Category Archives: Uncategorized

Answer the Call!

I am supporting the Ben Gordon Center Foundation Call for Help Telethon!  Did you know that this year alone one in four people in our community will need mental health or substance abuse help?  Let’s be the ONE that helps today! 

Listen Friday, May 31st to B95 fm and CALL 815-748-0600 to pledge your donation.  Remember even $5 adds up and can help those most in need.  The phone lines will be open from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or go to www.bengordoncenter.org and make a donation now!

Thank you for your support.  The Ben Gordon Center provides unfunded mental health and substance abuse totaling over $400,000.00 annually.

We will be the ONES that help!

BGC Foundation Call for Help Telethon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben Gordon Center Call for Help Telethon
Friday, May 31st from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Requests for services at the Ben Gordon Center are up again over last year and the Ben Gordon Center provides $400,000 annually in unfunded mental health and substance abuse services. Last year we raised over $71,000 at the Call For Help Telethon and we need your help again on Friday, May 31st at the Ben Gordon Center Community Support Campus, 631 S. First Street, DeKalb.

We need a few people to work the phones and raise pledges for us. It’s really quite simple. We will provide you with everything you need to make and receive calls along with a list of prospects that you can call or you can reach out to your own network if you’d like. All we need from volunteers is a willingness to help us raise the money necessary to continue to provide the services our community needs. Please get in touch with Michelle at 815-757-3488, if you would like to volunteer or know a group that would like to help.

What is Wellness?

Wellness is defined as “an active process of becoming aware of and making choices towards a more successful existence.”

Because living a “successful existence” means something different to each individual, wellness can be many things, but it generally includes the pursuit of health, defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” and working towards achieving one’s full potential.

Did you know?
• Connecting with others can help you to enjoy the times when you are alone.
• Staying positive can improve your mood and your health.
• If you quit smoking now, in 20 minutes your heart rate drops, and in 12 hours the carbon monoxide (a gas that can be toxic) in
your blood drops to normal.
• Exercising in “spurts” can be just as effective as continuous exercise.
• Helping others may help you experience less depression.
• Drinking beverages with caffeine should be stopped 6-8 hours before bed to ensure a more restful sleep.
• Creating joy and satisfaction can be easy with little things such as making a gourmet meal while listening to your favorite
music, treating yourself to a massage, or even taking a few moments to admire nature.
• What you drink is just as important as what you eat.
• Spirituality can give you a sense of purpose and meaning.
• Writing down your problems can help shift your thinking about the issue and ultimately improve your mood.
• It is essential to choose a provider who understands the importance of the both of you working collaboratively regarding your
health care.
• Stress management techniques are important because chronic (long-lasting) stress can change your brain and the way you
function.

Your pathway to wellness can be:
• Good health
• Saving more money
• Healthy relationships
• Being good to yourself
• Showing gratitude
• Keeping good friends close
• Taking care of your community
• Eating one less cookie
• Looking for a new job
• Learning how to let go
• Walking instead of driving
• Playing with your pet
• A day at the spa
• Eating fresh fruit from your own garden

Spreading the Word about Mental Health Awareness!

Great job and KUDOS to Samantha from our Community Support Campus for informing the Kishwaukee Kiwanis about BGC and our new Living Room project!!  They all had lots of questions and she answered them all like a PRO!!

NSSI Group Schedule To Start Again On May 28th

 The Special Programs team is happy to announce that we will be restarting the much needed Non-Suicidal Self Injury Group known as “The Body, Mind and Wellness Group”. 

 Marla Dexter, MA LPC will be leading this weekly group.  The group will be held every TUESDAY from 6pm-7pm at the Central Office beginning on 5/28/2013.  For more information please call 815-756-4875.

 

“I can feel the hurt. There’s something good about it. Mostly it makes me stop remembering.” 
― Albert Borris, Crash Into Me

Happy Friday!

Great Job Special Programs Team with Eating Disorders Awareness Week!!

  • Of the estimated 5 to 10 million female Americans who suffer from some form of eating disorder, experts are reporting a rise among adult women. Just like teenagers, middle-aged women are going through many physical and emotional changes. According to one survey, 57% of middle-aged women reported being dissatisfied with their bodies—three points higher than the rate for teenage girls. 
  • According to the Academy for Eating Disorders, one in five women struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating. Eating disorders are treatable.
  • In the United States as many as 20 million females and 10 million males suffer from an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa, and millions more suffer from binge-eating disorder. 
  •  Take a free anonymous eating disorder screening at here on our website.   (see the online mental health screening blue button on the right)

If you believe you could be struggling with an eating disorder, please call the special programs team at 815-756-4875 to schedule an appointment today.