COMMUNITY
Making a Difference
Much of our work involves measuring the difference others make. Getting involved and making our own difference is also an important part of who we are as individuals and as an organization.
News
As today is World Cancer Day, we wanted to highlight the great work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 58 years ago today St Jude’s opened. This leading children’s hospital treats the toughest childhood cancers and pediatric diseases. When Danny Thomas founded the hospital in 1962, he envisioned a hospital that would treat children regardless of race, color, creed or their family's ability to pay. Since then, their groundbreaking research has helped better the survival rate for childhood cancer from 20% in 1962 to more than 80% today.
We thank St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for their amazing work and we are proud to support this organization.
Learn more at https://www.stjude.org/.
As the CCR team continues to participate in the Addiction Treatment Starts Here: Community Partnerships learning collaborative, we are using system design tools to think differently about our work. Systems thinking requires looking at interrelated factors to understand their combined effects. One tool we’ve found to be very helpful is the Iceberg Model, which helps to examine events presented and the root of such systematic issues, related to an iceberg because much of the structure is hidden out of sight.
Our team led a focus group last year using the Iceberg Model to determine events, patterns, structures, and mental models regarding Opioid Use Disorder. An example includes:
- Event: What is happening at the surface level.
- An individual is overwhelmed when re-entering the system of care.
- Pattern: Similar events that have been taking place over time.
- The individual does not know how to build healthy relationships or feels loneliness
- Structures: What is causing the pattern (physical things, organizations, policies, rituals).
- There is a lack of mental health resources, limited access to harm reduction services, and limited hours at treatment facilities.
- Mental models: Attitudes, beliefs, morals, expectations, and values that allow structures to continue functioning as they are.
- There is stigma within jail or Medication Assisted Treatment facilities and a lack of understanding.
In this way of systematic thinking, you can see how various factors often build on one another and the need to explore these levels to promote positive change. From our example, feelings of being overwhelmed may by due to not knowing how to reach out and/or from the fear of encountering stigma, therefore we can focus on creating understanding relationships in our program.
Try using this tool in your next project! For more information, visit https://thinkjarcollective.com/tools/iceberg-systems-mapping-tool-to-identify-leverage-points-for-change/.
The 2019 San Diego County Methamphetamine Strike Force Force Report Card is now available. The Report Card provides concrete data on the scale of the methamphetamine abuse throughout San Diego County by looking at multiple factors and data points.
Our CCR team is very proud of Joe Eberstein, Program Manager for the County Marijuana Prevention Initiative (MPI), for receiving the Excellence in Prevention Advocacy Award at the Drug Enforcement Administration Red Ribbon Luncheon. Thank you for your dedication and leadership to building healthy and safe communities throughout San Diego County.
The 2019 Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force Report Card is now available. The Report Card provides concrete data on the scale of the prescription drug abuse problem throughout San Diego County by looking at multiple factors and data points.
Click here to view the full report.
