Here is the update from the Nov. 22nd Brainstorming Session at Kean University!

1. Sorry it took so long for the update on the Nov 22nd Brainstorming Session that was held at Kean. We’ve been busy organizing an event that was an idea that came from the event. Kamila Zimnoch, Randy Zimnoch and Be the Change came up with Project: Help the Homeless! We will be holding this event on Dec. 19th. We need your help way before Dec. 19th to collect items to give out to the homeless so please visit the Events Section for the Group page for more information after reading below. We had a great event on Nov 22nd and it was the beginning of more than we even expected. Everyone was so involved and had so many GREAT IDEAS to build awareness, de-stigmatize, and change the mental health system! We’re all so excited for what is to come. Below you will see that we’ve come up with a Team format to keep track of what’s going on and we even came up with a name.Our group will be called Strength to Dream “Bringing back Mental Health”. We’ve formed “Teams” to organize the efforts of the group. Each team will have a “Team Captain” that will keep track of that Team’s goals and efforts. Below you will see the Team Names, Team Captain, Team Members, Team Description, and Team Ideas from the Nov 22nd Brainstorming Session. Just because you’re in one team doesn’t mean you can’t be on another team or help another team out. We’re all part of this joint effort and this is simply a way to stay organized and make sure everyone is heard. If you think of another “Team” please email us. If you’d like to see the Powerpoint that was displayed please go to: http://www.joshyboy.com/strength-to-dream Our Teams: If you’d like to be on any of the following 4 teams please email Cmcolandrea@gmail.com Team Research (Team Captain- Caitlin Colandrea) Team Members: Caitlin Colandrea, Viviane Castro-Rodrigues Team Description: This team will be focusing on researching and making available the following: Statistics, Resources, How other non-profits became successful, Marketing, Programs, Etc. Team ideas: -Speak to people in the mental health system and ask which the best treatment programs are. – Speak to successful non-profits and research what kind of steps they’ve taken. – Become affiliates with NAMI and APA in order to have access to more resources Team Story Sharing (Team Captain-Jill Hall) Team Members: Jill Hall, Melissa Nazario, Dan Fernandez, Kristina DeJesus, Mariann Abbaticola, Carol Wisneiski, Carol Cicurillo Team Description: This team will be sharing stories with each other and implementing ways to share these to the public on a larger scale, the goal is to spread awareness of how many people and their families are affected by mental health issues. We will also be sharing success stories to show the public that people affected by mental health issues can function just like anyone else and lead successful lives. This will help us de-stigmatize, and give hope to other’s suffering. Team ideas: -Make videos of stories to easily spread the word -Reach out to people to share their stories on social media sites and other organizations Team Volunteer (Team Captain- Dr. Norma Bowe) Team Members: Dr. Norma Bowe, Kamila Zimnoch, Monica Eusebio, Silvia Barroquin, Tanbir Ahmed, Jhoselyn Marin, William Said, Elizabeth Sadi Team Description: This team will rally up our group members and other volunteers from other organizations, groups, colleges, etc. and come up with events that will help spread the word and the group’s mission. This group will also get people to volunteer their services such as, printing, storage facilities, web design, etc. Team ideas: -Project: Help the Homeless -Spread the word by having different community events Team Education (Team Captain- Tara Colandrea) Team Members: Tara Colandrea, Kim Bargiel, Jenna Helmstetter, Carol Dubon Team Description: The focus of this team is to educate the public about mental illnesses through different avenues such as the public school system, colleges, police academies, videos, blogs, etc. They will be creating programs and presenting them with the effort to make them an educational requirement in different professions. For ex: Teachers, Nurses, Law Enforcement, Etc. Team ideas: -More training for teachers and anyone that works with children -Training for Police, Firefighters, EMT, and first responders -Training in Police Academies (continuing ed) -Speak to parent of children in the school systems If you’d like to be on any of the following 3 teams please email JonSteingraber@gmail.com Team Awareness (Team Captain- Lorena Diaz) Team Members: Lorena Diaz, Katherin Diaz, Callum Higgins, Shaina Said, Maximilliano Martinez Team Description: This team’s focus will be to come up with “out of the box” ways of building awareness about mental health by interviewing the public, professionals, finding speaking opportunities, creating videos, scheduling events, etc. Team ideas: -Make videos that are culturally targeted -Police Academy Training -Mental Health Walk -Create a social network for Mental Health Team Fundraiser (Team Captain- Randy Zimnoch) Team Members: Randy Zimnoch, Michael Bunero, Doris Fernandez Team Description: This team’s focus will be to create grant proposals, organize fundraising events such as dinners, golf outings, comedy nights, concerts, etc. Team ideas: -5k Run/Walk -Golf Outing, Beef & Beer, Happy Hour, Jello Wrestling, Silent Auction, Concert, Comedy Night, Polar Bear Plunge, Contact Celebrities, -Website with Paypal for donations Team Public Relations (Team Captain- Jonathan Steingraber) Team Members: Jonathan Steingraber, Radames Rivera, Christopher Steingraber Team Description: This team’s focus will be to make strategic partnerships with different organizations with the idea of achieving mass collaboration, submitting press releases, alerting the media of events, meeting politicians, school administrators, submitting articles to newspapers (online & offline), etc. Team ideas: -Contact organization that have a similar mission to us and create partnerships with them for events, building awareness, raising funds, etc. -Network with people to reach highly influential individuals by attending events, vendoring, etc. -Speaking at schools, hospitals, local and county affair meetings, etc. -Create and submit press releases, articles, and alert the media of upcoming events, the groups mission, and share stories. Team Social Media (Team Captain- Meghan Jacobi) Team Members: Meghan Jacobi, Steven Dering Team Description: This team’s focus will be to spread the word about the group by utilizing Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, and creating affiliates to help reach a larger audience. Team ideas: -Create a Twitter and LinkedIn account -Follow people on Twitter in the mental health field so they can follow us -Post events on all the social networking sites -Create social networking site for our group Thanks for reading and stay tuned. Please email us with comments, ideas, and concerns. We’d love to hear from you and remember SHARE THIS GROUP WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!