Marathon Residential and Counseling Services, Inc. Monthly Newsletter December, 2015 Volume 15; Issue 12. Social Skills Group Hygiene

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1 Marathon Residential and Counseling Services, Inc. Monthly Newsletter December, 2015 Volume 15; Issue 12 Social Skills Group Hygiene For November s social skills group, Therapist Justin led a discussion on hygiene and how to stay healthy this winter. We started off the group with an activity where we traded papers with blue sticky notes on them. Everyone traded 3 times, each time spreading the sticky notes to one another. At first the group was very confused about why we were doing this, but everyone understood what was going on when Therapist Justin asked the group: How is this activity like spreading germs? We learned that germs spread very quickly. Therapist Justin pointed out that only one person started with sticky notes, and after trading papers only 3 times, 8 people ended up with the sticky notes! We talked about how germs are everywhere, and if we touch any of them they will stick to us, just like a sticky note would. The group recognized that while germs are like sticky notes in some ways, there was one very important difference: germs are much smaller than sticky notes. Germs are so small that they are impossible to see without help from a microscope! Since we can t see germs, we learned how important it is to protect ourselves from getting sick and prevent ourselves from spreading germs to others. We learned the phrases Cover your Cough and If you touch it, take it. We also learned how washing our hands and using hand sanitizer is one of the best things we can do to keep ourselves healthy, especially when we are in public places where a lot of other people are touching the same things we are touching (like doorknobs, handrails, counter tops, or toilet flush handles). Additionally, we learned that sharing food, drinks, and lip moisturizers puts us at high risk of spreading germs. On top of all that, we learned that getting vaccines and staying home when we are sick are two of the best ways to prevent spreading sickness to other people.

2 Aside from staying healthy, we learned that keeping ourselves clean has other social benefits. The group discussed how keeping ourselves looking clean and smelling good allows others to get a good impression of us, while looking dirty or greasy and smelling like body odor is like holding a sign that says Stay away from me! We talked about how it hurts to have other people say we smell bad, but how it helps to remember that if staff says this they are not saying it to hurt us, they are saying it to help us! Staff wants us to look and smell nice so when we go out in the community we have an easier time making friends. Next month s group will be on thankfulness and gratitude. Join us to learn some new skills to improve your life and to hopefully win an awesome door prize! Seventh Street December News Update Lights, camera, action! This month Terra invited Val and staff to go to the movie Goosebumps with her. Awesomely frightful and terribly funny, this movie was given two thumbs up by our very own film critics! Next on the list to watch will be the new Star Wars movie! Grab your popcorn it s going to get real good! Terra also enjoyed some movie time with Diane. They rented the movie Vacation and watched it with a nice big bowl of popcorn. Both ladies could be heard next door laughing away. Must have been a great flick! Brittney heroically saved a stray dog. The dog was a stray and she took the dog in and called the authorities. The authorities asked her to hold on to the dog until they could get there. While she was waiting she made a leash, gave the dog some water, and played with her. After the authorities picked up the dog, Brittney decided to do an awesome thing and go to the library and make flyers for the missing dog. Packer games are a big thing around here whether the Packers are winning or losing, though we always prefer when they are WINNING!!! On Mondays, Crystal and occasionally Mike or Shawn enjoy going to Pack Attack at Dale s Weston Lanes. Thanksgiving is a celebrated time at 7 th Street Suites and a time for everyone to enjoy baking pies lots of pies. We typically have our pie bake off, however, this year, we just baked pies to our heart s delight. Brittney made pies to take with her to a church family s Thanksgiving dinner she attended. Crystal made pie for her mom s house earlier in the week and also for her boyfriend and his family on Thanksgiving. Another client prepared pies to take to Reynolds Place for the gathering there. Mike S and Matt prepared an entire Thanksgiving dinner for themselves to celebrate the holiday before having to go in to work and there were also some who went to spend time with friends and family for the holiday.

3 There were a few work highlights to report. Mike S and Matt worked their first Thanksgiving/ early Black Friday event instead of shopping it. Both men came home pretty tired on that Thursday night. Mike P continues to work at his current job, however, has put in an application at a local grocery store. Keep working hard guys! Val, Jeff, Lee, Justin, Heather, Rachel, Terra, Todd, and Aaron got together for bowling with Emily as a sendoff for her moving on to other things. There were snacks and drinks for everyone to share while everyone reminisced about their favorite memories with her. Special Olympics News Crystal, Jeff, Justin and Sean attended a bowling tournament in Medford. Crystal placed 1 st, Justin placed 4 th and Sean placed 2 nd! Congrats everyone. Sean, Justin, Crystal and Mike P started weekly basketball practices. Justin also volunteers at practices a couple times a week to help out. Sean s also gearing up for cross country ski season. Prospect Place November Newsletter Prospect Place remained active throughout the month with several activities. Every week Rachel, Justin, Lee, and Heather make their way to Cedar Creek Lodge to relax on the lazy river, get warm in the hot tub, and enjoy sliding down the water slides. They are like fish out of water around here and look forward to going each week on their discount night. On one occasion Heather was able to make her way to Cedar Creek Cinemas for the $5 movie night. She said she really enjoyed The Peanuts Movie. Another favorite activity has been karaoke. Every week Rachel, Heather, Justin, Lee, and occasionally Crystal from 7 th Street Suites have gone to some of the local establishments for karaoke night to sing one to two songs. Most recently, Lee sang the songs Its 5 O clock Somewhere by Jimmy Buffet and Dynamite by Taio Cruz. Heather sang Let it Go from the movie Frozen and Jumpin Jumpin by Destiny s Child. Rachel sang Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode and Come as You Are by Nirvana. Crystal sang Sugarland. Justin enjoyed singing a variety of Johnny Cash songs throughout the month.

4 Lee celebrated his birthday. Prospect Place staff prepared him a homemade vanilla cake with homemade cream cheese and chocolate frosting. Lee and his housemates went out for a nice game of bowling together. Even though Special Olympics bowling practices and tournaments came to an end, Justin, Lee, and Heather continued to want to go bowling each week. Rachel often went along and cheered them on. A few other favorite activities at Prospect Place are going to the library, shopping, listening to music, watching movies, and playing cards. Everyone likes taking advantage of the local library to use the computers, check out music, DVDs, or books, or to just see what s going on. Rachel is pretty excited about some new perfume she purchased for herself recently. Justin purchased a video game, which has kept him pretty busy. Heather is looking forward to decorating for Christmas. At the end of last month, the festival of All Hallows Eve took place and the guys at Reynolds Place took to dressing up for the occasion to go to an MRCS party. Zach and Aaron took on being military personnel. They really got into their characters. Pumpkin carving is always a favorite and this year was no different. Aaron really took to the artistic side of the activity. All around a good time. Reynolds Place News

5 There were some dog races that took place at Willow Springs. Todd and Aaron took the afternoon to go and watch. It was an interesting sport to watch. The dogs were beautiful and very energetic. Being that there was no snow for sled pulling, the dogs pulled wheeled carts or many times a ten speed bicycle with a harness attachment. It was a new experience for the guys and they are looking forward to the snow sled races that will take place in January Basketball season has started for Special Olympics and all of the Reynolds guys are participating. They are not on the same teams, but often go to each other s practices to cheer each other on. This is one of the sports that the guys consider their favorite. We look forward to the upcoming tournaments in January. Aaron and Todd took a trip to the Marshfield Zoo. They enjoyed seeing all the animals. They took in the whole experience with the walking and driving tour. It was one of the unseasonably warm days so that made the trip even more enjoyable. They look forward visiting again sometime. Thanksgiving was the big event of the month. There was a gathering at Reynolds Place for a traditional meal. We had many guests and it was a good time of conversation and eating. Everyone helped prepare and serve the meal. Many took the opportunity to dress up for the event. It was a wonderful evening and we look forward to gathering again for Christmas.

6 Hamilton House Update We didn t get to mention the Halloween party in last month s newsletter. The Hamilton House clan spent the evening celebrating at Prospect Place for a party, snacks and games. Val dressed up as Morticia Addams from the Addams Family and Sean was a zombie football player. Sean won 1 st place in the costume competition. He did receive a little help from staff with his makeup. Sean was very pleased with their work. Ellen attended bible study and church every week. Her faith is very important to her. Sean also attended his weekly church services and Café nights for bible study. It s great to see everyone take part in community events. Sean attended a men s social breakfast for his church as well. Val enjoyed Thanksgiving at her grandmother s. Her favorite food was the pumpkin pie! Val also help make pickled olives and peppers and a cheese and sausage try. She also went Black Friday shopping. The rest of the housemates celebrated Thanksgiving with everyone at Reynolds Place who were gracious hosts for this year s dinner. Hamilton House brought a sweet potato casserole and a vegetable tray. Who doesn t love sweet potatoes? Everyone went bowling on a Sunday to watch the Packer Game at the bowling alley. While there Sean, Jeff Val and staff bowled. Ellen was a spectator. We all then ate lunch. The house also went to a craft show at St. Theresa s. Val went to the new 007 movie while Jeff and Todd from Reynolds went to see Creed with staff. Val said her movie was great. There were no complaints about the other movie either!

7 Marathon Residential and Counseling Services has long enjoyed a staff second to none in the business of providing personal care services. We are dedicating this space to honoring our employees as they reach longevity milestones with MRCS. We offer our sincere thanks and recognition to: Sue Midlikowski - 17 years 10/26/1998 Mike McCabe 13 years 10/2/2002 Sheila Yaeger 1 year 11/11/2014 Vacancy Announcements Please call Sue ( ) or Pam ( ) to discuss your placement and supportive home care needs. Additional information regarding our programs is available on our website or by brochure upon request. If at any time you would like to be removed from this mail list, please click REPLY and simply enter UNSUBSCRIBE and your address will be immediately removed from the mailing list.