Products -- Safe from the Start Newsletter Archives

SFTS NEWS

Spotlight on the San Diego Family Justice Center - Promising Strategies Site Visit
As part of the SFTS Promising Strategies project, Solano County staff visited the San Diego Family Justice Center (FJC) in October. The FJC, launched in October 2002, brings professionals and services together under one roof to help victims of family violence. The Center houses police officers, prosecutors, forensic medical professionals, probation officers, legal advocates, victim advocates, shelter services professionals, support services professionals and the San Diego Domestic Violence Council, in one downtown building. The FJC serves over 600 clients per month as a one-stop help center for victims of domestic violence and their children. This coordination reduces the amount of time and the places victims need to go to get the help they need. The FJC stands as a model program for the provision of consolidated services and the access to early intervention and prevention programs for the community.

The site visitors, led by SFTS staffer Arlene Shea, included Carolyn Thomas-Wold of the Solano County Office of Family Violence Prevention, and Grace Andres of the Solano County Family Court. Special thanks to Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack and their team at the FJC for the tour and presentation.

For more information on the FJC and information on their annual conference next April - where SFTS will sponsor the keynote presentation by Dr. Bruce Perry - check out http://www.familyjusticecenter.org.

SCHOOL READINESS INFORMATION

Improving Reading Skills
Reading is something that most of us take for granted. We probably learned it in first grade and the world came alive with new ideas. This happened pretty much on course for most of us. But a number of children barely advance beyond first grade level. Where does the process of learning to read break down?

For more information, check out “What Separates Problem Readers from Proficient Ones? Virginia Mann Focuses on Three Elements” at: http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/virginia-mann.

RELATED RESEARCH

Report Shows Frequent Family Dinners Cut Teens’ Substance Abuse Risk in Half
How often a family eats dinner together is a powerful indicator of whether a teen is likely to smoke, drink or use drugs and whether the teen is likely to perform better academically, according to a new report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and sponsored by TV Land and Nick at Nite’s Family Table. The study, The Importance of Family Dinners II, also reveals that teens and their parents wish they could have dinner together more often.

To download a copy of this report, check out http://www.casacolumbia.org/supportcasa/item.asp?cID=12&PID=141.

RELATED RESOURCES

Intervention with Traumatized Children
Recent school violence and its impact on children and adolescents has prompted parents, teachers, social workers, counselors, administrators, and policy makers to learn more about complicated grief and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents. It is now accepted that children can, and do, experience all the reactions of PTSD following both violent and nonviolent incidents. This publication from the Skillman Center for Children at Wayne State University illustrates a trauma response kit developed in response to PTSD in children and adolescents.

For more information, check out http://www.skillmancenter.wayne.edu/OP2000-1.pdf.

About Bullying
About Bullying, part of the 15+ Make Time to Listen… Take Time to Talk initiative, from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Health Information Center, provides parents and caregivers with information about bullying, and methods for communicating with children about the climate of fear created by bullying. The messages exchanged between children and their caregivers in just 15 minutes or more a day can be instrumental in building a healthier and safer environment for children.

For more information, check out http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/15plus/aboutbullying.asp.

FUNDING NEWS

$184.5 Million in Grants for Child Mental Health Services Awarded
SAMHSA has announced 25 awards totaling $184.5 million to provide comprehensive community mental health services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. These grants will be used to implement a "Systems of Care" approach to services based on the premise that the mental health needs of children and adolescents can be best met within their home, school, and community, and families and youth should be the driving force in the transformation of their own care. California has 4 winners: Butte County, California Rural Indian Health Board, Inc., the County of Los Angeles, and Placer County Health and Human Services.

For more information, check out http://www.samhsa.gov/news/newsreleases/051004_ChildMentalHealth.htm.

Almost $70 Million Awarded to Help Children and Adolescents Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events
SAMHSA has also announced almost $70 million in grant awards to provide help to children and adolescents who have experienced traumatic events. These grants will fund a network of community-based treatment and services centers that are supported by national expertise. The California winner, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, has been awarded $400,000 per year to establish and sustain evidence-based clinical treatment and trauma services for runaway and homeless youth in the Hollywood community. The grant will enable the program to transform the service delivery system so that the entire system of care is more educated about trauma and its impact, and more able to respond effectively to these needs.

For more information, check out http://www.samhsa.gov/news/newsreleases/050930_children.htm.

Chula Vista Wins Award For Anti-Bullying Program
The League of California Cities has given a Helen Putnam Award for Excellence to the City of Chula Vista for their success in bullying prevention. The Chula Vista Police Department, along with the Chula Vista Elementary School District and Chula Vista Community Collaborative, received a grant to address bullying in three elementary schools using the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Based on research results and observational data, the School District made changes at each campus, which included creating specific rules against bullying, increasing staff trainings, and guidelines were created for responding to bullying situations.

For more information on Chula Vista, check out http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone-wcm&previewStory=24100. To learn more about the Helen Putnam award, check out http://www.cacities.org/helenputnam.

UPCOMING TRAINING AND CONFERENCES

Frontiers of Trauma Treatment
The 4th Annual Children in Trauma Conference, "Frontiers of Trauma Treatment," will be held at California State University, Chico, on January 13?14, 2006. The conference will focus on the effects of childhood trauma on development. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, of Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine, will present basic data on the nature of traumatic memories and examine the implications of this knowledge to clinical practice. He will also explore the effects of trauma on cognitive, psychological, and interpersonal functioning, and present a range of new approaches to treatment that have been developed based on research.

For more information, check out http://rce.csuchico.edu/page.aspx?id=367.