The Charlestown Coalition News: 

Issue 61

September 2021

The Charlestown Coalition Is Hiring!

TIA Teen Advocates for Mental Health Supports

It is hard to find someone who hasn’t experienced at least some challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. For children and teens, these challenges included disruption to education, social isolation at a time when peer interaction is vital to healthy growth and development, and many household and family stresses. Evidence has shown a significant increase in depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and thoughts and attempts of suicide among youth since the start of the pandemic. Earlier this month The Boston Globe reported on the increased need for mental health supports in schools and Turn It Around member Serennity bravely shared her personal struggles and hope for how schools can better support students’ mental health this academic year.

"We were so proud and thrilled to see Serennity highlighted on the front page of The Boston Globe. There couldn’t be a more deserving young person in Boston, whose story needed to be told!! Serennity’s story is that of so many kids who’ve suffered during covid. The only difference is that Serennity was brave enough to tell the world, and in the process inspire many!"

Trauma Response Team

For many years our Trauma Team has provided support and services to the Charlestown community during times of need and incidents of trauma and they have been especially active throughout COVID. As a result, we understand that vicarious trauma can impact our lives and that it is important for us to take care of ourselves and each other. Over the years we have participated in team building exercises and events that enhance our connection and building greater resilience within our team.

Two year ago, our team participated in the Boston Mad Dash Cashunt Scavenger hunt which took place in Faneuil Hall and the North End. The game involved running around Boston completing fun activities and providing photo documentation to the game master, in an effort to gain the most points and be declared the winners.

Our Trauma team was dividend into two teams, the Chowdahs and Bubblahs!!! During our first Boston Mad Dash in 2019, the Bubblah team came out ahead by a few hundred points and for the last two years, they have bragged and boosted nonstop. This past month, the two teams went head-to-head for a rematch and this year the Chowdahs took home the medals, blowing away the competition. Below are pictures of us in action.

Thank you to all the trauma team members for coming out and participating in this years challenge. We also want to send a huge thank you to the Cashunt Scavenger Hunt for a fun day! If you want to learn more about Cashhunt click here.

2021 Cashunt Winners- Chowdahs

Bubblahs Team

Meet the Trauma Team

Michael "Smokey" Cain has been a dedicated member of our trauma team since its inception in 2016. He is a native and long-time resident of Charlestown, who is committed to serving the community he loves. Michael is in recovery and he has been sober for 10 years. He continues to inspire and support people in recovery and has served as an outreach navigator and coach for the last 5 years at North Suffolk Mental Health in Chelsea. Recently, Michael was hired by New Health Charlestown as a recovery coach and will be providing support and services to residents of Charlestown and the North End.

Michael's commitment to supporting people in recovery stems from his own recovery journey and watching those closest to him struggle with the disease. Both of Michael's parents passed as a result of addiction. Prior to starting his job as an outreach navigator, Michael lost his brother and son, Michael Jr. to addiction. At the time, Michael's sobriety was tested and instead of succumbing to temptation, he chose to channel his pain into his work. Months after the loss of his brother and son, Michael began co-facilitating a peer grief group through GRASP (Grief Recovering After Substance Passing) with Shannon Lundin at the Charlestown Coalition.

“My higher power was to continue this legacy of trying to make a difference,” Smokey says. But while he believed in the concept of peer support, including AA which he has attended for years, he felt that the GRASP group needed something more. That’s when they joined up with The Sun Will Rise and SADOD to offer peer grief support within a community of people, who have lost someone they love to an overdose and are committed to helping others. “It’s contagious,” he says, “It’s like family.”

We'd like to thank Michael from the bottom of our hearts for supporting the Charlestown community. We also want to wish Michael a Happy Birthday this month!!!

To learn more about Michael "Smokey" Cain or any of our trauma team responders visit our website:

https://charlestowncoalition.org/trauma-response-team/

Healthy Alternatives Substance Use Group

Mswati facilitating our mood/playlist activity as a way to teach students new ways to regulate their mood and emotions. 

Next month we will begin another round of Healthy Alternatives programming in partnership with Charlestown High School. Since 2014, the Charlestown Coalition has partnered with the Gavin Foundation and ABCD to provide a “Healthy Alternatives to Substance Use Group” - a harm reduction alternative approach to school suspensions for students at risk for developing a SUD (substance use disorder). High School is a critical time to prevent/delay the onset of a SUD. The World Health Organization reports that 90% of adults who meet the medical criteria for addiction began using before age 18. The ethnic and racial disparities in access to treatment for mental health and addiction is profound and SAMHSA reports that 82.5% of adolescents who have or are at risk of having a mental health disorder, including SUD, do not receive needed care. We have found an effective way to engage teenagers at the precontemplation stage and have a proven track record showing a decrease in suspension rates, frequency of use, and amount of use, with an increase in positive coping skills after participation in this yearlong group. We look forward to another year of successful programming for 2021-2022. 

This approach was featured in the Globe in 2019. Read the article here.

Charlestown Coalition now takes students to Blue Hills as an end of the year celebration to teach the power and effectiveness of exercise and exposure to nature as natural dopamine releasors!

Race & Equity Discussion

at the Charlestown Peace Park

Join us on Tuesday, October 19th, at 5:30pm for our monthly Race & Equity Discussion at the Charlestown Peace Park. This series explores important topics about the impact of race, policing in urban settings, and equity. It is open to all members of the Charlestown community and the general public. We will continue meeting in person the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the Peace Park.*

This forum is being co-sponsored by the Charlestown Coalition, Turn It Around Youth Program, and City-Councilor Lydia Edwards and her team.

*In the event of rain, this will become a virtual event on Zoom.

Recovery Month Events

Each year the Charlestown Coalition celebrates Recovery Month by hosting events to bring awareness, education, healing and celebrates the gains made by those in recovery.

August 31st - International Overdose Awareness Day is an annual global event aimed at increasing awareness about overdose and reducing stigma of drug-related death. Local restaurants Warren Tavern and Monument Restaurant and Tavern participated in IOAD by having staff and servers wear Overdose Awareness T-shirts, which were sponsored by RISE Construction. The 2nd Annual Overdose Awareness Day was held at the Charlestown Peace Park where community members pinned ribbons in honor of their loved ones to remember without stigma and acknowledge the grief of the family and loved ones left behind.

September 18th - Recovery Workout held in partnership with Weigh Better U Fitness. Trainer Sam Amado put together an amazing free workout for members and friends of the Recovery Community at the Charlestown High Football Field. The crew was sporting fitness t-shirts with the famous recovery quote “Progress Not Perfection.” 

September 26th - The 13th Annual Charlestown Candlelight Vigil took place for the second year at the Charlestown Peace Park. This vigil is to remember those we lost too soon and to give hope to those living in active addiction. 

This year's vigil was marked by singing performances by Christian Assembly’s Robin Tagliferro and Cassady Sullivan, a reflection by Coalition program manager and event organizer Shannon Lundin-White, and poem entitled ‘We light this candle for you’ by Ronnie Doe. The Boston Fire Department rang the bell as the Turn It Around youth members, grief group members and community members read the names of those gone too soon. 

So many Charlestown residents have been lost to the opioid epidemic. As the candles burned on, a video of song and photos of those lost played for nearly 15 minutes dedicated to all those we miss dearly.

Let our loss be an example of what a true epidemic this is in our community and around the world. 

The Charlestown Recovery Court held its first in-person Recovery Court Celebration since the pandemic with the Honorable Lisa Grant presiding. The ceremony was held outside in the John Harvard Mall Park. There were 3 participants honored at the ceremony -- Jesse Savard, Kelly Ann Carey, and Thomas May. Keynote speaker Liz Malia shared her sentiments and congratulated the honorees. John McGahan accepted the Community Partners Award on behalf of the Gavin Foundation.

Art in the Park

Our Turn It Around artists had a great time participating in the Art in the Park event on September 11th in City Square Park. If you couldn't make it, but would still like to support our artists by purchasing one of their amazing pieces of artwork, please contact Mswati Hanks at MHANKS1@mgh.harvard.edu.

New Little Free Library

Highlighting Our Community Partnerships:

Transformational Prison Project

One of our most powerful and impactful community partnerships of late has been with the Transformational Prison Project. This incredible organization was formed by a small group of men serving life sentences at Norfolk Prison who began exploring restorative justice practices while incarcerated. They have become living examples of the healing and transformative power that lies in the practice of restorative justice.

TPP is committed to understanding both the individual harms and the systemic harms that affect communities. TPP recognizes that violent crimes are not committed in a vacuum and are often born of fractured upbringings and cultivated by societal injustices. The restoration process gives those who’ve harmed a chance to consider the pain they have caused and make amends.

The personal transformations of men like Bobby, Armand, Eric, and Nobel are powerful examples of the societal value of investment in effective rehabilitative services like restorative justice. These inspiring men have used restorative justice to better understand their life circumstances and past behaviors. Through healing, reparation, and reintegration, they have each become powerful change agents for others. The impact these men have had on the youth members of Turn It Around, as well as on our team at the Charlestown Coalition, has been profound.

Because of TPP’s experience reducing harm through crime prevention, they are now partnering with the Charlestown Coalition on our MGH Charlestown joint Gun Violence Prevention efforts. TPP has also been a key partner of our monthly community Race Dialogues. Join us at our next Race Dialogue on Oct 19^th at the Charlestown Peace Park to experience the power of this organization in person!

We look forward to continued collaborative efforts with Transformational Prison Project.

Learn more about their work and ways to support at transformprison.org and @transformationalprisonproject.

If you've partnered with us, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email with details of how we've worked together along with any photos (if you have them), and we will share on our social media platforms. Let's show the community what great collaborations we've had with amazing organizations like yours!

Steering Committee Meeting

October 26th

from 12 PM -1:30 PM

Meetings are held virtually until further notice.

Contact Sarah Coughlin for more information.

Trauma Response Team

October 5th at 5:30 PM

Meetings are held virtually until further notice. Contact

Phenice Zawatsky to learn more.

Charlestown Family Support Task Force 

October 5th at 12 PM

Meetings are held virtually until further notice. Contact

Phenice Zawatsky to learn more.

To learn more about our programs, our staff, community partners, resources, upcoming events, Turn It Around, program impact, and more, click below: