Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency
To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders:
First, some announcements:

Our first quarterly General Meeting in 2022 will focus on Young Adult Mental Health (19-26 years old). With an increasing awareness of the unique struggles young adults face in our changing world, we’d like to offer recent news and support for fostering resilience in the population. This story highlights the story of a few students’ experiences with mental health crises on their college campuses. Young adults are in need of mental healthcare more than ever. This influx of mental health struggles is clearly hitting close to home as well, with this article describing the tough emotional reactions of UGA students as they try to re-adjust to in-person obligations this semester. The meeting will be held on on Thursday, March 24th from 11 am to 1 pm ET - invite to follow soon.

On January 26th at Mental Health Day at the Capitol, Speaker David Ralston held a press conference to announce the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission (BHRIC) Omnibus Mental Health Bill. Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, Resilient Georgia’s Executive Board Chairperson, chairs the Commission’s Hospital and Short-Term Care Facilities Subcommittee. This bill was drafted based on the Commission’s First Year Report findings and recommendations. This bill moves us closer to achieving Resilient Georgia’s vision whereby “every child and young adult in Georgia will have access to high-quality, integrated behavioral health services and support, empowered by a statewide network of trauma-informed organizations working together to prevent and heal childhood adversity.” Please see this recent AJC article to learn more about the bill.
We would also like to highlight several resources and news updates:

  • We are so thankful for the amazing work Gateway Health and partners are doing in Savannah. Check out recent press coverage from their Mental Health Car show, Brake the Stigma.
  • We’re excited that The Carter Center Board of Councilors is spreading the word about mental health parity. To hear more, be sure to watch their recent meeting, where leaders discuss how to advocate for parity within various organizations. 
  • Back On My Feet is an amazing organization supporting homeless individuals through the gift of exercise, community, and resource connection. This video shows their programs in action and shines a light on some of the participants and their stories. 
  • Congratulations to Georgia State University’s Center for Urban Educational Excellence, who just received a $361,000 grant from Americorps VISTA, which will be used to create a program supporting LGBTQ+ youth currently experiencing homelessness.
Finally, we would like to share these upcoming events and trainings:

  • Register now for the Resilient Cobb Summit taking place in the Cobb Center of Commerce at 8:30 on February 1, 2022. This half-day in person event will focus on how Cobb County is building trauma-informed, thriving communities. Dr. Emily Anne Vall, Resilient Georgia's Executive Director, will present opening remarks.
  • Be sure to grab a ticket to attend The Powerful Project’s newest event in their speaker series. On February 3rd at 4PM attendees will hear from writer, speaker, and life coach Trey Anthony as she speaks on her experiences and how to empower women in our world.

At Resilient Georgia, we're always looking for ways to equip our communities with upstream approaches to mental and behavioral health. Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an accessible program designed to help people be gentler with themselves in the midst of hardship. For the full introduction to the program, a description of its evidence-based benefits, as well as a wealth of resources and trainings for MSC, check out this post from the Resilient Georgia website. In addition, this article discusses how MSC can be used to combat anxiety in our modern world.

Please follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more resources, events, and news. Thank you all for your continued support in preventing ACEs, healing adversity, and promoting resilience for children and families across Georgia!

Sincerely,

Brenda Fitzgerald, MD
Executive Board Chair
&
Emily Anne Vall, PhD
Executive Director
Sector Highlight: Mental Health in the Workplace
Work burnout is not a new idea, but conversations around burnout have increased in recent years, and for good reason. It seems that the pandemic has created a perfect storm for exhaustion - some estimates suggest that around half of all workers have experienced some form of burnout since the beginning of the pandemic, with women (particularly women of color) being especially vulnerable to experiencing symptoms. This challenge may be especially difficult when considering other responsibilities employees may have, such as parenting. This interactive data tool explores the concentration of different burnout symptoms according to parent gender, ethnicity, and age of their child. With statistics on burnout at such a dramatic high, a conversation about mental health at the workplace is clearly overdue. 

For many, high expectancy for productivity in the midst of pandemic anxiety has created an environment where a healthy balance of work and play becomes too difficult to maintain. Even the rapid influx of work-related emails has become an aspect of work that leaks into personal time, creating a lack of boundaries and increased mental activity even after clocking out. This article explains why this may be the case, and how you can establish work-life boundaries and give yourself a break. This uplifting conversation with Amit Sood, resiliency expert, discusses how to promote wellbeing in the workplace by creating community connection and expanding our potential to see the good. In addition, it’s not just up to staff to solve issues of behavioral health in the workplace. Per this interview, there’s lots that employers can do to foster a company culture that supports mental wellness. For organizations looking to create a better future for employees, Soundtrack of Mental Health offers targeted workplace mental health workshops to help build a culture of empowered resiliency.

To learn more about how to incorporate a trauma-informed framework into a range of institutions, take a look at our training roadmap, which offers sector-specific trainings and resources for your convenience.
Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs)
Leaders are continuing to recognize the urgency of the current state of youth mental health. Surgeon General Murthy recently released a public health advisory addressing this clear emergency, and he is certainly not alone in this recognition. This op-ed from a child psychiatrist explores the immense amount of mental health crisis occurring, discussing the need for more services and resources in schools, hospitals, and beyond. This urgency comes in the context of an observed rise of children committing suicide in Georgia, a trend which may relate to the creation of online spaces where suicide is being promoted through sharing knowledge on how and when to commit suicide. In addition, there’s been a notable increase in drug overdoses nationally, deadly shootings continue to plague schools, and access to proper healthcare can be scarce - especially in rural communities. These occurrences have something in common - they are situations where a child may incur an adverse childhood experience (ACE), marking their life forever. At this point, we know that PACEs (Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences) are of utmost importance to development, but the question stands - how do we decrease the impact of ACEs while maximizing that of positive experiences?

The first option would be to minimize the occurrence of ACEs. Stopping ACEs entirely is clearly out of reach, but there are certainly some measures that could support this goal. For example, this article by a teacher and survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting shares her perspective on the pattern of school shootings, urging legislators to implement protective measures to protect students against this tragic and all too common occurrence. As we continue to advocate for structural change in the priority of mental health, there are numerous amazing examples of how we can protect children on an individual level. This story shows how teachers and other caregivers can expand children’s ability to destress through music, painting, and theatre sessions. This recent study found that involved parenting can act as an an antidote to the effects of racial discrimination of African-American children. Putting young kids in school can promote social competence, and many are working to ensure that as many children as possible have that access. Finally, mental healthcare can have a huge impact on transforming trauma into resilience. We’re grateful that CVS recently announced that they were launching a Mental Health Counseling program in an attempt to cover the gaps we are observing in access to care. For those unsure where to start with mental healthcare resources, this free resource finder can help locate customized instructions for supporting a child.
COVID-19 Resources
  • New variants of COVID-19 can be both alarming and extremely confusing. This article from the NYT discusses how to best stay safe and calm in the midst of Omicron. 

  • This clever set of colorful comics from NPR highlights how freelance illustrator Joy Ho is working to overcome their all too common “pandemic slump”.

  • With the pandemic continuing to impact so many lives, many are realizing that we may never return to pre-COVID “normalcy”. This AJC article offers advice from community members and health professionals on how they are coping with this idea.
Racial Equity Resources
  • This publication from Child Trends discusses how various racial equity efforts such as offering resources, adjusting disciplinary measures, and training individuals on best practices may be a key to improving wellbeing for non-white students and staff. 

  • The Confess Project is an organization working towards recognition and support of Black barbers as mental health advocates. New research from Harvard University on The Confess Project suggests that this is both an appropriate and positive way to create lasting change in the lives of clients. 

  • HBCU Morehouse College is announcing the creation of their new Black Men’s Research Institute, which will help fill in the research gaps of disparities and challenges unique to Black male experiences. We want to offer our congratulations and support for the launching of the institute.
Be sure to read additional resources on the topics above, and more, here.
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” 
-Margaret Mead