In partnership with the DPI and Mental Health America of Wisconsin's Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant, WISH Center Regional Coordinators are available to provide QPR trainings and technical assistance on suicide prevention.  Read more about QPR.

Please contact your WI Safe & Healthy School's Regional Coordinator for more information to train adults or youth in suicide prevention.

Submitted by Christine Kleiman, 

East Regional Coordinator

NOTICE: SBIRT workshop is coming to your area this school year. SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) is a well-established evidence-based service model which has great potential for delivery in middle and high school settings as a Tier 2/3 behavior intervention.

This is a two day training that requires some pre-planning work that will help educators evaluate if their school is ready for the intervention and by doing the pre-planning it helps ensure a more successful implementation of the service.

Pre-planning (Implementation Plan) includes:

• Which student behavior(s) will be the focus of SBIRT services?
• How does using SBIRT to address the above target behaviors "fit" with your existing district/building priorities or initiatives?
• How will it be determined which students receive SBIRT services?
• What will the procedure be for obtaining parent consent to screen students?
• Who among the pupil services team or other staff, will be selected for delivering services?
• Will participating staff be willing to complete a re-administration of the screening instrument as part of their data collection task?
• Will participating staff receive the administrative support to allow the time needed for initial implementation?
   

The pre-planning Implementation Plan will need to be submitted before starting the two-day training.

Upcoming Training Dates:

• October 13 & November 17 at CESA #7, Green Bay
• October 22 & November 12 at CESA #2, Whitewater
• October 27 & December 2 at CESA #4, West Salem
• January 6 & February 9, 2015, at CESA #1, Pewaukee

Student Services/Prevention and Wellness Team

 Contributed by Brenda Jennings, DPI Consultant

The core clusters within Online YRBS system continue to align with the 2013 YRBS.  If sites select all clusters, it will replicate the 2013 Wisconsin YRBS. The system was updated this summer to display 2013 state and national data in the comparison report. 2013 statewide YRBS data is available at: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_yrbsindx or http://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx

UW-Milwaukee Center for Urban Initiatives and Research will be trained in September to take over user support for Online YRBS.  The official transition is expected to occur September 22^nd.  The Online YRBS website will be updated to reflect new contact information.

The 2015 Wisconsin YRBS instrument is being finalized and will be posted online this fall.  Statewide data collection will begin in January.

Wisconsin DPI was awarded the School Age Parent grant through the Office of Adolescent Health.  13 districts and consortia were awarded School Age Parent Grants within Wisconsin. Outcomes include increasing high school graduation and enrollment in higher education, increasing parenting knowledge and skills, and decreasing repeat pregnancy.  The professional development focus for the fall is on evidence-based curricula that increase parenting knowledge and skills.  For more information including a training calendar go to: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_schlageparent.

Wisconsin DPI was awarded the Competitive School-based HIV/STD Prevention and Surveillance grant through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The HIV grant will have statewide activities around policy and curriculum, but will have targeted activities to 15 priority districts in policy, curriculum, referrals for health service and safe school climate. All grantees are required to address school climate for LGBT youth. Priority districts received orientation in July and are beginning year 1 of strategy implementation. More information can be found at: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_aidshiv.

Wisconsin DHS, in collaboration with DPI, was awarded the enhanced Chronic Disease grant.  Work in 16 priority districts will be occurring in this grant as well.  Site selection was based on disparities in data. 

There are ongoing DPI internal workgroup meetings for Academic and Career Plans. In addition, an advisory committee's main charge will be advising DPI on the development of the administrative rule directing academic and career planning services and the professional development necessary to implement ACPs statewide by 2017-2018. The governor's 2013-2015 biennial budget included $1.1 million for the purchase of career development technology and professional development. DPI has a website dedicated to the implementation of ACP's at: http://acp.dpi.wi.gov/.

DEWS - Dropout Early Warning System information on the DPI website: http://wise.dpi.wi.gov/wise_dashdews.  

Wisconsin is one of seven states to receive a Safe Schools-Healthy Students grant.  DPI received this federal grant to address school safety in the Beloit, Racine, and Menominee Indian School Districts.

A document on RtI and consent is available at http://rti.dpi.wi.gov/files/sped/pdf/rti-consent.pdf.

Plans are underway for the 2015 AODA grant competition.  More information about AODA grant workshops and webinar will be coming soon!

GSAFE and Mental Health America of Wisconsin partnered to produce the new resource for middle and high school educators, Best Practices for Supporting LGBTQ+ Students as They Return to School.  Please consider sharing this in love, respect, encouragement, support, and appreciation with educators that you know, including out-of-school and after school workers!  Please see attached, or follow the link above or here:  http://www.gsafewi.org/resources/for-educators/best-practices-for-supporting-lgbtq-youth-as-they-return-to-school/

Wisconsin DPI has awarded the 2014 Wisconsin School Health Award to 22 districts as a way to recognize and celebrate schools with policies, programs, and the infrastructure to support and promote healthy eating; physical activity; parental and community involvement; and staff wellness. The goal of this award is to motivate and empower Wisconsin schools as they create and maintain healthy school environments.The 2014 awards ceremony is October 29th at the WHPE convention in Wisconsin Dells.  The next School Health Award competition will begin in October.

Rogers InHealth unveils new social media resources to help, Contributed by Sue McKenzie, Rogers InHealth

For students facing mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and bi-polar, the stresses and challenges of a new school

year can be magnified if they find themselves in school environments,  working with teachers, or interacting with friends and family members that are not supportive.

According to Sue McKenzie, co-director Rogers InHealth, "Approximately 20 percent of all children would benefit from mental health services, yet only 1/5 (or 20 percent) of them receive help. For those who don't, the untreated mental disorders are likely to persist, become more severe, difficult to treat, and as a result, approximately 50 percent of students age 14 and older who are living with a mental illness drop out of high school. This is the highest dropout rate of any disability group. These statistics are particularly troubling when we know that children who receive effective services go on to find success at school, with family and friendships, and that carries into their future."

Rogers InHealth, a department of Rogers Behavioral Syste

m, has recognized the need to decrease the stigma of and increase the support for students and families dealing with mental health challenges, so they can effectively move from illness to recovery. The organization has created a series of brief videos that highlight stories of recovery and strategies that youth, parents and educators have found to work in the face of mental health challenges. The video clips were created to empower families and teachers as they support children with mental health challenges.

The schools tab of the Rogers InHealth website,  http://www.rogersinhealth.org/schools, directs the visitor to specific social media based video content. The brief videos share personal stories of students in recovery, as well as effective support practices of parents and teachers. The site also has "reality videos" of strategies used in classrooms in MPS where teachers support children in their learning every day.  Read More.