AICAFMHA:
promoting mental health for young Australians
Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd
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GREETINGS FROM PORTLAND, OREGON!

Welcome to rtcUpdates for January 2005.

rtcUpdates are brought to you by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health in Portland, Oregon. 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:
**PORTLAND FAMILY STRENGTHS CONFERENCE?Invitation to Present or Attend
**FEATURED DISCUSSION?Defining Family-Driven Care
**NATIONAL WRAPAROUND INITIATIVE?New Products
**WRITE FOR FOCAL POINT?Propose an Article Related to ?Recovery & Resilience?
**RTC PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTS?Recently Produced
**DATA TRENDS?Recent Research Summaries
**FROM THE WEB?Online Information and Sites of Interest

**PORTLAND FAMILY STRENGTHS CONFERENCE

Mark your calendars for?and consider presenting at?the RTC?s annual conference in June!

The RTC?s annual ?Building on Family Strengths? conference will be held June 23-25, 2005, in Portland, Oregon. Chances of rain are low; chances of learning, laughing, and leaving empowered are high! We?re developing a program around the theme of ?Assets and evidence: Positive strategies for reducing disparities and transforming children?s mental health.?

Visit our conference website for program and registration updates (registration will begin in late March 2005), or to submit a presentation proposal (deadline February 11th, 2005).
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgConference.shtml

For more information, contact Lyn Gordon at 503-725-4114 or via e-mail at gordonl@pdx.edu.

**FEATURED DISCUSSION?Defining Family-Driven Care

The report of the President?s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has become highly influential in discussions and decisions regarding the future of mental health care in the US. One of the key themes of the report is that mental health must increasingly become ?consumer and family driven.? The Commissioners stated emphatically that families ?must stand at the center of the system of care? and the needs of children, youth, and families must ?drive the care and services that are provided.? The report, however, did not define ?family driven.?

This month?s Featured Discussion focuses on ?family driven?: Why is a new term needed, what does it really mean, and what does family-driven care look like in practice? We invite you to read the essay, and to post your views on this timely topic.
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFeaturedDiscussions.php

We also invite you to review the responses to last month?s topic, ?Family involvement and the older adolescent: Where does advocacy stop and interference begin??
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFeaturedDiscussions18.php

**NATIONAL WRAPAROUND INITIATIVE?New Products

The National Wraparound Initiative (NWI) is pleased to announce three new products resulting from a large-scale collaboration including experts from around the country.

1. Ten principles of the Wraparound process
This document provides a revised version of the principles of Wraparound, and includes commentary about each principle to clarify its meaning.
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/TenPrincWAProcess.pdf
Information about how this document was developed:
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/NWIRevPrincWA.htm

2. Phases and activities of the Wraparound process
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/PhaseActivWAProcess.pdf
Information about how this document was developed:
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/NWIDescHQualWA.htm

3. Organizational and system support for Wraparound: An introduction
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/OrgSystemSuppWAIntro.pdf
Information about how this document was developed:
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/NWIDescStandOrgSys.htm

For more information about the NWI and its work, follow this link:
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/nwi/

**WRITE FOR FOCAL POINT?Propose an Article Related to ?Recovery & Resilience?

Within children?s mental health, recovery- and resilience-oriented approaches are characterized by a focus on helping children and youth with emotional and behavioral difficulties?and their families?achieve and sustain satisfying lives in their chosen communities. Like resilience, recovery?an emerging concept in children?s mental health?implies ?bouncing back? onto a positive, preferred developmental trajectory. The Summer 2005 issue of Focal Point will feature essays about personal experiences with recovery/resilience, as well as descriptions of programs that promote community integration, self-efficacy and self-determination, hope and optimism, and/or the acquisition of assets and competencies.

We are currently accepting proposals for articles and essays (finished articles and essays may be up to 2000 words) to be included in this issue of Focal Point. Proposals should be 300 words or less and should describe a technique, program, or personal experience that addresses one or more of the themes outlined above. If you are proposing an article about a program or technique, please include information (such as evaluation results) that speaks to the quality and/or effectiveness of the approach. Please submit proposals to Janet Walker, Focal Point editor: janetw@pdx.edu, by January 31, 2005.

**RTC PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTS?Recently Produced

NEW Green, B. L., McAllister, C. L. & Tarte, J. M. (2004). The Strengths-Based Practices Inventory: A tool for measuring strengths-based service delivery in early childhood and family support programs. Families in Society: A Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 85, 326-334. Available from your local or university library.

NEW FREE REPRINTS Walker, J. S., & Schutte, K. M. (2004). Practice and process in wraparound teamwork. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 12(3), 192-192. Search by title and order online from our publications page).

*Enhanced Online Search Feature

The RTC has an enhanced publications search and order form. Search by key phrases, type of publication, author, date of publication, and more. Many of our publications are available in .pdf format and can be downloaded free of charge.
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgPublications.php

**DATA TRENDS?Recent Research Summaries

*Low Income Mothers Coming to Primary Care: Depression and Reports of Problems with their Children (#109)
*Practice and Process in Wraparound Teamwork (#108) (Free reprints available from our publications page)
*Parents' Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Resources and Mental Health Service Self- Efficacy (#107)

Visit our "Data Trends" web page at http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgDataTrends.shtml

You can also search for and download all Data Trends from our Publications web page http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgPublications.php

Search Tips:
*For a list of all Data Trends, choose "Data Trends" as Publication Type and click "Get" *For specific Data Trends topics type a keyword or phrase in "Phrase" and click "Get"

**FROM THE WEB

**Mental Health Hits and Misses in 108th Congress
The Bazelon Center has presented a wrap-up of the legislation from the 108th Congress. The brief post-election session came to an end with some hits and misses in terms of mental health legislation.
http://www.bazelon.org/takeaction/alerts/12-04update.htm

**Findings Raise New Questions About Influence of Culture
According to the results of a National Institutes of Health study, Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites born in the United States have a higher risk for developing psychiatric disorders than their foreign-born counterparts.
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/press/2004/NESARCimmigration.htm

**Experiences of Children with a Parent Who Has a Psychiatric Disability
The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal contains an article entitled, "Good Days and Bad Days: The Experiences of Children of a Parent with a Psychiatric Disability". The article highlights secondary data analysis of a study that included face-to-face interviews with children describing their experiences and perceptions of living with a parent with a psychiatric disability.
http://www.bu.edu/prj/summer2004/RiebschlegerPRJsum04%2028.1.pdf

**Mutant Gene Linked to Treatment-Resistant Depression
A report funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute indicates the discovery of a mutant gene that starves the brain of serotonin, a mood-regulating chemical messenger.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/tryptophangene.cfm

**Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments and Services
This report, from the Milbank Memorial Fund, informs policymakers about the significance of recent advances in evaluating evidence for allocating resources to and within public mental health programs.
http://www.milbank.org/reports/2004lehman/2004lehman.html

**UCLA Site Lists Educational Software and Sites
The Center for Mental Health in Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles, maintains a website that lists mental health related software and websites that feature interactive programs related to a wide range of social and mental health education resources.
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/MHmultimedia.htm

**Promoting Positive Adult Functioning
This report from the Social Development Research Group demonstrates how childhood social development interventions can promote positive adult functioning and prevent mental health problems, crimes, and substance use at age 21.
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/159/1/25

**San Francisco?s Youth Treatment and Education Court Academy
The model integrates treatment with education to support youth who have committed a criminal offense and have a history of drug or alcohol abuse.
http://police.sfgov.org/site/mocj_page.asp?id=4809

**Parent-Teen Relationships and Interactions: Far More Positive Than Not
This brief from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth illustrates recent results of a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens regarding the nature of their relationships with their parents and findings from research studies on the parent-adolescent bond.
http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Parent_TeenRB.pdf

**Partnerships Between Government and Faith-Based Organizations
The Religion and Social Welfare Research Roundtable has analyzed the current legal environment surrounding government-funded support of faith-based social service providers.
http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/docs/legal/reports/
12-09-2004_state_of_the_law.pdf

**Road Map to Freedom for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities provided a report to President Bush, summarizing activities to update policies for people with intellectual disabilities for the 21st century. The report makes recommendations in several areas of public awareness.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/pcpid/2004_rpt_pres/2004_rpt_toc.html

**National Youth Violence Prevention Week April 4?8, 2005
The National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere and The Guidance Channel are gearing up for National Youth Violence Prevention Week, April 4-8, 2005. The goal of the week is to raise awareness and to educate people on effective ways to prevent or reduce youth violence.
http://www.violencepreventionweek.org/index.html

**Two Studies from the University of Chicago's Chapin Hill Center for Children
1) Educational Experiences of Children in Out-of-Home Care
This study examines the educational performance of abused and neglected children placed in out-of-home care.
http://www.chapinhall.org/article_abstract_new.asp?ar=1372&L2=61&L3=130

2) The Educational Status of Foster Children
This study examines the educational status of foster children.
http://www.chapinhall.org/article_abstract_new.asp?ar=1377&L2=61&L3=130

**Overall, Teen Drug Use Continues to Decline, But Use Of Inhalants Rises
Monitoring the Future survey states, " The proportion of American 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students who reported using any illicit drug in the prior 12 months continued a gradual decline in 2004....inhalant use continued to increase.??
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pressreleases/04drugpr_complete.pdf

**OJJDP Fact Sheet on Overcoming Barriers to School Re-entry
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has released a fact sheet that discusses building partnerships between the justice and education systems to overcome barriers to school re-entry.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200403.pdf

**Children, Families and the 21st Century Workplace
The New America Foundation examined the effects of current working conditions on families and found that the lack of flexibility in work hours has been linked to depression in women. Negative maternal perceptions of workplace support is shown to lead to negative behaviors among kids.
http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_2146_1.pdf

**Mentoring Month: A Look at Family Engagement in Mentoring
January is National Mentoring Month and the National Assembly's Family Strengthening Policy Center has released ?Mentoring as a Family Strengthening Strategy.? This and other briefs in the series describe ways in which reinforcing connections within families and between families and the institutions that affect them produce positive results for children and their families.
http://www.nassembly.org/fspc/practice/documents/Mentoring_FINAL.pdf

Funds to support this activity come from the Child, Adolescent and Family Branch, 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.

The Research and Training Center makes its products accessible to diverse audiences. If you need a publication or product in an alternative format, please contact the Publications Coordinator: 503.725.4175 or rtcpubs@pdx.edu.

To unsubscribe from rtcUpdates, send a message to portlandrtc@pdx.edu with the words "unsubscribe rtc" in the body of the message.

Back to AICAFMHA Homepage / News in Brief Index / Issue #5.01

Last Modified: 12-02-2005 20:31:54