CHDI NEWSLETTER
February 2021
Recent Publications
Issue Brief 80 - Improving Student and Staff Well-Being During COVID-19 and Beyond: Connecting Social Emotional Learning with Anti-Racism and Equity
The pandemic has increased the urgency among school administrators to address student and staff behavioral health and wellness, which frequently includes social-emotional learning (SEL). Concurrently, the national call for racial justice has highlighted the need for schools and public institutions to address the discrimination and racism experienced by students and staff. Although SEL programs have consistently been found to be effective, most do not explicitly address racism, discrimination, and inequities.

This Issue Brief explores strategies to ensure that SEL curricula, as well as broader school approaches to wellness, incorporate principles of equity and anti-racism.
Issue Brief 79 - Expanding Access to Evidence-Based Children’s Behavioral Health Treatments: Role of a Train-The-Trainer Approach
CHDI and the State of Connecticut are working to improve the quality of children's behavioral health care by disseminating evidence-based treatments across the state. Recent research from Connecticut shows that EBTs are more effective than "usual care" and may reduce disparities in treatment outcomes for children of color. While EBTs are considered best practice, making them widely available for children and families in community and clinical settings has proven challenging and most children still do not receive EBTs.

This Issue Brief explores the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) model as a promising strategy for expanding the availability of evidence-based treatments so that more children and families can access high quality care.
Sites Added to CHDI's Evidence-Based Practices Directory
CHDI has updated the searchable Evidence-Based Practices Directory with new sites. The public can search the directory by zip code for six children's evidence-based treatments that CHDI has helped to disseminate across Connecticut.

Information about available treatments, outcome data, and a link to the directory can be found in our evidence-based treatment infographic. Learn more.
Celebrating Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, we are recognizing three pioneering Black women who changed the face of mental health.
Inez Beverly Prosser was America's first Black female to become a psychologist, earning her degree from the University of Cincinnati. Her research was focused on the intersection of educational psychology and the effects of racism. She was an advocate for Black children and taught for nearly two decades.
Margaret Morgan Lawrence was the first Black woman to become a psychoanalyst and also the first Black woman to become a certified physician by the American Board of Pediatrics. She devoted her career to children's mental health disorders and the well-being of underserved children.
Mamie Phipps Clark was a psychologist that helped developed social experiments to showcase how children internalized racism and how societal views affected a child's development and self-esteem. The study was instrumental in the Brown vs. the Board of Education case and proved the damaging effects of segregation on children.
Board News
CHDI Welcomes Newly Elected Board Member Wizdom Powell
Dr. Wizdom Powell is the Director of the University of Connecticut Health Disparities Institute and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UConn Health. She serves as the President-Elect of the American Psychological Association, Division 51 Men and Masculinities, and is an honorary professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban South Africa.

She has published a number of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the American Journal of Public Health, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Behavioral Medicine, and Child Development. Dr. Powell is a White House Fellow, an American Psychological Association (APA) Minority, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Burch, Institute of African American Research, and Ford Foundation Fellow who received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Clinical Psychology and M.P.H. from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. 
CHDI in the News
For the People Discusses Social Emotional Learning with CHDI
CHDI's Jason Lang discussed the intersection of social emotional learning and anti-racism and equity with For the People host John Voket. The interview focused on CHDI's latest Issue Brief, Improving Student and Staff Well-Being During COVID-19 and Beyond: Connecting Social Emotional Learning with Anti-Racism and Equity.
In Other News
CHDI Project Coordinator Alice Kraiza was featured by the University of Minnesota for her work bringing evidence-based children’s mental health treatments to schools to improve the quality of care for students who are recovering from trauma.
CHDI was mentioned in a recent Connecticut Health Investigative Team (C-HIT) article for our work with Connecticut's Mobile Crisis Services. The article looks at the growing use of mental health crisis services by youth and how providers at Fair Haven Community Health Center are wor to prevent mental health crises. Read more.
COVID-19 Resources
We are continuously updating CHDI's general COVID-19 resource list. Newly added information and resources include:

  • The National Federation of Families surveyed 1,100 families about their experiences with education, balancing work and caregiving, and mental health during the pandemic.

Child Health and Development Institute
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