June 19, 2019
Cascadia Awarded Spirit Mountain Community Fund Grant for New Garlington Health Center Wellness Program
PORTLAND, OR — Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare has received a $29,721 grant from Spirit Mountain Community Fund (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) to launch a new wellness program at the Garlington Health Center in Northeast Portland. The program will be free and open to all community members.
“We’re deeply grateful to the Spirit Mountain Community Fund for this award. Their generosity helps us further our vision of building a community where everyone benefits from whole health care, experiences well-being, and has a self-directed, connected life,” said Dr. Derald Walker, Cascadia’s President and CEO.
In combination with a special appropriation from the city of Portland, the Spirit Mountain Community Fund award will support the addition of a nutritionist and a peer wellness specialist to Cascadia’s Wellness effort.
Range of wellness topics covered
The new program will center around eight dimensions of wellness: physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, financial, occupational, emotional, and environmental. Cascadia will offer group classes, including evidence-based programming tailored for individuals with serious mental health challenges:
- Weekly cooking classes focused on healthy, culturally relevant recipes, specialized diets for diabetes or hypertension, and how to prepare meals with an emergency food box.
- Chronic disease self-management for adults with ongoing health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, arthritis, anxiety, depression, heart disease and high blood pressure.
- Dimensions tobacco free program that promotes positive health behavior and gives motivational strategies.
- Fitness, through weekly walking groups, yoga and other activities.
Groups underway
The full schedule for Cascadia’s wellness program will be announced in the coming weeks. Two groups have recently kicked off:
- Walking Group meets Thursdays at the Garlington Health Center, 3036 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd., and walks from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- First Friday Game Night, a family-friendly evening of games and activities, takes place monthly from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Garlington Health Center Education Room.
For more information visit www.cascadiabhc.org/wellness, or watch the agency’s Facebook page for event updates. The program will regularly add events, groups, and activities.