Today, in Northfield, MN, I led our multicultural cooking club and taught everyone how to make a Costa Rican “casado” (the national plate consisting of rice, beans, salad, fried plantains, and a meat choice – today we had fish).  The group was small (lots of parents were chaperoning end-of-the-year school field trips), but it allowed those of us who were there to really spend some quality time together.

our small group enjoying casados

A year ago at this time, I was living in Costa Rica with my family -midway through the 5^th month of our six-month stay.   The experience was different for me than it was for my children and my husband.  The kids were in school everyday, interacting with other kids and making lots of friends.  My husband was working – and while he spent much of his time learning Spanish, he had natural opportunities to meet other scientists and academics.  I was a stay-at-home, immigrant mom.  It’s taken me nearly a year to really reflect on that experience and figure out just what it meant.

I think one of the major things it meant for me was that I felt somewhat isolated.  I didn’t really have a natural way to meet other people.  Yes, there were lots of parent meetings at the school (and I went – and while I speak Spanish I had no idea what was going on half the time), but they were not social gatherings.  I did meet a few people through the baseball team my husband played on, but I was craving a connection based on my own interests – not his.

The two women I met with whom I felt the strongest connection, were completely different from each other.  One was the mother of two classmates of my own kids.  She was also an immigrant (from Guatemala) and was missing her own home.  But we connected less about missing home and more about wanting to feel valued.  She had an important job back in Guatemala – helping disabled children succeed in education – and missed having that as a part of her identity. The other woman I connected with was a domestic worker – cook, maid, etc.  She spent many hours in our home cleaning for us, and then always took extra time to not only cook us a meal, but also teach me how to make it.  We laughed through all of my mistakes and learned from each other with each new experience.

I certainly can’t speak to the immigrant experience here in the US, nor can I really claim to have a solid understanding of what it’s like to be an immigrant in Costa Rica (I knew I was only there temporarily).  But I can speak to the experience of being somewhere new and feeling a little bit isolated.  And for me, those feelings of isolation dissipated just a little when I was sharing good food or in the company of someone who valued me for me – or both!

My hope is that our work through Growing Up Healthy does the same kind of thing for those in our community who might be feeling isolated. The cooking club is specifically designed to help people connect over good food. And while helping someone feel valued – giving someone the opportunity to share a bit of who they really are – doesn’t have to happen in any formal setting (it can be over a cup of coffee, while pushing kids on swings at the park, or sharing a seat on the public bus), sometimes having a venue for connecting over common interests can be really helpful.  Stay tuned for some opportunities to do just that over the summer.

In the mean time, I plan to enjoy the leftover black beans from today’s cooking club. Buen provecho!

If mental health is everyone, then why isn’t anyone talking about it??? In 2008, the WHO projected in its Global Burden of Disease that by 2030, depression and depressive disorders would be the leading cause worldwide of healthy years lost due to disability. In accordance, mental health problems already account for 35-45% of work absenteeism in many developed countries. On top of this, mental health problems reduce productivity while at work, interfere with student learning (leading to a less productive future workforce), and contribute significantly to the skyrocketing health care costs.

In short, we can’t afford to NOT talk about it.

Next Thursday, February 16th is the Second Annual ‘Mental Health is Everyone’ Summit put on by the Rice County Mental Health Collective. Come learn about the projects and initiatives of the RCMHC and find out how you can be an advocate for improved mental health of our entire community. This year we’re talking about:

• The Recovery Movement: getting Rice County on board and starting programs that foster true recovery and wellness to individuals suffering from mental health problems. These programs engage the consumer as an active participant and director in their recovery.
• PERMA: promoting mental well-being community-wide. This mental health promotion is rooted in the science of positive psychology that is empowering people with knowledge and tools to live fuller and more resilient lives.
• Social-Emotional learning: how is Rice County supporting the whole child? We all know that you can’t learn if your basic needs–both physically and emotionally–are met. How can we ensure that we, as a community, are truly supporting our students’ academic and life success?

The Summit will be held in Room 236 at the Carleton College Weitz Center for Creativity located at 320 Third Street East, Northfield, MN.

Mental Health Is Everyone Summit Invitation

Looking for a new salsa recipe? Ever wish you knew how to make tamales? Want to make simple and delicious pizza crust from scratch while you brush up on your Spanish vocabulary?

Stop by the LINK Center (or e-mail janet@growinguphealthy.org) to pick up your copy of A Bilingual and Multicultural Cookbook. Cookbooks cost $7 and all proceeds will benefit Growing Up Healthy’s Multicultural Cooking Club!

• The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program tracked the medical expenses of 119 chronically homeless people for several years. In one five-year period, the group accounted for 18,834 emergency room visits estimated to cost $12.7 million.”

• Four out of five physicians agreed that unmet social needs led directly to worse health.”

These are just a couple of the pieces of evidence that Elizabeth H. Bradley, professor of public health at Yale University, cited in her recent article published in the New York Times (click here for the full article). The United States spends the most on health care among industrialized countries but ranks much lower among these same countries when measuring health status indicators like life expectancy and infant mortality. What accounts for this discrepancy? Much lower spending on social services relative to health care. Published Dec. 8, 2011, Bradley compares the United States’ spending regime to those of other industrialized countries and asserts that in order to solve our health care crisis and improve the health of all Americans, the United States must reconsider its view of government spending and allocation toward social supports. Read the full article here.

Rice County Public Health will hold Face-to-Face hours at the LINK Center every Tuesday from 2:30-5:30pm, beginning next Tuesday, December 13th. Call the LINK Center to make an appointment (507) 664-3500.

Did you know that intentionally identifying the things in your life for which you are grateful can actually improve your health? Read more in our latest newsletter about how gratitude and other positive aspects of culture actually benefit your health.

Ever hear the song about the magic penny?  The one that says if you give it away you’ll have more, but if you hold it tight you won’t have any?  Well, I can’t verify that giving away money will bring more, but by citing someone else’s work I can verify that giving it away will make you happy.  Elizabeth Dunn and her colleagues (Aknin & Norton) have done research on money and happiness for years.  In a study that I read recently, they were able to show that how people choose to spend their money is at least as important as how much money they make.  AND (and here’s the kicker), spending money on someone else – a friend, a charity, etc. – promotes happiness more than spending money on oneself.

Here’s the link to the article so you can read it yourself:

“Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness”

How lucky that I came across this article just in time for the Give MN Give to the Max day!  That’s right – this is a poorly veiled attempt to encourage you all to make yourselves happy by giving to Growing Up Healthy through the Give to the Max day.  Just click and give on Wednesday, November 16^th.

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Growinguphealthy

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN Foundation has featured our work in their latest statewide newsletter.  Check out the following link to read the article and then click around to see what other great projects the Foundation is supporting around the state.

Perspectives

Here is a video that pairs with our latest newsletter issue – all about Campus-Community Partnerships.

Click here to view the September 2011 newsletter kicking off the school year and discussing the relationship between education and health. Did you know that an extra 4 years of education can decrease the risk of both heart disease and diabetes? Read the newsletter to learn more interesting stuff!!