Another Really Useful Resource

The Council on Children and Families is pleased to join The Annie E. Casey Foundation in announcing that the  2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book is now available. This data book is a comprehensive resource on the status of U.S. children, featuring state-specific data on ten key indicators of child well-being.  The  2011 Data Book  message, "America's Children, America's Challenge: Promoting Opportunity for the Next Generation," examines how children and families are faring in the wake of the recession and ties together research findings on family economic success and the critical role of investing in early childhood programs that can allow the next generation to succeed.  At the core of the message is the Casey Foundation's belief that providing the opportunity for all children to succeed requires two-generation strategies that simultaneously help parents put their families on a path to economic success and enhance children's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development from birth.

Information from this year's data book indicates that, for the periods observed, children in New York experienced: 

• improvements on five indicators, with reductions in infant mortality rates, child death rates, teen death rates, teen birth rates and percent of teens who are neither in school and nor high school graduates.   

• a downturn on three indicators, with a greater percent of children living in poverty, a higher percent of children living in single parent households and an increase in the low birthweight rate.

The data book also includes information on the percent of children living with at least one parent unemployed (9% in NY) and the percent of youth who are not working and not in school (8% in NY); changes over time could not be made since comparable data were not available. 

We invite you to visit the Data Book home page to download the report and create maps, graphs, and charts at the national, state and local level (school districts, Congressional districts). The new mobile Data Center offers hundreds of measures of child well-being available on any smartphone. Also, for additional county level data, be sure to visit the Kids' Well-being Indicators Clearinghouse (KWIC) at www.nyswkic.org. 

Dine Out in Depew-September 12th Celebrate 25 Years with the Parent Network of WNY!   

First, the Director of New York's Suicide Prevention Initiative, Melanie Puorto encourages your attendance at a free Webinar kicking-off a new initiative that will provide 30,000 high school teachers with access to an online suicide prevention training simulation - Kognito's At-Risk for High School Educators. The avatar-centric simulation enables teachers to practice interaction with life-like students exhibiting signs of depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide in order to hone their skills at identifying and approaching such students to discuss their concern and connect them with professional services. At-Risk is listed in the SPRC/AFSP Best Practices Registry for suicide prevention programs and has been evaluated in a national study.

New York State Introduces Suicide Prevention Simulation

for High School Educators

Tuesday, August 23, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EDT   

The Webinar is free to attend.

This new program is designed to secure the safety net for youth across the state by enlisting teachers in recognizing the signs of psychological distress and raising their concerns.

Videocast Panel of Suicide Prevention Experts

In recognition of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is sponsoring a videocast panel of suicide prevention experts. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from people working in the field. For more info about the speakers, please see the attached flyer.

Suicide Prevention in Rural Communities

A Day of Dialogue   

Keynote Speaker - Dr. Robert Bossarte, Panel of Survivors of Suicide Loss, Attempt Survivors and Suicide Prevention Coalition Members.

Wednesday, October 26th

Contact: Ann Rhodes (518) 736-8188 x105
or
Shannon Cubells (518) 725-4310 x134

Annual Office of Mental Health

September 13, 2011

OMH has been engaged in a number of transformational initiatives launched by Governor Cuomo to achieve better results and use resources wisely. Among these are the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission, and the Mandate Relief Team. This is a time of enormous change, transition, and opportunity. With this in mind, OMH is using this year's annual planning process to take stock of where things stand and lay a foundation for a new five-year plan in 2012.  

The Public Hearing is scheduled for:  

September 13, 2011, 2 - 4 p.m.  

Hosted by Commissioner Hogan via video-conference  

at the following sites.  

Seating is limited. Registration required.

• Albany - 44 Holland Avenue, 8th Floor Conference Room

• New York City - NYS OMH New York City Field Office, 330 Fifth Avenue, 9th Floor

• Long Island - Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, 998 Crooked Hill Road, Rehabilitation Center, Room C4, West Brentwood

• Syracuse - NYS OMH Central New York Field Office, 545 Cedar Street, Training Room 204

• Rochester - Rochester Psychiatric Center, 1111 Elmwood Avenue, Second Floor, Room G213-4

This hearing will be held in the style of a town-hall meeting. While written testimony is welcome before or on the day of the hearing, the meeting will not focus on the reading of testimony. Rather it is intended to provide the Commissioner and those attending with the opportunity to have a dialogue about priorities and concerns.  

Submit written testimony to OMH via the transformation mailbox at: transformation@omh.ny.gov.  

 Over the past year, SAMHSA - as part of its Recovery Support Strategic Initiative-has worked with the behavioral health field to develop a working definition of recovery that captures the essential, common experiences of those recovering from mental and substance use disorders, along with 10 guiding principles that support recovery.

SAMHSA invites readers to consider the material inside the links and tell them what you think about the working definition and guiding principles of recovery from mental and substance use disorders.

The comment period ends at 12 midnight, EDT on Friday, August 26.

Read More About the Definition of Recovery and Provide Feedback

CrossFit for Kids is developing a fitness program for children ages 6-10, with disabilities in Albany beginning in the Fall.  This is a great opportunity for children with Down syndrome to workout, build social skills, and have FUN!  Click here for more information.