Welcoming Kerstin to Vincent House

Vincent House recently hired a new staff member in the Arts and Communications team, Kerstin Cook. Kerstin brings a unique skillset and kindhearted personality to the Vincent House team. Get to know a little more about our newest community member below in this featured interview.

Kerstin Cook

Kerstin first came across Vincent House when she was looking for a career which either focused on art and marketing, or one in a non-profit organization that helped people for a worthy cause. “Ideally, I wanted a job that served both purposes, but that seemed like a far reaching goal. That was until I came across Vincent House, and the Arts Rehabilitation Specialist position listed just that,” she exclaimed. Upon her first visit to Vincent House, meeting our wonderful members and seeing the unique Recovery through Work approach, Kerstin felt an immediate connection to the community. “I feel lucky and happy to have been offered the position, and now look forward to coming to work alongside members every day.”

Everyone in the Vincent House community brings a unique perspective and skillset to the team, and Kerstin is no exception. She began her career in digital marketing and graphic design as a Social Media Content Producer for Stetson University Marketing. There she developed skills in brand voice, journalism, and photography. After graduation, she started working at Riviera Dunes Marina as an Office Assistant, where she learned valuable customer service and sales skills. “I’m grateful for what I have learned and accomplished in my career so far. However, I knew I would be happiest in a position where I could really help people that needed it. I believe my diverse set of strengths and collaboration with members will help our community grow in new ways,” Kerstin stated.

Kerstin with members in the Arts & Communications team

We are excited to welcome Kerstin to the community and see how she will benefit our members in our Recovery through Work approach. Every member and staff works together to build up Vincent House, and strive for the best. “I can personally see value in the Recovery through Work platform,” Kerstin stated. “When I was without work for a few months after my graduation, I felt unmotivated and weary about searching for a job. Now, I take great pride in my career and helping members to achieve their own career goals.” To accomplish this, Kerstin brings some creative ideas to the team. From her background with social media and design, she believes we can further develop Vincent House’s social presence, in order to spread the word and help even more potential members in the area. “Ultimately, I believe that we can grow stronger together, creatively and in new ways that members want to go.”

Finally, we all like to know what our Vincent House staff enjoy doing outside of work. As an artist, Kerstin loves to practice her artwork, both traditional and digital. She frequents museums and gardens to get inspired, and she hopes to have her own gallery show open within the next two years. Additionally, Kerstin likes to write creatively, and even founded the poetry slam club in her high school. “I have a lot of diverse interests, from art to television, and I even have the aspiration to write my own rap album someday!” Kerstin exclaims. “I think Vincent House would be a great place to collaborate with members to make our own unique projects.” So once again, please help us in welcoming Kerstin to our Vincent House community.

Vincent House Welcomes our New CEO

What a remarkable woman of empathy and experience! Our newest addition here at Van Gogh's Palette -Raine Johns hired and our CEO- is indeed inspirational and carries herself well. I believe she will represent us with great expertise. First and foremost she brings fortitude to the table. She has, “been there and done that” one might say, in the mental illness field. Not only does she have a personal side to her journey, in that her daughter has been with PTSD from the mere age of 6. She currently holding down a job and attending college in San Diego. Raine learned throughout the experience how to be a friend to her daughter and to the people living with mental illness.

Ms. Johns comes to us from the Pinellas/Pasco Public Defender’s office with a 13 year career in an advocacy role for people living with mental illness.  Additionally, she has witnessed countless Baker Acts implemented, many unjustly. She worked diligently to see the release of such individuals without a voice, or means of defense in an, often times, debilitating system of unfairness. She knows the ropes, she is well connected, and is extremely committed to maintaining the fidelity of Vincent House and the foundation laid by Dianne and Elliott Steele. I, for one, say a great big thank you not only to her, but to the Board of Directors for their selection.   

I know Ms. Johns has her work cut out for her with our three current locations. However, being from Pasco County I stand very excited that she also has a vision for a Vincent House model in Pasco County, as well. We know she is the perfect woman to help us transform more lives of those who have mental illness.

New Crops in our Garden for Fall/Winter Season

Vincent House members were recently asked to fill out a survey to determine what what we should plant in our garden. The survey asked which leafy greens and legumes do members prefer to see planted. Well, the results are in and these are the seeds that we will be growing in our garden for the upcoming season:

Leafy Greens

• spinach

• kale

• romaine lettuce

• cabbage 

Legumes

• snow peas

• pole beans

We hope to plant a lot of these seeds before November. Members and staff are also hard at work transitioning the garden to prepare for the Fall/Winter season. We will be pulling out some out-of-season plants, putting in compost soil, and planting more basils. We can’t wait to see how beautifully these crops grow and flourish here at Vincent House!

Vincent House wins Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest

The Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest was an exciting way for Vincent House to participate in the greater community and display the talents of our Culinary Arts Team. Events such as these are a great way for the community to learn about Vincent House and its mission of Recovery through Work. Our Culinary Arts Team submitted a healthy, gluten-free Black Bean S’mores Cupcake, and it won first place in the specialty category. Congratulations Vincent House!

New Truck for our Wellness Initiative

Vincent House was the recipient of a Humana Foundation grant to implement their wellness empowerment initiative. The funds received allowed us to purchase a new Dodge Silverado which will help expand our garden.  The fresh vegetables from our garden are being used in our own prepared meals. Additionally the grant will allow us to purchase more tools so we can produce more to share with the community.

The goal of this Wellness Initiative is to address health needs within the context of our vocational services.  This project will ensure that members have the opportunity to improve their health, quality of life, and longevity.  In addition to the items as described above, funds will help educate in nutrition, mind and body connection, and with wellness consultations.

 Overall, this new initiative has allowed members to work outdoors, learn new skills,   and take control of their own wellness.  We are grateful for this grant and words cannot express the enthusiasm we feel to make this Wellness Initiative an integral part of our recovery.

Starting to Recycle at Vincent House

Starting to Recycle at Vincent House

We are starting a new process at Vincent House that has never been done before: Recycling. Vincent House is part of a larger community. Recycling shows we care about that community. When we recycle, it prepares us for other settings, where recycling is already an integrated practice. This will help us in our work environments and transitional employment assignments which already recycle. Here are some things we will recycle in our bins:

 Recyclables

}  Paper

}  Cardboard

}  Steel and tin cans

}  Aluminum cans

}  Plastic containers

}  Milk and juice cartons

}  Glass bottles and jars

Non-recyclables

}  Plastic bags

}  Styrofoam

}  Lids – mainly plastic bottles’ 

}  Pizza boxes

}  Phones, fax machines, computers

Recycling will add jobs for our teams. We will have to empty the bins into the dumpster daily and also clean the bins with sanitizer and a rag. Recycling is an important way to show we take care of our environment. Let’s get ready to recycle here at Vincent House!

In an interview with Elliott Steele, Vincent House co-founder, Hannah Bouchey, a Vincent House member, discovered some history of the new Vincent Academy in Hernando County. Four years ago, Senator Wilton Simpson and other prominent figures in the community came to visit Vincent House. In Hernando County, there is a ratio of 1600:1 health care providers to people, as opposed to 800:1 ratio in Pinellas County. This need for providers was the reason for the extension of Vincent Academy to Hernando County. David Lambert (president of NAMI for Hernando County) and Senator Bill Nelson’s aid also came to see Vincent House and saw the need for a Vincent Academy in Hernando as well.  Senator Wilton Simpson was able to obtain a million dollars for the new building in Hernando, but 2.5 million more is needed for the construction which is due to begin in January 2018. Meanwhile a 2800 square foot building space is being rented across the street from the site. The Recovery through Work Program opened its doors on June, 5^th 2017.

The process of opening Hernando’s rental space has been just like the beginning of Vincent House in Pinellas Park fourteen years ago. The members have helped clean the space, set up tables, chairs, and computers.

Elliott’s vision for the future of Hernando’s Vincent Academy is to have the new building complete and to extend out to reach people from Pasco, Sumter and Citrus counties as well.

Dianne Steele, co-founder of Vincent House, and Justin, Vincent Academy of the Adventure Coast member work side by side.

Our New Green Screen

Vincent House puts together a weekly news that is shown every Friday. We have incorporated a green screen to show better quality work, as well as lean new skill on Adobe Premiere. The green screen has impacted Vincent House tremendously. The Arts and Communications team now utilizes the green screen in our own show.  The green screen lets us insert any background we want. We just film the people in front of the green screen and then replace the back with any image we like. Editing with Adobe Premiere is a big factor. We can edit to make sure the video clips are up to par. The last video we did was a fitness video. Our video editor made it look like the actors were at the gym. The green screen allows us to use maps for the weather forecast and show locations previously not available, such as the new Vincent Academies in Sarasota and Hernando, in our newscasts. It's a great opportunity for our members to learn about current video techniques, as well.

Wellness Empowerment Project Begins

Members: Randy, Alex and Mike in Vincent House's own garden.

People living with severe mental illness face significant obstacles to wellness and recovery. Florida consistently ranks among the lowest in per capita mental health funding (National Alliance for Mental Illness, 2016), so individuals living with untreated mental illnesses often become perpetual patients, repeat offenders, and chronically unemployed. The life expectancy for this population is 10-25 years less than the general population, making it all the more important that something be done to try to improve these odds.
Vincent House, under the blanket of a $130,000 grant from The Humana Foundation, will be partnering with Baycare nurses and USF faculty to start a Wellness Empowerment Project. This project will fund local sustainable food options that may include a hydroponics garden, an aquaponics tilapia farm, and conventional gardening. Members will be able to plant, cultivate and harvest as part of their daily activities. The food grown as part of our sustainable food effort will also be used for hands-on nutrition classes and cooking lessons in our state-of-the-art commercial kitchen. With the help of a nutritionist, we will offer workshops, create nutritious breakfasts and lunches, offer medically-tailored to-go meals for people with special diets to eat in the evenings and on weekends, and completely overhaul our snack shop to provide health-conscious options. We are also employing practitioners in yoga and meditation to help relieve stress, reduce anxiety and help with other symptoms experienced by our members. In collaboration with BayCare Health Systems, we will offer confidential wellness consultations helping with smoking cessation; monitoring for many at-risk conditions, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure; and checking Body Mass Index levels. This will help members who need support with their illnesses or want to curb their bad habits.
Vincent House thanks both The Humana Foundation and BayCare for their support in making all of this happen. Without them, a lot of these improvements would become unreachable.

What is Vincent House?

Many of you might be wondering who we are and why we are writing a blog. Vincent House is a nonprofit organization that helps people with severe mental illness get back into the workforce through social and employment training. This blog will show some of the things we do here. It's important to get the word out to as many people as possible. We need to erase the stigma of mental illness by showing everyone that Recovery through Work is possible.

Elliott and Dianne Steele created Vincent House because they didn't see many programs that provided appropriate treatment for people with mental illness. Vincent House is not a drop-in center. Vincent House does not administer medications or provide therapy to its members. Those things are best left to the members' psychiatrists. Instead, Vincent House creates an atmosphere in which people with mental illness can perform duties and tasks that mimic what is done in a traditional workplace. We have three areas of specialization at Vincent House, and we also offer temporary employment as well as supported employment opportunities through our Career and Learning Center. Vincent House members are given the tools to lead productive lives and follow a path to independence. Be ready for updates soon!