National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Outcomes and Lessons from the SAMHSA/CMHS Prevention and Early Intervention Grant Program
In 2001, SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) created the Prevention and Early Intervention grant program to address the need to expand children’s mental health promotion and early intervention services. Between 2001 and 2006, this grant program funded 23 community-based efforts to create promotion, prevention, and early intervention programs targeting children at risk for developing emotional or behavioral disorders. The National Center recently released Promoting Children’s Mental Health: The SAMHSA/CMHS Prevention and Early Intervention Grant Program, a monograph that explores goals and outcomes of the program and features lessons learned by both the Center and grantees from the initiative. The monograph is available at http://www.promoteprevent.org/Publications/TCE/monograph.pdf.

New Addition to the Developing Safe Schools Partnerships Series
The Developing Safe Schools Partnerships: Spotlight on Juvenile Justice and Mental Health publication from the National Center represents the latest addition to the series on developing Safe Schools partnerships. This publication identifies who is involved in juvenile justice (JJ) and mental health (MH) collaboration in schools; what JJ and MH problems are affecting youth; what the challenges to MH/JJ partnerships are; and steps JJ and MH can take to work together in the context of a Safe Schools collaboration. The insights and practices presented are based on learnings from the federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) experience and include strategies for: (1) providing leadership; (2) hiring/training/evaluating staff; and (3) carrying out JJ and MH partnership activities. Access the publication at http://www.promoteprevent.org/Publications/partnership_spotlights/JJandMH.pdf.

Other publications in the series focus on law enforcement best practices and partnerships between juvenile justice and schools. For more information, visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/Publications/partnership_spotlights/index.htm.

The National Center Redesigns Its Virtual Library
The Promote Prevent Library housed at http://library.promoteprevent.org has been redesigned to better suit the needs of SS/HS grantees. Resources are now organized by concise categories that are relevant to work being done through the initiative. The library is updated monthly as new resources become available; hundreds of new resources have recently been added. Users can easily find resources by browsing the 11 main categories or by entering keywords. For examples of resources that reside in the virtual library, scroll down to the In the News section of this E-Newsletter.

Meeting for New Grantees to Take Place in October 2008
Grantees from the FY 2008 SS/HS cohort are required to attend the New Grantees Meeting on October 28–29, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Attendees should include three participants from each grantee site—the project director, a key leadership representative, and the school district’s business/fiscal manager. At this meeting, attendees will be introduced to the administrative, reporting, fiscal, and programmatic requirements of the SS/HS initiative. Attendees will also meet with their federal project officers (FPOs), communication specialists (CSs), and technical assistant specialists (TASs).

Federal staff, technical assistance staff, and other consultants will conduct training sessions and presentations that include: (1) an exploration of obstacles and challenges faced by SS/HS sites; (2) an introduction to the technical assistance and support services available to all grantees; (3) an introduction to the evaluation framework; and, (4) the administrative requirements and challenges in managing your SS/HS program.

Recent Teleconference Discusses Gang Prevention Strategies
On September 18, 2008, the Latino Networking Group at the National Center hosted a teleconference on Gang Prevention Strategies in Latino Communities. During this teleconference, participants heard from two experts from the field who gave an overview of current gang-related issues and presented successful strategies for prevention and intervention to foster safer communities. Materials from this teleconference are available to all at http://learn.aero.und.edu/pages.asp?PageID=123806.

National Center Refunded by SAMHSA
The National Center has received new funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the next five years to continue providing technical assistance to Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) grantees. In addition, the National Center will begin providing technical assistance to a new initiative called Linking Action for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health (Project LAUNCH). This new program will provide funds to six localities through state agencies to plan and implement a range of healthy childhood development activities for children up to age 8.

The following is a summary of key findings from the fields of education, mental health, violence prevention, and/or youth substance abuse prevention.

Cyberbullying
Two members of the University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology conducted an anonymous online survey to explore teen experiences with cyberbullying.

The researchers discovered that the rates of cyberbullying and in-school bullying are correlated. The majority of young people in their study reported at least one incident of cyberbullying and one incident of bullying in school during the past year. Teens who reported more frequent cyberbullying also reported more frequent bullying in school. With the exception of physical assaults (which do not take place online) and password theft (which only takes place online), cyberbullying and in-school bullying are similar. For example, the unauthorized sharing of embarrassing or private information or photographs occurred at similar rates online and at school. Ninety percent of those who have been cyberbullied do not tell an adult. Cyberbullying also produces the same type of social anxiety associated with in-school bullying.

Of the 48 percent of teens who retaliated for cyberbullying, 60 percent did so in school. Only 12 percent retaliated online.

The authors reported that their research may help correct some common misconceptions about cyberbullying as well as inform designing strategies to prevent it. These corrections of common misconceptions include the following:
• Electronic communication mechanisms do not cause negative behaviors, but are tools youth often use for prosocial and supportive peer interaction.
• Cyberbullying is not anonymous. The majority of teens know who is bullying them.
• Young people tend not to use technology to avoid cyberbullies (by, for example, blocking instant messages from specific individuals) because they want to remain aware of the information that is being spread about them.
• A third of the young people who conceal cyberbullying from adults do so because they fear that revealing the bullying will result in having their access to the Internet and other electronic communication restricted.

“Extending the School Grounds? – Bullying Experiences in Cyberspace,” by Jaana Juvonen and Elisheva Gross, was published in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of School Health (Vol. 78, No. 9). See below for additional resources on cyberbullying.

This section highlights a few updates from the prevention field. Please go to http://library.promoteprevent.org for more news items and resources.

Resources on Creating Safer Schools and Communities
The Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence at the George Washington University provides guidance for creating safe school settings and involving the community in supporting students of all ages through a series of five guidebooks that feature recent research, best practices, and planning tools for educators and administrators. The Role of Mental Health Services in Promoting Safe and Secure Schools, for example, explores the role of mental health services in developing and maintaining safe schools while Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement discusses the nature and scope of collaboration and barriers to effectively working together. The series of guidebooks is available for download at http://gwired.gwu.edu/hamfish/Publications/Guides.

Electronic Media and Youth Violence Prevention
As the use of electronic media in communication has become increasingly popular among young people, the attention of educators, policymakers, and caregivers focused on youth violence prevention has been drawn to electronic aggression, any kind of harassment or bullying perpetrated through technology. Recent research shows that 9 percent to 35 percent of young people say they have been the victims of electronic aggression and that these victims are significantly more likely to use drugs and alcohol, skip school, and experience in-person aggression. In response to this emerging issue, CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health and Division of Violence Prevention have developed Electronic Media and Youth Violence: A CDC Issue Brief for Educators and Caregivers. This brief outlines steps that can be taken to prevent electronic aggression, such as developing school policies, establishing youth violence programs and educator training, and creating a positive school atmosphere for students. A companion tip sheet for parents is also available. Both publications can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/electronic_aggression.htm.

For additional information on the topic of bullying, visit Eyes on Bullying . . . What Can You Do? at http://www.eyesonbullying.org. This toolkit, developed by Education Development Center, Inc., is designed to help parents understand the seriousness of bullying and learn how to recognize and respond effectively to bullying behavior.

New Policy and Practice Brief on School Improvement Policy
With growing concern about reducing the dropout rate, closing the achievement gap, and ensuring all students have an equal opportunity for success at school, pressure is increasing for expanding the nature and scope of school improvement efforts. In their new brief, Moving Toward a Comprehensive System of Learning Supports: The Next Evolutionary Stage in School Improvement Policy and Practice, the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools discusses the need to not only coalesce current efforts but also to transform them by developing a comprehensive system of learning supports that weaves together school, home, and community resources. The brief highlights the need to expand policy, reframe interventions in classrooms and schoolwide, rework the operational and organizational infrastructure of schools, and develop systemic change mechanisms for effective implementation. This brief can be accessed at
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/briefs/paradigmshift.pdf.

The Grant Opportunities page is updated regularly with announcements of current public and private grant competitions. Here is one of the listings you will find:

Title: Annenberg Foundation Grants
Funder: Annenberg Foundation
Description: The Annenberg Foundation exists to advance public well-being through improved communication. As a principal means of achieving this goal, the Annenberg Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge. The Annenberg Foundation provides support for projects within its grant-making interest areas of education and youth, arts and culture, civic and community, and health.
Award: N/A
Deadline: Rolling
For more information: http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/grants

We regularly add to a detailed listing of conferences and events occurring within the National Center and across the nation. For example,

Date: November 20–23, 2008
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Title: Hope on the Horizon for Children, Youth and Families
Sponsor: National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health: Re-visioning mental health using a public health approach to promotion and prevention
Description: The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health welcomes families and youth who have personal experience with the mental health service delivery system and professionals in the human services field to its 20th annual conference, which will focus on eradicating stigma and promoting positive mental health. The conference will begin with Policy Day, which focuses on the promotion of public policy that puts investments in mental health promotion and prevention through a youth-guided and family-driven public health approach. In addition, the conference will feature a youth leadership track that provides diverse training opportunities for youth leaders and advocates.
Web site: http://www.ffcmh.org/conference2008/indexconference.html

Please visit the Events and Opportunities page at http://www.promoteprevent.org/events for a complete listing.