Taos Behavioral Health

Counseling for Adults, Children and Families

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Headed for SUCCESS!

”For many of our clients—during face-to-face schooling, we would be sitting with them in the classroom helping them maintain control and focus on their education.  In oue now  virtual world, we have to figure out how to still give them intensive support” said Brian Salazar, the Director of the SUCCESS program at Taos Behavioral Health.

The SUCCESS Program’s clients are middle school and high school students whose behavioral health diagnoses require multiple services.  Both individual and group settings allow the staff to reinforce a variety of social and emotional goals—but the translation to a virtual world of 2020 has demanded patience and creativity.

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Challenging Holidays

We have had one crisis after another  this year—the virus—the environment that spewed drought driven fires and scary tornadoes—the depressing economic realities–the reverberating crisis and divisions in the political world.

And now we are to smile at the start of the holiday season?

Our holidays in Taos are enthusiastically celebrated by adults and youth—with planning and comparisons to previous years  in anticipation of joy and sharing.  It is a time to cherish family and tradition and express our faith.

[Read more…] about Challenging Holidays

Challenging Holidays

We have had one crisis after another  this year—the virus—the environment that spewed drought driven fires and scary tornadoes—the depressing economic realities–the reverberating crisis and divisions in the political world.

And now we are to smile at the start of the holiday season?

Our holidays in Taos are enthusiastically celebrated by adults and youth—with planning and comparisons to previous years  in anticipation of joy and sharing.  It is a time to cherish family and tradition and express our faith.

[Read more…] about Challenging Holidays

Therapy in the Time of COVID

“I know there are great needs, but I do not know what to do.  I want to help those who are suffering from economic stress” stated a Taos resident.

”There is definitely an increase in suicidal thoughts,” stated a Taos Behavioral Health (TBH) Clinician this week.  “And there are unique challenges with every age and all circumstances.”

These quotes are two voices from our community.

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What Will their/our Future Be?

“The School System is broken for many families” stated an agency staff member.  “It just isn’t working” said another.

“I have homeless children in my therapeutic group” states a clinician.  “It is different than what residents may imagine when I say those words.”   He went on to describe children whose parents have simply disappeared or been  incarcerated.  The children were left with a grandmother or an aunt or an older sibling—often shuttled inexplicitly from one household to another with no warning.    Without the safety net of school where there is structure, encouragement, food and school supplies they are often “without any of the above.”

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What’s Really Happening to Students at Home

“The only way I can keep coming back to do this work is that at the end of every workday, I do something positive,” Says Siena Sanderson, Program Director for the Nurturing Center at Taos Behavioral Health.  All the Nurturing Center staff do likewise.  “We go to each of the families we are working with and take them some items that have been donated to us.  Everything from plants to household goods to clothes, furniture.  Our cars are delivery trucks!” states Sanderson.  “But the families are intensely appreciative and then it makes it possible to go back to work the next day!”  And we know that most of our families are too proud and depressed to ask for what they need.

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Learning at Home – Building Mutually Respectful Relationships

It is September and families are schooling their children from home. All kinds of arrangements have been made. Perhaps your child is spending time in a learning pod. Maybe you’ve arranged with family or neighbors for a group of children to safely do their schoolwork with one adult supporting the learners. Maybe your child is home by your side, while you do your work and run your household.

[Read more…] about Learning at Home – Building Mutually Respectful Relationships

What’s Really Happening to Students at Home

“The only way I can keep coming back to do this work is that at the end of every workday, I do something positive,” Says Siena Sanderson, Program Director for the Nurturing Center at Taos Behavioral Health.  All the Nurturing Center staff do likewise.  “We go to each of the families we are working with and take them some items that have been donated to us.  Everything from plants to household goods to clothes, furniture.  Our cars are delivery trucks!” states Sanderson.  “But the families are intensely appreciative and then it makes it possible to go back to work the next day!”  And we know that most of our families are too proud and depressed to ask for what they need.

[Read more…] about What’s Really Happening to Students at Home

Learning at Home – Building Mutually Respectful Relationships

It is September and families are schooling their children from home. All kinds of arrangements have been made. Perhaps your child is spending time in a learning pod. Maybe you’ve arranged with family or neighbors for a group of children to safely do their schoolwork with one adult supporting the learners. Maybe your child is home by your side, while you do your work and run your household.

The responsibility for learning is now more than ever a partnership between school and home. We know parents are a child’s first teachers. Now parents are also responsible for building strong bridges between remote instruction and educational expectations, navigating schoolwork on the computer and supporting the learning of their children.

[Read more…] about Learning at Home – Building Mutually Respectful Relationships