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NCC Blog

Kiesler Wellness Center

February 21, 2023 by Brandi Worrath

Author: Steven Loney, MBA

Our Vision

​We strive to change the narrative for people who have a lived experience with mental health.  ​ Our members and employees work side by side to change the narrative on how persons with a lived mental health experience are viewed and accepted within our community.  We believe everyone impacted by mental health symptoms has the right to equity and personal choice, this is the core of who we are. ​

Our Mission

Promoting Hope and Recovery through Mutual Respect, Trust, and Empowerment.

Our Values

Ensuring a safe and trusting environment for dreams to be discovered

Kiesler Club House Top Left / Kiesler Wellness Center Bottom Right

“Believe Mental Health Recovery is Possible”

Our humble beginning centered on including voices of people with mental health experiences, creating opportunities for learning, friendships, and personal discovery of one’s fullest potential.   We started as a small Clubhouse with a few members and one employee.  Building from the ground up required vision, passion, help and contribution from the clubhouse members who are essential to its operation and function.  Our founding principle is equity, by providing opportunity for wellness where each person finds purpose and confidently expressing one’s path in life. 

We believe mental health recovery is possible for everyone, our passion and dedication to the dreams of those seeking recovery has guided Kiesler to grow into the wellness center it is today.

Our vision is to offer our community a unique systems delivery model centered on the needs of our community and consumers.  We continue to seek input from program participants, community stakeholders and the Department of Health and Human Services to create an innovative model of Wellness built for Itasca County residents.  Kiesler is unparalleled in Minnesota’s mental health services.  As we have grown and expanded our services, we continue to hold our core values close.  

Kiesler Wellness Center continues to expand to provide our model of services to a greater number of people in our community.  Our person-centered collaborative team approach to recovery transcended traditional models by focusing on a peer driven approach to wellness built in our clubhouse. Kiesler was among the first in Minnesota to train and hire persons with a lived mental health experience.  With the support of Northland Counseling Center and the Blandin foundation we trained and hired 12 people who had previously received mental health services: known today as our Certified Peer specialists.

Our philosophy of wellness has deep roots, such as teamwork keeps the clubhouse moving forward, everyone contributes something, and building on a person’s talents and skills creates intrinsic value self-esteem and self-efficacy.  We focus on finding the positive in everyone each day and how everything we do affects our behavior, moods, feelings and relationships. 

We accept each individual for who they are and what they have experienced in life placing them at the center of choice and opportunity.  Mental health recovery is an individual journey to discover ones best self.  Resources and guidance through learning, teaching, role modeling and participating occur through the events, projects and peer leadership a person encounters at Kiesler Wellness Center.

Our Recovery Beliefs

  • Strive to create a space everyone belongs.
  • Listening to voices of those who have a lived experience with mental health.
  • Understand the cultural differences and how it impacts mental health recovery journey.
  • Peer Driven learning from each other understanding how individual experiences give us a unique perspective on life and mental health recovery.
  • A person is not their mental health diagnosis.
  • Each person is respected for who they are- Everyone is someone’s child or is a mother or father with valuable life experiences and strengths.
  • Everyone has a right to find their purpose in life and are worthy to live their best lives.
  • Non-judgmental space where you are accepted for who you are and what you have experienced.   “don’t try to change me”.
  • Work on the goals each person finds most important first.  What you or I find important is based on our life experiences not theirs.
  • Always build on positive strengths. 
  • Everyone has the ability and contribute no matter how big or small.
  • A safe place to learn new skills.  
  • Ensure that resources are available.
  • Work towards community integration and become part of your community.
  • Teach others how to advocate for community causes such as ending suicides.
  • A safe place free from violence, threats, harassment, and exploitation.
  • Notice the small things – focus on small positive steps in progress.
  • After a setback in recovery or goals focus on what was learned from the experience.
  • Give your attention fully to the person, be aware and present.
  • We are all human and strive to use humility and be humble.
  • Awareness of the power a recovery story can have and the lessons we learn.
  • Work is healing – pride in accomplishment builds esteem.
  • Role Model behaviors and expectations.
  • Learn from one another.
  • Build a positive community.
  • Encourage self-care in all areas of life.

As we move into the future, our dedicated Kiesler members and employees continue to innovate and advocate to change the narrative on mental health; with efforts to erase social injustices of bias and discrimination of those who are impacted by mental health.

Frank Kiesler

Kiesler Wellness Center, known as Kiesler Clubhouse from 1994 until May 2017, was proudly named after Dr. Frank Kiesler. The name Kiesler embodies our vision to innovate approaches to providing mental health services—person-centered, recovery focused, and wellness driven. Dr. Frank Kiesler was a trailblazer of mental health services and always knew how to treat the person, not just the symptoms.

Services offered out of Kiesler Wellness Center

  • Community participation and Leadership
  • Social Engagement and experiential learning
  • Employment Placement (NOW)
  • Certified Peer Support specialists (PSS)
  • Adult Mental Health Rehabilitative Services (ARMHS)
  • Kiesler Clubhouse
  • Behavioral Health Homes (BHH)
  • Certified Family Peer Support (CFPS)
  • Therapy – upon request
Kiesler Wellness Center through the years.
Kiesler Wellness Center through the years.

Filed Under: Recovery Stories

Struggling too Unstoppable

November 17, 2022 by Brandi Worrath

By Janet A. Miller

Recovery, like life, is fluid. There are many ups and downs, twists and turns.  There is going to be days where it’s still a struggle to believe in myself and there are going to be days, I’m unstoppable.  The days where I struggle more I reach out, I hold myself accountable, I push myself more, I lean on others. It helped me to have a community to belong to. Somewhere my impact was appreciated and wanted.

Being a part of the clubhouse has helped me gain the confidence to feel like I have something worth giving to society.  I went from being an outlier in my friend groups and the one who barely talks, to the one who leads the group, the fun, and the conversations while actively listening to others.  I learned these skills at Kiesler Wellness Center (formerly Kiesler Clubhouse). 

I get a lot of joy out of sharing my skills with others. I’ve learned just as much as I’ve given. My hope is to pass that legacy of recovery down to others who can inspire others by being them. To foster a community that’s caring, creative, and open-minded. 

Submitted by Janet A. Miller

Janet Miller is a mother of three, an avid fan of the arts, and a Peer Support Specialist (PSS) at Northland Counseling Center, Inc.  She enjoys conversations about growth and how we can grow together as a community.  You can find her by going to our Kiesler Wellness Center site.

to learn more about Kiesler Wellness Center you can visit their webpage at www.kieslerwellness.org

Filed Under: Recovery Stories, Uncategorized

ptsd & Yoga

March 3, 2022 by Brandi Worrath

Relatively speaking, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is still a diagnostic adolescent.  Not officially recognized until 1980s in DSM III and driven by reactions to combat, we are still learning so much and yet so many questions remain.  One thing that is clear, the prevalence of those who have experienced trauma is much higher than previously thought and affects more than just veterans.  To complicate matters, like all mental health treatment, one size does not fit all.  In recent years, research has been exploding on the integration of bodywork into or as an adjunct treatment to therapy. 

As a Psychologist, I have been studying and integrating yoga and yoga theory into work with clients with many different diagnoses, including PTSD.  Yoga is a benefit-packed practice that is receiving a significant amount of attention from the trauma world.  The Trauma Center, in Brookline MA1, has created a new style of yoga called Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TSY)2.  This practice differs from your standard yoga class in many ways and emphasizes one very important piece of the puzzle: choice.  Typically, yoga classes are prescriptive in that they direct yogis from pose to pose. Variations and modifications are usually offered but for the most part, all students do as they are told.  The option of choice can be very powerful for a survivor of interpersonal violence as they typically have long histories of being told what to do, how to do it, and how to feel about it. 

Standard treatment is also often instructive: “Take this medication to help your nightmares,” “Be sure to practice your deep breathing,” and “even though it’s difficult, it’s important to talk about what happened.”  In our kindest and most competent effort, we tell our clients what they can do to feel better.  This perspective is not meant to discredit any of the evidence-based practice used to treat trauma today as TSY is not considered a replacement.  In fact, TSY requires participants to be involved in therapy.  Again, TSY provides a choice for clients.  I recently had a particularly intense session with a survivor and she opted to end with a brief TSY chair practice to “help her relax” (her words, not mine).  As she sat in her chair, I sat in mine, going through the practice.  At one point, she simply chose not to do any of the movements offered.  At the end of the practice, she provided an unsolicited explanation saying she noticed that a particular movement caused pain in her back.  She said she chose to just sit and breathe which ultimately relaxed her.  This may seem so trivial but if we think of the therapy office as a micro chasm of the real world, what if this client could always choose not to do something that hurt her? What if she could dictate what she did with her body? What if she could feel safe in her own body? What if she saw an opportunity to break a pattern?

As therapists, we are mindful not to re-traumatize clients but merely taking away a choice, could have a negative impact.  Some clients have become so disconnected from their bodies that just recognizing that their body needs something is a challenge.  Trauma-Sensitive Yoga offers clients an opportunity to restore that connection and to be the one who chooses how to meet those needs. 

Can “Regular” Yoga Help?

The simple answer is, yes.  There is an abundance of research available on the use of yoga for anxiety, depression, and other medical and mental health issues.  A “regular” yoga class still provides all of those benefits to someone with PTSD/Complex Trauma.  However, it would not be considered “trauma-sensitive.”  This may be a barrier for some.

The image of a “good yogi” might be a petite, toned, young woman in skin tight clothing, effortlessly bending her body into precarious poses all while balancing on one toe. Now for a moment, imagine sending a client with PTSD to a yoga class filled with presumed fitness models who are able to stand on their heads, look good doing it with a teacher who scripts their movements and even adjusts their poses by placing their hands on the students’ hips.  One might argue that this class would be difficult for anyone to attend.  Anyone who has been to a yoga class knows this is not your typical student or class makeup.  Classes usually run the age spectrum, a mix of people who are fit and those working to be fit, mismatched workout clothes, and a plethora of skill levels.  This is important to keep in mind when making a recommendation for a client to try yoga.  If a client cannot get the first image out of their head, they may not to attend.  

For the client with PTSD, or any mental health issue, yoga can be a wonderful complement.  Some of the physical benefits include increased mobility, increased agility, better balance, less muscle fatigue, better breathing, decreased risk of injury, increased core strength, and increased joint stability.  Some of the mental benefits would be improved focus, improved concentration, reduced anxiety, improved mood, and better sleep.  Yoga can also be more emotionally provoking, releasing, and awakening than a therapy session.  People can be flooded with painful, and blissful, emotions during any yoga practice.  I am willing to bet anyone reading this article who teaches yoga or attends classes has witnessed someone in tears during a class for no apparent reason.  Like therapy, this can lead to healing.  However, the client must be prepared to handle this kind of a reaction or risk decompensating or terminating both yoga and therapy.  Not preparing a client for this possible response would be comparable to not building coping skills with a client before doing a narrative. 

What Now?

Knowing that yoga can be helpful to those with PTSD is good but one might ask how it can be used with clients.  The answer to this is a really big and complex one.  Technically, I would suspect that all therapists are using some yogic techniques in therapy already.  Anyone use diaphragmatic breathing with clients? Meditation? Relaxation? Often, therapists receive training in these techniques and they come out of the yoga tradition.  (I would offer a cautionary statement here with using meditation with clients who have complex trauma as being alone with one’s thoughts may be an awful place to be, guided meditation is perhaps a better option).  I believe it is always best to have foundational knowledge of yoga before making recommendations to clients.  Certainly, a therapist could receive additional training to become a yoga teacher.  If that is not of interest or an option, there are trainings available that provide a basis for integrating this work into therapy.  It should be noted that it would not be appropriate to bill insurance for a yoga class in session. These techniques are merely introduced and practiced much like a mindfulness exercise or role playing interpersonal effectiveness skills. 

Regarding making referrals to yoga, the majority of studios are not going to offer TSY classes so this begs us to be a little creative and collaborative.   Get to know your local studios, classes, and teachers. Develop personal relationships with them so you feel safe sending some of the most vulnerable clients to them.  This offers clients a safe continuum of care and this IS our responsibility.

Practicing yoga can also help the therapist.  Self-care has gone from progressive idea to an absolute necessity when providing therapy, particularly to clients with trauma histories.  As therapists, we are exposed to accounts of people doing unthinkable things to each other.  Without taking time to care for oneself, the therapist is at risk.  Despite all the education, training, and supervision, we are all still people who are susceptible to the same things as our clients.  If we do not take care of ourselves, we limit our ability to care for our clients. All the benefits of yoga to clients also extend to therapists.   I am certainly not saying “therapists must do yoga,” I am offering it as a choice. 

1 For more information on Trauma-Sensitive Yoga, visit traumacenter.org.

2 Resource: “Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment” by David Emerson.

submitted by dr. Allison O’Hara-Meyer

Allison O’Hara, Psy.D. is a Licensed Psychologist and Yoga Teacher in International Falls, MN.  She works in a Community Mental Health Center where she serves as the Director of the Community Rehabilitation and Support Services program at Northland Counseling Center and holds privileges at Rainy Lake Medical Center.  With a focus on holistic approaches to therapeutic intervention, Dr. O’Hara specializes in working with Health and Wellness related issues.  Through coursework in Health Psychology, workshops, and research, she has developed an expertise in relating therapeutic yoga into her clinical work.  She has also presented to community members, medical and mental health providers, employers, and employees on changing health habits, stress management, and creating a culture of wellness in the home and workplace.  Dr. O’Hara has been studying the incorporation of yoga-based interventions in therapy and as an adjust intervention for the last five years.  As a yoga teacher at Replenish Yoga & Wellness, she primarily teaches Level I & II Vinyasa classes as well as beginner friendly Hatha and Laughter Yoga classes.  Dr. O’Hara also serves as the President of a local non-profit, Community Wellness Action Council, a board consisting of esteemed local wellness providers.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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