For more information on ParentingMontana.org or to bring the resource to your community, contact us at mail@chsculture.org or attend one of our upcoming conference sessions:

• National Prevention Network in Birmingham, AL on August 15th at 3:15pm, presentation entitled “Reducing Risky Behaviors in Montana with Practical Tools that Develop the Social and Emotional Skills of Parents and Their Children.”

• National Family Engagement Summit in Kansas City, MO on October 13th at 10am, presentation entitled, “ParentingMontana.org. Growing the SE Skills of Parents and Their Children.”

• CASEL’s Social and Emotional Exchange in Atlanta, GA on November 7th-9th, presentation entitled, “Applying an Intentional 5-Step Process to Grow the Social and Emotional Skills of Parents.”

Being back in person with our 2023 Positive Culture Framework Training was fantastic. Fifty people gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, in March. The annual event provided a foundation for efforts to improve health and safety in which training attendees developed and refined skills in three critical areas: leadership, communication, and the integration of effective strategies; learned how culture influences behavior and how to cultivate cultural transformation; and gained specific next steps for transforming culture. The historic city provided a little reprieve from the busy day-to-day and an opportunity to reflect and refocus efforts to improve health and safety.

Quotes from individuals attending the training:

• “Gave me a whole new outlook on the work that I do.”
• “Most useful training I’ve been to in a long time.”
• “Great training will recommend to a colleague.”
• “This is a great training. Such useful info and applicable to the variety of programming efforts.”
• “I appreciate that we had an opportunity to apply the concepts in real time.”

You can still attend the virtual Positive Culture Framework Training on September 19-21, 2023, if you missed our in-person training. Click here for registration information. Only a few spots remain!

We plan to host a Positive Culture Framework Training in Spring 2024. The dates and location will be announced soon!

The Center for Health and Safety Culture has developed and launched a brief intervention designed to address multiple risky driving behaviors that can augment existing infrastructures. This project will provide a set of tools to inform decision making about strategies that focus on individuals who engage in multiple risky driving behaviors. We have begun recruiting college students to participate in the study and conducting an initial assessment, which will include an assessment of multiple risky driving behaviors, impulsivity, and other risk factors.

This research project is a part of the Traffic Safety Culture Pooled Fund Program. A cooperative effort of 19 state DOTs to increase awareness, understanding, and prioritization of traffic safety culture thereby transforming the culture in pursuit of the Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) vision.

Project Meeting

On June 6th and 7th, the Traffic Safety Culture Transportation Pooled Fund met in Bozeman, MT for their annual in-person meeting. The pooled fund is in its ninth year. The meeting brought together board members from 17 participating states, 2 representatives from FHWA, and 4 CHSC staff members to discuss opportunities for the next phase of Traffic Safety Culture research. We reviewed the past contributions this pooled fund has made to the advancement of the research as well as progress on current projects. It was a great opportunity for members and staff at CHSC to engage with one another through small and large group dialogue and identify potential questions to be explored in the future. A special thanks to Stephen Ratke (FHWA), Wade Alonzo (Washington Traffic Safety Commission), and Wes Kumfer (University of North Carolina) for their presentations and contributions. States, organizations, or individuals interested in participating with or learning more about the Pooled Fund on Traffic Safety Culture can reach out to Kelly Green (Kelly.Green6@montana.edu) for more information.

Webinars

April 12, 2023

Katie Dively, M.S., MCHES, and Jay Otto, M.S. presented the webinar “What is Guide Service?” on April 12, 2023. This webinar touched on how you will learn and how support from the Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) can contribute to your community’s or organization’s success. A Guide from the CHSC is a personal consultant available by web meeting, phone, and email to support your efforts. 

February 22, 2023

Dr Bridget Hanson hosted a webinar, “Practical Suggestions for Useful Evaluations,” on Feb 22, 2023. The focus on this webinar was how the work we do to improve health and safety in our communities can be strengthened through evaluation. Practical evaluation approaches can help us understand what’s working well, what can be improved, and how to make improvement tweaks. Evaluation can be useful without being overly costly or burdensome. 

January 25, 2023

Dr. Kari Finley hosted a webinar on the Challenges of Fear-Based Approaches. Fear appeals are persuasive messages that scare an audience into adopting a recommended response. Fear appeals are effective with many people; however, we need to ask the question if there are any unintended consequences in our work. Dr Finley discussed the need to create a sense of concern rather than fear to cultivate cultural change.

Trainings

• June 8, 2023 – PCF Overview. Hosted by the National Safety Council in Chicago, Illinois.
• May 25, 2023 - Communicating to Prevent Driving While Impaired. Hosted by the New York STOP DWI Foundation.
• March 28-30, 2023 – Annual PCF Training in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
• February 2, 2023 - PCF Overview . Hosted by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.