “inclusive air”.

• Possible New Members and/or Outreach: Jim Allen (Support Group), David Ryu (one of the groups), African American Health Solutions, represented by Michelle Kemp, affiliated with Pacific Health. Michelle is involved in Police Mental Health and is working on the flashlight beating. She wants someone to come out and talk to the police. She’s the director of an interface group.

• Follow-up: There was a lot of discussion on the best way to follow-up on the conference. Katia Daher-Annenberg thought that each Policy & Advocacy group member should take 5 or 6 people from the sign-in sheet and call them. Nisaa Madyun said no, first invite them to the table. Katy Minnium did not think the conference gave a good idea of what being involved entails. Dr. Roland Holmes felt that enough information has been put out already. Anymore would have been confusing unless they were already involved. Dr. Ken Wells asked, “What is HAAF’s follow-up procedure?” Dr. Holmes: “The person will get a thank-you, an update on the conclusion, and an invitation to join the group of their choice.”

• Recruitment: It was stated that we needed to make sure that the reason for this invitation is clear—Why are they coming? What are they going to do when they get here? People who come to the table should be able to bring something with them. The question was asked, “Do we want to recruit?” Nisaa Madyun said we started recruiting because the group shrunk, but we need a strong core with more community involvement on a regular basis. Academia comes, but the actual work is up to Advocacy & Policy and we will need numbers for that. Question: What key issues would we use to recruit allies, members, etc.?

• Action Items: 1) Make a schedule of the groups’ meetings. 2) Bring in more people. 3) Focus the group. 4) Get environment and the private sector on the bus.

• End of Meeting Comments: Overall, the conference went very well, although Ruthie Gray feels we should address the low-end scores. She expressed concern about why they were low. There was a small discussion about this: “The manner in which information is shared will affect the affect the outcome.” “Did the view affect the answers?” “People have a right to disagree.” “Interpretation is the difference.” Dr. Wells said we sounded like researchers.

• Next Meeting Date: August 20^th, 2004 12:00 p.m.-2:p.m., at the HAAF office, 3856 Martin Luther King Blvd. Suite 209, Los Angeles, CA 90037