Transforming Lives - The Newsletter of The Harris Center Issue 2 - Fall 2016 | Page 3

Summer Bash - Celebrating recovery!

The blue skies and shiny green leaves
dancing to the rhythm of the friendly
summer breeze were the perfect
background for the many smiling faces
at Bayland Park. The team of volunteers
welcomed and greeted everyone at the
Summer Bash, a celebration of recovery.
Clients who receive mental health
services at the Southwest Community
Service Center were invited to the
festival-like event to celebrate together
the progress they have made and the
challenges they have overcome.
Employees from three service units,
Children and Adolescents, Adult Mental
Health and Juvenile Justice, teamed up
to organize games, food, information
sharing and encouragement for everyone
who participated.
Tiffanie Williams-Brooks is the Practice
Manager of Children and Adolescent
Mental Health Services. She expressed
joy seeing that the vision of the event
was accomplished.
“The Summer Bash provided an

opportunity for our families to come
together with other families who have
experienced mental illness with a
family member,” Tiffanie said. “When
there is a common bond, there is more
cohesiveness and support.”
This unique interaction outside of the
clinic setting also proved meaningful to
the employees who provide services to
the families.
Michelle Andrews was one of the event
organizers. She is a Peer Educator for
Adult Mental Health Services under
the leadership of Practice Manager, Dr.
Dionne Hill.
“Through the Summer Bash festivities
we wanted to show clients and families
that the difficulties and challenges
they face should be celebrated and that
they should be praised as individuals
overcoming challenges. It should be seen
as a strength.”
“Families were smiling, adults
were playing Apple at the table

communicating and laughing, children
with expressions of laughter playing
games and one teenage boy said to his
mother ‘Mom thank you for bringing me
here I’m having fun!’ He hugged her.  I
saw adults enjoy play and laughter.
Everywhere I turned, there were smiles,”
Michelle said.
Dr. Ee’a Jones is the Practice Manager of
the Juvenile Justice Program. At the event
she shared about Project Semicolon,
which helps raise awareness about
mental health recovery. “I provided the
Project Semicolon tattoos denoting that a
person’s journey is not over because they
have a mental illness,” Dr. Jones said.
The positive reactions from the families
who participated encouraged event
organizers to plan a Summer Bash
festivity for 2017.
“Our services transcend the clinic. We
want our families to know and feel that
we care about them,” Tiffanie said.