Marathon Residential and Counseling Services, Inc. Monthly E-mail Newsletter January, 2018 Volume 18; Issue 1 Social Skills Group New Year s Resolutions December, 2017 Well, the days are short, the temperature is chilly, the snow is falling, which means winter is in full swing here in Wisconsin. That also means we have very little time before the New Year arrives! Many people find that this is the perfect time to look back on the past year and be thankful, as well as to look forward to the New Year and think of the things they would like to change. That is why a bunch of MRCS residents and even one of the staff came to December s Social Skills Group about New Year s Resolutions! The word resolution can mean a few different things, but in context of the New Year, it means that you have a goal that you are committed to. It is when you decide there is something you want to improve about your life, and you are determined to make it happen! We discussed how the New Year is a perfect time to make changes like this because it feels like a time to get a fresh start and become a new person.
Therapist Justin asked the group if they remembered what Justin s resolution from last year was, and nobody could remember (except Justin, of course). But, oh, the tables were turned when one clever group member challenged Justin to remember what everyone else s resolutions were from last year! Everyone laughed when Justin shook his head and said he had no idea, admitting that this was a fair challenge. Maybe he should have seen that coming! Regardless, even if we couldn t remember everything from last year s group, we weren t going to let that stop us from taking another shot at some old resolutions or creating some new ones! The group came up with ideas for possible resolutions to work on, and Therapist Justin wrote them down on a whiteboard as the group shared them. It didn t take long before the whole board was full of ideas like losing weight, learning to read, eating more healthy foods, having a more positive attitude, saving money rather than spending too much, getting along better with peers, and taking advice better from staff. Justin went through some of the goals and helped the group make them more realistic and specific. Everyone laughed when Justin pretended to make a goal for himself of growing taller this year, because it was easy to see that this goal was simply impossible (unless Justin cheated by wearing taller shoes). Likewise, having a goal that is too vague makes it difficult to achieve because you can lose sight of what it is you are actually working on. For example, rather than simply having a goal to save more money, it would be more helpful to set up a goal of saving a specific amount of money every week or month so you can measure whether or not you re actually achieving that goal. As a final note, the group discussed what the word accountability means, and how when we ask others to keep us accountable (by telling them what our goals are and asking them to challenge us to keep working on them), we are more likely to succeed in meeting those goals. Everyone took some time to share what their resolutions were for the New Year. It was exciting to hear all the positive changes that many of the group members planned to implement in their lives! Happy New Year, Everyone! Good luck achieving your resolutions! Hamilton December Newsletter December was not only a time for holiday cheer, it was also a time for Juan to become another year older! Juan celebrated his birthday with working, a nice dinner, and cake! We hope you had a great birthday Juan! Juan also attended a potluck at his church, he made some delicious cookies to share. There is nothing better than taking a trip around town to check out the holiday light displays. Lucky for us the Marshfield Zoo is not too far away and has one of the best light display s every year! Jeff, Ellen, and Juan all headed to Marshfield to see this year s light display. Everyone enjoyed the trip and checking out all the lights along the way! Everyone can agree that the bear and penguin golfing was quite the sight!
Hamilton House hosted a Christmas cookie decorating party. Ellen, Crystal, Jackie, Aaron, Colton, Justin, Thomas, and Heather decorated snowmen, stars, and Christmas trees. The green and red frosting was flying as everyone got into the holiday spirit. Everyone sang a few classic Christmas carols and had a jolly good time. The month of December a lot of good movies came out and Staff Emily, Juan, and Jeff went to see Coco*! Juan and Jeff both gave this movie a high review. The colors were amazing and the music was catchy! It s always nice to enjoy a $5 Tuesday movie once in a while. Christmas time always has so many activities going on. Sean s favorite is the candlelight church service his church does. Sean always talks about this being one of his favorite services to attend. As we head into the New Year Hamilton House is getting a little bit of a face lift. Stay tuned to next month s newsletter to see what exciting change has happened. Prospect Place News Update Tis the season to be Jolly! Everyone here at Prospect Place is feeling the holiday spirit. To kick off the start of December Heather, Thomas, and Justin went to the Wausau Holiday Parade. The weather was perfect! There were over 90 floats in the parade and they saved the best for last, Santa! Everyone enjoyed the parade and all the goodies that came with it.
We could barely wait to decorate for Christmas! At the start of this month Rachel, Heather, Thomas, and Staff Emily jazzed up Prospect Place and put up all of the Christmas decorations. And you can t do decorating without a Christmas movie! A couple of days later we put up a fresh Christmas tree right in the living room. Everyone enjoyed decorating it with lights and ornaments. This month Heather, Justin, Thomas, and Staff Brittany visited the Cosmo Theater in Merrill to see a free presentation of The Grinch. Everyone agrees that this is a Christmas classic and gave it a five star rating! Everyone enjoyed a small popcorn to go along with the movie. The public library has lots of fun stuff to do this month. Heather made her very own ornament for the Christmas tree at the library this month. It had to do with weaving red yarn into a 8 point star. Heather said it was challenging but she enjoyed it! During the holidays it s always fun to watch a Christmas movie to get you in the holiday spirit. This month Heather, Rachel, Justin, Thomas, and Staff Emily watched Home Alone in the living room at Prospect Place. Rachel watched National Lampoon s Christmas Vacation on TV as well. Heather went to the Club House three times this month. She got to bake and decorate all kinds of Christmas cookies! She even got to bring a plate full home for everyone to taste test. Heather joined in on social night at the club house. She got to mingle with peers and play some fun card games. Heather spent an evening with her friends from the Club House at Saint Paul s church for an awesome Christmas party. They played Christmas bingo (Heather won a puzzle), mingled, and had Lee s Famous Chicken with all the delicious sides. We love what the Club House has to offer to everyone! One of the best traditions around the holidays is going to the Rotary Winter Wonderland Christmas lights display in Marshfield, WI. It was too chilly to walk through but staff Mike D, Heather, Rachel, and Lee enjoyed looking from the warmth of the van. Everyone enjoyed the American Flag and the lights that danced with the music on the Christmas station.
Just another tradition that Staff Emily, Heather, Rachel, Justin, and Thomas joined on this month was making and decorating a gingerbread house. Heather and Rachel enjoyed putting all the candies on the house (of course we had to sample a few too!) Thomas and Justin helped with the construction of the house. Using icing as glue isn t as easy as you would think! The gift exchange for Christmas took place on Friday evening so that everyone could be together for the event. Our tree looked great, especially with all the presents beautifully wrapped under it. Everyone was so excited. The event was a happy time as the residents opened their gifts and showed all what they got. There was a lot of appreciation for what they all received. They realized that someone put a lot of effort in finding things that were special to them. Later in the evening Heather and Rachel were taken to the Labor Temple for karaoke by Staff Mike D, which is one of their favorite places to go. Both ladies love to sing. Heather sang Let it Go, from the movie Frozen and the Christmas carol Let it Snow. Rachel sang Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode and Shout by Tears for Fears. Everyone enjoyed the evening s festivities and we re looking forward to the rest of the holiday weekend. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Prospect Place! Reynolds Place Newsletter HAPPY NEW YEAR! It is the arrival of 2018 and if that was not enough for a party, we also get to celebrate a birthday at Reynolds Place as well. Todd celebrates his birthday on January 1st. His plan for the day is to have some people over to enjoy some cake. Todd is our social butterfly here and knows a lot of people. If you happen to be one of those lucky people make sure to stop him and wish him a happy birthday. He won t tell you how old he is, but will be happy for the well wishes. December is always a celebratory month with just getting done with Thanksgiving the month before, getting ready for Christmas, and ending off with New Year s. We started out right away on December 1st. Lee attended the Wausau Holiday Parade. He not only got to watch it, but got one of the best seats to do so. He joined the float from one of the local churches. It got even better when they displayed some construction equipment on the float and he was able to sit in the cockpit. Aaron got into the parade as well and joined some of his family to watch. It was a good time all around. Todd kept the party going with attending the North Central Health Care and Prevoc Christmas party. This is an annual event with some appetizers, soda, dancing, and a lot of people. Todd loved catching up with all the people he connects with through work and volunteering. He spoke for days about all the people he saw there. He was in his glory.
Reynolds hosted some Christmas gatherings as well. On Christmas Eve we had a gathering for an appetizer reception. We had residents of MRCS gather and have a relaxing evening together. All the houses pitched in with some chicken wings, turkey sliders, cheese and sausage tray, apple cider, and egg nog. Along with some visiting, some Christmas movies were playing. It was a nice relaxing evening. Reynolds also hosted the Christmas dinner. Again all the houses pitched in for a traditional ham dinner. It was well attended and again some good holiday visiting took place. It turned out to be a good weekend for everyone to catch up and spend the holiday together. Another Christmas season favorite is to see the light displays. The men at Reynolds Place took an evening and toured the local displays. There are a lot of creative people in this community and they put together a lot of good displays. They had a good tour while listening to some Christmas music. Aaron and Lee went on an adventure recently. To be more specific, an air adventure. They are involved in a mentoring program and with that took part in a trip that was offered to them. They went to tour the museum at the EAA grounds in Oshkosh, WI. This is the place where they have the huge fly in each summer. During the other times of the year there may not be as much activity, however they have a great museum of airplanes and flying in general. They made a day of it taking in the whole place. They were very impressed with the place and said they had a good time as well as learned a few things. 7th Street News December birthdays at 7th street On December 18th Mike S celebrated his birthday. For Mike s birthday meal he requested sloppy Joes, cream cabbage and Mary s famous ice cream cake. Mike s friends from 7th street went to his apartment and celebrated with him and had birthday cake. Happy Birthday Mike from all the staff at MRCS. We also had another birthday celebration at the end of the month.
Christmas at 7th street On December 24rd Crystal, Zoua and Lisa got together at Crystal and Zoua s apartment to open their Christmas presents. Crystal played some Christmas music while they opened their presents. They all loved their gifts. Brittney opened her Christmas gifts with staff on December 24th. Brittney appreciated the gifts she received. Timothy L and Mike S opened their Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve together. They both loved their presents and had a good time opening them up. Tim B also opened his Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Tim was very happy and really appreciated his gifts. Tim wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and thanks everyone for all they have done for him. After gifts were opened, Mike S and Brittney went over to Reynolds Place for Christmas dinner. They enjoyed staff Dave s famous Christmas ham and garlic mashed potatoes and had a great time visiting with their friends. Here at 7th Street we had Surf & Turf Christmas dinner! We had steak and garlic parmesan shrimp along with green bean casserole, broccoli rice, and a Christmas cookie. Matt, Tim B., Timothy L., and Zoua all enjoyed the feast. MRCS Christmas Service On December 24 Christian Assembly had a Christmas service, GLO Christmas Eve Experience. Crystal, Brittney, Todd and Aaron attended the service. As part of the service they did a trivia game and gave out candy for prizes, sang songs and played Little Drummer Boy new wave style with a light show. At the end they gave away 2 big door prizes. Everyone had a nice time. SPECIAL OLYMPIC NEWS There never seems to be a time of rest in the world of Special Olympics Sports. Basketball is now underway with Lee, Aaron, Justin, Thomas, Juan, Sean, and Crystal participating. They are all working hard for their first outing later in January. Todd has joined as an unofficial cheerleader. He goes along to the practices and encourage the players on. Cross country skiing has started as well with Sean starting his training. Also, swimming will be starting up this next month as well. We should have a whirlwind of things to report in the coming month. 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.
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: Rose Allgaier 11 years 12/4/2006 Vacancy Announcements Please call Sue (715-551-8568) to discuss your placement and supportive home care needs. Additional information regarding our programs is available on our website or by brochure upon request. www.mrcs.us