Updated Positive Supports Minnesota Coming Soon!

Positive Supports Minnesota, mnpsp.org, is getting a glow-up! The launch of the updated website will be happening this summer. The team that supports the website has been working on creating a user experience that is easier to navigate and geared toward helping folks find what they need.

There is an updated search system that helps users easily get relevant information. By clicking in the search bar featured at the top of each page, users can type in what they are looking for and get a list of resources, posts, and links, each with a brief title and description. This will help users decide what content works best for them.

The homepage is set up to find relevant information quickly, including content and topics for different groups. The What's New page links to a list of resources that are updated weekly. Additionally, the What's New page will have all of the past and present newsletters, an events calendar, and the recordings and content for the most recent trainings. Sections for various groups are available, including teams and organization-wide planning, families and advocates, and trainers and facilitators of person-centered practices and trauma informed supports.

There will be a new training materials section on the website as well, reach out to pbs@umn.edu inbox if there are specific training materials you would like us to include.

The new Positive Supports Minnesota website home page.

Tiered Approach to Trauma-Informed Practices: A Systems Approach Available Now

On May 28, 2024, Dr. Imad Zaheer led an awareness training on tiered approach to trauma informed practices. This training highlighted how we can create multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) that are trauma-informed to better meet trauma related needs, from prevention to intervention.

Dr. Zaheer is an assistant Professor of School Psychology in Department of Psychology, at St. John's University. Dr. Zaheer is a pediatric school psychologist and has worked on numerous projects. His areas of interest are in emotional and behavioral challenges in schools, with a specific focus on implementation science and systems change.

A special edition newsletter was created as a companion to this awareness training, and can be found here. The newsletter includes a summary of the training, presenter biography, and resource links for trauma-informed practices.

Go to the mnpsp.org homepage to view the recording of the training and access the slides.

Mnpsp.org homepage showing location of Dr. Zaheer's training resources.

Quality of life written in green on a white card clipped to a tree branch full of green leaves.

Resource Spotlight: Quality of Life Tools

When considering ways to support others, it is good practice to think about what might improve a person's quality of life. Quality of life is unique to each person, but in general, is something that increases their joy and contentment. Finding tools that can be done with the person served is helpful to avoid making assumptions about how a person thinks or feels. There are a variety of tools available on the linked page on mnpsp.org, under the header PBS Plans- Quality of Life Tools.

Quality of Life: A Tool for Caregivers: This tool strives to focus on things caregivers can do or observe about a person's behavior to make positive changes in their life. It covers a wide variety of topics related to quality of life. This tool can be used with a partner document My Best Life: A Tool to Tell Others How You Feel. This document is available in the following translations: Amharic, Dari, Hmong, Karen, Oromo, Pashto, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

My Best Life: A Tool to Tell Others How You Feel: A tool intended to be filled out by or with the person served, so they can share the information with the people who support them. This tool can be used with a partner document Quality of Life: A Tool for Caregivers. This document is available in the following translations: Amharic, Dari, Hmong, Karen, Oromo, Pashto, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

Family Quality of Life Survey: Links to The University of Kansas Family Quality of Life Resources page. Free resources include: Family Quality of Life Scale in English and Spanish, Family Quality of Life Scoring Guide, and Family Quality of Life Conversation Guide. The Family Quality of Life Scale is a survey about how you feel about your life together as a family, which includes people who think of themselves as part of your family and who support and care for each other on a regular basis.

Quality of Life Resources from Home and Community PBS Network: A website that includes resources about person, family, and community-centered planning and lifestyle enhancement. Includes links to person-centered resources, planning in specific life domains, and quality of life questionnaires.

World Health Organization Qualify of Life Assessment: Includes WHO's qualify of life definition. The WHO tool was developed to be applicable cross-culturally. The user manual is available to download for free, with the qualify of life assessment included as an appendix.