The Marna and Stephen Wise Tulin Spring Community Education Series
Welcome to the 2023 Marna and Stephen Wise Tulin Spring Community Education Series. Our series is free and open to the public and offers timely educational sessions and dialogue on a variety of current topics related to mental health, substance use, and developmental needs. The sessions include presentations, film screenings, and panel discussions and are always followed by the opportunity for discussion and Q & A.
May 18, 2023 7:00 – 8:00 pm Racial Trauma and Generational Healing
Thanks to everyone who attended this session. Howard Center’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Catarina Campbell (they/them), invited participants to understand racism through a trauma lens and to contextualize social justice through a frame of healing across generations. Through a praxis of auto-ethnography, history, and ancestral wisdom, and folk practices, we explored how people of the global majority have survived some of the most unspeakable oppressions and transformed suffering into liberation. Catarina encouraged participants to engage with somatic, reflective, and meditative practices as a means of embodying healing and racial justice for ourselves in the here and now.
Catarina Campbell, M.Ed (they/them) is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Howard Center. They come to the role with a background in grassroots organizing, trauma-informed advocacy, and affinity-based programming at community centers in the United States and Brazil. Previously, Catarina served as the Director of the SafeSpace Anti-Violence Program and the Coordinator for Programs and Leadership at the Women & Gender Equity Center at the University of Vermont. She has also served on the boards of the Vermont ACLU and the Woven Collective. Honoring and celebrating our right to be embraced for all of who we are, Catarina strives to bring joyful and meaningful connection to their communities by tending to interpersonal connection as a conduit for social change.
ACCOMMODATIONS NEEDED?
If you need support with accommodations, please contact DevelopmentTeam@howardcenter.org; 802-488-6912.
American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be offered for both events.
Supported by:
Past Community Education Series
April 13, 2023 6:30 – 8:00 pm Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops an Emmy award-winning HBO documentary. Film followed by panel discussion and Q & A.
Ernie and Joe: Crisis Cops Free and open to the public virtual film screening via Zoom webinar, followed by a panel discussion and Q & A. The documentary is an intimate portrait of two officers from the San Antonio Police Department’s Mental Health Unit who are helping to change the way police respond to mental health calls. Panelists include Kristin Chandler, Team Two; Shawn Burke, South Burlington Police Department; and Howard Center staff Tammy Boudah, Street Outreach; Rachel Lawler, Community Outreach; and Leslie Nelson, START. This is a free and open to the public virtual Zoom webinar. Registration is now open.
Ernie and Joe: Crisis Cops is a documentary film that follows two police officers in San Antonio, Texas who specialize in responding to mental health calls, showing their innovative approach to policing and highlighting the importance of addressing mental health in law enforcement, while also shedding light on the need for systemic change in the criminal justice system to better serve individuals with mental health issues.
⚠️ Trigger Warning: The first 30-seconds of the documentary contains uncensored footage of a fatal officer-involved shooting. To avoid triggers from disturbing images, sensitive viewers are advised to turn off the sound and minimize the window for the first minute of the screening.
Panelists:
Chief Shawn Burke, South Burlington Chief of Police, is a dedicated law enforcement officer with over two decades of experience. As a leader, Burke has focused on implementing policies and initiatives in line with the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, emphasizing use of force reform, data-driven policing, fair and impartial policing policy development, and improving police services for those experiencing mental health crises or homelessness. Burke is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Integrated Studies from Champlain College. He has received commendations and awards for his service and commitment to his profession and community.
Tammy Boudah joined the Street Outreach Team in 2003 and has been the team lead since 2017. Tammy and her team work in Burlington to coordinate support for people who have mental health, substance use, housing, or other social service needs. They interface regularly with police, merchants, service providers and community members to offer support and resources. In 2015, Tammy accepted a Jackson Healthcare award in Atlanta, recognizing Street Outreach as a national program of excellence. Tammy and colleagues have consulted with other programs in the U.S. and Canada to help them replicate programs similar to Street Outreach.
Kristin Chandler, is the Coordinator for Team Two, a statewide training curriculum Kristin helped to develop for first responders on collaborative response to mental health crises. Kristin has previously worked as a Vermont Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Mental Health. She is an adjunct professor at Norwich University in the Criminal Justice Studies department and a guest speaker at the Vermont Police Academy, where she instructs on mental health laws and response. She has also previously worked as the staff attorney for the Vermont Department of Public Safety. Kristin is a Governor’s appointee on the Mental Health Crisis Response Commission.
Rachel Lawler had been part of the Community Outreach Team since its inception 5 years ago. She has been the Team Lead for over 2 years. The team collaborates with first responders in 9 towns and cities in Chittenden County, helping those in the county with unmet social service needs, mental health, and substance use needs. Rachel received her bachelor’s degree in Pre-Law from Woodbury College in and is currently enrolled in SNHU’s Masters of Psychology program with a concentration in Forensic Psychology. She currently serves as a governor-appointee on the Vermont Criminal Justice Council.
Leslie Nelson is the Coordinator of Peer Support and Collaborative Network Approach at Howard Center.
Leslie started her peer work and training working on the New York City Parachute Project’s Manhattan Mobile Crisis Treatment Team using the Need-Adapted Treatment Model with emphasis on Family and Network/Systemic Therapy. Receiving her Trainer certificate in 2015, Leslie has provided training, consultation, and curriculum development in dialogical approaches. While working in NYC Leslie completed training in Intentional Peer Support and the Copeland Center’s W.R.A.P. curriculum completing additional training and certification in both. She is a frequent speaker and panelist and has contributed to the literature on peer support in Open dialogue.
She is currently involved in the global project Reimagining Psychiatry and expects to receive her International Trainers Certificate through The Institute for Dialogic Practice-Yale once completing year three in April 2023.
March 28, 2022 Problem gambling and its effects: help and treatment is available.
Panelists are Dan Hall, LADC and Mallory Stunell, LADC, LCMHC, from Howard Center, Jacqueline Posley from Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery, and Cait Huble from the National Council on Problem Gambling. For more information please visit Vermont Problem Gambling Resource Center and the National Council on Problem Gambling websites. Click here to view and download the powerpoint presentation.
April 6, 2021 2:00-3:30 pm: Erin Roelke and Millie Richard | Hoarding and Clutter: Community Support Approaches. To view and download the event powerpoint presentation, please click here.
March 9, 2021 6:00-7:15 pm: Dr. John Brooklyn | Alcohol Use – Why we should be talking about it
February 17, 2021: Maureen McGough, J.D., Policing Project, NYU School of Law | Policing, Community Relationships, and Public Health and Safety
Past World Mental Health Day Speaker Series:
Daniel, Debra, Leslie, (and You?) on 10/3/19
Daniel, Debra, Leslie, (and You?) A film screening about the complex meaning of “recovery.” How do individuals with serious mental disorders cope? Daniel, Debra, Leslie (and You?) invites us to listen – empathically and constructively – as courageous individuals speak openly and honestly to each other of their experience.
Suicide: The Ripple Effect on 9/26/19
Screening in partnership with Champlain Community Services.
Suicide: The Ripple Effect This film is part of a global mission to help reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts around the world. Through sharing stories of survival and recovery we are creating significant awareness of this health crisis, while helping people find the support they need to stay alive, heal and #BeHereTomorrow
Major! on 9/12/19
MAJOR! follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a 73-year-old
Black transgender woman who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years.
MAJOR! trailer from What Do We Want Films on Vimeo.