Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention News & Updates
March 2022 | Volume 11: Issue 1
Out and About in the Community & Beyond

The Alberti Center team is excited to begin a return to in-person events, but continue to offer virtual options as well. These are just some of the events and presentations over the past few months:
November
World Anti-Bullying Forum

17th Annual Safe Schools Initiative Seminar

December
Self-Advocacy Association of New York State (SANYS) Conference

Helping Students at Risk for Suicide (online training)

January
Nardin Academy faculty training

February
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Conference in Boston, MA
NYSED Dignity for All Students Act Training

Registration dates are now available through April 30, 2022. The course is offered fully online in two parts. As of January 1, 2022, Part One will be asynchronous, while Part Two will be synchronous with "live" interactive instruction. Feedback from recent participants:

I feel very informed regarding how to work with both students and their families regarding bullying, and discrimination. I feel that this training was very powerful and very informative.

I felt that it helped me to really understand bullying and also gave me additional skills to use while working in a school setting or with my kids.
Erie County Law Enforcement Foundation logo
18th Annual Safe Schools Initiative Seminar
The Alberti Center will be co-sponsoring the 18th Annual Safe Schools Initiative Seminar on Wednesday, March 23, from 8:45 a.m. to Noon EST. The topic of the seminar this year is Averting Targeted School Violence: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Plots Against Schools. Presented by the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, this seminar will discuss multidisciplinary approaches to quickly identify, assess and intervene with students exhibiting concerning or threatening behaviors. “Learning about their latest groundbreaking research on targeted school violence – the plot elements, prior communications, and behavioral indicators that include experiencing stressors, being bullied and suicidal ideation – will certainly help educators and law enforcement to prevent such acts,” says Dr. Amanda Nickerson, director of the Alberti Center. The seminar will be offered both in-person and virtually via Zoom webinar. Registration is free on the Erie County Law Enforcement Foundation website!
21-22 Alberti Center
Colloquium Series
The 2021-2022 Alberti Center Colloquium Series continued on February 8 with a virtual panel discussion on Responding to Bullying of Students with Disabilities: What Schools Can Do. Dr. Amanda Nickerson moderated the panel including Michael Gilberg, Esq., a special education attorney representing students with disabilities, Tara Moffett, Esq., a special education attorney representing school districts, and Steve Oill, a family peer advocate. For those who were unable to attend, a recording of this event can be found on our website!
Video Resource Spotlight
This month we are sharing a video about the Spread the Word Inclusion campaign! Spread the Word (STW) is celebrated the first Wednesday in March each year, and the Alberti Center participates as a partner organization with the Western New York chapter. The theme for STW 2022 is "Champions of Change." You can join the campaign and be a "Champion of Change" by signing the pledge to spread inclusion here. Find additional video resources on our Alberti Center YouTube channel and please subscribe!
Visiting North Collins Central School District
Our community programming consultant, Dr. Toni Torchia, has been busy visiting schools across the Western New York community and speaking to students about bullying awareness and prevention. One of the schools that Dr. Torchia visited recently is North Collins Junior High School! After 2 years of limited school access and lots of masking, Dr. Torchia said she was "excited to spend some time and share some smiles with students!" To learn more about presentations offered by the Alberti Center, visit our website here.
Bundle of Joy!

We are so excited to share that our associate director, Dr. Stephanie Fredrick, and her husband (Freddie) brought precious little Arlo Robert into the world on January 6th. His big brother, Charlie, couldn't be happier and the family is doing very well! Dr. Fredrick will be returning to the center in early April. We wish Stephanie and her family many fun and happy memories in the days to come!
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