Taos Behavioral Health

Counseling for Adults, Children and Families

You are here: Home / Archives for Familia y Mundo

We’re Responding: Taos Behavioral Health

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
Board Chair

With the Governor’s recently announced closing of all New Mexico schools until the end of the school year, families in Taos will be challenged to cover care and supervision for their children.  The board and staff at Taos Behavioral Health feel strongly that we need to respond to these needs.  With the state closing of schools, we do not have access to any space  from the school district. Therefore, we have developed a plan to work on site together with all our clients so that services can still be provided.

Outpatient therapy services will continue via telemed services and clients should keep their usual appointments.  To protect our clients’ health, we have the guidance from the state Department of Health that establishes a protocol for keeping our space free of contamination.  Each time a staff member or client enters our space, hand washing will be required.  Rooms and equipment will be sanitized after each client session and at the end of a youth group. We have sanitizing equipment available to make certain this is done safely. [Read more…] about We’re Responding: Taos Behavioral Health

Taos Behavioral Health Ready to Support You as School Opens!

Mary Gray McPhail

By Mary McPhail Gray
Board Chair

Thursday, August 15th—the first day of the school year 2019–,2020!  The buses are rolling, the teachers are finishing last minute tasks, the schools are shining clean and the administrators stand ready to meet, greet and solve unexpected problems.  Excitement is in the air as the village starts the tasks of supporting our education system.

In homes, students are excited and nervous, and parents are hurrying to prepare them with needed supplies and encouragement as the family schedule changes.  Plans are finalized for transportation and after school activities.

For all students—the new school year brings change—new teachers and friends—new academic challenges.  For some students change is exciting and rewarding, and for many, change brings anxiety and stress.  Will they feel comfortable in new classes? Will they be with their friends?  Will they find new friends?  What if someone bullies them?  Who will be there to help?  Will the classwork be too hard? [Read more…] about Taos Behavioral Health Ready to Support You as School Opens!

TBH is here for Students and Families!

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

School begins — an exciting and challenging season of the year!  As August 10th arrived, students and parents were dealing with the annual change in schedules and activities from summer to an academic year.

For many students, the year-opening is stressful — new teachers, new fellow students — new expectations that are not all clear.  Nonviolence Works clinicians are stationed in schools across the district — ready to provide support through individual counseling appropriate to whatever issue a student might present and to provide group counseling around common themes.

The services of NVW are particularly critical at a time when a significant partner in behavioral health services — TriCounty Behavioral Health Services — is closing its doors on August 31 but moving to immediately transfer clients.  Family members who have relied on TriCounty services in Taos, Raton or Clayton may feel the stress of uncertainty about how their behavioral health and substance abuse treatment services will be met. [Read more…] about TBH is here for Students and Families!

Nonviolence Works: A Great Place to Work!

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

They come with differing experiences and skills, but all have an overriding commitment — to give back to the community.  And they bring fresh energy and ideas and questions to enhance our services at Nonviolence Works.

I want to introduce our three interns — Carolyn Wilson, Bryan Salazar and Andrew Chiaraluce.  As they complete their required clinical hours for social work or mental health counseling licenses under supervision by NVW staff, they bring us special new perspectives. [Read more…] about Nonviolence Works: A Great Place to Work!

We’ve Moved! New Location—New Programs

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

Nonviolence Works has just completed a move to a new location at 105 Bertha Suite B — across from the US Postal Center and behind Toribio’s restaurant.  We find the new space very uplifting — great colors and art — plenty of places for people to visit and work together. Our phone number is still the same (575-758-4297), and our website (www.nonviolenceworks.us) and Facebook page give you all the current programs news.

We are excited to begin our annual summer Therapeutic Camp (Familia y Mundo) with 45 enrollees and a great program of art, crafts, physical skill building, swimming, individual and group therapy, and community service activities. We offer this program to the community through the ongoing partnership with Ranchos Elementary School.

Our search continues to locate an appropriate environment for a residential treatment center for adolescent males — we will keep the community informed about those plans and our needs.

We have initiated a new Gabler Battle Back Program for veterans with unique strengths in our staff, board and our commitments to this population. The title refers to our belief that we must in good conscience help those who have sacrificed for our freedom — to be supported in their battle back to get all the way home.

There are 6,000 veterans in northern New Mexico and approximately 40% of them are in need of some form of mental health support.  In addition, far too many of the homeless in our country are from the ranks of veterans.  We see them at the roadside in our village — struggling. [Read more…] about We’ve Moved! New Location—New Programs

A Year of Success!

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

Nonviolence Works faced challenges, opportunities and success in 2017.  We want to reach out to Taosenos and celebrate our success!  This year our CEO Simon Torrez and our Lead Clinician Sadie Quintanilla have led the staff through successful changes with enhanced clinical expertise, larger staff, stronger programs, and exciting new plans for additional services.

We welcomed three new clinicians, and all our clinicians enhanced and focused their therapeutic skills. You may not know that we have an expert in infant mental health, several clinicians who respond with skill in crisis situations, a clinician who is skilled in vocational rehabilitation, and several who regularly intervene to prevent suicides.  Our clinicians all have master’s degrees and are able to deal with grief and loss, trauma, anger management, and custody and foster child issues. [Read more…] about A Year of Success!

“I would have been dead on the street—”

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

“ . . . were it not for my father and my wife. I was deeply into drugs—selling and using—and in gangs and any street adventures I could find,” says James Mondragon, Educational Assistant at Nonviolence Works.

Mondragon was the oldest of five boys, and the family moved around a lot—Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. Both parents were drug addicts, and abuse and violence were daily occurrences.  “My mother decided to get herself clean so she left all of us and moved away.”  Later Mondragon’s father decided he also wanted to get clean, so he moved the boys to Taos when James was a teenager.

James hated it.  He didn’t know anyone and didn’t have his usual contacts, so the minute his dad left the house on any errand, he slung his backpack on and headed for the highway—hitchhiking back to Albuquerque.  But again and again his father came and found him—and “hauled me back to Taos.” [Read more…] about “I would have been dead on the street—”

Beginning Again—and Support is Here!

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

The school year has started again—and all those excited and nervous students and parents begin the challenges of new classes, teachers, and classmates.  Next to families, schools are the most powerful and enduring influence on children and youth.  Being a successful student opens opportunities and builds self-confidence that can be life long.  Dealing with academic trauma and failure has challenges that bury deep into an individual’s personality.

At Nonviolence Works we know that not all students are anticipating an exciting and successful school year. They may have experienced a variety of stressors, and they bring those to the classroom, where learning is compromised.  The Centers for Disease Control began a landmark study in the mid’90’s on how adverse childhood experiences create neurological blocks to learning. The research identified neglect, hunger, bullying, witnessing violence, experiencing abuse, and living in an unsafe neighborhood as some of the indicators of childhood trauma. And just one unsuccessful school year can create a pattern of fear and withdrawal from learning. [Read more…] about Beginning Again—and Support is Here!

A Village Responds

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

An African proverb from the Yoruba and Igbo regions of Nigeria states, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  The belief is that a community of caring relationships provides youth with strength of character and pride about their own worthiness. They feel loved and acknowledged.

It is often said that Taos is a community of relationships—connecting with others is an important quality of life here.  At Nonviolence Works we have seen this quality in action, particularly this summer with gifts of resources in a variety of ways—especially for our Familia y Mundo summer camp for elementary aged youth and the Yermos y Montaños summer camp for middle school students.  Resources have come in a rich variety of forms. [Read more…] about A Village Responds

Thank you!

Mary Gray McPhailBy Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

Nonviolence Works wishes to thank all those serious shoppers who came on April Fool’s Day to buy at our first annual NVW Garage Sale.  We had a great time visiting with treasure seekers and were grateful for the opportunity to talk to about our work in community.  Special thanks to the repeat visitors who just couldn’t resist coming back!

The funds that we raised will enable us to enrich the curriculum offered in both our summer day camps.

Nonviolence Works will be present on Friday, April 14th. at the Taos Mesa Brewery Mother Ship at 6 p.m. to reach out and help you support some of your community members through our strong programs described below.

Youth Programs for the Summer

Our Familia y Mundo after-school program turns into a summer day camp housed at Ranchos Elementary School with a 9-3 schedule of individual and group therapy, arts and crafts, hiking, swimming and other outdoor activities and special community visits.  With donations, we can provide more high quality materials for art, give them more field trips and purchase better sports equipment. [Read more…] about Thank you!