Minutes

Talking Wellness Sub-Committee

August 4, 2004

4:00-5:30

Present: C. Edward Corbett, Chair Linda Morse

Tammy Moore Fonda Whitfield

Keisha Paxton Kavita Patel

Valena Hall Hilda Franklin

Bowen Chung Rodney Cobbs

Lillian Gardner Barry Collins

Albert Mathews Robin Madison

Adolphe Prince Herman Brown

Rochelle Monteiro Linda Hightower

Israel J. Gethsemane William E. Berry

Nora Berry Dr. “Coach” Hilliard Sumner

Ken Wells Ted Booker

Martha Tucker Andrea Jones, minutes

• Welcome/Introductions: There were many new people on board. Everybody introduced himself or herself. We would like to thank everyone for coming out to share this evening with us. Welcome aboard!

• Corrections: There were two corrections made to the minutes of the July 7, 2004 meeting. The subcommittee will no longer meet from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. Instead, they will meet from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The day will remain the same. Only the time is being changed. Then, at 5:30, they will “spill over” into the main Talking Wellness meeting, which meets from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

• Background Information: The Witness for Wellness Depression Project: Ed Corbett went over some of the history and background of the Working Groups. There are three Working Groups: Talking Wellness, Building Wellness, and Supporting Wellness (Policy and Advocacy). Each of these groups meets once a month. Talking Wellness meets on the 1^st Wednesday of the month, Building Wellness meets on the 3^rd Friday of the month, and Supporting Wellness meets on the 2^nd Friday of the month. These groups are composed of Researchers, Academia, and Community members. The Talking Wellness Working Group’s goal is to get people to talk about depression, whether their own, or someone else’s. Many people are uncomfortable talking about depression, and Talking Wellness is trying to make it easier for them. This sub-committee is a part of the Talking Wellness Working Group. The Building Wellness Working Group’s job is to try to build bridges between people with depression and the people, organizations, etc. who can help them. In other words, Building Wellness is trying to make it easier for people with depression to get help. The Supporting Wellness Group (Policy and Advocacy) is the group that tries to “make things happen”. They advocate for changes in policy. For example, Policy and Advocacy is the group that would go to Congress to get more money for mental health programs and also help decide how and where that money is spent. There are two groups that oversee the Working Groups. These are: The Support Council and The Evaluation Framework Committee. The Support Council also meets on the 3^rd Friday of the month. This group is composed mainly (but not totally) of people from the three Working Groups. They monitor and advise the Working Groups. The Evaluation Framework Committee does not have a set schedule to meet. This group sets guidelines for and evaluates everything the Working Groups do. Together, these five groups form the core of the Witness for Wellness Depression Project.

• “Report Back” Conference Questions: Ed Corbett went over the answers to the Talking Wellness Group questions from the July 15^th conference. Overall, the group was satisfied with the answers, especially since people seem to think that poetry and taking pictures of the community could be an effective way of dealing with depression. However, there were concerns regarding Question 13: “Do you believe that poetry readings will be an effective way of getting community members to talk about depression?” 51.2% of the people said yes and 48.8% said no.

• Poetry Event: Everyone agreed the poetry event was a success. However, there were some questions and a lot of discussion: Would people get the poetry event confused with Russell Simmons’ “Def Jam”? What about the generation gap? Would young people relate to poetry? These are some of the comments to those questions: “Tupac was a poet.” “Make sure the poetry is relevant.” “Generations ago poetry was a good medium for expressing yourself.” “There is a relationship between poetry and rap.” Then there was the question: “What form would be used to get this out to the public? Television, radio, and public service announcements were mentioned. CD’s were the way everyone seemed to agree on the most. Someone said that her grandchild learned what he heard on CD’s better than he could learn his ABC’s. Another idea was using music or putting a beat to the poetry. “The idea of music and poetry together is powerful.” “It would be easy to grasp and easy to spread.” Everyone agreed that if a CD or DVD were made it would feature people; poetry etc. from this community, and it would be made available to the community free of charge.

• The Photo Plan The photo plan was explained for the new members. Basically, it involves community members taking pictures of their environment to show how environment stimulates our moods. Someone mentioned the changing of the seasons and how that affects moods. Also there was mention this being a family thing, and perhaps letting kids take pictures or show an adult what they wanted photographed so the adult could do it. However, at this time we will just have adult involvement.

• Length of Commitment to Project: How long should this project last? Until spring? 6 months? How long would people be willing to commit to? “Don’t forget, people get on and off the bus.” Since we have to get IRB approval first, we will decide these things at a later time.

• Next Meeting: Wednesday September 5^th, 2004 4:00 P.M. until 5:30 P.M. and will adjourn to the Talking Wellness Working Group from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. These meetings will be held at the HAAF office, located at 3856 W. Martin Luther King Blvd. Suite 209, Los Angeles, CA.