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Director's Message
July 9, 2004
To: DHS Employees
From: Gary Weeks, Director
1. Improving children's mental health treatment
Kids are among the most vulnerable people we serve. Serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or depression can be devastating to them and their families.
It's important to address these problems early, so we can help prepare children to live healthy, productive lives.
Traditionally, intensive treatment for young people between 3 and 17 years old with severe emotional disorders has meant counseling in mental health professionals' offices, or services in day or residential facilities.
We know, however, that these children do best when they receive a broad range of services, tailored to their individual needs and provided whenever possible in their homes or in other familiar settings.
The 2003 Legislature directed us to work with mental health consumers, providers and other stakeholders to move toward such a system. I'm pleased that the Legislative Emergency Board recently accepted a report on our progress in providing a broader range of services to these children.
We're now prepared to begin a new policy in which local or regional mental health organizations (MHOs) will integrate the full range of services — from home- or community-based treatment through institutional care. This will allow us to bring together the best blend of treatments for each child and family.
It's noteworthy that this work touches on several of the key DHS objectives that I have discussed in previous messages. It involves integrating services, making decisions locally, and striving for improved outcomes for the people we serve.
2. OHS adds sweat lodge therapy
A fire pit. Steam produced from water poured on hot rocks. A dome made of 16 willows bent into a half circle and covered by blankets.
It's called a sweat lodge, and it's a Native American tradition that represents the newest therapeutic addition to the Oregon State Hospital (OHS) here in Salem.
The sweat lodge, which goes back thousands of years, is a method of purifying and renewing the mind, body and spirit. Its ceremonial nature features traditional music and native dress. As steam rises from water warmed by red-hot rocks brought into the dome, the participants sing, pray and meditate.
Dr. Gail Mason, a psychologist resident at the hospital and also an Ojibway Indian, was one of the driving forces behind this project. She recognized that spiritual healing could be just as valuable as conventional treatments for mental illness.
She also saw that, by acknowledging patients' cultural roots, we could not only open many therapeutic doors, but also bring people of different backgrounds closer together.
With the support of newly appointed hospital superintendent Dr. Marvin Fickle, and the help of patients and staff, Dr. Mason was able to steer the project to completion and have the sweat lodge built in a very short period of time.
This is the first sweat lodge built at the hospital in more than 20 years. I congratulate Drs. Mason and Fickle, their colleagues, the hospital's patients and their family members for its planning and construction.
It's an example of our department's continuing efforts to focus on the people of our community and the richness of their diversity.
It also shows how dedicated and creative hospital staffers can turn an ancient tradition into an innovative way to help their patients.
You can find out more about the OSH sweat lodge in this week's edition of Staff News. And the Statesman Journal did a very engaging article on it in its Saturday edition.
3. Food for thought
"Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be."
— Kahlil Gibran, "A Handful of Sand on the Shore"
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This message is intended for all Department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.
If you have a disability and need a document on this Web site to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us or call (503) 945-7021, fax (503) 373-7690 or TTY (503) 947-5080. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.
Oregon Department of Human Services
Director's Office
500 Summer St. NE E15, Salem, OR 97301-1097
Phone: (503) 945-5944
Fax: (503) 378-2897
TTY: (503) 947-6214
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