Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention
News and Updates
Volume 8 | Issue 1 | Spring 2019   
2018-2019
Alberti Center 
Colloquium Series 
Since the November 2018 issue of the Alberti Center newsletter, we have had four colloquia in our 18-19 series. The following speakers presented in January and February: 

Dr. Chunyan Yang,  an assistant professor from  University of California, Santa Barbara

Dr. Christine Miller,  an associate professor from SUNY Geneseo 

Stephanie Fredrick an assistant professor from Central Michigan University

Chad Rose, an Associate Professor from the University of Missouri
Dr. Paul Miller

Our next and final colloquium of the semester (co-sponsored by the Educational Administration Program) will take place on Wednesday, April 10. Dr. Paul Miller, Professor of Leadership & Management at the University of  Huddersfield, UK, will be presenting on Education as a social vaccine in the fight 
against Gender-Based Violence: The role of educational leaders. 
The presentation will take place  from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in 120 Clemens Hall. Light refreshments will be served. Please register here by Monday,  April 8, if you would like 
to attend.

Featured Resource 
  Youth Mental Health  First Aid  is a  resource  for  anyone working with  or looking to  help an  adolescent (age 12-  18)  who might be  struggling  with a mental health or addictions  challenge or  is in crisis. Youth Mental Health  First Aid is  primarily designed for adults who  regularly  interact with young people. The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. Topics covered include anxiety, depression, substance use, disorders in which psychosis may occur, disruptive behavior disorders (including AD/HD), and eating disorders.

Out in the Community
Alberti Center team members continue to spread awareness and resources for bullying prevention at events across the Western New York (WNY) c ommunity. Here are some of the places we've been recently:
November  15 - The Wildly Engaged Inclusive Classroom conference sponsored by   Parent Network of WNY,  29 - Parent Network of WNY's Family Engagement Conference
December  17 - Self Advocacy of New York State (SANYS) holiday luncheon at Chef's
February  20 - Erie County Suicide Prevention Coalition Annual Stakeholder Breakfast
March  1 - Health & Wellness Fair at Starpoint High School,  7 - Spread the Word event at Buffalo Downtown Library,  8 - Wellness Fair at Williamsville North High School,  11 - Focus Group for DDPC grant at Canisius College
Dr. Toni Torchia (left), School Psychologist at Starpoint Middle School, and Brie Kishel (right), Program & Operations Manager for the Alberti Center pose for a picture at the Starpoint High School Health & Wellness Fair.

DASA  Training 
Sessions Available
The Alberti Center is an approved provider of the NYSED DASA Training workshops. Registration information and session dates through August 2019 are available on the  DASA website.   R ecent participants said:

More prepared to handle cases of "bullying" with students and equipped with skills to support students and school community.

I feel great that I have new strategies that I can implement in my future classroom. Great job!  Keep on doing what you  a re doing. 

7th Annual BAND Against Bullying in April
Flyer designed by
Tall Girls Design
The 7th Annual BAND Against Bullying event will take place at the UB Center for the Arts on Tuesday, April 16. BAND Against Bullying is a performing arts competition based on the theme of Dignity. Students are encouraged to combine multiple forms of art to create the most dynamic illustration of Dignity Awareness. Each school presents their 
performance the evening of the event. The event incorporates valuable information on bullying awareness, exceptional talent and collaboration among students, as well as an opportunity to raise money for the prevention of bullying in schools. Tickets for the event are only $5.00 at the UB box office and proceeds benefit each participating school, and the continued development of the   BAND Against Bullying Program. Visit the BAND website to learn more!


Students present at NASP Convention Atlanta
Tim Parks presents his poster to attendees at the NASP conference.
The NASP (National Association of School Psychologists) Convention was held February 26-March 1 in Atlanta, Georgia. Several of our graduate students represented the Alberti Center and Counseling, School and Educational Psychology department at the conference. Tim Parks presented his poster titled School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Training: Identifying Methods to Improve Transfer, Jenine Tulledge presented a poster on Gender and Grade-Level Impacts on Child Abuse Prevention Knowledge, Melissa Dudley presented a session titled Effects of Child Abuse Prevention and School Climate on Teachers' Reporting Competencies and Sam Kesselring presented a poster on Teacher Perceptions of Student Writing. Dr. Amanda Nickerson also presented a PREPaRE Workshop at the conference.

endAbuse Website
Dr. Amanda Nickerson and several members of the Alberti Center team, as well as the department of Information Science at UB, have been working on a project that was funded by the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC). The DDPC offered grant funding, based on a request from committee members, to develop a website that would provide a resource to address the epidemic of bullying and abuse of people with disabilities. The Alberti Center was awarded the grant and the team has made significant progress on the website in the past year. Initially, focus groups were held where people with disabilities had the opportunity to provide input on the design and content they would like to see included on the website. A couple of the team members attended a Web Accessibility Guidelines training to ensure the site meets all accessibility requirements and offers the maximum amount of access to individuals of all abilities. A prototype of the website was shared with the project advisory committee and recommendations were noted and implemented. At this phase of the project, the website is being evaluated for accessibility, usability and overall satisfaction. Although the project is ongoing (until Fall 2019), we are happy to share a link to the new website here and welcome any feedback!

Spread the Word to End the Word
The Alberti Center participated once again in the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign in WNY. The event took place over two days in the beginning of March. The first day, advocates offered information and an opportunity to sign the pledge to end the use of the 'R-word' at coffee shops around the city. The following day, several non-profit organizations as well as the Erie County Office for People with Disabilities gathered at the Buffalo Downtown Library to distribute information and resources and encourage visitors to sign the pledge

Quick Links

                                       

                                         



FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!


                             


We are now on Instagram!


Do you have suggestions for a future Alberti Center newsletter?