The folks over at Organizing Upgrade have just published Minding Your Scope, Building Healthy Movements: An Interview with the Rosehip Medic Collective. Go check it out!

In this piece, Kevin Van Meter and Benjamin Holtzman interview the Rosehip Medic Collective, a group of volunteer street medics and healthcare activists based in Portland, Oregon. Over the past several years, the collective has developed from being primarily oriented around serving as street medics at demonstrations to providing a variety of in-depth trainings around health, treatment, and care for potential medics and community members as well as promoting greater support for health service providers. Drawing from many healing and medical traditions, Rosehip has sought to invigorate and expand community healthcare from an anti-oppression framework in Portland and throughout the country. As part of these efforts, the collective has also authored three zines: Alternatives to EMS (Emergency Medical Services), Home Remedies for Common Maladies, and Traveling Companions. This interview was conducted in June 2011 in Portland, Oregon with Kat and Ryan of the Rosehip Medic Collective. This is the second in a series of interviews exploring health, care and racial movement. The first installment, an interview with the Rock Cove Collective, is available here.

In November we (the Rosehip Medic Collective) are putting on a new version of our 20-Hour Street Medic Training: a “community medic” training. In this training we will focus on the same basic skills and strategies that we present in the Street Medic training, but we will focus on emergencies that occur at home, around town, and in disasters, rather than the context of protests and mass mobiliziations.

The training will take place in SW Portland (location TBA) over the following days:

• Friday, November 11th, 5:00pm – 9:00pm
• Saturday, November 12th, 9:00am – 6:30pm
• Sunday, November 13th, 9:00am – 6:30pm

Please note that we ask a $20 donation from all participants to cover our costs.

Please email us at rosehipmedics@gmail.com to register!

Presented by Leah Wolfe, MPH from the Serpentine Project

Sept. 10-11, 10AM – 5PM at Tryon Life Community Farm in SW Portland

When disaster strikes, government response is often slow leaving victims without help for days. Preparing community members to coordinate a decentralized and plant-based response and recovery is vital. This is an introductory workshop that will provide learning and preparedness resources and suggestions for further education. We will share important stories from our trip to Haiti. Visit our website to learn about our work in Haiti after the earthquake.

This workshop is presented in 3 parts: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. Topics include putting together disaster kits, learning about important plant medicines (including a plant walk), logistics and communication ideas, basic clinic set up, and thoughts on how to work with the community to rebuild. You will be expected to put what you learn into active discussion, planning, and logistics for a plausible disaster situation.

Please dress for the outdoors and bring your lunch.

Donations beyond travel expenses will support the Serpentine Project. We work to educate our communities while working on our restoration project for indigenous plants and traditional medicine.

Register separately for Saturday & Sunday by August 15 at info@serpentine-project.or​g. Sliding-scale donation: $40-80.

the serpentine project
ser pen tine (noun) c.1408, plant reputed to contain antivenom
email: info@serpentine-project.or​g • (715)-977-0908
The Great Lakes Region
http://serpentine-project.​org/

To kick off our shiny new site, one of our members writes:

This is a list I compiled of mental health and crisis resources in Portland, OR. Some I have experience with, and for some I have taken info directly from their websites. I tried to include queer and gender variant-friendly services. I don’t know how many of these groups/individuals have the authority to place a mental health hold on someone and transport them to emergency mental health care without their consent – if that is not something you want to experience when in crisis, it’s a good idea to check in with places in advance, before you are in crisis mode, to find out that information.

Oregon Partnership

http://www.orpartnership.org/default.asp
(800) 273-TALK – Suicide prevention
(800) SUICIDE – Suicide prevention
(800) 923-4357 – Substance abuse support
(888) HLP-4-VET – Military and veteran support
(877) 968-8491 – Youth peer support
(877) 515-7848 – Spanish line (not staffed all hours)

Phone lines for suicide prevention, substance abuse support, military/veteran support, youth support (staffed by teens), and mental health support in Spanish. Spanish line is not staffed all hours, but I believe you can leave messages to be called back. Lines are staffed by volunteers and their training is supposed to be fantastic.

24-Hour Crisis Hotline – Multnomah County

Multnomah County Department of Community & Family Services
http://web.multco.us/mhas
(503) 988-4888 or 1-800-716-9769

24 hour, 7 days a week hotline staffed with mental health professionals who can connect you to resources. Linked to Project Respond, the mobile mental health crisis response team for the county, which is very good at doing evals and providing resources in a crisis but does have the authority to transport to higher care w/o consent when deemed needed.

Cascadia Behavioral Health Urgent Walk-In Clinic

http://www.cascadiabhc.org/seeking-help/
2415 SE 43rd Avenue
Portland, OR, 97206
(503) 674-7777

Urgent walk-in clinic open 7 days a week from 7 AM – 10:30 PM
Website also lists other services provided, including community clinics, counseling, mental health case management, medication providing and addictions treatment.

Portland Women’s Crisis Line

http://pwcl.org
(503) 235-5333 or (888) 235-5333

24 hour, 7 day/week support for survivors of domestic and sexual violence or trauma, and friends and families of survivors. Also provide support groups for survivors of childhood trauma, sexual assault survivors, and friends and families of survivors – call the hotline number above for 24 hour support by staff and volunteers, to be connected to further resources, or to sign up for a support group. Language translation is available.

Trauma Intervention Program of Portland/Vancouver

www.tipnw.org
Immediate Assistance: (503) 940-7997
or (360) 690-9047

An emergency response trauma support program run through the Portland and Vancouver emergency response systems. They can direct you to a lot of resources around grief support, trauma support, children and grieving, etc. Also things like support for folks who’ve experienced house fires and medical emergencies. You usually leave a message and they call you back as soon as possible, generally within several minutes.

Q Center

www.pdxqcenter.org
4115 N Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR, 97217
(503) 234-7837

Free support groups on specific topics such as gender identity, trans groups, social events, library and other resources – support groups are on a drop-in basis. Calendar on website.

Outside In

http://www.outsidein.org
1132 SW 13th Ave
Portland, OR, 97205
(503) 535-3800

Transgender/Identity Resource Center, peer education, counseling, referrals, street and community-based outreach primarily to youth under age 21.

Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center

www.smyrc.org
3024 NE MLK Jr. Blvd
Portland, OR
(503) 872-9664
Umbrella Counseling: (503) 872-9664 x0

Free counseling, drop-in resource center providing support groups, skill building, art, yoga and library for folks under age 23. Umbrella Counseling program provides scale counseling for adults over 23, starting under $20. Super queer and genderqueer-friendly.

Women’s Therapy Project Northwest

http://www.wtpnw.org/index.html
P.O. Box 10312
Portland, OR 97296
info@wtpnw.org
Leave a voicemail at: (503) 957-0135

Online and in-print directory of therapists in the Northwest who are knowledgeable of feminist theory. Directory serves both women and men. Directory is available online.

Sexual Minority Providers Alliance of Portland

http://www.glbtcounseling.com/index.html

Alliance of therapists, counselors and educators in Portland dedicated to providing services to LGBT clients. This website is a directory of unaffiliated individuals in Portland dedicated to working with the LGBT community – it contains specialties and contact information for each member.