WellSpring Community Network

Bring any unused or expired medications to our table in front of Sid’s Market in Seaview on Saturday April 28th. Keep medications from falling into the wrong hands and keep our environment and kids safe! WellSpring is proudly partnering with the Long Beach Police Department and the DEA to host this event.

Join us for WellSpring’s 5th annual Town Hall meeting! We will have a fabulous keynote and entertaining informative breakout sessions. Free dinner and free childcare provided. Location-IMHS auditorium and cafeteria. 5:30 pm to 8:15 pm.

Please join us Tuesday, February 14 for our monthly coalition meeting. We meet every second Tuesday at three pm at the county building at 7013 Sandridge Road. This month we will be starting to plan for our annual town hall meeting coming up in April and we will be hearing from some youth! Everyone is welcome!

WellSpring is looking for a public relations consultant. Interested or know someone who might be? Send them our way! Proposals must be received by February 29th, 2012. Please send to koien@co.pacific.wa.us

Join us! See flyer!

What will I learn at the Positive Community
Norms Training? The purpose of this two-day
Positive Community Norms training is to teach participants
about the Positive Community Norms approach
and the theory upon which it is built: The
Science of the Positive™, a transformational leadership
framework, and the power of using a positive
frame in efforts to create community wellness.
Who should attend? Anyone interested in learning
more about changing social norms around youth
substance use, mental health, or other wellness
topics in our community.

Date: February 15th-16th
Time: 9:00-4:00pm
Location: Peninsula Church Center
To Register: Email registration by
February 5th to: koien@co.pacific.wa.us

Learn more about Most of Us!

WellSpring’s Parent Enrichment Team will be holding  parenting classes beginning in January at Long Beach Elementary!

• Make Parenting a Pleasure is for parents and caregivers with children between 0-8 years old. It will be held Wednesday nights January 11 – March 14^th.
• The Strengthening Families Program is for parents/caregivers and youth 10-14 and will be held Monday nights February 6 – March 26 (no class on Presidents Day Feb. 20^th).

Dinner and childcare will be provided! See the attached flyers for details.

If you are interested please or know someone who is please contact Jean Fisher at 783-2356

Have an idea to help youth?

Mini-grants are available from WellSpring to support community projects and services that ensure the social and developmental wellbeing of our youth. The WellSpring Community Network uses funds provided by Washington State’s Family Policy Council to provide funding for the mini-grant program. There are seven problem behaviors that WellSpring is working hard to reduce by implementing environmental strategies in our community: Child abuse and neglect, youth violence, youth substance abuse, teen pregnancy, domestic violence, school drop out, and teen suicide. Mini-grants are usually awarded in the amount of $200.00-600.00.

If you or your agency or your team have an idea or a project that could use funds for this purpose, please download and submit the application.

Everyone in the community is welcome to submit applications for the WellSpring mini-grants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9bvEEZbVZM

Take a look at the latest creative offering from Jessica Johnson, WellSPring’s Youth Coalition Coordinator, and our kids who tell you why they stand above tobacco use!

Title: WellSpring Coalition Meeting
Location: 7013 Sandridge Road
Description: Join us for our regular monthly meeting on the second Tuesday of every month. We have reports from our teams who are working on various projects, long range planning, networking, and celebration.
Start Time: 15:00
Date: 2011-12-13

The Pacific County Board of County Commissioners are currently considering a .1% sales tax increase that would support substance abuse and mental health treatment. The tax originates from legislation passed in 2005 meant to expand and improve mental health and drug and alcohol treatment for residents in Washington state.  Among other things, the legislation allows county governments to pass a local option tax to support treatment.   If the tax were to pass, Pacific County’s sales tax would increase .1% from 7.8% to 7.9%.  This translates into an additional 1 penny per taxable $10 purchase or, over the course of a year, the average Pacific County resident would pay an average of $6.43 in additional tax.  At the urging of various community groups (including WellSpring), the board of commissioners appointed a task force in June of 2011 to study the issue and come back with a recommendation on whether or not to pass the tax.

The task force met four times over the summer months to study the costs and benefits of passing the tax and came to the conclusion that the benefits outweigh the costs and made the recommendation that the board pass the tax. The task force further recommended that if passed, the tax would support mental health treatment for non-Medicaid youth, adults seeking treatment who are also involved in the criminal justice system, and to expand drug courts in Pacific County.

The commissioners are very interested in hearing what the public thinks about the tax and has asked the task force to conduct a community outreach campaign to inform residents, gather feedback, and gauge whether or not the community supports the tax.   Formal presentations on the tax and work of the task force are scheduled throughout the community during the months of October and November (see schedule below).

A full copy of the task force report is available on the WellSpring website .  If you have any questions or comments about the potential tax or if you would like to schedule a presentation for your agency or group, please contact Katie Lindstrom at 360-875-9343.