Hands Around the Courthouse

Thanks to CASA of Saline County there was an opportunity to stand up and show community support for child abuse prevention this month. For the last few years, they have organized and event called Hands Around the Courthouse, bringing together those who continue to be advocates for children. In 2010 & 2011, I was proud to be a part of the Saline County CASA Board and I love to continue supporting their great work. Pictured below is the newspaper photo of those present and an action photo of Judge Todd Lambert who was the featured speaker at the event. His words were in appreciation of the commitment that so many have to the well-being of our community youth. Judge Lambert is very active in the Saline County area and even serves on the Project Connect Coordinating Council. I feel lucky to be able to work closely with such great people in our community, including Judge Lambert, the employees of Egyptian Health Department, Saline County CASA, and all of the other community organizations that are represented in the photo.

Never Underestimate Your Influence

Social media provides the opportunity for people to express themselves and observe the expressions of others. Because of this, we should never underestimate the power of even a single word! Sharing a photo becomes powerful, seeing a "like" or a "follow" causes interest and curiousity, and a sentence or two opens windows to the soul -- all for everyone else to observe.
Even though I strive to focus my social media messages on gathering support for children's mental health, the month of April brings another opportunity to focus on the health and wellness of children. April is Prevent Child Abuse Month, and so supporters of the cause showcase the color blue as much as possible.

Paint your nails blue day!

The Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse in Southeastern Illinois created opportunities and activities for everyone this April that were extremely easy to do. One of those was "Paint Your Nails Blue" Day. Not a color you'll see on my fingers and toes, it definitely presents a conversation starter. If even one person notices and makes a comment, then there's a chance to share the message. Post a photo with a caption on Facebook, and now you double or triple the exposure and possible influence.

I don't have a popularity status that moves mountains, but even if I move one pebble at a time, I'm helping to make a difference. If you like being in photos (it's obvious I do!), or you just like posting on Facebook or Twitter, how about making a few posts about Child Abuse Prevention before the month of April is gone? Never, ever, ever underestimate who you might reach!

Continuing Bullying Prevention Training...

This past week, I had the privilege of training yet another school in our area to use the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Gallatin County Jr. High School in Southeastern Illinois has made the commitment to put an end to bullying in their school! They had a great group of committed staff that made the training days a pleasure and a guarantee for a successful implementation of the program.
Because it has been a little over a year since I last trained a school, the amazing qualities of this program had been put in memory storage, away from my everyday recall. Sharing the information once again, ignited that  original passion for how great this program really is.
I think the biggest key to its success is that it empowers teachers to feel like they really can intervene when a bullying situation arises. That may not sound like such a big thing, but it really helps to eliminate the emotional guessing game about what happened and who's responsible. There's a clear determination about what the teacher saw and how to act accordingly. It even includes a script, so that all teachers and staff are intervening in exactly the same way! And that's only the tip of the iceberg as far as this program is concerned. There is so much more!
As a past middle school teacher and high school counselor, I know how packed and overwhelming a teacher's schedule can be. It almost seems impossible to add one more "program" to your daily duties. But, the highly organized, thoroughly supported, and scripted nature of the content make this program feel like it's not a "program" at all. It becomes an overall school climate change that makes everyone feel safer without feeling a burden of another thing to do.
Bullying prevention is everyone's responsibility. It's in everything we do, every minute of the day. Doing things that are at other's expense, or that makes someone feel bad about themselves, is what we need to work towards eliminating from our daily communications -- a very hard thing to do when even children's television shows have examples of teasing/making fun that are passed off as being acceptable.
If you'd like to know more about the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, you can visit www.violencepreventionworks.org  or you can email me (greenribbonadvocate@gmail.com) for specific Olweus publications that can help introduce the program to your school district. I look forward to hearing from you!

Developing Partnerships for Children's Mental Health

Shopper's News Ad

Part of sharing the children's mental health message is establishing partnerships with well known community organizations or individuals that will lend their community influence to your particular marketing goal. When you find that unique partnership that benefits both parties, the result is quite an exciting opportunity to showcase what each party brings to the community at large.
As we head into preparation for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in May, it makes me extremely proud to see the partnerships we have established and continue to nurture between community governments and the children's mental health awareness movement. Last year, Project Connect showcased a collection of 18 mayor proclamations, which announced the observance of Awareness Day. It was quite a marketing accomplishment when we created a newspaper ad that showed photos of 18 Mayors, establishing that even from government point of view, children's mental health is one issue we all need to be giving our attention. With the two ads we developed, distribution in our communities exceeded the population of our three counties by almost 5,000 copies. We chose two publications that are delivered free of charge to all homes and businesses in our three county area.
We are working our hardest to make these mayor proclamations happen again in 2013. This year we are hoping to get all 19 mayors, which will be every community in White, Gallatin, and Saline Counties in Illinois.
SAMHSA helps to make proclamations an easier task by providing a template that can be used at the state or local level. We are even adapting it for schools and other community organizations this year. If you would like to use the SAMHSA template for proclamations in your area, you can find it at http://www.samhsa.gov/children/pnb_proclamation.asp If you'd like more information on how we accomplished our proclamations, you can contact me and I will be glad to share with you our process! greenribbonadvocate@gmail.com

Surviving and Thriving after Traumatic Events

It has been called the disaster without an anniversary date -- the tornado that hit Harrisburg, Illinois on February 29, 2012. Tomorrow, it's one year later, but is it? Traumatic reactions always occur sporadically after a devastating event like this disaster, but the question of not being able to fully recognize the event because of something like leap year provides a way for us to look at the idea of trauma and the way events like this can affect our children.
I believe the hardest thing in dealing with trauma is not knowing when symptoms will be triggered and when they won't. Because it's hard to even identify it within ourselves, it's twice as hard to see it in our children. The unpredictable responses and not knowing what to do for a child usually leaves adults making the choice to just avoid talking about it. Totally understandable though -- cause we don't want to end up making things worse! We care, but we're scared to mess things up at the same time.
Harrisburg is my hometown and I live only 20 miles from there now. I have family and friends there still and the news of the tornado immediately brought anxiety, fear, and sorrow. The same was true for my children.
Thanks to my colleagues at Egyptian Health Department, I have access to resources that I can utilize and share with others. Dr. Matt Buckman, a psychologist I am thankful to know, immediately began collecting information to share with parents and providers that would help children deal with the after effects of the tornado. Dr. Buckman presented his info to three schools and some parent groups. The info included things like:
Normal Childhood Responses & Resiliency
How to Help All Children Cope
The Signs of Traumatic Stress
Managing Survivor Guilt
Compassion Fatigue
Personal Stress and Post Trauma Growth
If you are interested in the information from Dr. Buckman, please contact me at greenribbonadvocate@gmail.com or Dr. Buckman at mattbuckman@egyptian.org
Trauma reactions can come and go, just like an anniversary date -- or sometimes it may seem like it never existed at all. But, no matter what, we have a responsibility to help our children sort through and learn great coping skills. Not only that, but helping others is always personally beneficial to our own mental health too! Let's get to work :)

2013 Stigma, Discrimination & Disparities Conference

The Family & Youth Roundtable, serving San Diego's children and families with mental health challenges, provides an excellent opportunity every year to consult with colleagues and learn from leaders in the field regarding stigma, discrimination and disparities in services. I was fortunate to be able to attend this conference last week and bring the very best of information back to my community.

There were many highlights but I'd like to touch on a few that were at the top of my list. The conference opened with a keynote address from Dr. Arun Gandhi, who spoke of continuing his grandfather's teachings of non-violence. He spoke of living for a period of time with his grandfather and of how his family practiced disciplining children in a non-violent, non-intimidating way. He continues his teachings through an organization called Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute and I consider it a true honor to have had the opportunity to meet him.

 I also had the opportunity to hear about Dr. Ross Greene's work in the field of collaborative problem solving. His non-profit organization is called Lives in the Balance and it's described best on his website saying:

 Lives in the Balance is the non-profit organization founded by child psychologist Dr. Ross Greene, author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach. His model is highly effective with kids often described as challenging, angry, defiant, and oppositional. This website contains a ton of resources -- streaming video, an extensive Listening Library, and lots more -- to help you learn about and implement Dr. Greene's research-based model and provide you with the strategies and support you need to help these kids in ways that are compassionate and effective.

I was very impressed by Dr. Greene's work and the fact that he is offering such great resources for free. This website provides parents another option for helping their children with mental health challenges to have more success in the classroom. It's definitely worth taking a look at!

One of my most favorite presenters was also there too. Eddie Peterson presented a session about the stigma related to the sexual abuse of males. I always gain great insight when I hear him speaking. Not only is he my friend, but a wonderful colleague that helps keep me motivated in doing the work that is so close to my heart. If you are needing a dynamic speaker for your next event that can talk about stigma reduction and many other mental health topics, Eddie is the one to call! You can become familiar with all of the great things Eddie is involved in by visiting his website at www.youdontknowmylife.org
This conference was a great experience and a regeneration of my passion to fight stigma and continue to educate our communities about how common mental health challenges are in all of our lives. I am grateful that I got to share this conference with Eddie and my other great friend and colleague, April. I think that together, we are an unstoppable team in the world of eliminating stigma, discrimination, and disparities for children with mental health challenges.