Study: Half Of Jailed NYC Youths Have Brain Injury

From:  NPR

About half of all 16- to 18-year-olds coming into New York City's jails say they had a traumatic brain injury before being incarcerated, most caused by assaults, according to a new study that's the latest in a growing body of research documenting head trauma among young offenders.

Experts say the findings, published this week in The Journal of Adolescent Health, could lead to better training for correction officers on how to deal with the possible symptoms of such trauma, which include problems with impulse control and decision-making.

"You need to train the correction officers to understand brain injuries so that when somebody may be acting rude or answering back or forgetting what they're supposed to do, it's not a sign of maladaptive misbehavior or disrespect, it's a sign of a brain injury," said Wayne Gordon, a brain injury expert at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital.

The peer-reviewed study was based on medical brain injury questionnaires given to 300 boys and 84 girls inside the nation's second-largest jail system in 2012.

The study found nearly 50 percent of both boys and girls reported traumatic brain injuries that resulted in a loss of consciousness, amnesia or both. And they said 55 percent of those injuries were caused by assaults.

For more information see Study: Half Of Jailed NYC Youths Have Brain Injury.

Drug Endangered Child Awareness Day

Governor John Hickenlooper has proclaimed today, April 23, 2014, Drug Endangered Child Awareness Day in Colorado. Raise awareness of drug endangered children's issues by sharing this information across the state.

Colorado Budget Invests in Girls and Women to Reach Their Full Potential

From:  The Huffington Post

Representative Crisanta Duran, who understands the barriers that woman face,  feels the Colorado State budget is a clear victory for Colorado girls and women.

Her response to how the budget keeps women safe, and healthy:

When it comes to health we made investments in a plan to reduce child abuse; more access to family planning and prenatal services.

I take personal safety very seriously, that's why I think it is essential to provide services for women to be safe. The budget provides for pro-bono legal services for victims of domestic violence. This investment is important because domestic violence continues to undermine the economic security and safety of many women in girls in Colorado. In 2011, Colorado's 46 domestic violence crisis centers served 34,685 clients, which represent an increase from 2010, when 28,132 clients were served.

Last Call for Stop Bullying Now! Hard Copy Resources- FREE materials but Limited time!

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has historically made available free hard copy bullying prevention materials to youth-serving organizations, communities and families across the country. In the next couple of months HRSA will be winding down this operation, and will discontinue the distribution of these materials. Between now and then, they want to ensure that partner organizations have the opportunity to secure mass quantities of our resources for upcoming conferences, workshops and general use. Please take a moment to consider placing an order for your own needs and/or spreading this message to your networks.  We are encouraging orders in multiples of 1,000.

As a reminder, the materials available are:

·         DVD Toolkits - animated webisodes that teach children lessons about what bullying is and how to prevent it; public service announcements; video workshops for professionals in education, health and safety, mental health and other related fields; and an instructor’s guide adults or older youth can use to help teach children about bullying.

·         Activities Guides – a small booklet of creative ideas that youth and adults can use to implement bullying prevention and response efforts

·         TIME for Kids Comic Books – a series of three volumes, plus an instructor’s guide, that illustrate the scenarios presented in the animated webisodes

How to Order:

-Call 1-888-ASK-HRSA.

-Email your order 

-Visit HRSA's website and connect with support via the Life Help chat function.

Please note that the Stop Bullying Now! webisodes will remain available on the Web via www.StopBullying.gov/kids, and our Bullying Prevention Training and Community Action Toolkit remain accessible at www.StopBullying.gov/training.

Persistent 'silent' problem

Suicide rate in Colorado remains shockingly high

From:  Daily Camera 

It is consistently referred to as a "silent" problem in Colorado: A suicide rate that, year after year, remains shockingly high. But the adjective just refers to how we treat suicide.

When someone loses a loved one to, say, cancer or a vehicle accident they might wear a colored ribbon with thousands of other people at a fund-raiser; they might build a roadside memorial. Friends and colleagues might feel unburdened when offering condolences or empathizing. Suicide, an act of violence often preceded by months or years of emotional struggle, is frankly hard for most people to talk about. The unanswered questions it usually leaves behind can stymie conversations between even those quite intimate with it.

That's where the silence ends: Suicide is a well-known, well-documented and widely reported problem in our state. It has been for a long time. Colorado consistently has had one of the highest suicide rates in the nation; it is the leading cause of death for Coloradans aged 10 to 34.

National Prescription Take-Back Day is this Saturday

The Drug Enforcement Administration will hold its next  National Prescription Take-Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 26. The seven previous take-back days have removed more than 1,733 tons of unwanted prescription medications from circulation. You can search for collection locations on the DEA website or view the Dropbox Location Map.

Please display the Got Drugs? or Tienes Medicamentos? flyer to promote the event and help make it another successful take-back day!

New Bullying and Suicide Resource for School Personnel

From:  The Centers for Disease Control

The CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention released  The Relationship between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What it Means for Schools. The resource describes:

• The most current research findings about the relationship between bullying and suicide among school-aged youth; and
• Evidence-based suggestions to prevent and control bullying and suicide-related behavior in schools.

This document does an excellent job of clarifying that bullying does not cause suicide; rather it is one risk factor (among others) that may increase the chance of a young person engaging in suicide-related behaviors.