Happy Holidays from Creating Community Solutions! Thank you for all your efforts in making this a wonderful year and for continuing to build the dialogue on mental health!

We wanted to provide you with an end of year update on CCS. Check below for an update on Text, Talk, Act and mental health resources that you might be interested in.

Sincerely,

The Creating Community Solutions Team

Text, Talk, Act: Impact and What's Next

Text Talk Act has successfully engaged an ethnically and geographically diverse group of teenagers and young adults in all 50 states. Survey respondents tell us that Text Talk Act is fun, flexible, easy, convenient, and leads to meaningful conversations that build peer understanding and support. Over 90% of respondents to follow-up surveys in both rounds report an increase in understanding (about mental health during rounds 1 & 2 and about how to help a friend in need during round 3). Over 65% of respondents in both surveys report an increase in their level of comfort in talking about mental health.

We've grown Text Talk Act by at least 30 % each round. All told, at least 9.57 million Text Talk Act impressions have been made on social media, and we estimate that at least 8,000 young people across the country have engaged in face-to-face dialogues about mental health. A key ingredient to the success of Text Talk Act is the dedicated network of early adopters: national partners, youth organizers, contest participants, and social media aficionados who worked closely with our team to build this movement, which continues to gain momentum.

We're preparing for another round of Text, Talk, Act during April and May 2015. More details will follow in the new year!

Partner Spotlight: Diana Ketterman

Our own most painful experiences have an ability to bring warmth to the dark places in the lives of others. Through individual efforts and collaborating with Creating Community Solutions, Diana Ketterman has played an active role in helping others find a voice and heal through sharing. Ketterman joined Virginia United Way president Joseph Shtulman in organizing a community dialogue in Northern Shenandoah Valley back in October 2013. At the 100-person event, she spoke publicly of her experience with mental health. Most people in her life had no inkling of the difficulties she had overcome.

We are pleased to announce Diana Ketterman's first book release: A Child of Royalty: An Inspired Message of Hope in Mastering Mental Health. In this book, Ketterman has taken the delicate and honorable task of recounting her own childhood suffering and despair mixed with hope and love. With her mother's schizophrenia, her parents' violent dynamic, and her father's brain tumor and early death, Ketterman was a parentified child, taking care of two younger siblings as well as her parents. Despite growing up in such an isolated and unstable environment, Ketterman has emerged as a successful professional with an impressive career, serving 23 years in the field of education and 5 years working for the federal government, distinguishing herself in both fields.

Visit her website at www.achildofroyalty.com.

Crisis Intervention Teams

We recently read this article on Crisis Intervention Teams. Does anyone have experience with CIT training? If so, how did it go and would you recommend it to others?: Click here to answer on Facebook.

The War Against PTSD

A member of Creating Community Solutions recently brought this resource to us, and we think it is share-worthy! Below is a one-hour documentary focusing on the "war against PTSD". Hope it's a helpful resource to you as well!

Click here to view the documentary.

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