NAMI-Yolo will have its monthly potluck dinner meeting on Wednesday, May 2, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Woodland.

Mental health consumers, family members and other interested persons are all welcome. There’s no charge to attend.

The meeting is at Destiny Hall, 124 Lincoln Ave. A potluck dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. The speaker program begins at 7:30 p.m. Those attending are asked to bring a dish to share if you can, but all are welcome even if you can’t. Last names beginning with A-H should bring a salad, I-P a dessert and Q-Z a main dish.

The topic is “Safe Harbor: Providing Crisis Residential Services in Yolo County.” The featured speakers are Jennifer Welch and Alexandra Teter, both program directors at Safe Harbor Crisis House. As co-directors, Welch serves as liaison with the agency’s Kaiser Permanente contract while Teter does so with its Yolo County Department of Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health contract.

Safe Harbor is a California Association of Social Rehabilitative Agencies facility and is licensed by the state Department of Health and Community Care Licensing. Located at 584 Kentucky Ave. in Woodland, it provides short-term residential treatment for people experiencing a psychiatric crisis.

The agency operates on the basis of a social rehabilitation model focused on the wellness of the individual and the personal strengths of its clients. This contrasts with the traditional and purely medical model. Safe Harbor views medication as one component in the person’s overall rehabilitation.

Welch and Teter will present a video on Safe Harbor and the parent organization, Yolo Community Care Continuum, and then speak about the agency’s goals and challenges. The job of mental health worker is increasingly challenging. Amid budget cuts, these workers have to deal with a broader range of individuals with differing diagnoses such as chronic depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia; and in one-on-one sessions, navigate with the client across diverse life needs such as housing, medical treatment, transportation or employment.

Welch has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UC Davis and a master’s in counseling from Sacramento State University. She began work at Safe Harbor while in her undergraduate days at UCD. Over the past 10 years with YCCC, she has worked in various capacities including a mental health worker at East Yolo House, a day re-hab program in West Sacramento, which no longer exists, and associate director at The Farmhouse. She has been back at Safe Harbor for the past five years. Welch and her husband, a fifth-grade teacher, enjoy life at home with their 18-month-old son.

Teter has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from UCD and a master’s in marriage and family therapy from Western Seminary in Sacramento. Starting at Safe Harbor five years ago as a mental health worker, she took on added responsibility as associate director and then became program director, sharing leadership with Welch, two years ago. Teter and her husband have a 2-year-old son and another on the way in the fall.

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