Taos Behavioral Health

Counseling for Adults, Children and Families

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You are here: Home / Archives for Familia y Mundo

We’re Responding: Taos Behavioral Health

March 19, 2020

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

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: Familia y Mundo, Family Center, Outpatient Therapy, telemed

Taos Behavioral Health Ready to Support You as School Opens!

August 15, 2019

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!

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: CCSS, Community Coordinated Support Service, Enos Garcia Programs, Eric Mares, Erin Clack, Familia y Mundo, Katia Torrelli-Delgado, Linda Sanders, Outpatient Treatment Program, Ranchos Elementary School, Sadie Quintanilla, simon Torrez, The Family Center

TBH is here for Students and Families!

August 16, 2018

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!

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: Beatrice Miera-Medina, Bryan Salazar, Erin Clack, Familia y Mundo, Gang Resistance is Powerful, GRIP, Gus Gonzalez, Paula Solfest, Questa Community Center, Ranchos Elementary, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Learning Lab, Sadie Quintanilla, TriCounty Behavioral Health Services

Nonviolence Works: A Great Place to Work!

August 2, 2018

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!

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: Andrew Chiaraluce, Bryan Salazar, Carolyn Wilson, CYFD, Familia y Mundo, interns, NAC, Nonviolence Awareness Class, Residential Treatment Center, RTC, summer camp program, Taos Men’s Homeless Shelter, wilderness therapy

We’ve Moved! New Location—New Programs

June 7, 2018

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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Beatrice Miera, Familia y Mundo, Gabler Battle Back Program, Karen House, Linda Sanders, NVW/UNM Taos partnership, Ranchos Elementary School, simon Torrez, Therapeutic Summer Camp, veterans

A Year of Success!

January 18, 2018

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!

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: clinicians, couples counseling, Familia y Mundo, Gang Resistance is Powerful, GRIP, Juvenile Detention Facility, Karen House, NAC, Nonviolence Awareness Class, Questa Truancy and Mentoring, Residential Treatment Center, Sadie Quintanilla, simon Torrez, Storyteller Theater, Supervised Visitation, veterans

“I would have been dead on the street—”

September 14, 2017

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—”

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: Familia y Mundo, Gang Resistance is Powerful, GRIP, James Mondragon

Beginning Again—and Support is Here!

August 17, 2017

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!

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: Familia y Mundo

A Village Responds

July 6, 2017

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

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: Cid's, El Monte Sagrado, Familia y Mundo, Farm House Cafe, High Altitude Health and Fitness, Not Forgotten Outreadh, Super Save, Taos Valley Farms, Yermos y Montanos

Thank you!

April 9, 2017

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!

Filed Under: Mary's Columns - Taos News Tagged With: 24/7 Dads, Defendu Academy, Familia y Mundo, Fatherhood Classes, garage sale, Marcella Skogen, Nonviolence Awareness Classes, Restorative Parenting, Summer Youth Damp, Supervised Visitation, Taos Mesa Brewery

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Our Mission

Taos Behavioral Health provides comprehensive behavioral health services to individuals, families, and groups to support them in developing positive behaviors and making life-affirming choices.

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Our Mission

Taos Behavioral Health provides comprehensive behavioral health services to individuals, families, and groups to support them in developing positive behaviors and making life-affirming choices.

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