Transgender Young Adults. And Parents.

Spread the word:

Tony Ferraiolo is co-Founder of the Jim Collins Foundation. 
He is the subject of thee film A Self-Made Man.
He is included in the New Yorker magazine profile About A Boy.

Greatness walks among us.

This is about 50% of us

Statement from Permanent Commission on the Status of Women

FROM: Christine Palm, Communications Director

 RE: Supreme Court Decision on Hobby Lobby Case

DATE: 6-30-14

“This appalling decision by the Supreme Court further erodes a woman’s autonomy over her own body and healthcare. To invest corporations with the power to be a regulating force over private matters sets a very bad precedent, and it cannot be overlooked that this decision affects women, not the full spectrum of the workforce.”

About the PCSW: The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women was formed in 1973 under Sec. 46a-1 of the Connecticut General Statutes to study and improve Connecticut women’s economic security, health and safety; to promote consideration of qualified women to leadership positions and to work toward the elimination of gender discrimination. As a non-partisan arm of the General Assembly, the agency monitors, critiques and recommends changes to legislation in order to inform public policy, and assesses programs and practices in all State agencies for their effect on the state’s women. The PCSW serves as a liaison between government and its diverse constituents, and convenes stakeholders, including the business, non-profit and educational communities, local governments, and the media, in order to promote awareness of women’s issues. 

Delicious for A Cause: Pie Night! (Pizza and Fresh Fruit Pies)

Put this on your Calendar!
A super-casual night of
fun, food, fundraising and friends.

About CMT
Charcot-Marie-Tooth, or CMT, is the most commonly inherited peripheralneuropathy and is found worldwide among all races and ethnic groups.

Discovered in 1886 by three physicians, Jean-Martin Charcot,Pierre Marie, and Howard Henry Tooth, CMT affects an estimated 2.6million people worldwide.

CMT usually isn’t life-threatening and almost never affects brain function. It is not contagious, but it is hereditary and can be passed down from one generation to the next.


Event Organizers:
Shelton residents John and Michele Kekac, along with members of the Southern Connecticut CMT Support and Action Group.


About the CMTA
Our mission ... to support the development of new drugs to treatCMT, to improve the quality of life for people with CMT, and, ultimately,to fnd a cure.
Our vision ... a world without CMT.
Please visit www.cmtausa.org for more information.

Milford Farms and Farmers' Markets

Supporting local agriculture is fun

By Barbara Currier Bell
As seen in the MilfordMirror on July 26, 2013 

In the early 21st century, Connecticut has been getting back to its family farming “roots.” Environmentalists promote family farming as wise land-use policy, especially in Milford, blessed with prime agricultural soils. Health-conscious “locavores” demand access to food with the freshness, high nutrient levels, and low pesticide burden provided by neighborhood farms.

Finally, economists emphasize small-farm rewards due to employment, land-use diversification, and so-called “external” efficiencies, meaning efficiencies realized from the services nature supplies free of charge. Milford has three summer farm markets: One at Treat’s Farm in Woodmont, one in downtown Milford by the train station, and one in Devon on Route 1 between Naugatuck Avenue and the Washington Bridge. These markets support family farms by giving them new outlets for distribution.

[Editorial insert]
The Downtown Milford Farmers Market runs every Saturday through October, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the parking lot near the River St side of the Milford Railroad Station. All the vendors are self-producing Connecticut farmers. Features Scratch Bakery goodies and breads, locally grown vegetables and herbs, hormone-free meat and poultry, and much more.

The Village of Devon hosts a farmers market on Sundays at the municipal lot at 120 Bridgeport Ave. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fresh seafood, fruits, vegetables, flowers and baked goods. WIC and DSNAP vouchers accepted. Live music.

The Woodmont Farmers’ Market at the Robert Treat Farm is held Wednesdays. Located at the corner of New Haven and Merwin avenues, the Woodmont Farmers’ Market will be open every Wednesday, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., through the end of September, rain or shine.

So far so good, but community-supported agriculture (CSAs) up the ante. They’re small farms using direct distribution. Whether alone or supplemental to farmers’ markets, CSAs are more nitty-gritty than the markets and more fun.

First, “fun.” Typically, the way a CSA works is that members pay a set amount in advance for a summer’s worth of farm product. On a certain day each week, members pick up a basket of food at their CSA, but they don’t know in advance what’s going to be inside. They might get a few items they’ve never heard of, such as bok choy, kohlrabi, or tatsoi, radishes in unlikely shapes and colors, red currants or white eggplant or purple squash they scarcely know how to prepare.

Besides sheer novelty, these unfamiliar species offer way more diversity than a customer ever finds at a grocery store, even counting exotic imports. Then consider the abundance. Flowers and herbs can be cut as bonuses to the weekly basket, and, sometimes, when a particular vegetable or berry crop ripens all at once, members can pick all they want.

Next, “nitty-gritty.” CSAs bring members up close and personal with farmland. Sometimes, as mentioned, members act as farmhands themselves; in any case, when members are at the CSA they see their food growing, not just sitting on shelves. The ecological connections underlying agriculture are evident all around.
Here, the farming history of Milford comes alive. Sun, rain, and the slow progress of the seasons rule. Farm work is more than isolated individuals can do by themselves, so community becomes important, as reflected in the way CSA members share a common schedule and set of basket items; additionally, many CSAs celebrate the end of their year in September with a party for all their members—a feast entrée from the farm, the rest pot-luck.

Originally, America was a nation of farmers. What our forebears called the “symmetry” of nature was all-important: They tried to preserve it with diligence, patience and frugality.

Today we use the term “sustainability.” Regardless of the label, the basic concept is illustrated in every CSA: Human beings are not “above” nature, but embedded in it together with all nature’s creatures.

Our health depends on the health of the land.

Senator Blumenthal "Gets It"

BLUMENTHAL DELIVERS FLOOR SPEECH ON ANTI-ABORTION LEGISLATION
PASSED YESTERDAY BY HOUSE

Video of Blumenthal’s floor speech is here.
 

(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) delivered a floor speech on an anti-abortion bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives. The bill – H.R. 1797 – would prohibit all abortions beyond 20 weeks with very limited exceptions.

I come to the floor today to discuss H.R. 1797. A number of my colleagues, Senators Murray and Boxer, have been here this morning to talk about the bill passed yesterday in the House of Representatives that would prohibit all abortions beyond 20 weeks with very, very limited exceptions. This topic is critically important to the women of Connecticut and our country, and the bill is yet another example, lamentably and regrettably, another example of legislation that feigns concern for women's health when actually it would endanger the lives and well-being of women across this great country.

The bill would take decisions regarding health care away from women and their doctors and would force the doctors to decide between incurring criminal penalties and helping their patients. That choice is unacceptable –professionally and morally. The decision to have an abortion is a serious decision that a woman should make in consultation with her doctor. When those decisions are made later in a pregnancy, they are most often the result of serious health risks to the mother or the discovery that the fetus is not viable.

Political interference is abhorrent and unacceptable in these personal and private decisions, and it violates the constitutional right of privacy. The other scenario in which a woman may seek an abortion later in a pregnancy is due to an inability to access such services earlier – whether due to financial restrictions or lack of access to health care or other extenuating circumstances.  In fact, 58 percent of abortion patients say they would have preferred to have an abortion earlier. Low-income women were more than twice as likely than their wealthier counterparts to be delayed because of financial limitation and difficulty in making arrangements. As politicians, we should not be placing additional restrictions on women in these circumstances.

The House bill blatantly ignores constitutional protections that are vitally necessary to protect the health of women as decided in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey because these kinds of restrictions place limitations that interfere with constitutional rights and have no place in these personal and very private decisions. The limited exceptions in this bill would require a woman to report a rape or incest to law enforcement or a specific government agency when she is seeking much-needed health care services. Those restrictions affect women when they have been the victims of a crime or face serious health risks and will have no effect on reducing abortions.

That's their purported purpose, to reduce abortions, but that purpose will be in no way served by these restrictions. Victims of incest or rape may be too young or too fearful of retaliation to report to a law enforcement agency. Why create a needless, lawless obstacle to vital health care? We should be working to ensure that women have the ability to access safe and affordable contraception so there are fewer unintended pregnancies in this country. And yet supporters of this bill would also restrict access to contraception and they're the ones who have tried to make it more difficult to get access to the information and services necessary to prevent unintended pregnancies.

We need to do more. Our nation needs to do better to ensure that women have access to preventive and maternal health care so they can be prepared to face the responsibility of pregnancy and parenthood. This bill would do very little, if anything, to actually help women to protect their health care and the health care of their families and so I urge my colleagues to reject any consideration of this ill-intended, and I hope also ill-fated, measure that endangers women's health across the country. I urge my colleagues to focus on the real priorities that face this Congress – job creation and economic recovery, for example – and stop this attack on women's health.

###

Important (and Free) Mental Health Info Event April 30

Mental Health is part of Health.
There has been a lot of discussion "post-Newtown"  about mental health. (Quote marks are because there is some discussion about not tainting the place name and instead calling the event "December 14th" but I am unsure if this is a movement by realtors to preserve property values or actually a true sentiment of the victim's families.)

Anyway, on April 30th, to kick off Mental Health Month, The Milford Prevention Council and Cachement Area Council 6 (part of the CT Dept of Mental Health and Addiction Services) are hosting an event at the Milford Public Library - and it is free. (also: Free parking behind the Library, bus stop nearby from Stratford and beyond and from New Haven - walking distance from Milford MetroNorth train station.)

Milford Library
57 New Haven Avenue
Tuesday, April 30
6:30 – 8 pm. 

To kick off May is Mental Health Month
The Region II Regional Mental Health Board CAC 6 and The Milford Prevention Council will sponsor an event “Celebrating Good Health, Wellness and Mental Health”
_______________________________

Speakers include Michael Sernyak, M.D., CEO of the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven, who will discuss the “health” crisis in mental health and how overall wellness can address it. 

Additional speakers will discuss community support systems for people with mental illness. 

Photographs by members of Bridges’ Young Adult Services program will be displayed, and handcrafted items such as jewelry and pillows from the Young Adult Services store, “Metamorphosis,” will be available for purchase. 

The discussion is open without charge to the public.  Refreshments served.

 _______________________________

The Milford Prevention Council is a coalition of community professionals working together to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth.  Community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs in Milford, West Haven and Orange comprise the Region II Regional Mental Health Board CAC 6. 

Beyond Pancakes

Coolness!
Registration is now open for the 2013 Transgender Lives Conference to be held on April 27th, 2013 at the UConn Health Center, Farmington Connecticut.

Learn more every day -- become a smarter and better person.

When Saturday April 27, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM EDT Add to Calendar   Where Academic Building of the UConn Health Center 263 Farmington Avenue Academic Building Farmington, CT 06030 Driving Directions

CHES nd NASW credits are available for the 2013 Transgender Lives Conference [click here for workshops]. Don't miss our keynote speaker Mara Keisling, the Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Mara Keisling is the founding Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Mara is a transgender-identified woman and a parent. As one of the nation's leading voices for transgender equality, Mara has appeared on news outlets such as CNN and CSPAN, and is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post and hundreds of other national and local print and electronic media.     AND this year we are offering CEU accreditation's from NASW/CT and CHES! However, to take advantage of this unique and wonderful opportunity to listen to Mara Keisling, as well as attend the many exciting and challenging workshops you must be registered for the conference. If you have not done so yet, you do need to register ~ so don't delay and do it today!! Get more information Register Now!   Sincerely,    Transgender Lives Organizing Committee Ct TransAdvocacy Coalition conference2013@transadvocacy.org 860 255 8812

More News about Pancakes

Speaking of Pancakes.... (see previous post), there is still time to register as a sponsor for this event. You can run an ad in the program book (look: CheapSkate Level is only 50 Bux!).

Please ignore their typo in this poster. After all, it is not a fundraiser for the Literacy Center...

HUSKY Program at Risk

Mental Health - Informative OP ED

I am reprinting this in full because it is long and complex. It was sent to me by a friend who is active in Mental Health and Addiction Services work. Normally I try to give a link and only extract a paragraph or two, for copyright reasons and to redirect to the original source. In this case, Sue Me.

I actually got a cup of coffee and sat in quiet to read the whole piece, since it gives background and history that is helpful knowledge as we continue to discuss all solutions and variables to working forward. 

My take-away is the need or better services for children and youth. But then again, that is always my take-away. ...Or Leftovers, when it involves a good restaurant!

OP-ED from The Hartford Courant

Forced Mental Health Treatment Wrong

By JANET VAN TASSEL |  January 7, 2013
In the past month there have been numerous thoughtful recommendations for improving the state's mental health system, and Connecticut is, from a policy perspective, well-positioned to implement most of these proposals.

Since the Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health was issued in July 2000, the state has pursued evidence-based practices and become a national leader in promoting a community-based, family- and consumer-oriented system of care.

Unfortunately, many of these innovative measures have been funded through federal grants that are limited in scope and time, or hampered by state budget constraints that have prevented their full implementation. In addition, funding for private nonprofit agencies that provide many community supports and services has not kept pace with state-operated counterparts. In short, Connecticut has the programmatic building blocks to construct the comprehensive community-based system of care it promised when state hospitals were closed, but not the resources to support it.

For example, it is well-documented that supportive housing is a cost-effective way to provide a stable living arrangement for families and individuals with mental illness, which reduces hospital expenditures and promotes self-sufficiency. However, despite recent investments by the state, housing subsidies fall well below the demand, forcing vulnerable people into shelters, and leaving discharge-ready people in expensive state hospital beds. Similarly, a federally supported initiative to expedite Social Security disability applications for people with mental illness is understaffed, and people with mental illness are being released from the state Department of Correction facilities are homeless.

Funding to expand school-based clinics and programs for children an youth have been cut, as the number of homeless youth rises. And despite a mental health parity law, private insurers routinely deny claims for mental health treatment services, particularly for children.
Although Connecticut has been recognized as having one of the best mental health systems in the country, accessing services and supports is still a futile effort for many. In fact, persons with mental illness routinely seek legal services because their services have been denied, reduced or terminated by agencies with limited funds.

Given this context, it is troubling that legislative proposals to authorize involuntary outpatient treatment for persons with mental illness have again been raised. The appeal of such a measure, which on its face sounds eminently reasonable, is understandable. However, it is fraught with complexities, starting with the fact that determining whether a person who is not currently a danger to self or others or gravely disabled, but is "potentially dangerous" is not straightforward. There is no system for identifying persons who might be dangerous, and violent behavior is not linked to a psychiatric diagnosis.

Because a forced medication or treatment law would restrict the fundamental civil rights of people with mental illness, there are questions about whether it would violate Connecticut's constitutional protections for these individuals. Certainly, it would require an enforcement system and court proceedings comparable to those used in New York, which cost more than $32 million per year. Consequently, it would be very costly, and use money that would be better spent on community services.

A Task Force Report on Issues Related to Involuntary Outpatient Commitment and Alternatives, which was issued in January 1997, rejected outpatient commitment and recommended specific alternative measures which were subsequently pursued by the state. Last year, the Judiciary Committee had a full hearing on similar legislation, which was opposed by groups as diverse as state agencies, psychologists and police officers, and rejected by the committee. This is the time to invest the state's limited resources into constructing a comprehensive system of screening, services and housing supports for children, youth and adults with mental illness rather than pursue a course that would divert funds from the real problem. It is the wrong tool for Connecticut.

Janet Van Tassel, a lawyer, is executive director of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project and founder and co-chairwoman of the Keep the Promise Coalition.

Copyright  2013, The Hartford Courant

In conclusion: Thanks for reading this.