Tagged With "Ph.D. students and mental health"
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Program gives Spokane schools resources to help students rise above adversity
By Jim Allen , Thu., Oct. 24, 2019 Think of it as a well-school checkup. On Tuesday morning at Bemiss Elementary School, educators and health professionals spoke enthusiastically about something called Resilience in School Environments, or RISE. A collaboration between Kaiser Permanente and the Spokane and West Valley school districts, the RISE program is expected to lift up teachers and administrators and give them tools to cope with all the challenges of the modern student. The challenges...
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Recently released research on ACEs; incarceration; separating families at the border
Behavioral risk factor surveillance system state survey on exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): Who declines to respond? [Children and Youth Services Review] "A wealth of research has examined the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) via various research methodologies. Some of these studies have also examined the presence of nonresponse bias, showing minimal nonresponse bias effects. More recently, many states and the District of Columbia have used the...
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Red Flag Warning
Red Flag Warning In weather-speak, a red flag warning is issued when conditions are ripe for fire combustion. Many law enforcement officials in Florida have described school shooter Nikolas Cruz as displaying all the “red flags” of a troubled youth, yet no one seemed to speak up enough to prevent the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This reflection extends writings I have recently done that describes trauma and traumatized systems as an invisible fire, an...
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Relationship between college, health in later life explored by researcher [news.wsu.edu]
There’s a familiar correlation in social science: more education is associated with increased health in society. Now a WSU researcher will use a new grant from the Evidence for Action Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine whether more education can actually contribute to better health later in life. Ben Cowan, an associate professor in the School of Economic Sciences, leads the study with colleague Nathan Tefft at Bates College in Maine. Cowan said the dramatic increase in...
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Report: Solutions To Stop Sexual Violence Against Children [npr.org]
By Susan Brink, NPR.org, November 19, 2019 Sexual violence against children happens everywhere: in wealthy enclaves, in slums, in suburbs, in rural villages. Invariably, it happens in secret: in the privacy of family homes, in dark corners of schools and churches, and in murky shadows at neighborhood, community, sporting and scouting events. It happens often, and periodically groups put out reports to call attention to the issue. "That's usually where the story stops," says Daniela Ligiero,...
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Research Roundup: Looking at ACEs in vet students, college students, and the elderly
This is the extended ACEs Pyramid developed by RYSE in Richmond, CA. Here's an article about it . ____________________________________________ In a study of more than 1,000 veterinary students across six schools, 61% had at least one ACE, and those with four or more ACEs were three times more likely to be depressed. Among nearly 3,000 college students, ACEs were associated with increased odds of drug use in the previous 30 days. And In a group of women and men in Ireland aged 50-69, a higher...
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Resilient College Students
As a person with an ACE score of 9, I look back on the years that I did not function "normally." My freshman year of college . I could only imagine what life was like for the students that I saw a regular basis. My fabulous Intern from North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and my awesome CollegeTRY facilitator surveyed students about their level of RESILIENCE. They developed a forum with the assistance of the NCCU Department of Pubic Health Education. Resilient NCCU Video Achieving Health...
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Santa Rosa Junior College expands programs for currently, formerly incarcerated students [Press Democrat]
On the third floor of the Bertolini Student Center, Santa Rosa Junior College counselor Rhonda Findling gathered for her weekly meeting with about 20 formerly incarcerated students. On the top of her agenda was asking for volunteers to speak about their life experiences to youth at area schools. Jason Dorfer, a welding student raised in Santa Rosa who spent years in and out of jail on drug-related charges, was the first to volunteer, pending permission from his probation officer. “I feel in...
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Secondary students sharing their work to develop a trauma-informed university [APA November 2018 Newsletter]
Note from Karen: The American Psychological Association is dedicating their November Issue to ACEs related information. This is just one of several interesting articles. Check it out! The whole student: Understanding students through the intersections of their past and present contexts Secondary students sharing their work to develop a trauma-informed university. By Suzette Fromm Reed, PhD , and Claudia Pitts, PhD Two decades have passed since Felitti et al.’s (1998) foundational study on...
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Social support: The most overlooked self-care routine (SDSU Student Health 101)
I began feeling pretty out of it when I was 18. I had just started college after moving away from a tight-knit friend group in my hometown and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I’d come back from class, stuff my face with junk while binge-watching Netflix, and consciously try to shut out the world. It felt like I was slogging through mud just trying to get through each day. Despite how I was feeling, when family and friends would call to ask how I was doing, I always responded...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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Some college students can't afford dorm room basics. These moms are stepping up to help. (upworthy.com)
Dorm living requires some basics that some students struggle to afford. Considering the fact that the average family spends close to $1000 on college back-to-school items, kids who are coming from disadvantaged communities or are the first in their families to go to college may not be prepared for the cost of moving in to their dorm rooms. Mary Dell Harrington and Lisa Heffernan are the moms behind the website Grown and Flown — an online community for parents with kids ages 15 to 25. When...
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Southern California student-led initiatives show promise for colleges grappling with homelessness [edsource.org]
By Charlotte West, EdSource, June 10, 2019. While earning her associate’s degree at Santa Monica College and working 30 hours a week with her mother cleaning houses, Maritza Lopez didn’t always know where she was going to sleep. When her family was evicted from their apartment, she spent a lot of time hanging out on campus, often crashing on friends’ couches at night. Her search for a place to sleep reflects a challenge facing a growing number of college students caught between the pincers...
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State profiles of ACEs initiatives debut! Use them as a new community building tool to accelerate your progress
Profiles of statewide and major local ACEs initiatives in the 50 states and the District of Columbia are now available from ACEs Connection. You’ll learn about other states and maybe even a few things about your own. This series is just the start of curating highlights of the most significant initiatives across the country. The next iteration will provide even more details. How to use this series: The invaluable information many of you provided to our ACEs Connection team on what is...
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State Rep. Dave Paul’s HB 1973 advances to state Senate [Whidbey WA News Times]
State Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, got his first bill through the House of Representatives. The House passed a bill on Tuesday that helps low-income students pay for dual-enrollment programs such as College in the High School or Running Start. House Bill 1973 establishes a pilot program for financial assistance for these students. “Students shouldn’t have to take on enormous debt in order to attend and graduate college,” said Paul. “This is a creative and cost-effective solution to help...
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SU College of Health and Human Services links a trio of majors
Recently I was reading the news and came across this article - Salisbury University is intentionally restructuring so that their schools of Nursing, Social Work and Health Sciences will become the College of Health and Human Services. What an incredible forward thinking idea of bringing this trio of complimentary areas of study under a shared mission / vision! Here is a bit more - a link to the article is at the bottom of this blog. Salisbury University announced a large strategic...
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Supporting students when teaching remotely (CU Boulder Today)
By Kirk Ambrose, April 6, 2020, CU Boulder Today The past few weeks have been stressful and disruptive for everyone. Our students are especially vulnerable as they may be facing any number of challenges, such as financial stress, housing and food insecurity, and additional demands related to caring for family members and themselves. What is more, some students may be in a different time zone, need to miss regularly scheduled class meetings because of unforeseen demands, have to find...
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Teachers notice rise in homelessness among kids (calmatters.org)
Nationwide, public schools identified 1.5 million children experiencing homelessness in the 2017-2018 school year, an increase of 11% from the previous school year, according to a report released in January by the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE). A small portion of those students are living in unsheltered situations, such as cars, parks, streets or bus stations, a segment that more than doubled from the previous school year. Homeless students in emergency shelters or...
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Temporary Free Access to Paediatrics & Child Health (PCH) articles (Oxford Academic)
Temporary free access to highly cited articles making an impact in Paediatrics & Child Health ( PCH ) has just been opened up by Oxford Academic. If you're a research hoarder like me, you'll want to check this out. https://academic.oup.com/pch/pages/highly_cited_articles
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The College Mental Health Crisis in 10 Sketches (yesmagazine.org)
As schools respond to the 30 percent increase in demand for counseling, artist Ella Baron gives a glimpse inside some students’ experiences. Illustrator Ella Baron conducted a series of interviews with college students, many who had suspended their studies because of mental health concerns, to create a series of sketches about the mental health crisis at colleges, listening to the recordings as she drew. The images, published in June 2017 in The Guardian, are as pointed as they are...
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The Deepest Well reflections
My very first experience with ACEs came from watching Nadine Burke Harris’ Ted talk (Burke Harris, How trauma affects health across a lifetime, 2014). I’ve just read her book The Deepest Well (Burke Harris, 2018) and it is obvious to me how much she said in her Ted talk that I did not fully understand. Her book is an example of how a prepared mind gets prepared for learning something new. It is a narrative organized sequentially in time. It starts well before she encountered ACEs and shows...
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The First Graduate-Level Resilience Course in the Country
The University of Florida has fostered a strong relationship with Peace4Tarpon, through the College of Public Health and Health Professions, for a few years now. Recently, the conversations between the two were focused on how they could partner to take the aims and methods of the trauma-informed initiative beyond Tarpon Springs and into a more accessible, formal format. This sparked the idea to create a course available to learners who can take the information and spread the culture of...
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The First Reparations Attempt at an American College Comes From Its Students [theatlantic.com]
When sordid revelations surfaced in recent years of how the sale of hundreds of enslaved laborers in 1838 saved Georgetown University from the cliff of financial ruin, the college quickly cobbled together a multipronged response. It held a ceremony to deliver an official apology. It summoned a working group to study how to make penance for the wrongdoing. It began giving descendants of the 272 enslaved people a bump in admissions. The Georgetown working group wrote that “we are convinced...
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The “Haff-A-Buck” method of encouraging involvement.
The “Haff-A-Buck” method of encouraging involvement. Dennis Haffron, When I began working as an adjunct at community college I was informed that part of what I would have to do would be not only to teach my subject, sociology, but also teach my students how to learn in a college setting. I needed to teach them to use the resources that were available to them, to think in terms of the content of my subject, and to act in a classroom like college students. I also had to show them that their...
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The Healing Place Podcast - Dr. Kristina Brinkerhoff: Educational Consultant
Dr. Kristina Brinkerhoff, a consultant, keynote speaker, presenter and trainer, leverages over 20 years of experience as a teacher, principal, superintendent and adoptive mom of five foster children, to help educators gain an understanding of the effects Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and the importance of trauma informed practice in schools.
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The kids aren’t all right [revealnews.org]
To listen to this podcast, click here . Federal law requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. It’s different for kindergarten through 12th grade, where there are no similar requirements for cases involving assaults between students. In elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S., the Associated Press found a shocking level of sexual violence among students, including on U.S. military bases. On this episode of Reveal, we delve into the results...
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The Little College Where Tuition Is Free and Every Student Is Given a Job [TheAtlantic.com]
There’s a small burst of air that explodes from every clap. And when hundreds of people are clapping in unison, it begins to feel like a breeze—one that was pulsing through the Phelps Stokes Chapel at Berea College in Kentucky. The students and staff that had gathered here were stomping, clapping, and singing along, as they were led in a rendition of the Civil Rights era anthem, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” They had packed into the wood-framed building for a convocation address,...
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The long-term cost of college? For blacks and Hispanics, it’s not just about money (heraldsun.com)
College might be a ticket out of poverty, but for blacks and Hispanics making the climb, it might not be a ticket to good physical health, UNC-Chapel Hill researchers say. In fact, yardsticks like blood pressure and blood chemistry indicate students who start from “higher levels of disadvantage” may “actually experience a cost” to their future health from the stress surrounding the experience, a team led by post-doc Lauren Gaydosh and sociology professor Kathleen Mullan Harris said in a...
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The Most Anxious Generation Goes to Work (wsj.com)
New college graduates report higher levels of anxiety. How managers can help them steer past fear and improve work performance—and how young workers can work to calm their anxiety and be more effective. Michael Fenlon’s company is one of the nation’s biggest employers of newly minted college grads. He’s watching a tidal wave approach. College presidents and deans tell him repeatedly that they’ve had to make managing students’ anxiety and other mental-health issues a priority. “They’re...
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The new face of Sacramento’s affordable housing crisis: College students forced to drop out (sacbee.com)
Going to college is tough for many students under normal circumstances. But for tens of thousands of young Californians today, it’s beyond difficult. It’s financially and physically perilous. Faced with tuition escalation and fast-rising rents – particularly in Sacramento – higher-education students find themselves struggling to get a decent night’s sleep, find permanent shelter and put food in their stomach so they can focus enough in class to make it to graduation. Nearly 40 percent of...
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The University Elephant in the Room: Where’s Community Engagement Headed? (nonprofitquarterly.org)
The theme was lofty: True Stories of Engagement: Higher Education for Democracy . But bringing those words to life has not been easy, as became clear when more than 500 university staff and faculty gathered at Campus Compact’s biennial conference in Indianapolis last month to discuss the state of the field of community engagement in higher education. For the uninitiated, Campus Compact is a national organization dedicated to promoting community engagement by universities. The organization...
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This Trail-Blazing Suburb has Tried for 60 Years to Tackle Race. What if Trying Isn't Enough? [washingtonpost.com]
By Laura Meckler, The Washington Post, October 11, 2019 It’s an article of faith in this Cleveland suburb: If any place can navigate the complex issues of race in America, it’s Shaker Heights. Sixty years ago, black and white families came together to create and maintain integrated neighborhoods. The school district began voluntary busing in 1970, and boundary lines were drawn to make schools more integrated. Student groups dedicated themselves to black achievement, race relations and...
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Toxic Schools Worsening Toxic Stress: The Destructive Reign of Universal Standards, Pathology, Medication and Behaviorism
This post is the first chapter of a book. The names HAVE NOT been changed, as each individual profoundly impacted the author's growth and development. She wants their identities to remain intact. I did not realize that my first years in public education would profoundly shape my trauma-informed journey and what I would do nearly twenty years later. But I clearly remember the late fall of 2001. I was completing my second year in a master’s program for school counseling at the University of...
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Toxic stress from El Paso, Dayton, Gilroy shootings addressed in Thursday Community Resilience Model Webinar
An ACEs Connection webinar will offer helpful self-regulation tools to those rocked by recent shootings in Gilroy, CA, El Paso, TX , and Dayton, OH. The Building Resilient Communities webinar is offered by ACEs Connection this Thursday, August 9, at 10:00 AM PDT / 1 :00 PM E D and will last approximately 1 hour. Elaine Miller-Karas will teach her Community Resilienc y Mode l. Find registration details below. This webinar is free and open to the public. It serves professionals and community...
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Toxic Stress: Issue Brief on Family Separation and Child Detention [immigrationinitiative.harvard.edu]
By Jack P. Shonkoff, Immigration Initiative at Harvard, October 2019 Background The separation of children from their parents and their prolonged detention for an indefinite period of time raise profound concerns that transcend partisan politics and demand immediate resolution. Forcibly separating children from their parents is like setting a house on fire. Preventing rapid reunification is like blocking the first responders from doing their job. And subjecting children to prolonged...
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Trauma-Informed Care as a Universal Precaution: Beyond the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire [jamanetwork.com]
By Nicole Racine, Teresa Killam, and Sheri Madigan, JAMA Pediatrics, November 4, 2019 Experiences of childhood adversity are common, with more than 50% of adults reporting having experienced at least 1 adversity as children and more than 6% exposed to 4 or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). There is currently a controversial debate in the medical field as to whether the ACEs questionnaire, which asks about abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction before age 18 years, should be...
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Trauma-Informed Classrooms: Choices
One thing that is common among many traumatic events is a complete lack of choices. When a person feels like they do not have a choice or control, it can be triggering and cause the negative emotions that the person ties to the original trauma. While you can do a lot relationally with how you interact with your students, you can also set up your physical space with choices in mind. As you think about choices in your classroom, here are a couple of options you may want to consider. First of...
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Trauma-Informed Classrooms: Educator Self-Care
Working in a school is hard. It doesn’t matter if you work in a suburban, urban, or rural area. It doesn’t matter if you work with 5 year-olds on building empathy, teach 11 year-olds about symbiosis, coach teachers in aligning curriculum, or help high school seniors choose their postsecondary pathways. It is hard work. From the cacophony of lockers closing at dismissal, to the challenge of getting 25 sets of 8 year-old eyes looking at you in synchrony, schools are a special kind of organized...
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Tuition or Dinner? Nearly Half of College Students Surveyed in a New Report Are Going Hungry (nytimes.com)
In the coming weeks, thousands of college students will walk across a stage and proudly accept their diplomas. Many of them will be hungry. A survey released this week by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice indicated that 45 percent of student respondents from over 100 institutions said they had been food insecure in the past 30 days. In New York, the nonprofit found that among City University of New York (CUNY) students, 48 percent had been food insecure in...
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U to host conversation on adverse childhood experiences among MN students [Twin-Cities.UMN.edu]
The impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)— childhood experiences of abuse, neglect and family dysfunction—on the health and wellbeing of college students nationwide is relatively unknown. And yet, approximately two-thirds of University of Minnesota students experience at least one adverse childhood experience before entering college. On Friday, Dec. 2, the U of M will host a one-day conference that brings together college administrators, educators, students, public health...
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Undocumented Students and Higher Education [poverty.ucdavis.edu]
Over 11 million undocumented immigrants reside in the United States. Many arrived as children, attended school in the U.S. and consider the country their home. Over 60 percent of the undocumented population has lived in the U.S. for 10 years or more. However, undocumented students face substantial barriers to higher education due to their legal status. This brief outlines key facts about the barriers undocumented students face in terms of access to higher education. Undocumented families...
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Univerrsity of Texas, Austin; Whole Communities - Whole Health
Gail's note: Dr, Andres Sciolla from University of CA, Davis shared this link about an interesting interdisciplinary model from the University of Texas, Austin. Take a look! WHOLE COMMUNITIES –WHOLE HEALTH In Texas, many children live in poverty, suffer from chronic illness, or endure abuse and neglect. Despite years of targeted intervention, these issues persist. Changing the way science helps society thrive is our grand challenge. We have the unprecedented technological ability to study...
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University students seeking counseling learn about their ACEs
Dr. Diane Suffridge, a clinical psychologist and director of the University Counseling Services at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., has been interested in trauma for many years. But last summer that interest took a sudden and interesting turn. A student counselor she advised had written a research paper on the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) health and mental health outcomes in foster youth, and it gave the student a new view of the patients she counseled at the...
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Using the Truncated Nominal Group Process As a Trauma Informed Research Example in an Introductory Sociology Class.
Dennis Haffron MS Social research techniques are taught in all introductory sociology classes. The technique that I have been using in my classes is a truncated version of the nominal group process. I have recently found that this technique works very well as a trauma sensitive research technique. (I believe that it is another example of ACEs hard science supporting a best practice.) The nominal group process encourages participation, reduces conflict, increases involvement of all...
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Victims of Teacher Misconduct Say Schools Should Go Beyond Checking Boxes [voiceofsandiego.org]
By Ashly McGlone, Voice of San Diego, November 4, 2019 “Just so you know, no one else has ever made a complaint,” a Chula Vista High graduate recalls being told by school officials before she complained her show choir teacher was sexually harassing her and groped her repeatedly. “I feel like every adult who was an administrator in my life at the time failed me,” a former Bonita Vista High student sexually abused by his band teacher said. “I had a counselor talk to me for 10 minutes and then...
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We Now Know A Lot More About Students Who Receive Federal College Grants [npr.org]
There's been a lot of attention lately on low-income students on campus — mostly on how to recruit them and how to make them feel welcome. For good reason: Pell Grant recipients make up about a third of the undergraduate student population in the U.S., according to the College Board . And often, their experiences in college are very different than their wealthy classmates. Two recent reports offer a good snapshot as to what's happening for these students when it comes to college. One is from...
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What It Really Feels Like To Have A Mental Health Problem At University (cosmopolitanme.com)
Research released earlier this month found that students at some universities were waiting as long as 84 days for mental health support, and the most up-to-date research from YouGov found that one in four students suffers with a mental health problem. The same research found that while many universities spend upwards of Dhs 4.6 million on mental health services, others have less than half of that budgeted for student well-being. Some could not even provide a number for how much they spent on...
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What's Your Role in Addressing Mental Health? [universityaffairs.ca]
By Catherine Munn, University Affairs, October 11, 2019 Mental health is one of the most important issues facing youth and society at large. If universities are not rallying everyone from every corner of their campus to solve this problem, they are ignoring the canary in the coal mine, at their peril. They will also not be helping to solve the issues of critical importance to their communities and their country, at their peril. Children and youth are our truth-tellers, whether or not we are...
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What Success Looks Like: On-Campus Resources and Support for Foster Youth (socialjusticesolutions.org)
After identifying a statewide need for support services for foster youth, the Foster Youth Success Initiative (FYSI) was created in 2006 through a collaboration between the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), the Foundation for California Community Colleges and numerous partners and stakeholders. According to Jessica Smith, the statewide liaison for FYSI, the “network of support” provided by FYSI includes assistance with academic needs, financial aid, physical and...