June
2019
Children's Mental Health Awareness Week
We would like to thank everyone who joined us in celebrating the 15th Annual Children's Mental Health Awareness Week last month. Our national CMHA map included more than 100 events in 35 states, 48,300 green awareness ribbons were purchased to support awareness events across the country and our daily #EveryDayInMay Facebook posts reached more than 238,000 people.
Congratulations to all of you on another successful year raising awareness
and highlighting the unique qualities all children bring to
our homes, our communities and our nation.

Children's Mental Health Matters!
Helping You Raise Awareness Throughout the Year
We encourage you to take advantage of these resources all year long. Feel free to use them on your website and/or social media channels to educate others
about the importance of children's mental health.
30th Annual Conference
The Conference Agenda is Now Online!
The outline of the conference schedule is now posted. In the coming weeks, keep an eye out for important information and updates about the conference schedule, workshops, keynote speakers and some exciting new opportunities that will be offered for the first time at our 30th Annual Conference in Phoenix, AZ
November 14th - 16th.
Registration is now live and early bird deadlines are as follows:
Exhibitors - August 31st
Attendees - September 30th
National Competencies Revision Project Update
Final Public Comments: Deadline Extended
For the last year the Federation has been conducting a scan of state competencies nationwide. Many of you have participated in focus group calls and surveys or by submitting your state's requirements. We are completing the data collection phase and preparing to make final recommendations for updates to the competencies for CPSP certification. We invite you to review the project materials and to share any final comments or additions by
Monday, June 10th .
Funding Opportunities
Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model 
On February 8th, the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) Innovation Center released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model. This child-centered local service delivery and state payment model aims to reduce expenditures and improve the quality of care for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP who have, or are at-risk for developing, significant health needs. 
 
CMS anticipates awarding up to eight cooperative agreements, of up to $16 million each for a seven-year period, to implement the model. The Notice of Funding Opportunity can be found here , or by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=312759 .

Applications must be received by 3:00 p.m. EST on June 10, 2019. 
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention


On May 28th, the OJJDP announced the following fiscal year 2019 funding opportunities:

 
Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis:
Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is seeking applications to support crime victims and to enhance community-driven responses to the current opioid crisis. This program furthers the Department’s mission by providing resources to support state, local, and tribal efforts to assist crime victims. The overarching goal of the Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims program is to support children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis by providing direct services and support to these young victims
at a community or jurisdictional level.

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. eastern time (ET) on July 11th, 2019.
  Specialized Services and Mentoring for Child and Youth Victims
of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is seeking applications for funding under the fiscal year (FY) 2019 Specialized Services and Mentoring for Child and Youth Victims of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. This program furthers the Department’s mission by supporting efforts to provide mentoring and supportive services for children and youth who are victims of sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking, boys who often go unidentified as victims of trafficking, and girls who are vulnerable to trafficking and who are most likely to end up in the juvenile justice system. This program aligns with the administration’s priorities of preventing further victimization through mentoring, support services, and community awareness activities. The purpose of this program is to enhance the capacity of applicant organizations to respond to the needs of children and youth who are victims of sexual exploitation, domestic sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. eastern time (ET) on July 29th, 2019.
Board Member Highlight

An Interview with Teka Dempson
Teka Dempson, past President and current NFFCMH Board Member, was recently interviewed about family engagement by the North Carolina Division of Social Services and the Family and Children's Resources Program. See their description of the article
and read the full interview with Teka below.

" Often in child welfare, we talk about the importance of engagement with families. In this article, we want to share a family's perspective on engagement, and how it can assist us in assessing safety and risk. We are grateful to have the perspective of Teka Dempson, a member of the NC Child Welfare Family Advisory Council."

Congratulations, Teka, and thank you for sharing your wisdom and insight.
Chapter Highlights
This year, NFFCMH State Chapter Families as Allies (Jackson, MS) celebrated Awareness Day by holding its fifth annual resource fair in a neighborhood known for monthly street fairs. Five years ago, they asked the organization responsible for the monthly street fairs if they could be part of the festivities for May. Why? To help raise awareness about the importance of children's mental health with a large community audience.

“It starts late in the afternoon, when lots of families come out to have a good time,” said Director of Communications for Families as Allies, Dominic DeLeo. “Then later at night, young people come out. It’s a great way to reach our target audiences.” Dozens of local businesses show up each month, but for Awareness Day, the streets are dominated by mental health organizations and youth-serving agencies all providing information about services available to the community.
 
During the day, families can participate in fun activities, and at night, the tables are set up right next to the restaurants and bars frequented by young adults. This way, they cast as wide a net as possible in their reach. “The fair brings people from all over the city. We’re reaching people where they already are. There was no need to do something else.” More than 3,000 people and 25 partner organizations were in attendance this year.


Congratulations Families as Allies!
Tina Robbins, Executive Director of ASK Family Services, shared this report of the results of Michigan's Parent Support Partner (PSP) Evaluation Pilot and the Statewide
Evaluation, which began September 2017. PSP Medicaid services utilize peer-parent
relationships to increase parents/primary caregivers’ sense of empowerment, self-sufficiency, self-confidence, and feelings of competence, in order to inform services and supports for their child. The purpose of the PSP Evaluation was twofold: 1) To develop an outcome tool to evaluate PSP services in Michigan, and 2) To assess the effectiveness of PSP services on parents’ hope, confidence, and empowerment to create positive outcomes for their child and family.

While previous studies have examined the effects of similar parent-to-parent services (January et al., 2016; Kutash, Duchnowski, Green, & Ferron, 2013), this is the first study of PSP services in Michigan. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), as well as the Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans (PIHP) and Community Mental Health (CMH) Service Providers (SPs), determined that none of the existing outcome tools used in previous research captured the unique nature of PSP services in Michigan.

Thank you Tina and ASK Family Services for sharing these results!
Legislation and Advocacy
See our most recent National and State Updates!
I t has been a busy legislative season both nationally and in the states.
To view our most recent summaries on what has happened visit our website.
Our next Legislative and Advocacy update will be coming out June 14th.
If you haven't already, sign up to receive those email alerts below.

Submit your state's advocacy and legislative updates to our
Legislative Liaison, Michelle Covington, at mcovington@ffcmh.org .
Webinars and Events
Using Social Media to Build Rapport with Peers
Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 Time: 2:00am EDT

This webinar will discuss ways in which youth leaders and advocates can use social media to advance their peer mental health work with peers. Social Media helps build rapport, increase engagement, and spread awareness for different campaigns and events. We will also discuss things to keep in mind such as boundaries, cyberbullying and developing social media agreements with your peers.
Screen Time Health: Create Awareness, Build Connection, Avoid Battle
Date: Monday, June 10, 2019 Time: 7:00am EDT

Constantly being plugged into technology and its effects on people and culture is one of the main issues of our time. It is important that we humanize ourselves with this issue and let our children know that we as adults are also struggling to know how to balance our lives with all of the technology that is available. There is so much fear surrounding this issue and lots of research pointing to screen time as a factor in declining mental health. Parents and kids are often locked in power struggles over screen use. However, not all screen time is equal. Sometimes we use technology as a creative and connecting tool and other times it is an unhealthy tether, or an escape that is hard to break away from. 

In this webinar you will learn how to strike a balance between the two. You will learn how to collaborate with your family to honestly assess each member's screen habits. You will then be able to model a new level of self-awareness with your own screen use and begin to cultivate this awareness in your children.
Considering the Whole Person: Contexts for LGBTQ People of Color Mental and Behavioral Health Treatment
Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 Time: 3:00pm EDT

There is strong evidence that members of the LGBTQ community experience behavioral health conditions at a higher rate than heterosexuals, and that LGBTQ people of color are more disproportionately affected – suicide rates are twice that of their white counterparts. Further, health disparities are increased when many identities and experiences converge as with LGBTQ people of color. Antoine Craigwell, founder, president and CEO of DBGM (Depressed Black Gay Men), Inc., presents on effectively working with LGBTQ people of color in behavioral health settings. Craigwell will discuss systemic racism, homophobia, the compounding effects of intergenerational and contemporaneous trauma and resiliency as these relate to treating the whole person and advancing health and wellness for often-marginalized communities.
Meeting the Financial Challenge: Helping You Ensure Quality of Life for Loved ones with Special Needs
Date: Thursday, June 20, 2019 Time: 5:30-7:30pm EDT

Guest speaker Emmy Mastel from Prudential Special Needs Solutions, who is the parent of a youth with disabilities, will provide helpful information on what families should consider when planning for future financial and care needs for their son or daughter.
Bullies, Targets, and Bystanders: Responses that Work
Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 Time: 9:00-10:00am EDT

While bullying doesn’t always leave bruises or broken bones, it can leave deep emotional scars that last a lifetime. Bullying is a serious issue that occurs throughout our schools everyday and, without intervention, bullying can lead to serious academic, social, emotional, and legal problems. Don’t miss this class full of responses to bullying that really work.
Telling Stories That Work: Framing Child Well-Being and Systems of Care
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2019 Time: 3:00-4:30pm EDT

This webinar will focus on framing child well-being and systems of care.  
Strategies for Preventing Custody Relinquishment for Mental Health Services
Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2019 Time: 2:30-4:00pm EDT

This webinar will focus on the issue of parents relinquishing custody of their children solely to obtain mental health services that they could not access otherwise. The information is based on a recently completed project to obtain up-to-date information across states to inform efforts by mental health and child welfare agencies to eliminate custody relinquishment for treatment. Presenters will review the extent to which this practice continues, progress that has been achieved in reducing its occurrence, and approaches used by states to prevent it. Examples of strategies implemented in two states, their impact, and continuing challenges will be discussed, along with information about how other states and communities can implement similar approaches.
Addressing Trauma in Children of Incarcerated Parents within Urban Communities
Date: Thursday, June 20, 2019 Time: 7:30-9:00am EDT

This session addresses the epidemiology of children of incarcerated parents nationally and ways that parental incarceration impacts children, youth and their families. The webinar describes trauma-informed interventions, policies, structures and processes to reduce trauma in children of incarcerated parents within systems. The importance of fatherhood involvement in maintaining positive connections within families is emphasized.
Suicide Prevention in Native American/Alaska Native Communities
Date: Thursday, June 27, 2019 Time: 3:30-5:00pm EDT

This webinar will discuss suicide prevention for American Indian/Alaska Native Communities.
Policy for Transformed Lives: A Framework for Policy and Systems Change to Support Young Adult Mental Health
Date: Friday, June 28, 2019 Time: 2:00-3:30pm EDT

Systemic change in young adult mental health that centers on youth and young adults requires bold action. CLASP has developed a guiding framework for system leaders to shift their approach to youth and young adult mental health away from a service-oriented model and toward a transformational model. This webinar will introduce CLASP’s policy and systems change framework and lay the foundation for future conversations about how to identify and pursue transformational policy changes.
Resources and Opportunities
From Born This Way Foundation
The Born This Way Foundation worked with Benenson Strategy Group to survey over 2,000 young people ages 13 to 24 in the United States. They explored how youth view their own mental wellness, their access to key mental health resources, and how they want those resources to look.

Overall, the survey paints a portrait of youth who care about their mental wellness and recognize it as a priority, but who lack access to the resources they need to support and maintain it. See the key findings and access the full report here .
From Doors to WellBeing
Doors to Wellbeing has archived 36 webinars from their Peer Specialist Webinar Series making them resources that are available to the community. Learn more and access their webinar recordings here .
From the TA Network
Youth with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders are often directed to separate treatment providers for each ‘side’ of need: one for substance use and one for mental health needs. This brief video outlines the difficulties for youth and families associated with this fragmented clinical approach and suggests the many benefits stemming from a single-provider, intentionally integrated approach.
From Wonder Moms
Wonder Moms is a project started by three moms to share real talk, helpful information, and practical advice with parents of children who have intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders, language and speech delays, deafness, chronic illness, and traumatic brain injury.
Check out their resources here .