AICAFMHA:
promoting mental health for young Australians
Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd
ABN 87 093 479 022
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Welcome to rtcUpdates for January 2003. rtcUpdates are brought to you by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health. Subscribers to rtcUpdates receive occasional email messages from the RTC containing information about the RTC's recent research, publications and other activities, as well as information about developments in the field of Children's Mental Health.
Feel free to forward this message to friends and colleagues. If this email was forwarded to you, you will need to subscribe to rtcUpdates in order to receive future emails. To subscribe to rtcUpdates, go to the RTC home page at http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/ and click on the "Join our List!" link.
***********************************************************CONTENTS OF THIS UPDATE:
** FORUMS--New bulletin board discussions on our web site
** BUILDING ON FAMILY STRENGTHS CONFERENCE--Call for presentations
** DATA TRENDS--Recent research summaries
** RTC PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTS--Recently produced
** FROM THE WEB--Online information and sites of interest
**FORUMS--Post your opinions!
We encourage you to visit the new Forums section of our website to read and post opinions about issues in the field of Children's Mental Health. The topic of this month's Featured Discussion is Cultural Competence: How Far Have We Come? http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFeaturedDiscussions.php
Recent topics in the Open Discussions section include:
* A parent asking about recovery as portrayed in the interim report of
the New Freedom Commission
* "Hanging on to my kids" asking for information about how to avoid
giving up custody to access mental health services when insurance runs out
* A discussion of if, and where, true systems of care exist
* A request for stories of success from schools with long term
experience using functional assessments and positive behavioral supports
Visit Open Discussions: http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgRTCBBMain.php
*************************************************************BUILDING ON FAMILY STRENGTHS CONFERENCE--
The 10th annual Building on Family Strengths Conference will be held June 26 to June 28, 2003 at the Hilton Hotel in Portland, Oregon.
The call for presentations for the 2003 conference is now available on our website. The submission deadline has just been extended to January 31, 2003. We welcome online submissions!
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgConference.shtml
************************************************************* DATA TRENDS--Recent research summaries include:
* Preventing Unnecessary Detention of Children
in Foster Care Involved with Juvenile Justice (#66)
* Reducing Dropout from Therapy in a Community
Mental Health Center (#65)
* Impact of Poverty on Family Quality of Life (#64)
* Implementing IDEA '97 Disciplinary Provisions (#63)
* Psychiatric disorders & service use
among White & African American rural youth (#62)
* The paradigm shift from provider-driven to family-driven
Systems of Care (#61)
Visit our "Data Trends" web page at http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgDataTrends.shtml
** RTC PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTS-Recently produced
* Focal Point Articles from Fall 2002 Issue:
Walker, J. S. (2002). Assessing and addressing cultural competence in
systems of care. Focal Point 16(2), 3.
Download this article or entire issue at
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFPF02TOC.php
Brennan, E., Caplan, E. H., Ama, S., Warfield, O., & Bradley, J. (2002).
Inclusive child care: Challenges and strategies. Focal Point 16(2), 23-25.
Download this article or
entire issue at
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFPF02TOC.php
Walker, J. S. & Cook, J. (2002). Caregivers' perspectives on cultural
competence. Focal Point, 16(2), 35-36.
Download this article or entire issue at
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFPF02TOC.php
Walker, J. S. (2002). Measuring client perspectives on cultural
competence. Focal Point, 16(2), 30.
Download this article or entire issue at
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFPF02TOC.php
* Other Publications:
Walker, J. S. & Pullmann, M. (2002). A look inside the Research and
Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health. Beyond
Behavior, 12(1), 8-9.
(not available from our center)
Koroloff, N. M., Parks, J., McLeod, M. & Steltzer, C. (2002). Cultural competency and early childhood mental health. Multnomah County, Oregon's Early Childhood Mental Health Best Practices Project literature review workgroup report. Portland, OR: Regional Research Institute for Human Services, Graduate School of Social Work, Portland State University. FREE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - One per order, please. Order your free copy at http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgPublications.shtml (search by author) or send an email request to rtcpubs@pdx.edu.
* Review of the RTC Website:
Creitz, J. (2002). One-stop resource on disabilities & mental health.
America's Family Support Magazine, 21(2), 66.
From the Surf's Up
department of America's Family Support Magazine, Joe Creitz reviews our
center's website with comments such as "a depth of training resources,"
"extensive and accessible," and "One could spend days trying to collect
a list of Web resources as extensive as those found here, or one could
simply bookmark the RTC site."
(not available from our center)
** FROM THE WEB--Online information and sites of interest
ACCESS TO SERVICES
**New report on parent experiences of access to MH Services
A new report has been released which details the experience of
Massachusetts parents when they navigate the mental health system for
their children. The report, Speak Out for Access, was jointly prepared
by Parent/Professional Advocacy League (PAL) and Health Care for All.
Over 300 families responded to a 42-question survey about their
experiences with access, waits, schools, crisis care, medications, early
identification and parental involvement.
The full report is available at http://www.ppal.net/speakout/
**New report from OFSN on children's MH services in Oregon
Oregon Family Support Network released the findings of a 32 page
report on children's mental health services in Oregon at a news
conference at the state capitol. The report was prepared by the
Washington DC based Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. The report
asserts that the state is failing in providing services for Oregon
children with serious emotional disorders.
The complete report is available online and can be downloaded from
http://www.bazelon.org/children/oregon/
**Former TANF Recipients with Impairments Less Likely to Be Employed
TANF recipients who have mental or physical impairments, or are
caring for children who do, are less likely to leave TANF and those who
do leave are less likely to be employed, reports the General Accounting
Office. This recent report asserts that "These findings underscore the
challenge states face in ensuring that such recipients receive needed
assistance to meet the work-focused goals and requirements of TANF."
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d03210high.pdf
FOSTER CARE
**Assessing Youth's Life Skills
The Casey Family Programs website offers free online assessment
tool to measure a youth's life skills. The four different versions of
the tool can be used by youths from age 8 to age 25 and their
caregivers. Results are scored automatically.
http://www.caseylifeskills.org/
SPECIAL EDUCATION
**Discipline of Special Education Students
A report on the Education Commission of the States website offers
a state by state list of legislation regarding the disciplining of
special education students.
http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/13/19/1319.htm
OTHER RESOURCES & INFORMATION
**American Self-Help Group Clearinghouse
The Clearinghouse website offers a keyword-searchable database of
over one thousand "self-help" support groups for many specific
circumstances, including illness, disability, addiction, bereavement,
parenting, caregiver concern, abuse, and other stressful life
situations. The Clearinghouse is located in NJ and may be reached by
phone at (973) 326-6789.
http://www.selfhelpgroups.org/
**New Issue of The Evaluation Exchange
The latest issue of Harvard Family Research Project's periodical,
"The Evaluation Exchange," is now available: "This issue...focuses on
public communication campaigns and their efforts to achieve desirable
social outcomes. Articles in the first half of the issue offer promising
practices and tips for campaign designers and implementers. Articles in
the second half examine how campaigns are being evaluated and associated
issues, challenges, and innovations."
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue20/
**Creating Mentoring Opportunities for Youth with Disabilities: Issues
and Suggested Strategies
This issue brief addresses the need for expansion of mentoring
opportunities for youth with disabilities. Specifically, the brief a)
outlines some of the benefits of mentoring for youth, b) defines the
issue of the need for expanded mentoring opportunities for youth with
disabilities, and c) presents strategies for including youth with
disabilities in mentoring programs.
http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=704
**Integrating Service Systems at the Point of Transition for Youth with
Significant Disabilities: A Model that Works
This information brief from NCSET describes an effective service
model for addressing transition issues for youth with disabilities. It
focuses on coordinating services to improve transitions to employment or
post-secondary education.
http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=705
**The Center for Disease Control's Web-Based Autism Information Center
The information center focuses on the activities of federal and
federally funded programs and the resources produced by these programs.
It includes information about autism spectrum disorders; activities of
the CDC and other federal agencies; state activities funded by the CDC;
education, services, and research resources. It also offers activities
to help children use the Internet to learn more about autism spectrum
disorders.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/ddautism.htm
**Challenging the Stigma of Bipolar Disorder
A profile of Lizzie Simon, author of "Detour: My Bi-Polar Trip In
4-D" highlights her work to reveal the stories of people with bi-polar
disorder who are "productive, creative and successful."
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=134462
**Helping Kids with Depression
Skip Corsini, a parent who has struggled with depression since
childhood, offers a parenting "prescription" for children with depression.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=134463
Funds to support this activity come from the Child, Adolescent and Family Branch, Federal Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education.
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