Resilient Georgia Newsletter: Ninth Edition | A Preventative Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic

Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency

To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders:

As we head into a holiday season that feels quite different from years past, we hope you are all managing to remain resilient as we continue to navigate these difficult times. Resilient Georgia continues to be here to support you and share as many helpful resources as possible.

We recognize how hard this year has been and we would like to take this opportunity to highlight a very meaningful article penned by a dear friend of Resilient Georgia, Dr. John Bare. As we get ready to celebrate the holiday season, we hope that you keep those who have suffered great losses in 2020 close to your hearts.

In this edition of the newsletter, we are maintaining our focus on taking a preventative approach to address the impact of the global pandemic on mental health. We will also continue to provide additional resources on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), COVID-19, and racial equity.

We would like to highlight several resources and news updates:

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta CEO, Frank Fernandez, talks about shifting from a buzzword to a verb in his latest OpEd with Atlanta Business Chronicle titled "Equity Is the Light That Shines in the Darkness". Read all about Frank's thoughts on the dimensions of equity here.
The Kisner Foundation donated $50,000 to a new program focused on pediatric behavioral health care at the Children's Hospital of Georgia. We are so proud of Dr. April Hartman and our partners in Augusta for the great work they are doing in addressing social, emotional, behavioral, and development concerns in children and adolescents.
We would like to congratulate Dr. Garry McGiboney for receiving the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support (GABPS). Dr. McGiboney's outstanding list of accomplishments includes but is not limited to securing two state funded positions for PBIS, convincing the Georgia Legislature to fund 16 climate specialists, and mentoring the State PBIS Team to look for additional grants focused on mental health and building sustainability for climate and PBIS across Georgia.
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Strong4Life has gathered a list of tips to help you and your family navigate the holiday break.
Free Your Feels, a mental health awareness campaign encouraging Georgia's young people to explore their real feelings and share them fearlessly, has released a holiday toolkit, youth-created content, and more resources that are available to share.
Dating Matters is a comprehensive, evidence-based teen dating violence prevention model developed by the CDC to stop teen dating violence. Although it focuses on the primary prevention of teen dating violence, results in this New Special Section examine the effects of Dating Matters on interpersonal violence and other ACEs. We are so lucky to have the CDC in our backyard and would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the experts here in Georgia.

During the holiday season, we plan to share one uplifting, positive story in each newsletter, as we could all use such good news more than ever. Please submit any stories you may enjoy about local problem-solvers and unsung heroes helping to address youth's behavioral health needs in their communities to info@resilientga.org. See our story about W-Underdogs below:

W-Underdogs is a nonprofit organization that empowers youth in underserved communities to discover their voices and teaches them the value of compassion toward animals and people. Their goal is to address the challenges that at-risk youth face and provide them with skills and sense of accomplishment to help overcome these challenges in their lives. Click here to read more about their inspiring work.

Lastly, thank you as always for your continued partnership and support, and for continuing to share helpful resources and training with us to disseminate as we all work collectively towards a more resilient and trauma-informed Georgia!

Sincerely,

Brenda Fitzgerald, MD

Executive Board Chair

Emily Anne Vall, PhD

Executive Director

Join the Conversation with Resilient Georgia on Social Media!

Be sure to join the conversation on our Instagram and Facebook pages, which represent additional opportunities for us to share helpful content.

Here are two recent posts from our social media pages:

Instagram

What are some ways to support emotional wellness in kids? Teaching children how to express their emotions during these stressful times is a great place to start. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Strong4Life has created a helpful video on "Resilience and Emotional Wellness".

Facebook

We shared a post by BCDI-Atlanta on The Detrimental Influence of Racial Discrimination in the US and its effects on child development. Researchers found that children with anxiety or depression had roughly half the odds of excellent general health and four times the odds of ADHD.

Mental Health is the Next Pandemic

Even before the pandemic hit, mental health problems such as depression and anxiety were on the rise in children ages 6-17, according to the CDC. Research shows that social isolation can make these symptoms worse as the pandemic takes a toll on children's mental health. As we head into the holiday season, the Child Mind Institute provides six tips for reducing stress, helping kids cope with disappointment, and advice to help your family focus on creating new traditions. Also provided by the Child Mind Institute, this article on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) focuses on improving the understanding of this sometimes-confusing diagnosis, plus tips to help your child thrive this winter, whether or not they are experiencing SAD. In addition, NPR has created a comic that guides kids on how to cope with feelings of anger, sadness, or frustration that we all might have in the pandemic.

As the pandemic wears on, it is understandable that employees need, and increasingly demand, resources to help them cope with mental health problems. An article by McKinsey&Company argues that mental and substance abuse disorders are real, pervasive, and expensive. Click here to read about the six actions that help leading companies get mental health coverage right. Moreover, this McKinsey podcast highlights the emotional dynamics in the workplace and the increase in scale and intensity by the pandemic. In this episode, they touch on mapping this shifting terrain and how best to respond.

Looking toward resources, the How Right Now initiative, made possible with the support from the CDC Foundation, provides information and tools to help reduce stress, increase coping skills, and direct those in need to mental health, social service, and other helpful resources. The National AfterSchool Association offers early lessons for schools and out-of-school-time programs on how to carry out high-quality social and emotional learning instruction.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

This year has brought unprecedented levels of stress to families and communities across America. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Dr. Eric Ball leaned on his training in ACEs and toxic stress to help families deal with the psychological impacts of the pandemic. He shares his experience in this latest ACEs Aware blog.

Many teachers, healthcare professionals, and counselors are receiving trauma-informed training to adapt ACEs research. Ellen Galinsky, CSO of the Bezos Family Foundation, provides four key points that encourage expanding beyond problem-focused, trauma-laced concepts to narratives and solutions that are rooted in children's assets. Moreover, check out this YouTube video from the CDC that explains early childhood adversity and gives simple actions to support families and help make a better future for all children in their community.

Dr. Allison Jackson, a Trauma-Informed Care Specialist, makes a compelling case in her TEDTalk for "connection as a cure" to counter a lot of damage done by trauma. In addition, here are five top takeaways provided by a panel of experts on the best practices for primary care providers to help pediatric patients and parents manage stress on the ACEs Aware blog. Check out what they have to say.

COVID-19 Resources

The COVID-19 Resources for Faith Communities page, created by the Interfaith Health Program at Rollins in partnership with Emory's Religion and Public Health Collaborative, includes information about infection control, congregational care, community support, food pantries, long-term care, and other topics.

Annie E Casey Foundation's Juvenile Justice Resources: Webinars on Effective COVID-19 Responses include eight new webinar recordings that describe effective juvenile justice practices during the pandemic.

The National Academy For State Health Policy created a chart that shows how each state prioritizes their populations in their vaccine distribution plans submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October 2020.

This NPR comic for kids answers questions about what coronavirus is exactly and how to stay safe.

Racial Equity Resources

At a virtual Special Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates, the AMA Board of Trustees pledged action to confront systemic racism and police brutality and released the following statement.

A new report co-authored by William J. Sabol, professor of criminal justice in the Georgia State University Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, shows that the longstanding racial divide in state prisons — while still significant — has shrunk.

Listen to the new podcast from the CDC Public Grand Health Rounds and learn about how racial disparities persist and the CDC's collaborations to prevent these deaths.

This article by McKinsey&Company highlights how the pandemic has set back learning for all students, especially for students of color. Read more about how evidence-based acceleration approaches can help.

This article written by The Washington Post sheds light on a mother's fight to save a Black, mentally ill 11-year-old boy in a time of a pandemic and rising racial unrest. Click here to read more about her journey to help her son, Ahav.