ENEWS is one of the many resources provided by the School Mental Health Project/Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. This electronic newsletter is sent to those concerned with enhancing policies, programs, and practices related to addressing barriers to student learning and to promoting mental health in schools. For more on what our federally supported national Center offers, see http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu 

WHAT’S HERE THIS MONTH 

**Emerging Issue 
    >Unique Treatments or Common Intervention Principles? 

**News from around the country **Recent publications relevant to 
    >Children’s mental and physical health
    >Family, school & community
    >Policy, systems, law, ethics, finances & statistics

**This month’s focus for school to address barriers to learning 
    >Responding to referrals in ways that can “stem the tide” 

**Other helpful Internet resources **Links to 
    >Upcoming initiatives, conferences & workshops
    >Calls for grant proposals, presentations & papers
    >Training and job opportunities

**UCLA Center update **Comments, requests, information, questions from the field 

**EMERGING ISSUE 
    >Unique Treatments or Common Intervention Principles? 

According to David Barlow: "Instead of studying treatments as some sort of fixed pattern, practitioners will have principles they can flexibly apply to a variety of different emotional disorders." 
As reported in the 10/08 Monitor on Psychology, Barlow, director emeritus at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University, reported on a four year study of a new treatment protocol for depression, anxiety, and phobias. He explained:"The protocol takes three or four basic concepts that seem to be present in all of our successful treatments for these emotional disorders and puts them together as a single, unified, trans diagnostic set of principles that clinicians could adapt to anyone sitting in front of them." 
The new protocol includes 7 modules: psycho education; motivational enhancement to aid treatment engagement; emotional awareness training, cognitive appraisal and reappraisal, modifying emotion-driven behavior and emotional avoidance; internal somatic and situational exposure; relapse prevention; and present-focused emotional awareness training. 
Is the field moving away from “fixed” empirically supported treatments? As you have worked with science based interventions related to learning, behavior, and emotional problems, are you sticking to the manual or are you gravitating toward common principles and elements? Send your comments to ltaylor@ucla.edu

**NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY 
>Report cites chronic absenteeism in city schools 
More than 90,000 of New York City’s elementary school students – roughly 20 percent –missed at least a month of classes during the last school year...The situation was worse in higher grades – 40 percent of high school students and 24 percent of middle school students were absent for at least a month. 10/21/08 http://www.nytimes.com

>The high school dropout’s economic ripple effect 

As the financial meltdown and economic slump hold the national spotlight, another potential crisis is on the horizon: a persistently high dropout rate that educators and mayors across the country say increases the threat to the country’s strength and prosperity. According to one study, only half of the high school students in the nation’s50 largest cities are graduating in four years...10/21/08 http://online.wsj.com 

>Nine NY state agencies jointly develop plan for broad reform of public services for children 

Heads of nine child-serving agencies have jointly submitted to the governor and legislature New York’s first Children’s Plan to improve the social and emotional well being of New York’s children and their families. Key recommendations of the collaborative plan include:
       > A focused attention to behavioral issues and emotional disturbance in settings such as pediatric offices, child care and schools, with mental health treatment in a back-up and support role; 
       >A shift toward more effective and less expensive early intervention and evidence-based preventive approaches, leading to a reduction in institutional costs; and 
       >The collaborative use of family-centered and parent-driven approaches. 10/2/08 http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/News/pr_childrens_plan.html 

>Schools scramble to help students with no place to live 

With the numbers of homeless across the state on the rise, local school officials are scrambling to provide services and absorb costs for an expected surge in home less students. .. ..The high populations reflect not just students living in shelters or on the streets, but also those doubled up with relatives or friends, in foster care, or thrown out of their homes or runaways. 10/6/08. http://www.boston.com 

>Schools fail to meet “No Child” accountability 

Across the nation, far more schools failed to meet the federal law’s testing targets than in any previous year...Part of the reason for the troubles was that the states gambled the law would have been softened when it came up for reauthorization in 2007, but efforts tochange it stalled. ...Students scoring at or above proficiency increased, on average, less than four percentage points annually for 2003 to 2007, far short of the 11 percentage points of annual growth required this year. 10/13/08 http://www.nytimes.com 

>Hundreds of teachers laid off in Dallas 
The Dallas, TX, school district laid off hundreds of teacher to avoid a projected $84million deficit. ...The district laid off 375 teachers and 40 counselors and assistant principals and transferred 460 teachers to other schools within the district. ...The 375teachers represent about 3 percent of the district’s teachers. Last week 152 employees –including clerks, office managers and teacher assistants – voluntarily left their jobs. 62central staff members lost their jobs. An additional $30 million will be saved by cuttingvarious programs throughout the district. 10/17/08. http://www.cnn.com 

     Note: Each week the Center highlights newsworthy stories online at
     http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/whatsnew/newsitems.htm 
     Also access other news stories relevant to improving addressing barriers to learning
     through links at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/whatsnew/linkstolatest.htm

**RECENT PUBLICATIONS (IN PRINT AND ON THE WEB) 

Children’s Mental and Physical Health 

>The effectiveness of interventions to reduce psychological harm from traumatic events among children and adolescents: A systematic review. (2008) H. Wethington, et al, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(3) 287-313. http://sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07493797 

>The development of bullying. (2008) D. Pepler, et al., International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 20(2) 113-119. http://www.freundpublishing.com/
>Peer stigmatization of childhood depression and ADHD (#160)http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgDataTrends.shtml
>Child abuse recognition and reporting: Supports and resources for changing theparadigm. (2008) C. Berkowtiz. Pediatrics, ePub. http://www.pediatrics.org/ 
>A framework for assessing violent behaviors in elementary school-age children (2008) A. Bardick & K. Bernes, Children & Schools, 30(2) 83-91. 
>High school youth and suicide risk: Exploring protection afforded through physical activity and sport participation (2008) L. Tallaferro, et al., Journal of School Health, 78(10) 545-553. http://www.ashaweb.org 
>Activity spaces and urban adolescent substance use and emotional health (2008) M.Mason & K. Korpela, Journal of Adolescence. http://www.elsevier.com/ 

Family, School and Community 

>Geography of opportunity: Poverty, place, and educational outcomes (2008) W. Tate.Educational Researcher, 37(7) 397-411. http://er.aera.net

>The evaluation of school-based violence prevention programs: A meta-analysis. (2008)
H. Park-Higgerson, , et al., Journal of School Health, 78(9)465-479. 
http://www.ashaweb.org 

>Reducing behavior problems in the elementary school classroom (2008). PracticeGuides: What Works Clearinghouse.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/ 

>Solving behavior problems together (2008).C. Crowe. Educational Leadership. 66, 44, 47. 

>Adolescent risk taking, neighborhood social capital, and health (2008) W. Boyce, et al., Journal of Adolescent Health, 43(3) 246-252. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1054139X 

>Media use and children’s perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability.(2008) J. Comer, et al., Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37(3) 622, 630. http://www.leaonline.com/loi/jccp

Policy, Systems, Law, Ethics, Finances & Statistics 

>America’s children in brief: Key national indicators of well-being (2008)
http://www.ask.hrsa.gov/electronicpublications.cfm 

>Toward a brighter future: An essential agenda for America’s young people. (2008)National Collaboration for Youth, http://www.collab4youth.org 

>Framing public policy and prevention of chronic violence in American youths (2008) K.Dodge. American Psychologist, 63(7) 573-590. http://www.apa.org/journals/amp 

>Will it work here? A decision maker’s guide to adopting innovations http://innovations.ahrq.gov/resources/innovationadoptionguide.pdf

>Student victimization in U.S. Schools: Results from the 2005 School Crime Supplementto the National Crime Victimization Survey (2008). The National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009306 

>Mental disorders among adolescents in juvenile detention and correctional facilities: asystematic review and metaregression analysis of 25 surveys (2008) S. Fazel, et al., Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(9) 1010-1019 http://www.jaacap.com 

>Violence and drug use in rural teens: National prevalence estimates from the 2003Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2008) A. Johnson, et al., Journal of School Health, 78(10)554-561. http://www.ashaweb.org 

>A three-country comparison of psychotropic medication prevalence in youth. (2008) J.Zito, et al., Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2(26). http://www.capmh.com/content/2/1/26 

>Mental health service use among youths aged 12 to 17: 2005 and 2006 (2008) NationalSurvey on Drug Use and Health Report, Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse andMental Health Services Administration. http://oas.samhsa.gov

**OTHER HELPFUL INTERNET RESOURCES 

>Parents’ Guide to Truancy
http://gwired.gwu.edu/hamfish 

>Domestic Violence: Knowledge Path
http://www.mchlibrary.info/knowledgepaths/kp_domviolence.html 

>From No Child Left Behind to Every Child a Graduate
http://www.all4ed.org/files/ECAG.pdf 

>Introduction to the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/pubabstract.asp?pubi=240090

>Evidence-Informed Public Health and a Compendium of Critical Appraisal Tools forPublic Health Practice 
http://nccmt.ca/pubs/eiph_backgrounder.pdf

>A developmental perspective on college and workplace readiness http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2008_09_15_FR_ReadinessReport.pdf 

>Transforming the federal role in k-12 education
http://www.publicschoolinsights.org/?storyID=23168 

>Early childhood assessment: Wwhy, what, and how?
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12446 

>Developing school connectedness in diverse youth through extracurricularprogramming http://www.tpronline.org/article.cfm/developing_school_connectedness_in_diverse_youth 

Note: For a wide range of relevant websites, see our Gateway to a World of Resources at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/gateway/gateway_sites.htm

**LINKS TO 

>Upcoming Initiatives, Conferences & Workshops - http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/upconf.htm

>Calls for Grant Proposals, Presentations & Papers -http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/upcall.htm 

>Training and Job Opportunities - http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/job.htm 

Information on each of these is updated on an ongoing basis on our website. Just click on the indicated URL or on What's New on our website at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu. If you would like to add information on these, please send it to ltaylor@ucla.edu

**UCLA CENTER – BRIEF UPDATE 

The following are a few highlights. The Center continuously develops and updates resources; see What’s New at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/review.htm 

*Online course through the National Association of State Title I Directors 

Academics and Beyond: Addressing Barriers to Learning and Teaching – This video and power point presentation was developed for the National Association of State Title IDirectors based on the Center’s work. It comes with Facilitator and Participant Study Guides. Hosted by Jackie Jackson, former director of Title I at the U.S. Office of Education, the video is designed as a panel discussion featuring the Center’s co-directorsand Rhonda Neal Waltman, Former Assistant Superintendent, Mobile County PublicSchools. See http://www.nastidonline.com/coursedetails.html 

>>Rebuilding for Learning: A Collaborative Initiative with Scholastic, Inc. 

Immediately after announcing the initiative a few weeks ago, we began to receive a stream of expression of interest from state departments of education, districts uperintendents, and leaders at universities. For those who missed the announcement, see it online at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/whatsnew/announcement( 10-14-08).pdf

In brief, the Center has established a public-private collaboration with the Community Affairs Unit of Scholastic to provide education leaders with meaningful and on going learning opportunities around planning and implementing improved systems for addressing barriers to learning and teaching.

Interested state and local leadership teams will have the opportunity to apply for a grant to cover leadership team participation in a Rebuilding for Learning Institute. Participating teams that demonstrate a serious commitment to developing a comprehensive system of learning supports as an integral part of school improvement and need assistance with planning or implementation will be eligible to apply for a mini-grant to support additional technical assistance. For all who move forward, capacity building information, guidance and support will be provided from the Center at UCLA and/or members from the Rebuilding for Learning Team.

The initiative will offer: 
--In person professional input and interchange (e.g. Rebuilding for Learning Institute and on-site technical assistance)
--Online professional development and guidance (e.g. continuing education and online technical assistance) 
--Print and online supplemental resources 

**COMMENTS, REQUESTS, INFO, QUESTIONS FROM THE FIELD 

A Request: “I am charged with writing an accountability and policy framework to support the Community Schools and Community Education component of School Plus [inCanada] in order to establish a consistent framework for measuring student outcome correlations with the Community School/Education renewal. Basically the government wants to measure if the additional funding going to the designated schools is improving learning outcomes and we can tell one way or another because when it was rolled out there was no mandated framework provided and there are significant discrepancies with respect to the allocation of funding and programs offered. I am wondering if there is a working group on developing something similar to what I am describing.” 

We were asked to share the following: 
(1) From the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
“Are you a young person aged 14-25 who has an emotional or mental health condition? OR Are you a parent or other caregiver of a child between the ages of 14-25 with a nemotional or mental health condition? IF SO, We invite you to take a survey that asks about your experiences with discrimination or stigmatization. Results of the survey will be published in the January 2008 issue of Focal Point: Research, Practice and Policy in Children’’s Mental Health.
       o If you finish the survey, you can enter for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com
       o The survey is completely anonymous 
       o The survey takes about 15 minutes” 
Deadline is November 26, 2008 Access the survey from http://www.rtc.pdx.edu 

(2) From a learning management company: 

“We have been providing online tutoring services for the special needs and learning disabled student segment for the last three years. We consider our main goal to be around enhancing student performance and using technology as an enabler to achieving this objective. As an online tutoring company (we also do software and content development for the K-12 segment), we have seen that technology enabled distance learning has allowed several special needs and learning challenged students do remarkably well in our programs. We are currently trying to expand our services to reach out to more of the LD segment across the country and have been urged and encouraged by our customer parents to take our message to a wider audience.” http://www.mytutor24.com 

(3) From the Oregon Center for Applied Science – www.orcasinc.com : 

“We have created a fun and educational computer program to help adolescents learnabout and prevent depression. For this research study we need to recruit 300 adolescentsages 11-15 to evaluate the program. Adapted from an empirically validated intervention,the program will include six CBT modules, interactive and educational games, andadditional content related to youth depression. Youth who participate will becompensated up to $120 for their time. They will also have the unique opportunity tolearn new skills to help them feel better more of the time while helping us develop aprogram to meet the needs of others their age. To get additional information about theproject, request recruitment materials, or sign up to participate, please call 1-866-8220226 or email bluesblaster@orcasinc.com. (Funded by: National Institute of Mental Health).” 

THIS IS THE END OF THIS ISSUE OF E-NEWS 

See below for source identifying informationWho Are We? Under the auspices of the School Mental Health Project in the Departmentof Psychology at UCLA, the national Center for Mental Health in Schools wasestablished in 1995. The Project and Center are co-directed by Howard Adelman andLinda Taylor. The UCLA Center is one of two national centers first funded inOctober,1995, by the Office of Adolescent Health, Maternal and Child HealthBureau(Title V, Social Security Act), Health Resources and Services Administration,

U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (Project #U45MC00175). In open competition,both Centers were refunded in 2000 for a second 5 year cycle with the Substance Abuseand Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services joiningHRSA as a co-funder. In 2005 after open competition, both Centers were funded for athird five year cycle. (In this cycle, SAMHSA joined HRSA as a co-funder only for thefirst year.) As sister Centers, the Center at UCLA and the one at the University ofMaryland focus on advancing efforts to enhance how schools address mental health andpsychosocial concerns. A description and evaluation of the Center's work and impact isavailable at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu 

For more information about the Center or about ENEWS, contact Center Coordinator Perry Nelson or Center Co-Directors Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor at: UCLA School Mental Health Project/Center for Mental Health in SchoolsBox 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563Phone (310) 825-3634; Toll Free (866) 846-4843; Fax (310) 206-8716; email:

smhp@ucla.edu

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