Health eMoms Spring Newsletter!

Check out the new Health eMoms introductory video!

Update: CFPS 2018 Annual Legislative Report

Colorado's Child Fatality Prevention System, including local child fatality prevention review teams representing all 64 counties in Colorado and the State Review Team, recently submitted the 2018 Annual Legislative Report to the Colorado General Assembly. The report includes an overview of the system, data on violence and injury-related deaths among youth ages 0-17 in Colorado, and seven prioritized child fatality prevention recommendations (see below) as well as updates on past system prevention recommendations.

For more information and to view past legislative reports and data reports, visit the Child Fatality Prevention System website: http://www.cochildfatalityprevention.com/p/reports.html. 

If you have questions, please contact Kate Jankovsky, Child Fatality Prevention System Manager, at kate.jankovsky@state.co.us or 303.692.2947.

SURVEY: Communicating with our Community Partners

The Violence and Injury - Mental Health Promotion Branch at Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment facilitates the Violence and Injury Prevention Blog, the Young Drivers Alliance Blog, and the Colorado Child Fatality Prevention System Blog. We’re currently working on making improvements to the sites. We want to hear from you about how we’re doing! In particular, we want to know what forms of communication work best and provide the most useful information for you.

Please answer the questions in our survey with that in mind to help us get a better sense of your communication needs, and how we can improve the way we update you.

We’d also love to be able to reach back out to you to follow-up on your response! If you feel comfortable, please fill in your name and email!

Check out the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2HSQWBQ

Project Paves: Now Hiring!

Intervention Specialist

(Full-Time, 12 months)

Position Description 

Who are we?

Founded in 1986, the mission of Project PAVE is to empower youth to end the cycle of relationship violence. The cycle of relationship violence is generational and affects people in every community. PAVE’s approach to ending this cycle is through therapy and family advocacy and violence prevention education programming. Project PAVE annually reaches over 4,000 children, teens, parents, teachers and other professionals with its programming in Denver-metro area schools and other community outlets. For more information about Project PAVE, visit www.projectpave.org

Who are you?

A competent individual in the area of youth interventions, you can provide support and psycho-educational services for groups of youth impacted by gender-based violence. You are at your best when connected to young people and helping them build skills for healing. You are team-oriented and can own responsibility for your role. You can communicate clearly, and you possess excellent listening skills. You enjoy school and community settings and are passionate about ending the cycle of relationship violence.

What you’ll do:

●       Provide group interventions in schools by leading Second Stage support groups for youth victims of violence and other psycho-educational groups for youth about healthy relationships and violence prevention

●       Support youth individually by providing crisis intervention, resource linking, and referral assistance

●       Connect and collaborate with parents/guardians, teachers, coaches, and other partners to assess needs, facilitate referrals, exchange information, and resolve issues and concerns

●       Assist the youth & young men of Street Fraternity (East Denver drop in center; 4-5 hours/week, some evenings) by building relationships, leading group discussions, processing traumatic experiences, teaching coping skills, and connecting to other resources

●       Work with PAVE Prevention Specialists to coordinate (and in some cases, co-facilitate) violence prevention classes for youth in schools

●       Manage participant records, ensuring timely completion of required forms, surveys, and other data entry

National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month 2018

Events

July 18

National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

Twitter Chat – 2-3 pm ET

Background

During National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in July, the HHS Office of Minority Health will join partners at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels to help raise awareness about mental illness and its effects on racial and ethnic minority populations. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):

• Over 70% of Black/African American adolescents with a major depressive episode did not receive treatment for their condition.
• Almost 25% of adolescents with a major depressive episode in the last year were Hispanic/Latino.
• Asian American adults were less likely to use mental health services than any other racial/ethnic groups.
• In the past year, nearly 1 in 10 American Indian or Alaska Native young adults had serious thoughts of suicide.
• In the past year, 1 in 7 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults had a diagnosable mental illness.

Despite advances in health equity, disparities in mental health care persist. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reports that racial and ethnic minority groups in the U.S. are less likely to have access to mental health services, less likely to use community mental health services, more likely to use emergency departments, and more likely to receive lower quality care. Poor mental health care access and quality contribute to poor mental health outcomes, including suicide, among racial and ethnic minority populations.

The HHS Office of Minority Health encourages all our partners to educate their community about the importance of improving access to mental health care and treatment and to help break down other barriers such as negative perceptions about mental illness.

Visit this web page during National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month 2018 for downloadable materials, events and health resources.

Mental Health Disparities

Minorities are less likely to receive diagnosis and treatment for their mental illness, have less access to mental health services and often receive a poorer quality of mental health care.

• African Americans and Mental Health
• American Indians/Alaska Natives and Mental Health
• Asian Americans and Mental Health
• Hispanics/Latinos and Mental Health
• Pacific Islanders/Native Hawaiians and Mental Health

Projects and Partnerships

A few of our grants, projects and partnerships helping to reduce disparities and promote better mental health:

• American Indian/Alaska Native Health Equity Initiative (AI/AN Health Equity Initiative)
• Communities Addressing Childhood Trauma (ACT) Program
• Empowered Communities for a Healthier Nation Initiative
• Minority Youth Violence Prevention II (MYVP II): Integrating Social Determinants of Health and Community Policing Approaches

Health Resources and Publications

• Health Disparities Data Widget
• HHS Office of Minority Health Trauma Resources
• Mentalhealth.gov 
• Talking About Mental Health
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Mental Health by the Numbers 
• National Child & Maternal Health Education Program: Moms' Mental Health Matters
• National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD): Brother, You're on My Mind
• National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health 
• SAMHSA Community Conversations Toolkit
• SAMHSA Office of Behavioral Health Equity
• SAMHSA Treatment Locator

Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center is Hiring!

Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center is hiring for an Operations Manager. This position will work collaboratively with the RM-PHTC team and external partners to coordinate the development and implementation of (primarily distance-based) trainings for public health professionals. The RM-PHTC serves the states of Colorado, Montana, North and South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. It will work closely with the instructional design, training implementation, and evaluation teams with the RM-PHTC to accomplish training deliverables. The Operations Manager will serve as a liaison between the RM-PHTC team and external subject matter experts and development partners. The Operations Manager will also take the lead on communication to partners and learners about our training opportunities. As the RM-PHTC coordinates the delivery of approximately 100 trainings of varying types and complexities per year, the Operations Manager must be comfortable working on multiple concurrent projects.

More info is available here: Operations Manager Position Description

Leaders for Health Equity Fellowship Program

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