Hope4MentalHealth.org – Mental Health – Non-Profit – Helping Youth

Special needs children require a level of attention that far exceeds that of other children. Compassion, patience, and understanding are resources that are often quickly exhausted when addressing the demanding task of caring for these special children. As children enter adolescence, their disabilities become more difficult to manage and can increase the stress on the teachers and family members. This creates a tension that impacts intimate relationships, relationships with other family members, and overall well-being of caregivers. For teachers, the quality of instruction they deliver to the rest of their students is compromised because of the increased stress. In fact, barely one-third of teachers believe they are qualified to address the many needs of these children who are integrated into their classrooms.  Replenishing the emotional resources of these key individuals is vital to the psychological and physical health of the disabled child, the parents, and the teachers.

Mindfulness training (MT) is a technique that is based on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and teaches individuals how to reduce stress by increasing compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. This emotional regulation intervention was the basis for a recent study conducted by Rita Benn of the Institute for Social Research and Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan. Benn enlisted 52 parents and caregivers of special needs children and followed them as they participated in 5 weeks of MT. They were assessed for levels of compassion, forgiveness, and stress before the MT, shortly after week 5, and again 2 months later.

Benn found that all of the participants reported increases in their awareness, patience, and compassion. Specifically, participants were more conscious of the way they processed their emotions and were less judgmental and more tolerant of others. Benn discovered that this effect increased with time, with all the participants showing elevated levels of awareness, patience, forgiveness, and compassion 2 months after the study. Teachers in the study also reported improvements in self-efficacy as a result of the MT. However, parents, who were with their children for longer periods of time during the summer months in which this study was conducted, realized smaller gains in stress and compassion than the teachers. This finding could suggest that parents, who do not get nights and weekends off from caring for their children, may need ongoing MT in order to see changes equal to those of the teachers. Overall, this study demonstrates that implementing MT in a school setting can provide much-needed stress reduction and positive psychological effects for the caretakers of special needs children and for the children themselves, but even more research is needed. Benn added, “Key to this work will be an assessment of how and when MT affects observable behavior in family and classroom settings and what effects, if any, such changes have on children’s academic, social, and emotional development.”

The broken-hearted question asked by a mom when she learned her daughter’s friend had been one of those killed in a headline-grabbing triple murder/suicide this last Saturday.  As adults, it is hard for us to get our own minds around the idea that a child we know has been killed.  How then, do we begin to explain it to our children?

According to Dr. Dehra Glueck, Clinical Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Center at Washington University School of Medicine, “The goal is to first elicit what the child knows and is worried about – especially with older children that may have different questions and fears”.

Here are some key points to giving children sad news about the death of a friend, and a few extras for this specific tragedy:

This acronym SADD NEWS can help you remember the key points:

• Setting: Prepare to talk to your child by doing some physical things that will allow you to be calm. Find a place that is quiet and neutral, not a bedroom. Pick a time that is quiet and not rushed. Turn off the TV. Pick a time when you won’t be rushing out the door or going right to bed. All of this allows you to be at your best and your child to have time to ask questions while you are together. If the news only impacts one child, make arrangements for the others to be out of the room or, if possible, out of the house to allow your child your full attention.
• Actual and Factual: Keep you explanation short and honest. Misleading or lying to a child leads to confusion later when he may over hear others talking. Talking too much can confuse children.  “I have to talk to you about something very sad. Your friend Samantha died last night “.If your child is under 4, explain further: “This means that she is gone forever and not going to come back.”
• Decompress and Decide: Give the child time to think while sitting quietly next to you. Respond to any questions or statements with short answers. Decide what to say based on if the information meets the goal of making your child feel safe and clarifies misunderstandings.

• Encourage your child to talk about her thoughts and feelings if she says nothing after a few minutes. Let her know it is ok to feel sad and  to ask questions: “This makes me very sad. How do you feel? What questions do you have?”
• Limit the amount of information you give.

When discussing more, remember:

1. Need to know only: talking about how much blood was in a room, or the fact that someone lost an arm in the accident are not important and can frighten the child.
2. Explain what happened in simple terms. He died in a car accident. The fact it occurred at rush hour on Hwy 40, is not important. Keep it brief to allow child to process the information.
3. Wait for additional questions. Encourage your child to talk about questions and feelings as time passes.  If your child doesn’t ask right away how her friend died, it is ok to wait a day or two and then discuss more.
4. Support: Depending on the situation, you may also be dealing with difficult emotions.  Seek out support via friends, family, your physician or credible resources so you can emotionally equipped to support your child.

• What to say when a child was killed by the parent or someone commits suicide:

Her mommy was very sick. Not sick like you sometimes get when you get a runny nose or cough, but sick in her brain that made her think things that were not true. She was so confused that she did something to make Samantha die. This sickness doesn’t happen to many mommies. This is the first mommy I have ever known that got this kind of sick.

• Some examples for differing situations:
  • He died in a car accident. Car accidents are very rare. They don’t happen often. Dad drives slowly, and we all wear seat belts and sit in car seats to stay safe.
  • She died of cancer. Cancer is something that happens to very small numbers of kids. You can’t get cancer from being friends with someone who has cancer. Medicines can help many kids with cancer. Sometimes medicines don’t work, and the child dies. We go see to see your doctor for well visits so he can give you a check up and make sure you are healthy.

We hear a great deal about relationships — people are either thrilled or distraught by one, looking for or leaving one, beginning or ending one. Most of the time that word seems to describe a greatly expanded version of what we Grandmothers used to refer to as an affair.

Today’s blog is going to concentrate on the importance of a relationship as it applies to the way we raise and communicate with our children. It’s an easy word to repeat and a topic about which we offer much advice or comfort. However, what is not so easy is fine-tuning the details of what it may mean to the young children we are raising, nurturing and educating.

Cornerstone of all relationships

First let’s state a given. Relationships are basic to survival. Many studies have been done with children in institutions or ones who have been orphaned following wars. The famous study done by Rene Spitz in the 1940s found that infants, cared for physically but denied any social or emotional care, after some months of deprivation “would lie or sit with wide-open, expressionless eyes, frozen immobile faces, and a faraway expression as if in a daze, apparently not perceiving what went on in their environment.” These were children who had been fed and looked after medically but had had little or no nurturing relationship of any kind. He suggested that the children who had reached this state probably could not be brought back to full emotional health.

The intent here is not to suggest that any of our homes are like wartime institutions but to discuss just how critical these early years are. The importance of the relationships our youngest children experience cannot be exaggerated and it is our privilege and responsibility to be the most responsive families we can be. The things that happen in these early years set the framework within which we live, learn and relate to others for our entire lives.

One sobering idea is that a child can develop and survive in a relationship with a loving, nurturing parent or, heaven forbid, with a parent who is critical, belittles or even physically abuses him or her. Both are strong relationships. Within each of these relationship-based family living situations a child will develop a personality, will absorb learning styles, ways to love, be curious, relate to family, peers, friends and colleagues. They are not apt to slide into that perpetual daze Spitz describes unable to perceive what is going on around them because those children experienced no significant relationships at all.

We should then ask ourselves, “Will I be the parent who will provide a safe, supportive environment — provide love and encouragement so that my child can be free to take full advantage of his capacities to learn, make friends and be curious about his environment?” Or, “Will she have to use boundless energy, both physical and mental, to survive the destructive criticism she hears? Will she have to learn to avoid, as best she can, the continual explosions of anger directed toward her?” Both these kinds of relationships have life long ramifications.

Starting from Day One

Getting to know and understand our kids begins at birth.

We learn early to recognize our baby’s different cries, each one alerting us to different feelings and needs. As they develop we try to be attentive to their non-verbal messages understanding, for example, when our 10 to 12 month old has grown impatient with breast feeding and is ready to sip from a cup or when our toddler clearly signifies she would like to be a big girl and use the potty rather than soiling pull-ups well into her third and fourth years. Our response to our kids says we trust their signals about growing up little by little, which develops the confidence that emerges when their messages are understood and acted upon.

Because of the relationship we have developed with our preschooler, for example, it is of utmost importance that we stay with her at least the first full day of starting a program away from home. She is used to being at home with us, used to the routines, the food, the smells, the rules. Visiting school with her those first days gives her the message that even if there are things she thoroughly dislikes about this new place, its new teachers, children, food, cots etc, at least we’ve seen it and put our stamp of approval on it. She has seen us talking with the teachers, has played with us with the puzzles and knows we have seen all these new kids. If we, with whom she has such a strong relationship have approved of all this then it must be OK.

What message will we understand at the end of the program day when she flings herself on the floor, gets very busy with a puzzle or yells “no” when we pick her up in the evening after work. It certainly doesn’t mean she prefers the child-care center or preschool program to us. She is simply demonstrating just where the strongest relationship is. We usually behave the worst for the people we love the best and her message here is ” I had to wait ALL day for you so now you’ll see how it felt when you have to wait for me!” We Grandmothers know parents will understand, feel the love she really has for them and be able to empathize with her about the long day as you go home together.

Often children feel unloved or ignored when they need our understanding, love or approval and they express these emotions with behaviors that can be easily misunderstood resulting in everyone being upset. Sometimes it means just taking a moment to rethink the actions that have angered us, trying to see them from a child’s perspective.

As hard as it is with lives brimming with too many things to do and so little adult time to ourselves, taking a minute to try to understand or even admit we misunderstood, will often save time and tears and develop a deeper trust. Time spent nurturing these special relationships throughout the early years reaps immeasurable benefits throughout life for our children and for ourselves.

Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing. – Jim Rohn

This month we will continue to examine qualities of healthy families as researched by author Dolores Curran in her book “Traits of a Healthy Family,” published in 1983. The author surveyed 551 professionals working with families to identify the qualities found in healthy families. These professionals came from education, health, family counseling, churches, and voluntary organizations.

Fifteen traits, out of a possible 56, were identified most frequently by the professionals surveyed.

Although this research is nearly 30 years old, it remains relevant today. The traits that were reflective of healthy families in the eighties may still contribute to healthy family life in the twenty-first century.

• Sharing time is essential for a healthy family. Included in this are three traits:
• • The healthy family has a sense of play and humor (Trait 5).
• • The healthy family has a balance of interaction among members (Trait 9).
• • The healthy family shares leisure time (Trait 14).

When a family has limited time together, other important traits of a healthy family suffer, including communication, affirmation and support, trust, and others. As Curran stated, “Lack of time, then, might be the most pervasive enemy the healthy family has.”

Work, organized activities for children, technology . . . we have become slaves to the clock, calendar, computer, and cell phone. Family is about relationships, and relationships take time. If we are unwilling to commit time to our family, the relationships will suffer.

Hallmarks of families with a sense of play and humor, according to Curran’s book, include:

• • Attention to the need to play
• • Recognition of the family’s stress level; control of that stress level through control of the family’s activities
• • Recognition that play does not equate with spending money
• • Use of humor positively.

In her research, Curran found that families with a balance of interaction among members could be identified in two ways:

• They do not allow work and other activities to routinely infringe on family time, and
• •They discourage forming coalitions or cliques among family members.

Both of these require attention to what is going on within the family.

The healthy family that shares leisure time:

• • Keeps its leisure time in balance, recognizing that not every moment of leisure time needs to be spent together. A shared family leisure activity once a week may be enough.
• • Prioritizes leisure activities. Choices must be made. Limiting children to one organized leisure activity at a time is usually recommended. Parents would probably do well to limit themselves too.
• • Values time alone with individual family members. Husbands and wives need to plan time alone together, as well as time alone with each child. A half hour of focused playtime each week with each child individually will pay dividends.
• • Controls television, video game, computer, and cell phone usage.
• • Plans how to use its leisure time. Put it on the calendar like any other commitment and honor that commitment.

The professionals Curran surveyed identified the healthy family exhibits a sense of shared responsibility as the sixth most important trait of a healthy family. To foster a sense of responsibility, several things must be understood:

• • There is a relationship between responsibility and self-esteem.
• • Responsibility means more than doing chores and homework; it also includes sensitivity to others’ feelings and maintaining a “reasonably harmonious household.”
• • Responsibility doesn’t necessarily mean orderliness and perfection,” neatness, success, or achievement.
• • Responsibility needs to be geared to capability.
• • Recognition of responsibility is important.
• • Irresponsible family members need to live with the consequences. It is much easier to learn the lessons of irresponsibility as a child than as an adult.

Development of a healthy family requires desire and commitment. Many of the pieces may already be in place. Identify changes that need to be made, prioritize them, and tackle them one at a time. One simple change may make a big difference.

via Morning Sun

Those of us who own pets know they make us happy. But a growing body of scientific research is showing that our pets can also make us healthy, or healthier.

That helps explain the increasing use of animals — dogs and cats mostly, but also birds, fish, and even horses — in settings ranging from hospitals and nursing homes to schools, jails and mental institutions.

Take Viola, or Vi for short. The retired guide dog is the resident canine at the Children’s Inn on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The Inn is where families stay when their children are undergoing experimental therapies at NIH.

Vi, a chunky yellow Labrador retriever with a perpetually wagging tail, greets families as they come downstairs in the morning, as they return from treatment in the afternoon, and can even be “checked out” for a walk around the bucolic NIH grounds.

“There really isn’t a day when she doesn’t brighten the spirits of a kid at the Inn. And an adult. And a staff member,” says Meredith Daly, the Inn’s spokeswoman.

But Vi may well be doing more than just bringing smiles to the faces of stressed out parents and children. Dogs like Vi have helped launch an entirely new field of medical research over the past three decades or so.

The use of pets in medical settings actually dates back more than 150 years, says Aubrey Fine, a clinical psychologist and professor at California State Polytechnic University. “One could even look at Florence Nightingale recognizing that animals provided a level of social support in the institutional care of the mentally ill,” says Fine, who has written several books on the human-animal bond.

But it was only in the late 1970s that researchers started to uncover the scientific underpinnings for that bond.

One of the earliest studies, published in 1980, found that heart attack patients who owned pets lived longer than those who didn’t. Another early study found that petting one’s own dog could reduce blood pressure.

More recently, says Rebecca Johnson, a nurse who heads the Research Center for Human/Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, studies have been focusing on the fact that interacting with animals can increase people’s level of the hormone oxytocin.

“That is very beneficial for us,” says Johnson. “Oxytocin helps us feel happy and trusting.” Which, Johnson says, may be one of the ways that humans bond with their animals over time.

But Johnson says it may also have longer-term human health benefits. “Oxytocin has some powerful effects for us in the body’s ability to be in a state of readiness to heal, and also to grow new cells, so it predisposes us to an environment in our own bodies where we can be healthier.”

Animals can also act as therapists themselves or facilitate therapy – even when they’re not dogs or cats.

For example, psychologist Aubrey Fine, who works with troubled children, uses dogs in his practice but also a cockatoo and even a bearded dragon named Tweedle.

“One of the things that’s always been known is that the animals help a clinician go under the radar of a child’s consciousness, because the child is much more at ease and seems to be much more willing to reveal,” he says.

Horses have also become popular therapists for people with disabilities.

“The beauty of the horse is that it can be therapeutic in so many different ways,” says Breeanna Bornhorst, executive director of the Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program in Clifton, Va. “Some of our riders might benefit from the connection and the relationship-building with the horse and with their environment. Other riders maybe will benefit physically, from the movements, and build that core strength, and body awareness and muscle memory.”

On a recent day, one of the therapeutic riding program’s instructors – speech therapist Cathy Coleman – works one-on-one with 9-year-old Ryan Shank-Rowe, who has autism.

Well, not really one-on-one. The co-therapist in this session is a speckled pony named Happy.

“Walk on” says Ryan, and Happy obediently does. “Excellent,” Coleman replies.

As the session progresses, Ryan makes Happy trot, weave in and out of poles, and even rides bareback, all the while answering Coleman’s questions and keeping up a continual back-and-forth chatter.

Coleman says she used to see Ryan in a more formal office environment. But since he’s started horseback riding, his speech has actually improved.

“I get greater engagement, greater alertness, more language, more processing, all those things,” she says. “Plus, he’s just really good at it.”

And Ryan’s mother, Donna Shank, says the riding has helped with more than just his speech.

“It’s helped his following directions, some really core life skills about getting dressed and balance — which really translate to a lot of safety issues, too.”

But not all the research is focused on the humans. “We want to know how the animals are benefitting from the exchange,” says Rebecca Johnson of the University of Missouri.

Much of Johnson’s research, for example, has focused on the value of dog-walking by studying volunteers who walk dogs at animal shelters. She even wrote a book, Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound.

Those programs have clearly helped people get healthier, she says. Not only do they increase their exercise while they’re walking the dogs, “but it increases their awareness, so that they exercise more during the week.”

But it turns out the program was also helping the dogs.

“What we found was that they were significantly more likely to be adopted if they were in the dogwalking group,” she says, thanks to the additional exercise and socialization they were getting.

Johnson’s now working on a new project with likely benefits for dogs and humans. Military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are providing shelter dogs with basic obedience training.

And while it’s still early in the research, she says, one thing seems pretty clear: “Helping the animals is helping the veterans to readjust to being at home.”

Now the research is getting an even bigger scientific boost.

The National Institutes of Health, with funding from pet food giant Mars, Inc., recently created a federal research program to study human-animal interaction. The program, operated through the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, offers scientists research grants to study the impact of animals on child development; in physical and psychological therapeutic treatments, and on the effects of animals on public health, including their ability to reduce or prevent disease.

Johnson says it’s critical to establish the scientific foundation for the premise that animals are good for people, even if that seems obvious.

“The last thing we want is for an entire field to be based on warm fuzzy feelings and not on scientific data,” she says. “So it’s very important that now the NIH is focused on this … and it is helping scientists across the country like myself to be able to do our research.”

via NPR

Assistive technology products can enable people with disabilities to accomplish everyday living tasks, help them in communication, education, work, or recreation activities. They help them achieve greater independence and enhance their quality of life. These devices can help improve physical or mental functioning, help overcome a disorder or impairment, help prevent the worsening of a condition, strengthen a physical or mental weakness, help improve a person’s capacity to learn, or even replace a missing limb. Many of these assistive technologies are quite expensive and are often out of reach for a lot of families.

Enter the tablet!

Last October, 60 Minutes ran a segment where touchscreen devices and apps were hailed by parents, therapists, and teachers who found that applications on tablets — both Android and Apple — helps children with learning disabilities express themselves and develop important daily skills. Because of the customization options and because the iPad is a “cool tech device” that doesn’t immediately mark a child as different, many see it as a more attractive option than the more traditional devices. This is of huge benefits to a child’s self-esteem. Some children have been captivated by the iPad, finding the motivation to master quite a few new skills in a short span of time.

The touch screen and layout make a tablet more accessible for children with coordination or learning difficulties; these children may find sliding and tapping easier than either typing or writing. Moreover, a tablet can be easily carried, and is helpful for calming and focusing children who are on the go. The low cost of these devices is quite family-friendly.

The hardware is certainly impressive, but it’s only as good as the applications that are on it. Luckily there is a growing list of apps that cover a wider range of topics. Apps can help children who have trouble with stressful social situations, such as large crowds, develop the proper communication skills. They have also provided children with autism who cannot speak or experience language delays as a form of communication. There are also apps that help with fine-motor skills like holding small objects and writing.

The site “Moms with Apps” has a long list of apps available. One of my favorites is the “Grace App” by Steven-Troughton Smith (See Demo Video) A simple picture exchange system developed by and for non-verbal people allowing the user to communicate their needs by building sentences from relevant images. It can be customised by the individual using their picture and photo vocabulary with the user taking and saving pictures independently to the app. For a first person account, there is an amazing blog entitled “The iPad: a Near-Miracle for My Son With Autism” by Shannon Des Roches Rosa who is the BlogHer.com Contributing Editor on parenting children with special needs.

I believe that we have only scratched the surface of harnessing technology’s amazing power to help children overcome cognitive and mental health challenges of all types. While certainly not a cure, technology’s ability to create differentiated learning environments and to create exciting simulations and virtual environments will go a long way in helping children with learning disabilities succeed.

via THE BLOG

Families are so busy juggling science projects, carpools and after-school activities that we often don’t take enough time to connect with nature, or with one another, in our daily lives. Nature-focused vacations enable parents and children to unplug from technology and everyday stresses while using all of our senses to create lifelong memories.

Richard Louv, recipient of the Audubon medal and author of the bestselling book “Last Child in the Woods,” coined the term Nature Deficit Disorder, which he defines as, “a societal term that refers to the human cost of alienation from nature. It’s the price to our mental and physical health, our ability to learn, our productivity and, particularly for children, our sense of wonder.”

To reignite that sense of wonder, here are some ways to connect with nature with a family vacation:

Farm stay
With the help of USDA grants, Scottie Jones, owner of the Leaping Lamb Farm in Oregon, launched FarmStayUS.com in 2011 to connect guests with farmers and ranchers. The directory lists working farms and ranches where families can experience firsthand where our food comes from and what it takes to run a farm.

“When families first get here, they all have these portable devices. But that’s it. No one turns them back on,” Jones says. Instead, kids and adults brush donkeys, bottle-feed lambs, play in the hay loft, and throw rocks into the creek. A favorite activity is collecting fresh eggs from her chickens. “It’s like Easter every day, even for the parents,” she says.

Dude ranch
A dude ranch vacation gives families a chance to experience wilderness from horseback. DudeRanch.org matches vacationers with ranches. The site says: “Your appreciation of nature, family and friends will be renewed. You’ll find that good riding, good food and good friends will leave you peaceful and content. You’ll discover the luxuries of silence, the wind on your face and the stars shining brightly.”

Activities vary from those you might expect like canoeing, archery and river rafting to more surprising options like yoga, zip-lining and spa treatments. One activity that remains constant is horseback riding in the great outdoors.

Camping and state/national parks
Debi Huang, creator of GoExploreNature.com, says, “Camping is certainly an inexpensive way for people to travel and it gives you an automatic way to explore nature.” For beginner campers, she suggests trying an overnight backyard campout before embarking on a more extensive adventure away from home. Another option for novice campers is to co-vacation with another family that has more outdoor experience.

From roughing it in a tent to more luxurious cabin rentals, state and national parks offer a variety of camping options as well as day passes for families who’d rather stay in a standard hotel overnight.

Louv says, “I hear from a lot of parents that they feel like they’re torturing their kids when they take them camping or to national parks because children are so plugged in (to technology). But when the kids come back from college, it’s those times in nature that they remember. It’s highly unlikely that college kids would sit around the kitchen table reminiscing about that time they scored really well on Nintendo.”

Simple nature fixes
Even if you don’t plan your entire trip around nature, you can still infuse some outdoor play into a typical vacation. Make time for a beach day or visit a botanic garden, zoo, aquarium or local park.

Taking time out from often over-stimulating museums, shops, sites and amusement park attractions will help everyone relax and reconnect. And isn’t that what a vacation is supposed to be all about?

via TODAY.com

Mental Health America offers the following suggestions for teachers and parents as they begin discussions with young people regarding the recent school shootings in Chardon, Ohio:

• Talk honestly about the incident, without graphic detail, and share some of your own feelings about it. It is important that students feel informed.
• Encourage students to talk about their concerns and to express their feelings, and validate the young person’s feelings and concerns.
• Limit television viewing. It can be difficult for children to process the images and messages in news reports.
• Empower young people to take action about their own school safety. Encourage them to share their concerns about school safety with school officials.
• Recognize what may be behind a young person’s behavior. They may minimize their concerns outwardly, but may become argumentative, withdrawn or allow their school performance to decline.
• Keep the dialogue going even after media coverage subsides. Continue to talk about feelings and discuss actions being taken to make schools and communities safer.
• Seek help when necessary. If you are worried about a young person’s reaction or have ongoing concerns about his or her behavior or emotions, contact a mental health professional at their school or at your community mental health center. Your local Mental Health America affiliate can direct you to resources in your community.

“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of the Chardon, Ohio, shootings.  It is still too early to know yet why this individual took a firearm to a school and shot students,” said David Shern, Ph.D., president and CEO of Mental Health America.

“We do know that events like this will impact students and families in Chardon and the nation. Many students may feel at risk and may experience feelings of anxiety and fear. Parents may be groping with how to discuss these and similar events with their children.”

Mental Health America is a century-old nonprofit group dedicated to promoting mental health, preventing mental and substance use conditions and achieving victory over mental illnesses and addictions through advocacy, education, research and service.

via Mental Health America

Rural schools struggle to provide mental health services to students, and nearly half of the counselors in a recent study said less than 25 percent of their students received adequate counseling services.

That’s one of seven main conclusions from a study published in the December 2011 issue of the Research in Higher Education Journal, “Assessing mental health needs of rural schools in South Texas: Counselors’ perspectives,” by Steve F. Bain, Breeze Rueda, Jennifer Mata-Villarreal, and Marie-Anne Mundy, all from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Researchers focused on the mental health resource needs of rural schools in Texas, and they surveyed 27 school counselors in the South Texas and Coastal Bend areas to assess the availability of those services. Their funding came from the South Texas Expansion Program for Hispanic Graduate Students Project, and they hope to use the findings to figure out future strategies for improving those resources.

The study referenced prior research that said depression, substance abuse, and suicide rates among adults and children were higher in rural areas, and that school counselors play a critical role in providing mental health services to students.

Their other six key conclusions included:
• The need for mental health resources were unaffected by a school’s size or the counselor’s ethnicity.
• Mental health services should target Hispanic families because a majority of the school population was Hispanic.
• Most counselors said the community had few resources, and students families were unaware of those.
• Lack of knowledge about available mental health resources and accessibility were the top factors preventing families from receiving mental health services for their children.
• The majority of counselors reported feelings of burnout and frustration.
• The overwhelming majority of the counselors felt they needed more staff development related to mental health training, and a graduate counseling intern would benefit counselors and students.

Researchers noted the survey focused on 15 rural counties, so the findings aren’t intended to be applied to more populated areas. They also suggested redefining rural to mean more than population and geography; it may need to consider the availability of services.

via Education Week

A widely used universal behavioral prevention model in schools appears to be associated with lower rates of teacher-reported bullying and peer rejection.

National concern has increased over bullying, which can lead to academic, interpersonal, physical health and mental health problems. Despite the concern, relatively few school-based programs have shown to be effective at preventing bullying, and zero-tolerance policies adopted at many schools have not been shown to be effective either, researchers write in the study background.

An alternative to zero-tolerance policies is positive schoolwide prevention efforts. Tracy E. Waasdorp, Ph.D., of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, and colleagues evaluated one such widely used model called the School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS).

SWPBIS, which recent research suggests may help prevent bullying, aims to alter the school environment by creating improved systems (for example, discipline and data management) and procedures (for example, office referral and behavioral reinforcement) that promote positive changes in staff and student behaviors, the authors explain.

“SWPBIS teaches behavioral expectations through direct instruction, positive reinforcement and consistent consequences, promoting acceptable social and classroom behaviors. This in turn is theorized to reduce the likelihood of engaging in and rewarding bullying behavior,” the authors note.

Data for the study came from a randomized controlled effectiveness trial of the universal SWPBIS model conducted in 37 Maryland public elementary schools to determine the impact on discipline problems and the school environment. The sample included 12,344 children.

“The hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that children in the SWPBIS schools displayed significantly less bullying behavior and experienced lower levels of rejection over time vs children in the comparison schools,” the study results indicate.

Researchers called the potential effects of SWPBIS on bullying encouraging and in line with policymakers’ and researchers’ emphasis on school climate and culture for bullying prevention as an alternative to zero-tolerance policies.

“These findings suggest that a universal SWPBIS model is a promising approach for preventing bullying. Although the rates of bullying tend to be the highest in middle school, when SWPBIS is implemented in elementary school, it may help children better prepare for the transition into adolescence,” the researchers conclude.

The study appeared in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, was supported by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Institute of Education Sciences.

via infoZine