Chelsea Porter

Picture in your mind a five year old girl falling off her bike, crashing to the ground, and catching herself on the pavement with what are now bleeding hands and skinned knees. If her mother comes quickly to her side, provides reassurance with a caring and concerned tone, and cleans and bandages her injury, she is more easily able to calm down, trust that she is okay, and know that when she needs help her mother will be there.

However, if her mother was nowhere to be seen when this happened and then blamed and criticized her for being clumsy, now the greater feeling of pain comes not from her scrapes and bruises, but from feeling alone and uncared for. This is also often the case with trauma; the pain of the initial injury is compounded by feeling alone, and not understood. Connie Lawrence, certified psychodrama practitioner, trainer, and founder of the Cleveland Psychodrama Institute has stated, “When we suffer a trauma, we really have two wounds. The first is the trauma itself-the second is the feeling that no one understands. For many of us the second is much more painful.” Continue Reading

Catalyst Life Services’ partnership with the Mansfield News Journal for the 41st year of the All-Star Classic Basketball game did not disappoint!

The South narrowly beat the North 143-140 in overtime; the third time the game has ever ran into overtime in its long history.

In retrospect, perhaps, it was South Coach, Taylor Iceman’s, fortuitous win of the draft coin toss that gave him the  leading edge. He snagged Mansfield Senoir’s Quan Hillory and Ashland’s Garrett Denbow both of whom put up a jaw-dropping number of points– Hillory 43 and Denbow with 36. Hillory walked away as the evening’s MVP and between them they broke the record of most points by two players on the same team.

It was a fast paced, back-and-forth night; with only 13:32 left in the game, the South trailed the North 81-59. The deciding moment came when Klejhan Randleman made a 3-pointer to eek out a 141-140 South lead. After Hillory sank a few more free throws, the deal was sealed and Iceman’s team walked away with the win.

Win or lose, there was no denying that both teams were stacked with talent. These were the best of the best from all around North Central Ohio and it showed! It was a wonderful display of sportsmanship and philanthropy on the part of the players.

Each year, a few kids who receive services from Catalyst are selected as the recipients of gifts from the represented schools. Each one beamed as  the players personally presented them with a gift; their goodie bags swelling with generosity.

This much-loved event always drives the point home that when we support a good cause: everybody wins!

What does it take to pull off an all day Telethon full of live entertainment, rows of vendors, prizes,boisterous hosts and public guests? How do you encourage scores of people to donate their energy, talent, food and sponsorship to the tune of two million dollars over the course of 28 years? First, you have a remarkable community full of passionate individuals willing to put others’ needs ahead of their own. Then, you build a non-profit agency capable of affecting thousands of people’s lives through an array of mental health and well-being programs too broad to even list.

In short, you’re an organization like Catalyst.

In the beginning, the Telethon was known as “The Rehab Telethon.” First started by WMFD in 1992, its proceeds funded the operation of The Rehab Center which specialized in the rehabilitation of people with physical disabilities. Catalyst itself, is the 2010 merger of two previously well-known entities that served the community for over 65 years: The Center for Individual and Family Services and the aforementioned Rehab Center. It’s comprised of four major departments: Audiology and Deaf Services, Vocational Services, Mental Health and Crisis Services, and Addiction Services.

The Rehab Center is now the hub for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Services, Audiology and the Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the Vocational wing—which includes Progress Industries and Precise Services. Just up the street, is “The Center,” an expansive building housing Adult Mental Health and Crisis Services, The District V Forensic Diagnostic Center, residential programming, a stabilization unit, and outpatient drug and alcohol resources. It’s a complex of buildings wrapping their way along Sterkel Ave. that also includes New Beginnings Residential Treatment Center and will soon include the only Drug Withdrawal Management facility in all of Richland County.

But, what, exactly, is Catalyst?

Continue Reading

The holiday season is a wonderful time of family gatherings, parties, and programs. However, this time can be frustrating and even lonely for individuals with a hearing loss. Here are a few tips to help make the loveliest time of year inclusive for all.

• Get someone’s attention before trying to talk to them
• Make sure to be clear about the topic of the conversation before talking about the topic
• Maintain eye contact throughout the conversation
• Make sure to face the individual the entire conversation, don’t turn your face away when talking
• Be sure to not cover your mouth with your hands, coffee mug, etc.
• Avoid over exaggerating your mouth when you speak – this will make it more challenging to understand what you are saying
• Speak naturally – there is no need to yell because that just changes your mouth movements and therefore makes it harder to understand
• If the individual doesn’t understand what you said: don’t become frustrated or angry, don’t just brush it off by saying something like “never mind”, and don’t isolate the individual from future conversations. Instead, rephrase what you said to allow for another chance for understanding.
• Be sure to converse away from background noise
• Be sure to converse in an area with good lighting so your face can be seen

Tanya Haga is the Director of Deaf Services and has worked at Catalyst Life Services since 2014 in this role. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in American Sign Language Interpreting, a Master’s of Education and Master’s in Business Administration. She is also nationally certified by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Tanya’s responsibilities include management and oversight of interpreting, captioning, case management for clients with a hearing loss, sign language classes, summer youth program, and contract and grant projects.