November 2018

Ramp up your giving

Ramp up your giving this #GivingTuesday by donating towards the construction of a wheelchair ramp for White Bird’s expanded walk-in crisis center. The ramp will cost $1,000 per foot, and we need to build 60 feet so everyone can reach the front door. Every donation helps! #givingtuesday2018 #UnSelfie

Please support our efforts by making a donation in person, by mail, or online. All gifts are tax-deductible. Your contribution will be turned into direct service for people in need.




White Bird Clinic
341 E 12th Ave
Eugene, Oregon 97401

Eugene’s Paktech, our partners in caring for the community, have made a challenge to White Bird supporters: if we receive over $5,000 in donations for #givingtuesday, they will add an equal amount. Each dollar you give will become two dollars towards the construction of a wheelchair ramp for White Bird’s expanded walk-in crisis center!

in support 0 comments

White Bird Offers Mental Health First Aid Classes

Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour course that teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives you the skills you need to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis. Most of us would know how to help if we saw someone having a heart attack—we’d start CPR, or at the very least, call 9-1-1. But too few of us would know how to respond if we saw someone having a panic attack or if we were concerned that a friend or co-worker might be showing signs of alcoholism.

Mental Health First Aid takes the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance use problems by improving understanding and providing an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental illness or substance use disorder. When more people are equipped with the tools they need to start a dialogue, more people can get to the help they may need. Mental Health First Aiders can even save lives.

Trainings will be from 8:30 am-5:30pm and will have light breakfast & lunch provided. Students can register using the links below or go to https://whitebirdclinic.org/education to register for multiple classes at once. For more information, including alternate payment options, please contact anne@whitebirdclinic.org.

Mental Health First Aid is intended for all people and organizations that make up the fabric of a community. Professionals who regularly interact with a lot of people (such as police officers, human resource directors, politicians, and primary care workers), school and college leadership, faith communities, advocates for the unhoused, friends and family of individuals with mental illness or addiction, encampment managers and allies, parents, or anyone interested in learning more about mental illness and addiction should get trained.

in Community Education 0 comments

White Bird Clinic Stands in Solidarity with the Transgender Community 

White Bird Clinic stands in solidarity with our transgender/gender diverse clients, co-workers, and community members in affirming the validity of their existence and right to personally define and express their identities.

We resist any statement claiming that gender is a biological or immutable condition determined by genitalia. Both categories of sex and gender are infinitely diverse and complex in their expressions and cannot be limited to a binary system. To dictate how an individual personally identifies stands in direct conflict with our humanistic values of self-determination, freedom of expression, and valuing of diversity.

To our transgender/gender diverse clients, co-workers, and community members:

We see you in your diversity and complexity, we affirm your existence and your right to safety. We see the pain and harm created by statements that attempt to erase your existence. We will not stand idly by while those in power fan the flames of injustice, violence, and bigotry.

We are committed to providing accessible, safe, and affirming services to transgender and gender nonconforming people free from discrimination and in congruence with the recommendations of several highly regarded professional organizations:

  • American Medical Association
  • American Nurses Association
  • American Academy of Pediatrics
  • American Psychological Association
  • American Psychiatric Association
  • National Association of Social Workers
  • World Professional Association for Transgender Health
  • OHSU Transgender Health Program

…..And many others, who recognize gender is expansive beyond a binary and is not determined by one’s genitalia and sex assigned at birth.

White Bird Clinic will stand true to our mission statement in continuing to enable all people to gain control of their social, emotional, and physical well-being. We recognize the innumerable harms that systemic injustice and marginalization have on an individual’s mental health, and we are committed to seeking progressive change—on an individual, community, and national level—to make health and well-being accessible to the most vulnerable populations.

To be truly committed to our mission, we recognize the need to speak out when those on a national level attempt to undermine the well-being, personal safety, and mental health of transgender and gender non-conforming people. We are proud of our clients, co-workers, and community members who are bravely authentic in their gender identities. In doing so, you are helping us all break free from restrictive gender norms and social categories that harm every one of us, in varying ways.

In gratitude, we will continue to speak up, serve our community, and fight for personal freedom. Until the Revolution!

Authored by the White Bird Clinic Queer Affinity Group

in Advocacy 0 comments