Tis the season to be jolly! I am feeling like Santa because AWI is trying to deliver a gift to every pediatrician. It will enhance their knowledge for upstream prevention, to better educate families and prescribe interventions. Pediatricians want to become as effective with mental health as they already are with physical health; this gift gets them closer to their goal. It is an on-demand training designed by Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) providing medical education in Behavioral Health.
Pediatricians in the other 49 states would be interested in this web resource - especially those serving rural populations - but they may not hear of it in its first year available. It is an important course and free, fully funded by philanthropy, so why would there be delays in spreading the word? There may be a natural conflict for some of the groups supporting pediatricians: only they can decide whether the 'found money' using a resource 'not created here' would be preferred over developing this course in-house. It is a $200,00 resource so AWI will simply make the choice known to them.
Does this spark some ideas? If so, please share them with me or volunteer some time to help AWI make this resource known during the new year to every pediatrician!
philanthropy addresses 'Managing Behavioral Health Crises in Schools'?
Boston Children's H
ospital Neighborhood Partnerships Program (BCHNP) has leveraged the Open Pediatrics platform to make training resources available globally for pediatricians, educators, and many others. Its on-demand format allows access whenever time is available through any device, including the mobile phone.
Philanthropy has helped the Department of Psychiatry at the hospital deliver a variety of high impact resources. For example, the Clough Foundation funded a Training and Access Project (TAP) addressing several topics. Click the title to view Managing Behavioral Health Crises in Schools.
Featured guest
Felix Kingsley Obialo is a member of the Rotary Club of Ibadan Idi Ishin in Nigeria, an educator, and a Catholic priest. One of his many degrees is an MS in Creative Studies (Buffalo State).
We met at the Creative Problem Solving Institute conference in 2011. Felix volunteered to bring
to students in Nigeria the PIP Problems-Ideas-Plans activity that AWI was helping to create for the
Break Free From Depressioncurriculum. He recorded results with over a thousand students and shared the outcomes with researchers at McLean Hospital.
This year, Felix is helping schools in Nigeria implement the full curriculum. Funding is not mandatory for schools to implement as the on-demand training and curriculum are free. However, he wanted to provide local professional training and clinical support for any family with a student needing help. His Rotary club was awarded a grant funded by:
private donors
Rotary clubs of Needham, Merrimack Valley, Acton-Boxborough, and Wellesley
Rotary District 7910
Rotary International
The first of several schools to complete the course with their teens was Sacred Heart College in Oyo. The schools will share summary outcomes to compare with implementations in the USA, Puerto Rico,and India ( curriculum language supplements created to date exist for Spanish, Kannada, and Marathi).