Health Education Resources

 

Schools Partnership Organization

http://sonc.org/schools/school-programs

"Research suggests that approximately 25% of American children will experience at least one traumatic event by the age of 16. A child's reactions to trauma can interfere considerably with learning and/or behavior at school. However, schools also serve as a critical system of support for children who have experienced trauma.

 

Administrators, teachers, and staff can help reduce the impact of trauma on children by recognizing trauma responses, accommodating and responding to traumatized students within the classroom setting, and referring children to outside professionals when necessary. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed tools and materials to help educators understand and respond to the specific needs of traumatized children."

 

http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/school-personnel/trauma-toolkit

 

Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health. Advocates focuses its work on young people ages 14-25 in the U.S. and around the globe.

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/

 

 

"The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) provides education, information, help and hope to the public. It advocates prevention, intervention and treatment through offices in New York and Washington, and a nationwide network of Affiliates."

 

For main page, click on title above or here:

http://ncadd.org/about-ncadd/about-ncadd

"It’s time to overhaul our approach to tobacco prevention. While this generation of teenagers has gotten smarter about smoking, and rates of traditional cigarette use are down, rates of e-cigarettes have tripled over the last three years.

There are a few theories as to why this is happening—less fear of getting caught, lack of information, thoughts that it’s a safer alternative to smoking—but regardless as to why it’s happening, it’s clear we need to get going on our prevention methods before these rates get even higher.

This topic would be a great opportunity to introduce some Project Based Learning (PBL) into a health class. According to the Buck Institute, the leaders in PBL research and training,

“Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge.”

E-cigarettes are definitely a challenge, and there are so many aspects of the subject that lend themselves to research and inquiry."...

 

For full post, click on title above. 

"This new SHAPE America Guidance Document gives teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists and teacher trainers a detailed blueprint for designing and delivering health education that meets national, state and local standards and frameworks. 
 

Created by SHAPE America and a task force of exemplary health educators, Appropriate Practices in School-Based Health Education lists best practices for:   
 

* Creating a positive and inclusive learning environment that engages students in learning the skills they need to live healthy lives

* Implementing a sequential, comprehensive curriculum —aligned with the National Health Education Standards and other relevant frameworks —that is skills-based, with an emphasis on developing health literacy 

* Employing instructional practices that engage students in learning and in developing their health-related skills. 

* Using assessments that measure student growth, knowledge and health-related skill development 

* Advocating for a positive school culture toward health and health education. 

* Maintaining high standards of practice" 

 

For main page and for download access to document, click on title above or here:  http://www.shapeamerica.org/publications/products/appropriatepractice_schoolhealth.cfm

By Jessica Lahey

"At a recent school event, a mother asked me how she could help her son who had begun drinking and taking drugs. “There must be something I can say that will make him listen,” she implored, hoping I could help her find the magic words that would make her son face his escalating substance abuse problem.

 

I teach writing at an inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, so I went to the source for answers. I asked my students to write about the question, “In your most receptive, optimistic and trusting moments, was there anything that anyone could have said to you that would have affected your drug use? If so, who was that person and what could they have said to you?” Here (shared with their permission and the permission of the program) are some of their answers.

 

D. wrote, “We kids generally don’t want to listen to what our parents or teachers say, but I might have listened to another family member. Maybe if they said that alcohol could take control of you, or that alcohol can make you lose friends, make you push away people who care about you, and make you do things that you would be embarrassed to tell your parents about.”
 

“If parents don’t have first-hand experience with drugs or alcohol, it’s hard for their kids to connect with them about their addiction. They need someone who knows the sadness, the loneliness, and the darkness,” wrote another.
 

A., a particularly introspective and perceptive student, wrote that the things the adults in his life told him about drugs and alcohol made him more determined to seek them out, not less. When adults told him drugs were all bad, with no upside, he suspected he wasn’t being told the truth. “There must have been some reason they were so addictive, that so many people seemed to love them so much. It seemed like everyone was trying to hide the truth from me, like someone telling you that the chocolate pudding sucks so that they can eat more of the delicious pudding themselves. I was determined to try that pudding, to make up my own mind.”
 

When he did try the pudding (marijuana, in his case), “It made me feel better than I had felt in so, so long. It brought back the happiness I felt before the depression, the anxiety, the panic attacks.” That initial positive experience only served to support his hunch that the adults in his life had been lying to him all along.

What might have worked, continued A. in his paper, was the truth. “Show them the black, white, and the gray, otherwise they will find the truth themselves, through experience. Show them both sides of the story, and they’ll figure out that drugs aren’t worth the consequences.”
 

A., as it turns out, was on to something. David Sheff, author of the books “Beautiful Boy,” the story of his son’s addiction, and “Clean,” about treating and preventing drug addiction, wrote in an email, “The research shows that for a conversation to make a difference, it must rely not on scare tactics — dire warnings and exaggerated fears — but facts. The goal is to get kids to think. We must acknowledge that it’s confusing and there aren’t easy or black-and-white answers. We can use a kind of motivational interviewing and get kids thinking about why they may be tempted to use — the potential benefits versus potential risks.”

 

Lisa Fredericksen, author of “If You Loved Me, You’d Stop! What You Really Need to Know When Your Loved One Drinks Too Much” added in an email that we must also take adolescent brain development into account in our parenting. Until their brains are fully wired for adulthood, they need help balancing their as-yet underdeveloped ability to predict the cause and effect of their actions against their natural tendency toward risk-taking and impulsiveness. “It is our job, then, to structure our teens’ lives so they have the kinds of boundaries that will help them thrive until their brains have matured enough to take full control,” Ms. Fredericksen explained.

To offer meaningful support and advice to our children, Mr. Sheff wrote, we have to understand why they use drugs in the first place. He points to surveys of teenagers that indicate they don’t use drugs because of peer pressure or a desire to get high, but rather to cope with the stress and anxiety in their lives. Therefore, if we want to keep teenagers from using drugs, we have to help them manage that stress.
 

It’s useless to tell a child who’s being bullied, or is failing in school, or is traumatized by family turmoil to just say no. It’s pointless to tell our children to ‘make good choices’ about drugs if those drugs offer a reprieve from the darkness they feel, or a connection they so badly crave to other kids. We must work to mitigate rather than add to the stress they experience before drugs present as a solution.

 

Mr. Sheff’s words echo the advice I’ve heard from experts in childhood anxiety, self-injury, and trauma: Listen to your children, validate their feelings, and help them develop the emotional vocabulary and coping mechanisms they so desperately need in order to navigate their lives, substance free."... 

 

For full post, click on title above or here: 
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com//2015/03/05/teenagers-dealing-with-addiction-on-what-might-have-helped/

Exercise tones the legs, builds bigger biceps and strengthens the heart. But of all the body parts that benefit from a good workout, the brain may be the big winner.

 

http://www.gulf-times.com/opinion/189/details/439577/exercise-builds-brawn%26hellip-and-brain-power

Summary of news and laws pertaining to sexting in the State of California.

 

http://mobilemediaguard.com/states/sexting_laws_california.html

 

For an example of a website that is aiming to educate youth about the illegal nature of sexting, check out: 

http://www.bandbacktogether.com/teens-sexting-resources/

"According to SAMHSA, individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional,or spiritual well-being. 

In the U.S., 61% of men and 51% of women report exposure to at least one lifetime traumatic event, and in public behavioral health settings, 90% of clients have experienced trauma. Data suggests that many people with mental illnesses and addictions will have poor physical health outcomes if trauma goes unaddressed, and ignoring trauma can hinder recovery. All care — in all health settings — must address trauma in a safe and sensitive way in order to ensure the best possible health outcomes.

Providing care in a trauma informed manner will promote positive health outcomes. A trauma informed approach is defined by SAMHSA as a program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization."... 

 

http://www.integration.samhsa.gov/clinical-practice/trauma

 

For full infographic that is displayed in part above, click here: 

http://www.integration.samhsa.gov/clinical-practice/Trauma-infographic.pdf

The month highlights the importance of healthy lifestyles, being physically active, and participating in your favorite sports.

 

http://www.hhs.gov/blog/2015/05/01/get-moving-may-national-physical-fitness-and-sports-month.html

"A high-quality recess program can help students feel more engaged, safer and positive about the school day, according to Stanford research.

In fact, recess can yield numerous benefits to an elementary school’s overall climate, said Milbrey McLaughlin, the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Emerita, founding director of Stanford’s John W. Gardner Center, and a co-author of the journal article.

“Positive school climate has been linked to a host of favorable student outcomes, from attendance to achievement,” the study noted.

In an interview, McLaughlin said, “Recess isn’t normally considered part of school climate, and often is shortchanged in tight fiscal times, but our research shows that can be a critical contributor to positive school climate in low-income elementary schools.”

McLaughlin’s co-authors are Rebecca London (lead author), formerly of Stanford and now a researcher at UC Santa Cruz; Lisa Westrich, a former Stanford research and policy analyst; and Katie Stokes-Guinan, a former Stanford graduate student researcher."...

 

For full post, click on title above or here:

http://patch.com/california/unioncity/why-kids-need-recess