Parent/Professional Advocacy League
The Massachusetts Family Voice for Children's Mental Health          
www.ppal.net              
   December 2016
Celebrate the Holidays with Great News from PPAL
In this issue:
  1. PPAL Hosts Celebrated Author Dr. Ross Greene
  2. Check Out Our Pinterest Page!
  3. Youth MOVE Massachusetts Is Ending 2016 The Only Way Strong Youth Voices Can!
  4. Kicking Off Our Spanish Language Parent/Family Support Groups
  5. PPAL Receives Grant From Klarman Family Foundation
  6. PPAL Provides Training on LGBTQ Mental Health Issues
  7. Save The Date: Upcoming Training for Families with Transition-Age Youth
  8. PPAL Announces New Partnership with Guild of St. Agnes in Worcester
  9. Support PPAL By Shopping with Amazon Smile!
  10. Juvenile Justice Project Moves Forward

                                              
 
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Advocacy League
 
 
Statewide Office-Boston
15 Court Square
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Boston, MA 02108
Toll Free: (866) 815-8122
Fax: (617) 542-7832
 
 
Central Ma Office
(Worcester)
40 Southbridge Street
Suite 310
Worcester, MA 01608
Tel: (508) 767-9725
Fax: (508) 767-9727
Email: info@ppal.net
 

January Statewide Meeting

Please join us in welcoming back Joan Mikula, DMH Commissioner, and a long-time PPAL partner, supporter and advocate who has worked to advance the well-being of children and adolescents with mental health diagnoses in the Commonwealth. Commissioner Mikula's presentation will be your opportunity to share the insights and ideas that you have formed based on your direct experience in working with families.  



Register by January 6 via email.

Tuesday, January 10
10:00 am - 2:00 pm 
Plymouth Church Conference Room
Framingham, MA


1.   PPAL was thrilled to have Dr. Ross Greene, author of the influential books The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model (formerly known as Collaborative Problem Solving) speak to a group of parents and professionals on December 14 at Comfort Home Care in Methuen. Dr. Greene's CPS model is an evidence-based, proven approach to understanding and helping challenging kids at home, school, and in inpatient psychiatry, residential, and juvenile detention facilities.  Dr. Greene explained his innovative approach for dealing with challenging behaviors in children to the approximately 140 parents, caregivers and professionals in the audience.  The premise for Dr. Greene's model is that challenging behaviors are the result of a mismatch in the child's skills an d the expectations that adults place on them.  His collaborative approach requires that the child and adult caregiver or professional understand the concerns each is experiencing and work to find a solution which is realisti
c and which addresses their mutual concerns.  Dr. Greene has worked with incarcerated youth in Maine's juvenile justice system with amazing results in reducing incarceration and
recidivism rates.  Both parents/caregivers and professionals were excited by the freshness of Dr. Greene's approach with its focus on the cause of the behaviors rather than on the behaviors themselves.  Dr. Greene encouraged people to visit his website  for additional information and a variety of free reference materials.  PPAL would like to extend a huge thank you to Dr. Greene for his wonderful presentation!
 

                                           

2.  As part of PPAL's effort to increase our social media presence, Erin Edgecomb has recently begun reviving PPAL's Pinterest page. It has expanded to include boards on juvenile justice, support in school and college, mental health statistics and resources, and more. New pins will be added weekly, and different Pinterest boards will be posted periodically on PPAL's Facebook page to highlight specific areas of interest.

Check it out today by clicking here!

                                           

3. Youth MOVE Massachusetts is having an awesome December, and we are looking forward to a number of exciting announcements and events this month! As of December 14, our newly hired Lead Peer Support Specialist, Madeline Santana, has officially started in the Central MA office, and we are excited to expand our outreach and peer-led opportunities with her support! 

This month, Youth MOVE and PPAL presented to approximately 78 sixth grade students at Woodland Academy, a Worcester-based middle school, in a peer and parent-led presentation on how to support a friend who may be struggling with mental health and self-harm challenges. The presentation went very well and all of the youth, teachers, and school administration involved expressed the positive impact of this presentation and were interested in further collaborations!
Save the Date: On December 28, the Bowdoin/Geneva Youth MOVE group will host a neighborhood open house at the Grove Hall Library.   This group is geared for youth with emotional, behavioral, mental health needs. We are interested in getting community youth in the area to join our group- learn from other peers and connect! Support, make friends, enjoy food and learn new leadership skills! Click here to view the event  flyer and learn more!

Youth MOVE is thrilled to have had the holiday party on December 20th at PPAL! Thanks to Lexi Conrad from DMH Child/Adolescent Division in Central Mass for our delicious Portuguese cake and playing a game of charades! We had a wonderful time with 30 young adults multiple families and programs! Youth, peers attended the party from Tewksbury, Barre, Dudley, West borough and all around Worcester County!

Games like Dreidel  from Rose Marie  was a hit and most youth received their own game to go home with! Shout out to Nydia for the Birthday celebration too! 

Finally- as the holidays teach us .. it about the celebration together that makes it all real and coming together grows our happiness!

We are looking forward to even more community connection and collaborations in 2017! 

Stay tuned for Youth MOVE Massachusetts' big plans for 2017!

                                           
SpanishSupportKicking Off Our Spanish Language Parent/Family Support Group

4. On Wednesday, December 7, Family Support Specialist Ana Marchan held an open house to introduce families to our new Spanish language Parent/Family support group.  Despite the icy weather, we had several parents and community providers in attendance to help us celebrate this new support group.  The official support group will start in January. Look for an email with more information in the coming weeks!
Social worker Luis E. Diaz_ counselor Luz Figueroa_ Ana Marchan and Reverend Pablo Ramos at the open house.

                                           
  KlarmanPPAL Receives Grant From Klarman Family Foundation

5 PPAL is excited to announce that it has received a grant from the Klarman Family Foundation to continue our work collecting and utilizing data to support the voices of families and PPAL's goals, strengthening and broadening the perspectives and skills represented by the members of PPAL's board and highlighting the experience of multicultural families through their stories.  The Klarman Family has supported PPAL for the last several years, and we continue to be extremely grateful for their ongoing support.  We look forward to our continued partnership!

                                           

6.  Thanks to generous support from the Worcester State Foundation, PPAL offered a free training to parents and providers on mental health issues for the LGBTQ community in December.  This training focused on learning more about LGBTQ youth and strategies to support them in their care.  Facilitators Dani and Spencer ran the training, which included parents, police officers, members of the public defender's office and local social workers and clinicians.


                                           
TransitionSave the Date: Upcoming Training for Families with Transition-Age Youth 

7.   PPAL will be offering training for families and caregivers with transition age youth on January 18, 2017 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Bridge of Central MA on Mann Street in Worcester.   Empowering Families: Transition Age Youth  is a comprehensive guide for families and caregivers with young adults with emotional, behavioral or mental health needs who are transitioning into adulthood.  The curriculum includes information for families to consider in planning with or for their children across the range of issues that they must address: post-secondary education or employment, management of access to health care information and decision-making as their youth become legally independent (18 years), housing, and financial management of benefits for which the youth might be eligible or which families might put in place from their own resources.  Training is free for families and caregivers.  Don't miss out!  Register today via email.


                                           
AgnesPPAL Announces New Partnership with Guild of St. Agnes in Worcester 

8.  PPAL is partnering with the Guild of St. Agnes to support parents in the Worcester area.  PPAL's long-standing parent support group held on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month is moving in January to the Granite Street location of the Guild of St. Agnes. PPAL is excited to support parents who are already part of the Guild community and looks forward to a successful community partnership with the Guild!  Look for more details to follow in early January.
                                           
AmazonSupport PPAL By Shopping with Amazon Smile!

9. This holiday season and throughout the year, you can support PPAL's mission just by doing your regular shopping! Simply  click on this link   and Amazon will donate a portion of all of your purchases to PPAL.  It is an easy way to help us continue to support families and caregivers throughout Massachusetts.
                                           
JJProjectJuvenile Justice Project Moves Forward


We are dedicated to supporting parents, families that are experiencing detention with their child. This is an opportunity for youth at risk of detention or held in detention to receive our support with referrals from the Department of Youth Services directly.  

PPAL would like to recognize Commissioner Peter Forbes, Deputy Commissioner Ruth Rovezzi and JDAI State Coordinator Lynsey Heffernan for the effort to move the family involvement in the Department! We will make a great team together!