Overcoming Depression and Anxiety
Related to the Pandemic
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Travis* and his parents reached out to Catholic Charities Bloomington during the COVID-19 pandemic. Travis had been experiencing some physical health challenges which created a co-occurring set of mental health symptoms. Travis had high levels of anxiety which led to panic attacks and depression symptoms due to the fear and stress related to COVID. The combination of the physical and mental health symptoms caused Travis to report to his parents that he was suicidal. CCB placed Travis with a mental health therapist immediately to work on crisis prevention in the short term and a comprehensive approach to his long-term mental symptoms. Travis had always been a successful student, but his grades suffered with his depression and the loss of motivation that accompanies it. Travis also had to start his freshman year in high school isolated at home with e-learning which was challenging to his physiological system as well.
Travis committed to therapy and attended weekly sessions. He and his therapist worked together to form mental health recovery plan that incorporated all the mental and physical health challenges he was facing. Travis focused extensively on his schoolwork and grades knowing that much of the stress he was feeling was related to that worry. Travis maintained connection with his friends and a secure relationship with his family and pets which acted as strong protective factors. Travis’s involvement in his faith also acted as an empowering force in his life. Travis focused his effort on self-care, stress reduction, and setting attainable goals helped keep him on his path of self-discovery and growth.
Travis has been meeting weekly with his CCB therapist for over a year now with significant progress and recovery. His suicidal ideation has diminished with no negative intrusive thoughts of self-harm for over nine months, and he has created a wonderful self-directed plan to keep his anxiety and depression symptoms within his window of tolerance. Travis is now able to focus on the physical health challenges he’s facing with the support of his family. Travis is thriving in school and his commitment to his mental health recovery has created the healing that has occurred in his life.
*Name changed for Privacy
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Thank You to the CCB Interns |
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We would like to recognize our four amazing masters level interns that will be graduating this spring/summer and ending their internships at CCB: Ann Yebei, Beki Hilas, Ashley Gartner, and Becca Hughes. Ann and Becca are Mental Health Counseling students through the IU Bloomington School of Education Mental Health Counseling program. Becky is a Master of Social Work student in the IU Bloomington School of Social Work. Ashley is a Mental Health Counseling student through Wake Forrest University’s online Mental Health Counseling program. These four amazing therapists have spent the last year dedicated to CCB, our clients, and community. They have all faced the challenges of balancing graduate school, personal lives, and the development of their craft as mental health therapists with grace and dedication. They’ve learned new therapeutic techniques like Play Therapy and Theraplay and reinforced their skills in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Attachment Based Therapy, and Person-Centered Therapy at our agency. They’ve brought their own unique gifts, talents, and therapeutic techniques and knowledge and shared those with CCB therapists and staff ensuring that we all remain connected to and benefit from the ongoing and expanding world of therapy.
We would also like to recognize Morgan Bruns who has been an undergraduate media intern with CCB since the start of the fall semester. She is earning her Bachelor of Journalism degree through the IU School of Media with a concentration in Public Relations and a minor in Communications and Public Policy. Morgan has brought many gifts and talents to CCB working to create content for our social media platforms, making videos highlighting our mission, writing blog posts for our website, and playing a critical role in managing our first ever Zoom based training in the fall. Morgan has attended all the group supervisions for her intern colleagues and offered insights and contributions that benefited all members of the intern group. Morgan is currently working on an intern spotlight video for our YouTube channel and is writing another blog post for our website.
All five of these exceptional human beings have been members of the CCB family from day one and their commitment to our agency and its mission has been extraordinary. Thank you from all your friends and family at CCB and we wish you all the best as you embark on the next step of your journey.
We also had two amazing interns start with CCB in January. Rihona Bing-English is a Master of Social Work student in IU Bloomington School of Social Work and Abby Gratz is a Master of Mental Health Counseling student through IU Bloomington School of Education Mental Health Counseling Program. They are continuing their studies with CCB for another year. We will be welcoming new interns in May and August. We look forward to carrying on the feelings of support and connection that makes the intern program awesome and CCB such a magical place.
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CCB Starting New Partnership with
Monroe County United Ministries
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Catholic Charities Bloomington (CCB) and Monroe County United Ministries (MCUM) have agreed on an exciting partnership. This summer, CCB will begin providing play therapy services on site within MCUM’s Compass Early Learning Center for children ages 1-5 and their families. MCUM has been providing therapy services in-house for the past few years. Due to recent changes, they opted to reach out to CCB to see if our agency, who is known of providing play therapy services, would be interested in creating this partnership to provide therapy onsite rather than hiring staff of their own.
This new partnership with be modeled after our Fairview Elementary School program. MCUM will provide dedicated play therapy spaces in their building and CCB therapists and interns will be able to meet with children between the hours of 7:30am and 5:30pm. The mornings and afternoons are consistently challenging times for CCB to support families due to work and school schedules. CCB staff and interns are generally full for after-school hour session appointments at our agency office. MCUM families will become clients of CCB and utilize our regular billing of insurance and/or sliding scale fee structures.
CCB and MCUM are a 5-minute walk from each other which creates easy access to each other’s services. MCUM has offered access to their Self Sufficiency Center which provides access to food, cleaning, and hygiene products, as well as some care coordinated ecosystem support with financial and employment programming to CCB clients. MCUM will be able to refer clients to CCB for therapeutic support outside of this on-site model. This type of expansion and partnership is the foundation of CCB’s model of mission expansion. Our office is at capacity with every square foot of available office space being used for therapeutic engagement. CCB’s expansion plan is to utilize hybrid tele-health services as well as find organizations whose values align with CCB’s mission to serve everyone; especially those with limited access to services due to various barriers and challenges they face daily.
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Check Out Our YouTube Channel |
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Head over to our YouTube channel to find find some great coping and parenting tips. Find us at CCB Counseling Services
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10th Annual CCB Benefit- Exercising Mindfulness Luncheon
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2022
Time: 11:30am
Location: Ivy Tech Bloomington Community College Bloomington
200 Daniels Way, Bloomington, IN 47404
Details: The program will feature demonstrations on how to exercise mindfulness in your daily life, an update from CCB, door prize giveaway, and an appearance by our therapy dog, Amina. There is no cost to attend but there will be opportunity to pledge your support for the work of Catholic Charities Bloomington. RSVP by May 4th at www.ccbin.org
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Donor Advised Funds- Did you know? |
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· The Archdiocese’s Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) is a sponsoring charity which administers Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) for archdiocesan parishes, schools and ministries.
· DAFs act like a tax-friendly “charitable investment account.” They are easy to create, have no start-up fee, and provide a hands-on vehicle for you to make an impact on your favorite Catholic ministry(ies).
· As the donor advisor, you can advise distributions to be gifted from your CCF fund to varying Catholic ministries at any time, in any amount.
· Like an endowment, a DAF grows within CCF’s ‘pool’ of funds (525+ funds valued at $240 million+) which utilizes the power of investing and provides greater collective growth for all funds. The value of a gifted asset to a DAF (such as cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other property) continues to grow tax-free in this “pool” until used - i.e. more funds for your charitable giving.
· CCF also follows the US Catholic Bishops’ ethical investment guidelines which promote socially-responsible investing aligned with Catholic teaching.
· A DAF can be especially useful when your finances might benefit from a significant charitable tax deduction in a given year while you wish to distribute the amount of the gift over several years (aka “charitable bunching.” increasingly popular with the higher standard deduction).
For more information about establishing a DAF with the Catholic Community Foundation (CCF), please contact ccf@archindy.org or 317-236-1482.
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To inquire about donating to Catholic Charities Bloomington, contact Cheri Bush at cbush@archindy.org
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Provide Mental Health Services |
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Help Catholic Charities by shopping for groceries at no extra cost to you!
1. Register your Kroger Plus Card at Kroger.com/communityrewards (if you do not have one, they are available at the Customer Service desk at any Kroger). 2. Click on "Sign In" or "Create an Account".
3. Search for "Catholic Charities Bloomington" or enter CL196.
4. Click "enroll".
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