Greetings!
I hope you had a great start to the school year, and are settling in to prepare for the upcoming holiday season.
Happy School Psychology Week to all of our amazing School Psychologists- thank you for all you do! This year's theme is "Let's Grow Together"- what are you doing to promote growth in your school community, or for yourself? I would love to hear about your projects and goals.
Where am I? It is the busy conference season so I have been providing resources and workshops at several retiree luncheons, the NYSUT Member Benefits Conference, the Statewide SRP Conference, and the Rochester Women’s Committee meeting. November is gearing up to be full of opportunities as well as I join you all at your organizations’ statewide conferences: NYSSSWA, NYASP, and NYSSCA. Looking forward to meeting you, stop by and say hi!
News & opportunities:
REL-Northeast & Islands is excited to announce a new 5-part monthly Community of Practice (CoP) that will start in November titled Effective Implementation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support to Improve Student Wellbeing and Mental Health. This CoP is structured to help representatives from local education agencies (LEAs) identify and share best practices for implementing such a framework, as well as to work together to address common problems of practice. A major focus of the CoP will be the use of data to support MTSS planning and implementation. To apply
Free training: Creating Suicide Safety in Schools
This six-hour workshop provides exposure to best practices in suicide prevention and assists schools with developing building- and district-wide policies, procedures, and implementation plans for suicide prevention. The workshop provides a planning team – which may include administrators, school health and mental health professionals, school counselors, nurses, and community providers – with an opportunity to develop an action plan via small and large group discussions. More info here
SAVE THE DATE: May 11, 2024 for NYSUT's Health Care Professionals Conference at the Crowne Plaza Albany- The Desmond Hotel. This year will feature a "Mental Health Track" with offerings for social workers, psychologists and counselors. More info coming soon!
Updates from NEA:
The American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica just released a report on climate change and the mental health of children. According to the authors, “The report aims to offer a synopsis of both impacts and responses, translating peer-reviewed research, agency reports, and other primary sources to help empower a wider audience with useful insights and guidance. It is intended for health and mental health professionals and institutions, climate and children’s advocates and advocacy organizations, policymakers, youth, parents, educators, and other organizations or people interested in the topic.” You can find it here: Mental Health and Our Changing Climate--Children and Youth Report 2023.
ChildTrends recently released a toolkit on school employee wellness. It notes that “a comprehensive approach that centers employee voice and leverages school systems’ role in setting and enforcing policies and distributing resources has greater potential to achieve systemwide reductions in job stressors and increases in access to wellness resources for all employees, especially those with the greatest needs.” You can find it here: ChildTrends School Employee Wellness.
