SHARE your story of hope and resilience today! Individuals 18 and older are invited to SHARE their story about how they overcame a traumatic experience and reached a time in their life where they felt hopeful for the future. Resiliency comes in many ways. Tell us what your story. You may be featured on the ODMHSAS website! 

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) is committed to the needs of individuals seeking services including the provision of trauma specific services as appropriate. To that end, the agency has embraced the concept of trauma-informed treatment systems. What this means is that all staff will be trained to have an understanding and knowledge regarding the impact of trauma upon individuals, and the proper response to more effectively deliver treatment services and needed care. In doing so, we create a better treatment system that benefits all Oklahomans.

And we are now taking that journey another step forward.

We understand that culture change begins in each one of us before it ever reaches those that we serve. So if we want a culture that creates safety, instills hope, and builds resiliency in every person, then we have to have partners from every walk of life to do that.

The ODMHSAS has set forth to create an online community that will provide training and resources to professionals and members of the public. A portion of this community will contain real-life video interviews of individuals sharing their own personal story.

We need your assistance to locate individuals who would be willing to be interviewed on camera to share their own personal story or experience regarding trauma, hope, and resilience. This person may be someone in your family, a colleague at your workplace, or even yourself.

As you consider who may be willing to share their personal story, please keep in mind the following:

• • • Trauma comes in different shapes and forms, some examples include:
      - Being abused or neglected as a child
      - Having parents who separated or got divorced
      - Witnessing abuse of another family member
      - Living with someone who was a problem drinker or used street drugs
      - Living in a home where someone committed suicide
      - Witnessing the death of a loved one
      - Having a family member who was depressed or experienced a mental illness
      - Having a family member go to jail/prison

• • • This is a preliminary list of potential interviewees.
      - If you refer an interviewee, it in no way commits them to the process. After we receive the name and phone/email of a potential interviewee, an ODMHSAS staff member will call and have a
          conversation with him/her regarding the process and answers questions. ODMHSAS staff will travel to each interviewee; all interviews will be completed during the month of July.

• • • We’re looking for individuals who:
      - Can talk about their own experience
      - Or have witnessed the effects of trauma, hope, and resilience and can articulate this from an outside perspective

• • • Potential interviewees:
      - Must be at least 18 years of age
      - Need to be in a “safe spot” and comfortable briefly talking about his/her experience
      - Must speak English
           - Currently, we do not have the capacity to include interviews from non-English speakers. At ODMHSAS, we recognize that the value of cultural and linguistic competence and plan to include
                interviews  in other languages, such as Native languages and Spanish, in the future.
      - May have received services from ODMHSAS, however, disclosure is NOT required

Though hope and resilience is important for every person who has experienced trauma, we are specifically looking for personal stories from military families, foster/adoptive families, and families who have experienced a parent in incarceration.

Please send the name, phone number, and/or e-mail of a potential interviewee to danthanh.nguyen@odmhsas.org

Potential interviewees will be asked to review the SHARE letter of intent and complete the ODMHSAS media release.

Thank you for your assistance! This online SHARE community is set to go live on September 5, 2012!

For more information about SHARE, please contact Thanh Nguyen at danthanh.nguyen@odmhsas.org or call (405) 522-3908.

Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
1200 NE 13th Street
PO Box 53277
Oklahoma City, OK  73152-3277
405-522-3908    405-522-3851 TDD    405-522-3650 Fax
Toll-Free, 24 Hours  1-800-522-9054 
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last update: 7/30/2012