news FALL 2018
CHANGING MINDS
THE LESSONS OF
Courage and Fear By Chloe, 13 year old Navos client In my life I’ve known courage.
We met when I was four years old and I walked into my parent’s room and saw my mom and few pimps shooting up heroin. Nowadays courage is talking to my counselor about what I’ve been through.
This is not an actual photo of the client to protect her privacy
I find courage when my grandmother provides a roof over my head and comforts me even though deep down I know she worries about the police or CPS* coming to her home and ripping us away. In my life I’ve known fear.
In counseling, Chloe discovered a love for poetry, especially poetry written by young people who have gone through trauma. Chloe wrote this poem, and in September she won first place in King County’s Recovery Month Poetry Contest. You can read Chloe’s story of recovery on the next page.
We met when I was five years old and my mom threw a snow shovel at my dad’s head and beat his face up with a beer can. These days I fear people doing bad things. Fear finds me when cops suddenly show up at my grandma’s doorstep, yell at her, tell her she is hiding someone, question me, and then call me a liar. I’ve learned that courage and fear are different.
“I wish some people would listen and not let their fear get in the way of the truth.”
When courage tells me I am strong I can share a letter I wrote to my mom in a courtroom with at least 15 people listening, fear says don’t trust anyone except for my counselor, grandma, and my lawyer. Usually I listen to courage. I wish I could turn all fear to courage. I wish some people would listen and not let their fear get in the way of the truth. *Child Protective Services
Recovery Happens at Navos Chloe was 11 years old when she came to Navos’ Child and Family Program for counseling. She had recently been removed from her mother’s home after experiencing years of neglect and emotional, psychological, and physical abuse from her mother, biological grandmother, and men her mother brought into the family. Her home life was filled with domestic violence, prostitution, drugs, and paraphernalia including meth pipes and needles. Chloe’s mother tormented her by telling her that she was in constant danger of being hurt, taken, or killed by strangers. In addition, her mother threatened that she would be harmed if she told other adults what was being done to her and her siblings. It was also in this home that Chloe witnessed, on more than one occasion, the sexual abuse and exploitation of her young siblings. Two years ago, CPS stepped in and Chloe and her siblings went to live with a non-biological grandmother. It was this grandmother who brought her to Navos’ Child and Family Program. Her grandmother described Chloe as an honest, responsible, but hurting little girl with a sensitive heart and a great love for her siblings. The grandmother’s goals for Chloe were for her to feel safe and learn how to be a kid instead of having to parent her siblings. Chloe’s goals were to do well in school and take care of her siblings. When Chloe came to Navos, she regularly experienced painful, intrusive thoughts and feelings from her past
traumas, severe anxiety, panic reactions, and troubles with attention and concentration. She started Trauma Focused — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) twice a week with a co-occurring therapist, and disclosed to the therapist early on that she felt ashamed and disgusted with herself for what she and her siblings went through. TF-CBT, combined with Motivational Interviewing, is a practical approach to help clients work through their trauma by understanding how trauma continues to affect and control their lives. Clients learn and practice new skills and resiliency for tolerating feelings of panic, anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts and work toward gradual exposure to their trauma through writing a trauma narrative. Chloe worked with her counselor to understand that she comes from a family filled with generational abuse and substance abuse. She’s worked hard to define and clarify her values around family and substance abuse and has come to recognize and accept that she can be relieved of any responsibility she felt in what was done to her and her siblings. This has been a long process and not an easy one for Chloe. Things are not perfect, she continues to work through her traumatic past. However, her inner strength and courage have grown immensely, leading her to do things she never imagined she could do, including testifying in court against her abuser — her own mother. Through her work at Navos, she now has increased self-esteem and that feeling of safety her grandmother wanted for her. She has a new optimism about what her future holds.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for teens. You can help change lives for the better for teens like Chloe. Please consider making a secure donation online at navos.org or by using the enclosed envelope.
NAVOS CEO, DAVID M. JOHNSON HONORED AS AN OUTSTANDING VOICE IN THE PUGET SOUND REGION On June 7, 2018, David Johnson was among 14 people recognized by the Puget Sound Business Journal as “Outstanding Voices” for equality during its Business of Pride event. More than 300 community, business and healthcare leaders attended the event, now in its third year. David was nominated due to his endeavors to actively promote equality and diversity in the region, and for his overall leadership in the business community.
NEW PLAYGROUND ON LAKE BURIEN Thank you to the Alaska Airlines Pilots Charitable Fund for their generous $20,000 grant to support the construction of a new playground on our Lake Burien campus. Pictured here are Dan Hoffman, President of AAPCF, and Erik Scheller, AAPCF Secretary-Treasurer, and dedicated Navos staff. Community support makes a difference, and their generous gift has made a great improvement to the campus and will bring years of enjoyment for the children and youth.
THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY FOR SUPPORTING NAVOS We are grateful to YOU, our generous community for your support and for believing in our lifechanging work. And thank you to the following grant funders for supporting our programs that are saving lives, and building a healthier community for all of us:
VOLUNTEERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
City of Burien Laird Norton Family Foundation King County Best Starts for Kids Innovation Fund King County Human Services Bus Ticket Program Lucky Seven Foundation Northwest Children’s Fund Moccasin Lake Foundation RealNetworks Foundation Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence TEW Foundation U.S. Bank Foundation Washington State Department of Commerce Washington State Department of Learning United Way of King County
Our thanks to the employees of the Seattle Sounders FC, Zillow, and T-Mobile for participating in the 2018 United Way King County Day of Caring at Navos. And a BIG thanks to long-time supporter Jim Dykeman for coordinating the Seattle U alumni Day of Caring on our Lake Burien campus.
SAV E T H E DATE Changing Minds Benefit Luncheon Thursday, May 30, 2019 Sheraton Hotel, 1400 Sixth Ave, Seattle | Reception 11am-12pm, Program 12-1pm Join us to support recovery and wellness for low income children, youth, and adults. Proceeds will help to sustain critical programs and services for vulnerable people with mental and emotional illness, and substance use disorders.
Why I Support the Programs at Navos
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Don Gillmore PRESIDENT
Brian Abeel FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Patti Neuberger
A MESSAGE FROM DAVE GWINN
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Michael Sweeney TREASURER/SECRETARY
Bobbe J. Bridge BOARD MEMBER EMERITUS
Rebeca Dawn Lisa Drechsler Jean Ellsworth BOARD MEMBER EMERITUS
Charles F. Hoffman Carrie Holmes Ernest Peralta Charles Purcell Sandy Rosenkranz David M. Johnson, CEO MISSION Navos is committed to transforming the quality of life of people vulnerable to mental illness and substance use disorders by providing a broad continuum of care. We believe that diversity, inclusion, and equity are vital to living our values and achieving our mission.
My involvement with Navos started with a long association with Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center (RDCC), which originated with my parents back in the 1950’s. I grew up in the 1950’s and ‘60’s in an Ozzie-and-Harriet style neighborhood on Lake Burien where looking across the Lake you saw what was then known as the Ruth School for Girls. My mother was active for decades in a women’s guild which helped to support the Ruth School and my father served for many years on the RDCC board in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Their involvement in support of RDCC set an example and when I reached adulthood, I felt very motivated to follow. When a member of the Ruth Dykeman staff approached me in the late 1990’s with an invitation to become a member of the board, I jumped at the chance to continue my family’s long-standing involvement. In 2008, as chairperson of the board, I was appointed as acting CEO of RDCC, at a time when the organization was facing a financial and leadership crisis. Charged with the need to chart a new course for RDCC, my fellow board members and I decided that the best option for being able to continue to provide the needed services to the community, was to seek a merger partner. That decision led us to contact David Johnson, the CEO of Navos, and it quickly became clear that Navos was the best choice to enable RDCC to continue serving the community. We were impressed by David’s vision and ability to attract capital resources and hoped that a merger could provide an opportunity to remake the RDCC’s 8-acre Lake Burien campus into a facility which could greatly expand the scope of services available to the nearby community.
VISION
It was a fortuitous decision for the RDCC board to consummate this merger in 2010. New buildings now reside on the Lake Burien campus, and others have been remodeled to provide outpatient services and residential treatment to some of the most vulnerable children, youth, and their families.
A healthy community in which people thrive while managing symptoms of mental illness and substance use disorders
I am delighted to have been able to play a key role in hitching RDCC’s wagon to Navos’ star under David Johnson’s exemplary leadership. This transformation has been an exhilarating process to witness, and I am grateful to have the privilege of being able to offer continuing support to such an effective and dynamic organization.
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