WEBINAR: The Role of School Mental Health Professionals in Supporting School Safety Efforts

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center will host a Webinar on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET. This Webinar will highlight the role of mental health professionals in supporting school safety efforts at the local level.

The objectives of this 60-minute Webinar are to

Demonstrate the importance of developing a collaborative planning team to support emergency operations plan development, as outlined in Step 1 of the six-step planning process detailed in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
Discuss the role that school mental health professionals — including mental health coordinators, counselors, and others — play in implementing the National Preparedness System mission areas before, during, and after a potential emergency.
Share resources to strengthen mental health professionals’ efforts around climate assessment, behavioral threat assessment, continuity of teaching and learning, and overall plan development.

Register on the REMS TA Center Website to participate in the Webinar!

Presenters:

Mobile County Public Schools

Denise Riemer, LCSW, Mental Health Services Coordinator

REMS TA Center

Janelle Hughes, Project Director

Questions About the Event?

Contact the REMS TA Center Help Desk at 1-855-781-REMS [7367] or info@remstacenter.org from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

VIRTUAL TRAINING: Suicide Prevention Curriculum Lessons Training

Join the Maine Department of Education and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) Maine for a 2-part virtual training!

Wed., Sept. 22nd, 8:00am – 12:00pm
Wed., Sept. 29th, 12:00pm – 3:30pm

It is a great opportunity to safely and economically attend this vitally important curriculum unit. Attendees MUST commit to both sessions. Gatekeeper Training is a pre-requisite, (may be registered in an upcoming workshop). For more Info on Gatekeeper Training access NAMI Maine’s event calendar.

School staff will be prepared to implement suicide prevention lessons through foundational information and engagement in learning content and strategies in the curriculum lessons.

No cost, and materials are provided.

The training will cover the Middle School Stress Management and Suicide Prevention Lessons and Lifelines Lessons.

Register Here

(Registration closes Friday Sept. 17 to allow time to prepare materials.)

Direct questions to Amanda Bouffard, Suicide Prevention Coordinator, (207) 622-5767, ext. 2318.

PRIORITY NOTICE: Still Time to Register for Mental Health Forum on April 1

There is still time to register for the Maine Department of Education’s FREE virtual forum taking place on Thursday, April 1st from 9:00am – 3:00pm.

Supporting Maine Educators: A Forum to Bolster Mental Health in Our Schools.
Date: Thursday, April 1, 2021
Time: 9:00 AM EST – 3:00 PM EST
Format: Zoom Webinar

The focus of this forum is to acknowledge the struggles of this past year, celebrate our successes and build resources to support mental health for our school communities. We hope to bring a greater awareness to the importance of mental health, destigmatize mental illness, increase mental health literacy for staff, administrators and community-based agencies, as well as provide practical supports to bolster the mental wellness of students and staff.

This forum will be a six hour event and consist of keynote speakers, with each followed by a related panel discussion comprised of experts from the field, State agencies and community partners, as well as staff and students from Maine schools. This will be a live event and each session will be recorded and available on the DOE website. This is a FREE event!

For More Information and to Register

Supporting Maine Educators: A Forum to Bolster Mental Health in Our Schools

Following up on the Save the Date sent out on March 10, the Maine Department of Education is pleased to invite Maine education personnel to attend Supporting Maine Educators: A Forum to Bolster Mental Health in Our Schools on Thursday April 1st from 9:00-3:00. This is a FREE Virtual event – See the agenda

Featuring: John T. Broderick, Jr., Dartmouth- Hitchcock Senior Director of External Affairs and Former Chief Justice of the NH Supreme Court; and Joanne P. McCallie, Author and Former Duke, Michigan State, UMAINE and, Auburns Women’s Basketball Coach.

Date: Thursday, April 1, 2021
Time: 9:00 AM EST – 3:00 PM EST
Format: Zoom Webinar

For More Information and to Register

SAVE THE DATE: Free Mental Health and Wellbeing Forum for School Communities

The Maine Department of Education invites you to attend, Supporting Maine Educators: A Forum to Bolster Mental Health in Our Schools on Thursday April 1st from 9:00am – 3:00pm.

Please join us for this very important event. For further information or questions, contact Staci Warren at Staci.H.Warren@maine.gov.

Virtual Presentation 1/13 – Returning to School: Mitigation and Mental Health Strategies

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS), the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) invites you to please join a presentation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to optimize mitigation strategies and mental health to facilitate a safe return to schools in the new year.

Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Time: 3:00-4:00 pm EST

The presentation will include 1) user-friendly tools and information for schools to inform the selection and implementation of COVID-19 mitigation strategies; and 2) information about how to support and promote mental health for students and school staff, both in-person and virtually.

Speakers

Cria Perrine, PhD, is a Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service and an epidemiologist in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Dr. Perrine joined CDC in 2008 as part of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, CDC’s front-line training program of “disease detectives.” She is currently serving as the Task Force Lead for the Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force in CDC’s COVID-19 response.

Marci Hertz, M.S. Ed., Senior Behavioral Scientist, Division of Adolescent and School Health, CDC. Since 2003 Ms. Hertz has worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Lead Behavioral Scientist in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and in the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH). She is currently a Senior Behavioral Scientist in DASH focusing on promoting mental health and preventing substance use and violence in school settings.

Registration

Everyone must register for the interactive presentation using the link below in order to gain access to the meeting room.

https://air-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kAeRfoqNQS63Fvq6NTLI7w

Please contact NCSSLE if you have any questions, contact information is provided below. We look forward to sharing this information with you and hearing from you about the important work you are doing in your schools, communities, and states to meet the needs of your students and staff as they return to school either in person or virtually.

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)
American Institutes for Research
Phone: 800.258.8413
Email: NCSSLE@air.org
Website: http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov

Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey Administration Postponed

Dear Superintendents and Principals,

The Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) has been conducted in the February of odd-numbered years since 2009, with the next administration due in February 2021. Given the extraordinary circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MIYHS will be postponed to Fall 2021. With a significant portion of students learning remotely in some capacity, high quality data collection is not feasible for the 2020-2021 academic year. Postponing the survey will reduce the burden on schools and increase the chances of securing high quality data on students’ mental, physical, social, and emotional health.

We ask for your help in making the fall 2021 MIYHS successful by registering to participate early. Our partner, Pan Atlantic Research, will send out Fall 2021 registration information this winter. We are also excited to announce that select schools will have the option to conduct their surveys online next fall! Please stay tuned for more information.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jean Zimmerman at jean.zimmerman@maine.gov or Korey Pow at korey.pow@maine.gov.

Message from Kellie D. Bailey SEL Specialist Maine DOE

Rock with a leaf on it — This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

Dear Maine Educators-

It has been such a pleasure to collaborate with you over the past few months. You are Educational Warriors. Your passion, strength, ingenuity and resilience overwhelms me. I’m beyond grateful to work for Commissioner Makin who clearly supports and honors the emotional wellbeing of our Maine educators and support staffs. When I accepted this position as the first SEL specialist for the Maine DOE in January 2020, I could never have foreseen that in just 10 short weeks, Maine educators would be faced with such sadness, grief and concern for their students and the world.

Our morning mindful practices and the work that hundreds of you have put in over the past three months to learn and grow in all things social/emotional is greatly appreciated. For many of you the school year is over, but the work has not stopped. Preparations for school re-entry and how this will look is on everyone’s mind. Please remember to take small moments to be present in your life. Listen to the birds, feel the sun warm your face, smell the freshly cut grass and BREATHE ON PURPOSE.

Breathing is our first life gift and our birthright. Breathe for yourselves and for one another. Give yourself permission to step outside of the automaticity of an unaware existence and spend a few moments in gratitude and hope. We will get through this together and we will begin the important work of building a new reality in education with a solid foundation of love, compassion, equity and understanding. Our children deserve for us to be at our emotional and physical best so we can continue the work of teaching courageously and compassionately and growing good humans.

Be Well, Safe, Healthy and Happy-

With Love- Kellie