A New Year. A New Decade. The perfect time for Beginnings.

Back at my computer after a long holiday with family and.. well, mostly family, I am re-energized as I pore over the notes and bits of inspiration that came bursting out of our December retreat. Community Action Partnership provided a great space for us to come together, new faces and old, to re-examine why we do what we do and how we do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why do we do it? Well, we have a lot of exciting work to do in 2010. The 4Ps Plus (perinatal substance use screening) report provided by Public Health tells us that our work is not done. Women continue to drink alcohol and use during pregnancy in our county AND there is still a lot of misinformation out there about how much is safe to drink. The truth: No one knows. The science is not there to guide us to a ‘safe’ level of alcohol or other substance use for a developing fetus. So that is why we say, “No alcohol during pregnancy.” And we will continue to say that in as many creative ways as possible so that no more children have to suffer and no more mothers have to worry that they harmed their child simply because they didn’t know.

On that note, the retreat teased out a lot of really exciting ideas and directions for Beginnings and NineZeroSLO which we will add to and refine at our next Beginnings meeting in February. I hope this update finds you all well and rested and ready for a new decade. Please find a re-cap of the 2009 Retreat and a calendar (click to download) of 2010 meetings below. See you in February!

2010 Beginnings Meeting Calendar

Beginnings Collaboration & Planning Retreat 2009     

Highlights of the Retreat:

• Hearing from our partner agencies (Public Health, ALPHA, & Martha’s Place) about the work they are doing to prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in our community
• Building collaboration activity: What did you look like when you were in high school? How are teens today different?
• Work group plans for 2010: A lot of really great ideas came out of these break out groups, but they did not have enough time. We will continue more of this discussion at our February Beginnings meeting.

Download pdf’s of some of the presentations below. Not all are currently available, but check back soon!

 

Retreat Introduction: Purpose of retreat, Why do we collaborate?

Beginnings Mission & Vision

4Ps+ Update – Marilynn McDermott, County Public Health

Beginnings Curriculum Update – Julissa Dyer, Program Associate ALPHA (not yet available)

Martha’s Place Program Update – Nisha Abdul Cader, Anne Marshall & Dot Stauble Martha’s Place (not yet available)