2012 Summer Institute on Adolescent Health: Equal Access, Equal Say: Achieving Health Equity for all Young People

The Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Public Health, in partnership with the Center for Adolescent Nursing, the Minnesota Department of Education, the Healthy Youth Development-Prevention Research Center, the Minnesota Department of Health, and Teenwise Minnesota, is pleased to announce the 2012 Summer Institute on Adolescent Health.

When: July 30- August 2, 2012

Where: Minnesota Department of Health, Snelling Office Park, Minnesota Department of Health Snelling Office Park, 1645 Energy Park Drive, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108

Cost: $250

Register at: http://www.nursing.umn.edu/Adolescent_Nursing/Continuing_Education/home.html.

Change – the one word that best epitomizes adolescence – changing bodies, changing schools, changing friends. While change is essential for healthy transitions to adulthood, it can also increase vulnerability. For young people today, inequitable social conditions in families, schools, and communities can lead to dramatically differing pathways to adulthood, some healthier than others. Inequities in social determinants of health abound – socio-economic status, housing, physical environment, food security, neighborhood safety, social support, health care services, transportation, and working conditions, to name a few.

What helps all young people achieve their highest level of health? Assuring optimal health for all requires equalizing the conditions for health – life-skills, access to quality services, educational attainment, readiness for gainful employment, and opportunities to contribute to their communities in positive ways. This means that we must pay attention to creating services and programs that are accessible, acceptable, appropriate, and effective.

During the 2012 Summer Institute in Adolescent Health, consider the myriad of social, political, educational, environmental, and economic conditions that underlie disparities in health. Visit settings that are successfully addressing avoidable inequalities that impact adolescents. Talk with young people and their program leaders along with health providers and educators who have walked the talk of health equity in just, creative, and empowering ways. Learn strategies for assuring supportive environments, sustaining authentic relationships, and providing services that are responsive to the uniqueness of each young person. Gain new skills to effectively advocate for health equity among all young people.

Who should attend?

All who work with young people – teachers, coaches, and administrators; nurses, physicians, nutritionists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and youth workers; religious leaders and policy makers.

Contact hours and two graduate credits are available (graduate students only).

Videos available from May 2011 Symposium on Children’s Mental Health

2011 Public Health Symposium on Early Childhood Mental Health
Translating the science of early experiences into culturally informed policy and practice

Additional information is available at: http://www.epi.umn.edu/mch/index.php/Page/View/ECMH-2011

Keynote Speakers included:

Robert Anda, MD, MS, Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention
Atum Azzahir, Powderhorn/Phillips Cultural Wellness Center
Diane Benjamin, MPH, FrameWorks Institute
Ed Ehlinger, MD, MS, Commissioner of Health, Minnesota
Megan Gunnar, PhD, University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development
Wendy Hellerstedt, MPH, PhD, University of Minnesota, Epidemiology & Community Health
Jim Koppel, MSW, Children’s Defense Fund
Tony LookingElk, Otto Bremer Foundation
Art Rolnick, PhD,  Human Capital Research Collaborative, University of Minnesota
Don Warne, MD, MPH, Sanford Health System

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About the symposium: Early childhood experiences – and the environments in which they occur – strongly affect the healthy development of every child. Dramatic advances in our understanding of early brain development, the critical importance of social environments that stimulate and nurture, and the consequences when such environments are absent or inconsistent have taught us that the developmental trajectory towards positive mental health begins early and affects health across the lifecourse. We know what can and MUST be done to ensure that ALL infants and young children receive what they need from their caregiving environments to develop into happy, healthy individuals, both physically and emotionally, and to optimize their opportunities for happiness and physical and emotional health.

Policies that provide public support for programs and interventions that promote positive mental health as well prevent, diagnose and treat mental health disturbances in young children are essential to establishing the social conditions that enable families and communities to create nurturing, supportive contexts where children’s mental health can flourish.

This symposium brought together researchers, policymakers and practitioners to address the critical question of how we can best translate the science of early brain development into messages (across disciplines, communities and cultures) that effectively communicate the evidence in support of such policies and practices. Additionally, this symposium emphasized and explored culturally relevant strategies for identifying and addressing the social emotional needs of young children across cultures and economic circumstances.

This event was intended for academic, public health, policy and community practice professionals, advanced graduate students and those with an interest in early childhood mental health promotion.

 

Video recordings of keynote presenters:

Day 1
Welcome
Introduction and opening remarks: Ed Ehlinger, MD, MSPH, Commissioner of Health, Minnesota
Maternal and Child Health and the Lifecourse: Wendy Hellerstedt, MPH, PhD
Ways of Knowing: Atum Azzahir
Cultural Storytelling – Honoring the Wisdom of Experience: Tony LookingElk
Understanding the Science of Child Development: Megan Gunnar, PhD
Healthy Dev. in Early Childhood – Economic Development with HIgh Public Return: Art Rolnick, PhD
Reflecting on the Frame – Telling Better Stories about Child Mental Health: Diane Benjamin, MPH
Digging In – Challenging the Dominant Frames by Rewriting the Script: Diane Benjamin, MPH

Day 2
Introduction
Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences – Implications Across the Lifecourse: Rob Anda, MD, MS
Adverse Childhood Experiences & Population Health – Translating the Science of Early Experiences into State Policy and Practice: Rob Anda, MD, MS
Children Don’t Come in Pieces: Jim Koppel, MSW
Addressing Health Disparities, Promoting Health Equity – Promise, Policy and Practice: Donald Warne, MD, MPH

New resource on childhood mental health

The National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health has issued a new reference for public health professionals who work in childhood mental health.

Free to download here, “A Public Health Approach to Children’s Mental Health”  offers a comprehensive public health approach to children’s mental health. The guide links environmental supports, services, and interventions across child-serving systems; identifies shared language and definitions that can form a platform for communication between multiple child-serving sectors; and provides numerous examples of interventions and policies that show tremendous promise for child mental health services.

The last chapter provides community leaders with a number of strategies that put the public mental health intervention framework into action.

For more information on the guide, click here: http://gucchdtacenter.georgetown.edu/public_health.html.

For more on early childhood mental health, see our winter 2009 Healthy Generations, Early Childhood Mental Health, available here: http://www.epi.umn.edu/mch/index.php/Page/View/Resources

Concern about young male veterans

An Associated Press article earlier this month raised concern about the high rates of suicide among young male veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  According to the article, preliminary data from the Veterans Affairs Department suggests that the suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old male veterans has increased significantly (26 percent) from 2005 to 2007.

One positive element that emerges from the data is that veterans who used VA health care services in 2007 were less likely to commit suicide than those who did not—representing a change from previous years. This difference may reflect recent efforts taken by the VA to meet the needs of young veterans, such as hiring thousands of new mental health professionals and creating a suicide hot line for veterans and military members.

For more information, please visit: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1953058,00.html

*NEW* Healthy Generations: Early Childhood Mental Health

Hot off the presses! http://www.epi.umn.edu/mch/index.php/Page/View/Resources.

The Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Public Health at the University of Minnesota is very pleased to announce the release of the winter 2010 issue of Healthy Generations.  Each Healthy Generations focuses on a significant MCH topic and includes articles written by leaders in the field. The winter 2009-2010 issue looks at the complex issue of Early Childhood Mental Health.  You can download a copy of this and past issues at http://www.epi.umn.edu/mch/index.php/Page/View/Resources.  If you would like to request (free) copies for yourself or your organization, please send an email to Jan Pearson at pears014@umn.edu.    If you are not on our mailing list, and would like to be added, please send a request to mch@umn.edu.

Letter from the Editors

In this issue of Healthy Generations, we focus on the mental health of young children, ages birth to five. We are aware that this domain of early childhood has too often been overlooked—only recently drawing considerable professional attention. Why this lack of attention? Perhaps too many have believed that young children, especially infants, cannot experience mental health problems. Infants who cry inconsolably or preschoolers who show excessive biting have often been viewed as “going through a stage” that they will outgrow. This dismissive attitude fits the societal stereotype about mental health problems in general; that is, the tendency to ignore such challenges because a parent or caregiver does not know what to do, or worse, fears being blamed for their young child’s behavior. Dramatic advances in our understanding of early brain development, the critical importance of social environments that stimulate and nurture, and the untoward consequences when relationships to provide this care are absent or unpredictable have taught us that the developmental trajectory towards positive mental health begins early. We now know what can and MUST be done to ensure that ALL infants and young children receive what they need from their caregiving environments to develop into happy, healthy children with positive mental well-being who grow into productive, contributing members of our society.

We want to thank the many professionals who contributed to this volume and shared their expertise about early childhood mental health. We are excited to see that public health thinking is being brought to bear in assuring the mental health of our young children. To present a balanced perspective—promoting positive mental health with attention to mental health problems—we invited articles that provide examples of interventions that promote mental health,  prevent problems in high-risk groups, as well as interventions that treat diagnosed mental health disturbances—in all cases, emphasizing evidence-based practice. Other articles in this volume highlight cutting edge issues related to early childhood mental health—screening and diagnostic assessment, collaborative efforts to develop early childhood and mental health systems of care, and workforce training initiatives in Minnesota.

We are pleased to showcase the wealth of information and strength of resources presented by our professional colleagues in Minnesota. We are also very proud to share with our readers several articles written by graduates in maternal and child public health at the University of Minnesota, who are leaders in this field. As we finalized this volume, we read, with sadness, that Norman Garmezy died on November 21, 2009.  Dr. Garmezy, a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, was considered the “godfather of resilience theory.” Among the many findings of Dr. Garmezy and his colleagues was that good relationships with adults exert an effect that is as powerful – or even more powerful  – than the mitigating effects of adversity on child mental health. His work furthered our understanding of how children can flourish in adverse environments  and continues to stimulate researchers at the University of Minnesota and across the globe.

As always, we welcome your feedback about this issue as well as topics for subsequent issues.

Joän Patterson, PhD, LP,  Julia Johnsen, MPH, and Wendy Hellerstedt, MPH, PhD