Upcoming Suicide Prevention Trainings from NAMI Maine

NAMI Maine (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is offering several suicide prevention training opportunities scheduled over the course of the next month that are available to school staff.

Friday, May 19th (Bangor) – Training of the Trainer (TOT) in Suicide Prevention
Thursday, June 1st (Portland) – Training of the Trainer (TOT) in Suicide Prevention
Friday, June 2nd (Portland) – Assessment and Management Training
Tuesday, June 20th (Virtual) – Virtual Protocol Development Training

If you need any more information regarding any of these training opportunities, please contact Julianne McLaughlin, NAMI Coordinator of Suicide Prevention Programs at mspp@namimaine.org

For more training opportunities with NAMI Maine visit their website: https://www.namimaine.org/events.

For further information and assistance about health education and training in schools, reach out to Maine DOE Health Education & Health Promotion Consultant Susan Berry at susan.berry@maine.gov.

School Nurses Across the State Receive Workforce Professional Development

The Coordinated School Health Team of the Office of School and Student Supports at the Maine Department of Education is proud to report that as part of the funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for COVID-19 Emergency Response, Public Health Crisis Response, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, 103 school nurses from across the State of Maine have received certification in emergency procedures to help strengthen the quality of health services within schools.

Training courses were held in Caribou, Bangor, Waterville, Lewiston, and Portland. The training focused on recognition, assessment, and acuity of injuries and/or illness. By developing the current school nurse workforce, we can improve health equity in care across the state. This supports the CDC Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model, allowing students to reach their highest potential.

A school nurse who attended one of the trainings recently, remarked, “I will have been an RN for 50 years next year (many years as a flight nurse and NICU, PICU, and ICU/CCU nurse) and this “old” person learned several new things yesterday!”

Reminder – 2023 Spring Wellness Workshops offered by StrengthenME

Are you feeling burnt out and/or looking for support? StrengthenME, Maine Department of Education Schoolsite Wellness, and Workforce EAP have partnered to provide educators and school staff with free wellness workshops and confidential coaching sessions.

Join 30-minute Wellness Workshops – Offered every other Thursday at either 7:15 am or 3:15 pm, March 16 – May 11. All are welcome anytime. You can join all presentations or as many as possible, or just one that caught your attention. Remaining sessions include?

April 27 – Boundary Setting and Saying No
May 11 – Quieting the Mind

Evening Sessions added: Two additional session times have been added from 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. on Wed. April 26 and May 3

April 26 – Staying Grounded When Others are Escalating
May 3 – Letting Go of What We Can’t Control

Find session descriptors here | Workshops will all be accessible via this Zoom link

2023 Spring Wellness Workshops

The Maine Department of Education Schoolsite Wellness team is pleased to host StrengthenME and the Northern Light Health Workforce EAP to provide educators and school staff with FREE wellness workshops.

Join any or all of the following 30-minute wellness workshops every other Thursday at either 7:15 a.m. or 3:15 p.m.

March 16 – Staying Grounded When Others are Escalating – Now, more than ever, our ability to stay calm is being put to the test. In this workshop, we’ll explore strategies for de-escalating ourselves and others, putting our minds ahead of our emotions to succeed as individuals and as part of a larger community.

March 30 – Asking for Help – It isn’t always easy to ask for help, particularly when you’re used to being the helper. This workshop explores common barriers to seeing help and offers strategies to effectively and mindfully ask for and receive the help you need.

April 13 – Letting Go of What We Can’t Control – Holding on to things we can’t control can cause us a great deal of stress and unhappiness. It also keeps us from growing and living our lives freely. This workshop explores strategies for letting go and includes a 10-minute guided mindfulness practice.

APRIL 27 – Boundary Setting and Saying No – Setting boundaries is an important part of establishing one’s identity and is a crucial aspect of mental health and well-being. This workshop reviews ways to set healthy emotional boundaries and ways to navigate boundary setting effectively.

May 11 – Quieting the Mind – In this workshop, we’ll explore the idea of Monkey Mind and how the demands of life impact our ability to experience a quiet mind. We will review ways to quiet the mind, and practice using mindfulness to slow racing thoughts.

These workshops are all accessible via this Zoom link.

Direct any questions to Ariele Worrall at aworrall@northernlight.org.

2023 Beyond the Basics in Suicide Prevention: Building Resilience and Safety in a Changing World

NAMI Maine is hosting its annual Beyond the Basics in Suicide Prevention Conference, in person on Friday, March 10th at the Augusta Civic Center. Register Here today.

Maine’s annual Beyond the Basics in Suicide Prevention Conference has provided health professionals, educators, clinicians, first responders, and community members with best practice information, guidance, and resources in suicide prevention and management efforts since its inception in 2003. This conference is a collaboration of organizations and individuals working to reduce suicide and the stigma that surrounds it. It is designed for an adult audience including secondary students seeking to deepen their understanding of prevention and expand their skill set when it comes to suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. Visit NAMI Maine’s Beyond the Basics webpage for details about our Keynote speaker, Gia Drew, and a full list of the available breakout sessions.

Reduced rates are available for student registrations upon request from your school, email to mspp@namimaine.org, and a limited number of scholarships are available upon request.

If you have questions or need more information email either Julianne (mspp@namimaine.org) or Greg (gmarley@namimaine.org) at NAMI Maine’s Suicide prevention Program.

Virtual Training: No Cost Bomb Threat Assessment for Decision Makers

The Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP), a part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is announcing the addition of the new Bomb Threat Assessment for Decision Makers (AWR-945) course to its suite of Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) Courses. This course is provided at no cost to the participant or their organization.

This 75-minute VILT provides the participants with foundational knowledge on assessing and evaluating bomb threats, related responses, and considerations. This course introduces types of threats, the threat assessment process, and the implementation of a Bomb Threat Management (BTM) plan. Additionally, the course provides activities that allow participants to apply specific portions of the risk management process and their newly acquired knowledge about BTM procedures to develop a risk assessment of a bomb threat.

Classes are now open for registration! Participants can visit Office for Bombing Prevention (dhs.gov) to register for classes. Select the desired course and date from the listings and you will be automatically directed to the online application process. Registration must be completed two business days prior to class start date. If you have friends or colleagues that would benefit from this virtual training, we encourage you to share this information with them.

A FEMA Student Identification (SID) number and Password are required to apply. If you don’t have a FEMA SID one can be obtained by going to: https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid/register.

For registration issues, contact OBP Training Support at the CDP at: obp-support@cdpemail.dhs.gov or (256) 847-2195 during business hours.

Please contact OBP Training at OBPTraining@cisa.dhs.gov with any questions.

Work/Life Coaching Sessions Available for Education Workforce

Individual Work/Life Coaching sessions are available upon request through StregthenME, Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services program, which offers free stress management and resiliency resources to promote the health and well-being of all Mainers.

These sessions provide access to 1:1 confidential coaching with a licensed mental health counselor to assist with stress and explore wellness options and resiliency. Up to six 50-minute sessions, conducted via Zoom or phone.

To inquire about or schedule a session, please send an email to StrengthenME@northernlight.org or call 1-800-769-9819.

Seizure Management & Resource Guide

School nurses and staff can be prepared to recognize and treat seizures in the school setting. Seizures may occur for many reasons, including infection, fever, traumatic brain injury, neurological disorder, or related to a drug or medication. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 0.6% of children aged 0 to 17 are estimated to have seizure conditions. One of the most prevalent neurological illnesses affecting children and young people is epilepsy, a condition characterized by recurrent seizures with no other identifiable cause. An epilepsy diagnosis extends beyond having seizures; it can impact many areas of a child’s life, including education. It is approximated that about half of the children with epilepsy struggle academically. The purpose of this resource guide is to assist school nurses and school staff in providing a safe and supportive environment for individuals with seizures and epilepsies to maximize educational and developmental opportunities.

The Department is happy to release the Maine Guide to School Health Services: Seizure and Epilepsy Resource Guide for school nurses to utilize within their schools. The purpose of this resource guide is to assist school nurses, educators, and all school staff members to help students with a seizure disorder participate fully and meet goals pertaining to academics, physical education, and extracurricular activities. This can be accomplished through clinical assessments, monitoring, nutrition, exercise, staff/student education and risk reduction measures. This document provides relevant, up-to-date information collected after review and collation of the most current content available from several national organizations. The Office of School and Students Supports Coordinated School Health team is pleased to provide this resource in order to support the evidence-based best practices for students with seizures in Maine schools.

The full Guide and other resources can be downloaded here. You may contact DOESchoolandStudentSupports@Maine.gov with any questions.

MaineHealth Virtual Workshop: MindUP – A School and Community-Based Mental Health Resource

The following virtual workshop is being hosted by MaineHealth to Maine schools.

We are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis across the country, especially in the wake of the acute pandemic. The literature indicates it will take many strategies across community and clinical settings to address this.

MindUP is one school and community-based strategy that is based firmly in neuroscience and has proven to be effective to improve stress regulation, to enhance tools for self-regulation, and has demonstrated positive effects on reducing aggression and managing stress, including through four randomized control trials. Although its use and research has been focused in K-12 schools, MindUP can easily be taught in other settings and with adults.

We are fortunate to have implemented MindUP in several schools in Maine, including with the leadership of the Spruce Mountain public schools (RSU 73) in Jay, Livermore Falls, and Livermore and the Healthy Community Coalition at Franklin Community Health Network. David Evans Shaw, a Maine-based philanthropist, has generously funded the efforts to bring MindUP to Maine.

If you or others are interested in learning more and how you can bring MindUP to your school or community setting, please join leaders from RSU 73, Franklin Community Health Network, and MindUP for a one-hour informational zoom on Thursday February 16th, 11:00 am ET – 12:00 pm ET.

We ask that you register here in advance for this meeting.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. The meeting will be recorded, and registrants will receive a link to the recording afterward.

Learn more about about MindUP here (PDF).

Monthly Sessions: Mental Health Promotion in the School Setting

Project ECHO© presents Mental Health Promotion in the School Setting ECHO Monthly Sessions begin on January 23, 2023, the 4th Monday of the month from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm on ZOOM. Bring your most challenging cases to colleagues and a panel of subject matter experts for review and recommendations. Access tools to foster positive social, emotional, and behavioral skills, and well-being for all. Join as your schedule allows. CEUs available upon survey completion.

Audience: Anyone working in the School Setting
Cost: Free

SESSION TOPICS: