The Chas Foundation

“Margaret corprew beau kirwood president exec. Direct parent/child”

“The return is provided to the officers to review prior to filing.”

“Any officer or director that notes a conflict of interest is required to abstain from voting on any matter related to the conflict of interest.”

“Copies of the governing documents are available upon request to the organization.”

“The chas foundation's mission is to increase access to effective treatment of those with struggling with mental illness and their families; to strive for public acceptance of those struggling with a mental illness; to save the lives of those struggling with a mental illness by working with private and public professionals; to provide support, through education, for family members that are struggling with a loved one's mental illness.”

“Mental illness navigator & support (mins) program in 2020, the chas foundation continued helping individuals and their families struggling with mental illness by supporting and connecting them to the most effective resources possible that will help improve their overall mental health. The program navigates the complex system and connects individuals to local mental health services while providing a continuum of care through referrals (treatment providers, housing, police, court, jails). When services and resources are inadequate, or the individual and/or family has exhausted all their options, the chas foundation continues to provide peer support as well as peer family support in order to help the family as an entire unit. Additional support is given by meeting with individuals and families at their choice of location, providing transportation to reach service providers and making doctors' appointments. The mental health system can be a maze for individuals. Families do not know where to start or how to navigate the system. An online mental health resource guide showing resources and services in every hampton roads city is continually updated for community use. Two p/t program coordinators were hired. Our newly hired social worker came up with the term "peer support plus" to help describe the services mins provides and explain that the program is more than just care coordination and case management. There is no other free local mental health resource that a person can call and talk with a peer-specialist that's compassionate, caring, supportive, and informative to access mental health care. Case managers and treatment providers have a set amount of time a client can speak with them usually ranging from 20 to 60 minutes. The frequency of the appointments tends to be every 1 or 2 weeks, if not longer. The mins peer support counselor can be on the phone with clients for up to 2 or 3 hours per day. Mins staff work with some clients daily or multiple times per week. The mins program also receives calls from people asking for information about services and resources. This includes info like phone numbers or addresses. These callers are not considered clients of the mins program because we do not obtain demographics on them or attempt a follow-up. Mindfulness program chas continues holding trainings and workshops for mindfulness. In 2020, the program expanded to include trainings with local hampton roads high school students. Mindfulness is now recommended as an alternative or supplemental treatment for individuals who experience mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. The initial stage of the mindfulness program included transforming the aesthetics of the room by removing old carpet and laying down wood panel flooring to give it a "yoga or dance studio feel". Families and caretakers of those struggling with a mental illness come to utilize the mindfulness or "wellness" room. Mindfulness helps these individuals to develop coping skills and useful techniques that can improve their mental health and overall well-being. Education/training the chas foundation has been instrumental in the development of the crisis intervention team in norfolk, va. Crisis intervention teams (cit) are programs that bring together local stakeholders, including law enforcement, emergency dispatchers, mental health providers, consumers of mental health services, and family advocates in order to improve multi-systems' response to persons experiencing behavioral health crisis who come into contact with law enforcement or other first responders. The executive director of the chas foundation has been an instructor for the norfolk police department's crisis intervention team for 7 years and has trained over 1000 officers. In addition, the chas foundation attends mental health fairs throughout hampton roads educating the public on our programs and services along with promoting discussions on mental health issues facing our communiti”