Building Capacity of School Personnel to Promote Positive Mental Health in Native American Children and Youth

This free series consists of five separate two-hour sessions from September 2020 to January 2021. Attendance is critical, so please carefully consider your availability to attend all five sessions.

The goal of this multi-state initiative is to build capacity of school teams to promote positive mental health in children/youth throughout the school day using a multi-tiered approach. Specifically, the Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) will build capacity of school personnel to learn about and implement model programs, such as Every Moment Counts and Circle of Courage, and embedded strategies emphasizing mental health promotion and prevention.

If you agree to participate, you will be expected to:

• Identify 3-6 interdisciplinary team members to be a part of a Community of Practice (CoP) at your school. The CoP should be an interdisciplinary team including any of the following: teacher, paraprofessional, occupational therapist, administrator/counselor, nurse, speech language pathologists, social workers or school psychologists. It is strongly recommended that the team include a classroom teacher and be interdisciplinary in nature as training emphasizes application in the classroom and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• The CoP will participate in all five, two-hour virtual training sessions (see schedule overview below).
• Each CoP will develop a strategic plan identifying gaps or opportunities to improve mental health promotion throughout the school day and identify strategies to implement change.

Mountain Plains MHTTC will:

• Provide the training described above and any technical assistance during development of the strategic plan and implementation.
• Provide continuing education credits to the CoP members (20 hours). If your state requires transcripted credit, the Mountain Plains MHTTC will have the training approved, but the transcripted fee is the responsibility of the teacher.
• Provide required readings and resources to the CoP.
• Follow up on the implementation plan.

Benefits to you include:

• Enhanced capacity of all school personnel through enhanced understanding of how to apply knowledge about children’s mental health in the school.
• Free resources for each CoP.
• Free educational sessions and online discussions regarding mental health promotion.
• Feeling connected to other schools implementing the projects.
• Continuing education credits (20 contact hours for CoP team members).

Sessions

Part One: Introduction to Intergenerational Trauma, Historical Loss, and Communities of Practice Process

September 15, 2020

2:30pm - 4:30pm Mountain Time

Part Two: Understanding Multi-Tiered Approaches to School Mental Health and Embedded Service Delivery

October 6, 2020

2:30pm - 4:30pm Mountain Time

Part Three: Culturally Relevant Embedded Programs that Support Social and Emotional Well-being

November 3, 2020

2:30pm - 4:30pm Mountain Time

Part Four: Mental Health Literacy

December 8, 2020

2:30pm - 4:30pm Mountain Time

Part Five: Indigenous Programs to Support Students and Final Reflections

January 12, 2021

2:30pm - 4:30pm Mountain Time

Trainers

LaVonne Fox, PhD, OTR/L 

Dr. Fox was an associate professor at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND, in the Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine and Health Sciences for 26 years until December 31, 2019. She began a new position at the Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, ND, in January 2020. LaVonne was born and raised on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation. She has considerable experience researching Indigenous Youth programs for positive mental health and wellness connected to identity. She is currently developing a Master in Education program that focuses on decolonization/deconstructing the educational system and embedding indigenous values and beliefs.

Sarah Nielsen, PhD, OTR/L

Dr. Nielsen is an associate professor at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND, in the Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Sarah has over 19 years of experience working with children, youth, and young adults with mental health issues in communities and schools. Her clinical practice included developing and implementing trauma-informed approaches in mental health care. She assisted students transitioning from mental health programs back to public schools where she trained and assisted schools in this effort.