Twelfth Edition | A Preventive Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic | Georgia PACEs Connection (GA)

Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency

To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders:

As the month of February rounds up, we wanted to share another resource outlining how you can celebrate Black History Month with Kids. To continue our theme of mindfulness, here is a great meditation honoring inclusiveness.

Next month we will host our first Resilient Georgia General Meeting of the new year. Please mark your calendar for March 11th, from 11:00-12:30. We will be sending out a meeting invitation in the near future. The focus of this meeting will be Early Childhood Mental Health (0-5), and we will have several experts from across the state share some very exciting updates and best practices.

Over the next several months, Resilient Georgia will be highlighting the efforts of several Innovative Community Organizations working to prevent ACEs and increase trauma-informed awareness. This week we hope you take a moment to read about the impressive work that Student Taskforce on ACEs and Resilience (STAR) is doing!

We would also like to highlight several resources and news updates:

Join the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education on March 4th for their first Critical Issues Forum of 2021, "Navigating Towards a Brighter Future: COVID-19 and Student Mental Health." Click here for more information and to register.
In preparation for our next general meeting that will focus on early childhood, we would like to highlight the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Strong4Life article that debunks the myth that younger kids can’t have mental health challenges and helps provide a clearer picture of this complex parenting puzzle.
Register for these Georgia Parent Support Network workshops on meeting children, youth, and families' needs during COVID. Also, join them for the 'Strengthening Services for Youth by Using Evidence & Partnership' webinar series starting on March 11th.
With schools moving to remote learning due to the pandemic, both educators and behavioral health providers transitioned from traditional in-person means to support students to virtual delivery of services via telehealth. Click here to read more from the Georgia Health Policy Center's Finding Innovation and Resilience Series.
Thanks to the $1.1 million grant from the Truist foundation, the Morehouse School of Medicine will be able to expand the institution's excellent telehealth services that had already experienced a 700 percent increase in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United Way 2-1-1 is a referral service that connects community members with various social services including mental health services such as children's/adolescent psychiatric hospitals, community mental health agencies, and crisis lines. 2-1-1 can be accessed 24/7 by calling 2-1-1 or (404) 614-1000 to speak to a live agent.
Read these 5 tips by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy on how philanthropy can shift power and ignite change in rural communities.

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

Innovative Community Organizations Spotlight

Can you give us a brief description of STAR?

The Student Taskforce on ACEs and Resilience (STAR) is an interdisciplinary, intercollegiate network of health students in Georgia dedicated to equipping the next generation of health professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to improve the care of people impacted by ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences).

Click here to read more about the amazing work STAR is doing. Sign up here to get updates from STAR.

What are some of the innovative partnerships that have helped address the behavioral health needs of the region?

"We recently had the opportunity to meet with Georgia State Representative Sam Park to discuss a bill to create a house study committee on Adverse Childhood Experiences. We're excited about this partnership and the potential to be involved with this year's legislative session!"

What are some accomplishments you would like to highlight?

In October 2020, STAR’s Trauma-Informed Care Conference, sponsored by Resilient Georgia, brought together over 200 people over two days. Attendees represented a global audience, from California to New Zealand. There were 16 total speakers, including leading experts in education, medicine, nursing, public health, criminal justice, and social work.
Access the recorded sessions from Day 1 & Day 2 of the STAR 2020 Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) Conference and accompanying resources.

Mental Health is the Next Pandemic

The pandemic continues to be a major source of stress and burnout for Americans young and old. USA Today recently discussed some of the ways the pandemic and other current news may be taking a toll on individuals and how it's manifesting in physical symptoms.

Looking towards resources, we can all practice giving ourselves grace by following this guided two-minute mindfulness exercise led by Healthier Generation. You can also try out any of these 11 expert-recommended tips found in this Well and Good article to deal with pandemic burnouts.

For best practices geared towards children and teens, UNICEF parenting suggests four ways to support teens' mental health. Educators can look to this CDC list on creating a positive social-emotional climate through school nutrition policies. This grounding activity, available in Spanish, can also be used to help young people name their stress and make a feel-good plan. Locally, young people can download the 'notOK app' on Android and iPhone to start explore coping skills for mental health challenges and other resources within their community. They can also get connected to Child and Adolescent Mental Health programs at mkraner@cobbcsb.com or (678) 343 -7903 or the Cobb County Community Services Board at (770) 422-0202.

Finally, to address this on a larger scale, states and local entities (e.g., school-based health centers, school districts, hospitals, local public health authorities, etc) can apply to participate in this 12-month Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN) focused on making measurable improvements to students’ health and mental health. Application and more information can be found here.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

We would like to share some local and national resources on ACEs starting with Dr. Koplewicz's new book, “The Scaffold Effect” that lays out a new clinically tested parenting philosophy to raise resilient children. Dr. Koplewicz is a world-renowned child and adolescent psychiatrist and the President of the Child Mind Institute. He encourages the use of ten building blocks or “planks” of an effective scaffold to guide parents "through the strategies they need to raise empowered, capable kids". While promoting the book with the Wall Street Journal, he also advises families struggling with the pandemic to practice self-care.

As part of their 'Invisible Scars: America’s Childhood Trauma Crisis' series, PBS Newshour provides these tips for finding help to heal from childhood trauma.

Also, please join the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy for a screening of Paper Tigers on February 25, 2021, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm. Learn more about the film and register here. Furthermore, check out this infographic from the CDC to learn more about the relationship between ACEs, overdose, and suicide.

Finally, join Georgia State University for the following professional excellence program virtual trainings: Trauma 101: Understanding the Impact of Trauma on Children training on March 4th, Virtual Recognizing and Managing Secondary Traumatic Stress training on March 5th, and a Virtual Trauma/Brain 201: Building Resilience training on March 23rd.

COVID-19 Resources

Georgia State University has put together this coronavirus adult literacy resource page that includes COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy videos in 20+ different languages.
The American Academy of Pediatricians sheds some light on ways the pandemic has compromised healthy nutrition and physical activity levels for families and provides recommendations on how pediatricians can support them in maintaining a healthy lifestyle during COVID-19.
In this Q&A with the EveryMom blog, medical experts answer pressing questions on the state of the COVID vaccine for kids.

Racial Equity Resources

Hear Metro Atlanta Chamber CEO, Katie Kirkpatrick, explain the organization’s recently launched ATL Action for Racial Equity. This initiative will address the effects of systemic racism impacting Atlanta's Black community.
Greater Good Magazine provides parents and guardians 5 pieces of advice pertinent to combating racial bias in children.
The Boston Globe shared this insightful conversation titled 'Black Fatigue: Racism And Its Impacts On Mental Health' as part of its Justice, Equity & Inclusion Series.