Dear Partners,

Virtually or in-person our communities are beginning a new school year. Recently, I joined an EDC expert conversation on how to help our children with feelings of anxiety, isolation, and trauma as they return to school. Our communities need continued support to provide safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children and adolescents and to address educational inequities that have amplified during the coronavirus pandemic.

True to our shared mission of advancing equity in injury and violence prevention, CSN will join our partners, Safe States Alliance, at their annual conference on September 9^th. In the events section of this newsletter, you can learn more about CSN’s presentations on addressing health inequality and racism in times of change and hear examples from our Child Safety Learning Collaborative of addressing equity in injury and violence prevention.

Throughout this newsletter, you will continue to find resources from our CSN-A partners highlighted in purple.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Leonardo, PhD

Children’s Safety Network Director

Addressing children’s mental health and wellbeing will be vital as we return to school, in any form. A growing body of research shows that proactive support of young people’s social emotional development and mental health contributes to reduced risk behavior, including violence and substance misuse. Given this research, a growing number of communities are using evidence-based social and emotional learning programs and practices to promote young people’s health and wellbeing.

Check out CSN’s February State Technical Assistance Webinar (STAW) to learn how communities can integrate SEL and mental health support systems to address the needs of all children and adolescents. We also provide practical examples of how state agencies can support schools and community organizations in adopting and integrating evidence-based SEL and mental health practices using a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework. 

4pm-5pm ET, September 10, 2020

NOTE: Due to overwhelming interest, we had to close our Preventing Suicide and Self Harm in Black Youth webinar registration early because we have reached capacity. We will send out a link to the webinar recording when it is posted.

If you were forwarded this newsletter, sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear about our webinars and recordings!

September 9-11, 2020

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Child and Adolescent Injury and Violence Prevention Resource Centers Cooperative Agreement (U49MC28422) for $5,000,000 with 0 percent financed with non-governmental sources. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.