In commemoration

Of a holiday which I do not celebrate,



My mother sent me a pair

Of fitted white and gold Pumas, size 5

With grey suede trim down the sides.



It’s true I like casual wear,

But my colors are black, red and purple

These are, quite possibly,

The ugliest shoes I have ever seen.



My feet have been

size 7 and ½ for about the past

nineteen years

It’s not just because she’s elderly



Those shoes were very expensive

It must have caused a dent in

Her monthly fixed income



There is a check for $150, too.

I sigh, and put the envelope by the door

The shoes will live

In the bottom of my closet.



I tell myself

I should be happy.



After all, they say it’s healthy

To remain focused on the present



SBA 5/22/05

Then head on down to the Red & Black Cafe' this coming week, and shout it out at the Irradiated Poets monthy Open Mic!

(audience members also requested.)



Monday Jan. 3rd

2138 SE Division, Portland

8:00 pm showtime, signup sheet goes out at 7:45



Hosted by Yours Truly!



We've got a lava lamp. We mean business.



Questions? Contact:

chaosflowers@yahoo.com

Midterm Paper

For Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy, Fall 2004

with Elaine Bagley, Marylhurst University



By Serena Blossom Appel





Ramona House: Fostering a Sense of Meaning and Fulfillment in Oregon



Established in 2004 in a large turn-of-the-century remodeled farmhouse in Sisters, Oregon, the Ramona House Cooperative Farm was our vision of expanding on the model of the “therapeutic social club”: An idea first utilized in 1938 in London, England by Dr. Joshua Bierer and advocated by Alfred Adler.

Rose Garlock (1987) was among the first to help in the creation of a therapeutic social club in the United States in 1954, after having learned from an Adlerian psychotherapist of the benefit these clubs provided during her attendance at the Third International Congress of Psychotherapy in Zurich. The first club to operate in the U.S. was at the Alfred Adler Mental Hygiene Clinic in NYC. It included a full range of expressive arts activates, such as art, dance, poetry, music and psychodrama therapies. She writes: “In a therapeutic social club there exists the possibility of developing and expanding one’s creative potential, whether it is in the area of the arts or relating to others as individuals, or in regard to the functioning of the group.” (p.141)

We modeled our Farm based on Adler’s theories and outlook, and also on the work of organizations such as the Red & Black Worker-Owned Café, Art from the Heart, Sisters of the Road, City Repair, and other successful pioneering alternative culture ventures in our area. Daily operations at the Farm are staffed by fifteen interns and specially trained volunteers, and are overseen by four full-time resident and two visiting therapists. All together, we assist a client base of thirty adults from referrals in the Portland Metro and surrounding areas. Some are diagnosed with mental disorders, some MRDD, and five with severely debilitating chronic conditions. This last group is in residence at the Farm, and consists of individuals diagnosed with psychotic or schizophrenic disorders, dual-diagnosed with mental disorders and substance addictions, or individuals who are severely developmentally disabled and in need of a high level of daily care. All tasks and events on the farm are planned and carried out by clients assisted by the interns and volunteers, with the guidance of therapeutic staff. We plan and schedule work assignments via weekly meetings which are attended by all members, and at which all members, including clients and volunteers, have a chance to contribute. Clients are encouraged to explore options within the Farm’s environment, so that they are able to find tasks and roles which will best take advantage of their skills, abilities and interests, as well as direct them towards goals which they will find personally meaningful and healthful. Daily interactions with staff and with the public ensures many chances for our clients to develop their socialization skills and share a sense of belongingness. When not at work on Farm operations, clients also have a chance to participate in individual and group therapy sessions, work in the Art and Craft Therapy room, or enjoy leisure time activities by themselves or with other clients and staff. Our facilities include a ½ acre vegetable and herb farm, a barnyard with 2 milking cows, chickens and goats, an event and performance space, individual and group therapy session rooms, a small craft shop featuring work from our clients, with a small adjoining café, living quarters and a recreation room. In the future, we hope to add additional space for an exercise room, a greenhouse, and several of the residents have proposed starting a mail-order catalog in order to expand our clients’ craft marketability.

The idea of a cooperative venture embraces not only Adler’s ideals of developing social interest, fostering healthy goals and life choices, providing daily opportunities for positive interpersonal interaction and development of social skills, and a structured environment in which to gain productivity: Our cooperative also functions as part of the larger framework of progressive and alternative culture that is part of the societal and natural wealth of our location in Sisters. It is here that we can find the support and the resources that are vital to the success of such a venture, and in turn we also assist the larger community by providing space for progressives to meet and discuss current issues, plan projects, host rallies, organize phone banks, and celebrate successes for our cause. We also contribute time and effort from our clients, volunteers and staff, who have assisted with progressive and ecological activist projects or who participate in local area church activities; we donate surplus produce from our farm to nearby shelters in the area and nearby Portland, and we hold holiday bazaars that are open to the general public for vending and shopping. Our goal has always been to strive to integrate the Farm within the context of our larger society, so that our clients and residents can gain social interest outside of the sometimes insular setting of assisted living and day program efforts.



Case Study: Julian’s Story



Julian was a forty-year old man who came to us in the cold winter of 2005, and has since been one of our longest-standing residents. He had been placed in Fairview Training Center in Salem, OR by the age of five by his parents and spent most of his life there. He was the middle child of three in a working-class family, diagnosed at birth with cerebral palsy. He informed us, “My mother wanted to keep me at home, but Father wouldn’t stand for it. He said it would be too much work for them to care for me, and I think he saw me as an embarrassment to the family name.” Julian’s family were originally from Russia, his grandparents having emigrated to the United States in 1908.

Julian missed being with his family terribly, and spent a good deal of the time he was institutionalized pining over their loss. Fortunately, his mother and older brother kept in regular contact with him, and he wrote them letters every week. But life at Fairview was often chaotic and conflictual, and Julian’s development suffered from further neglect and isolation, as he withdrew from others. He was eventually moved to a foster home in Southeast Portland in 1995, only five years before Fairview would finally close its doors for good.

According to Adler’s theory of birth order, middle children can often suffer from a sense of not knowing themselves or their roles. They can feel as though siblings receive more love, attention and status than they do, and this has a negative impact on their sense of self-worth. It can be difficult for them to feel loved or supported. In addition, neglected children can often feel a sense of discouragement and hopelessness, as they do not receive enough support to overcome their sense of inferiority (Seligman, 2001, p. 79-80). This was certainly well-illustrated in Julian’s case. Based on his life experiences, he had developed an avoidant orientation towards life, coupled with extremely low self-esteem, feelings of hopelessness, severe anxiety, and constant low-level depression. He had been referred to us after a steady but alarming increase in his depression and subsequent suicidal ideation and emotional acting-out, after the departure of a long-term caregiver in his group home whom he had developed a favored attachment to. His caseworker observed that, despite a fairly severe physical handicap, Julian was very bright and might benefit from the support of the program developed at our Farm.

When Julian arrived, we found him to be extremely withdrawn, serious, quiet and somewhat nervous of others. He spent his first two weeks at the Farm refusing to come out of his room for any reason other than to visit the bathroom. Staff had a difficult time attempting to communicate with him, a task made more difficult not only because of s significant speech impairment, but also because Julian would get easily frustrated and would respond to repeated efforts to understand him with emotional outbursts. Sometimes he would seem to become wrapped in a cloud of despair, and would not let any of the staff touch him or come near him at all. He was kept under close supervision during this time, and our therapists worked with him to try and establish rapport and to ease his depressive symptoms with medication adjustment and unconditional support.

One of the most inspiring things about life here at Ramona House, is that we encourage our clients not only to learn to work together, but also to provide altruistic support for one another and to take an interest in each others’ lives and well-being. This not only fosters a sense of family and well-being among clients, but will also sometimes result in acts which are surprising and touching. Shortly after Julian’s arrival, Claire, another of our residents, became concerned about him. She took the initiative to organize a “care box” for him, and spent the day going around the Farm soliciting artwork, welcoming messages, goodies and other items to include in it. With supervision, Claire was allowed to give the box to Julian personally. She stood by him as he opened it so that she could explain what all of the contents were, tell stories about the people who had contributed their creative work and other items, and helped him hang the artwork in his room. It was obvious that Julian was deeply touched by this attention, and subsequently he became more cooperative and more willing to leave his room to explore his surroundings.

After this introduction, Julian’s development at the Farm proceeded gradually but steadily. We learned that he had an interest in plants, and several of our clients who had gained experience working in the garden assisted him in learning how to do potting, weeding, trimming, and picking vegetables. He became very enthusiastic about this, and eventually at one of the weekly meetings, asked if he could plan some space to plant his own garden area. Staff and clients supported him in researching and gathering the necessary resources to plan his garden. At this time, we had only had vegetables planted. With the help of our staff and clients, Julian was solely responsible not only for creating and maintaining the herb garden we have today, but he also used a book sent to him by his mother to teach clients how to make perfume oils and sachets using the dried herbs. He now has a line of herbal products available for sale in our shop.

Julian’s sense of alienation and despair about his condition was dramatically improved during his time at the Farm. In working together, therapists, staff and clients were able to change his self-limiting beliefs and to challenge his learned helplessness about relating to others. The work he has done here gave him a sense of purpose and has done wonders for improving his damaged self-esteem, while the support and feedback from other clients is assisting him in improving his communication skills. In Julian’s words, “I never felt like I belonged anywhere I lived before. Once I came here, people cared about me. That felt really good. It feels like home.”



Rose Garlock (1987) writes, “[Adler] believed that man could, in a sense, achieve salvation only by immersing himself in social rather than personal goals. He stressed the importance of having a set of moral principles based on social feeling, if one was to have a sense of freedom of choice based on mental health.” We at Ramona House believe that these words ring true now more than ever, and that the models of cooperative learning and productivity, social interest, and fostering of healthy lifestyles are essential to the future health and well-being of our society.