MONDAY MEMO #3
- Resilient Georgia
- Oct 13, 2024
- 6 min read
Hello partners! As always, we’re excited to bring you another weekly round of resources and reminders! Before diving into our carefully curated list, we want to share some key highlights from the Resilient Georgia team. Our recent Coalition Peer-to-Peer Network discussions have emphasized the need for support, reflection, and connection, which will shape the focus of our upcoming November meeting. Additionally, we are thrilled to announce the launch of a new LGBTQ+ Mental Health Resource Webpage, offering vital support for LGBTQ+ individuals, families, and allies. Read on for updates, upcoming events, and resources to help you continue making an impact in your communities! Thank you so much for all you do across the state.
RG Highlights
As a reminder, if you missed the September Peer-to-Peer Network Call on Evaluation, you can access the recording here.
SAVE THE DATE: Our next Peer-to-Peer meeting will be November 5th at 2pm. After reflecting on the challenges and crises across our state and the heaviness of recent conversations across coalitions, we decided to shift this month’s focus to create a safe and unstructured space to support each other and foster connection. Instead of diving into PSE change, which we’ll move to January, we’ll focus on support and self-care. This will be a space to support one another through both personal and professional challenges. Join us next month to debrief, reflect, and recharge!
NEW LGBTQ+ Mental Health Resource Webpage! We are excited to announce our newest resource page dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ community. This page provides a collection of mental health and resilience resources tailored to LGBTQ+ individuals, families, and allies. It includes information on affirming care, mental health support, and ways to build inclusive environments.
October Coalition Connections: As a reminder, our final round of the 2024 Coalition Connections will be this week and next:
Rounds 2 and 3: Tomorrow Tuesday October 15th from 2-3pm
Rounds 1 and 4: Tuesday October 22nd from 2-3PM
Hurricane Resources: In response to Hurricane Helene, FEMA has designated 43 counties in Georgia as Disaster Areas, enabling Individual Assistance and Public Assistance. Resources include food, shelter, and financial support through GEMA, SNAP benefits, and the Red Cross. The USDA offers recovery resources for farmers, and the Small Business Administration provides low-interest disaster loans. For detailed information on available assistance, visit the resource linked above and share widely.
Regional Coalition Spotlights
Resilient Northeast Georgia hosted their Rise and Lead Summit in partnership with Region 5 Georgia Family Connection Partnership last month. It was a fantastic day of collaboration and learning. Attendees engaged with a dynamic lineup of speakers and presentations from county partners, culminating in a regional planning session. The focus was on increasing sustainability, enhancing the impact of systems change work, and developing practical skills to address secondary trauma in helping professionals and first responders. Check out the photos here!
Resilient North Georgia: Christina Lennon is hosting this month’s Knowledge to Action Conversation on Reaching Teens this Thursday, October 17th at 10am. This session will explore strategies for engaging teens using strength-based approaches, focusing on Positive Youth Development, Trauma-Sensitive Practices, and more. The event will provide practical tools for youth-serving professionals to build trust and improve communication with adolescents.
Caregivers & Parents
Stress & Anxiety Relief Through Healthy Relationships | AAP : Focusing on what’s right with a child or teenager’s mental health can go a long way to combating stress and anxiety. By building strong, healthy relationships, parents and other caregivers can help make sure children and teens grow up resilient and minimize the effects of toxic stress. In this video by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Heather Forkey describes the idea of relational health and how it can combat toxic stress – things like trauma, child abuse or even the long-term effects of racism. Please share with your networks!
Support for Stressed Parents: Child Mind : This week Child Mind shared resources to support parents who are under stress, including those who are caring for kids with mental health challenges. They offer expert advice on how to manage anxiety about school shootings — in parents and children — and how to avoid passing anxiety on to your kids.
Community Events
CompassionCon – An Initiative of Compassionate Atlanta The 3rd CompassionCon festival will take place on October 27th from 1-5 PM at Historic Legacy Park in Decatur. This intergenerational event fosters community connections and highlights organizations centered on compassion. This year, GPB's Be My Neighbor Day will join, bringing family-friendly activities that typically attract over 1000 guests. With 50+ vendors and an expected attendance of 1200 people, it's a fantastic opportunity to celebrate kindness.
Free Your Feels Teen Summit : The 2024 Free Your Feels Teen Summit is on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 12PM- 3PM in Athens. This fun-filled event will feature peer-to-peer interaction, mental health resources, food, fun, and more. Please share this event that celebrates youth mental health and self-expression or register here. Free food, free fun, free fellowship!
Moving Upstream: Centering Economic Security Programs in Child Maltreatment Prevention: Join this important conversation on October 15th, from 10AM-12PM hosted by Callan Wells of the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. The event, held at CHRIS 180’s offices in East Atlanta, will explore how economic security programs can serve as a preventive measure to reduce child maltreatment and family involvement with the child welfare system and there is a Zoom option listed at the link above.
Faith-Based Resources
Interfaith Social Media Contest — 988 GA This contest, sponsored by the Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta and Georgia DBHDD, is designed to engage faith communities to raise awareness about the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline through creative social media posts, flyers, or bulletins. Please share with your faith-based communities!
Funding Opportunities
Call for Applications for Collective Leadership Advancing Racial Equity (CLARE) Program: The Collective Impact Forum, a partnership between FSG and the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, is launching the Collective Leadership Advancing Racial Equity (CLARE) Program January 2025 – October 2025. This 10-month leadership accelerator is designed to invest in the capacity and wellbeing of 20 individuals leading collaborative work. FSG will be hosting a webinar on CLARE October 17, 2024 at 1:00 PM.
Workforce Resources
KIND30 is a movement that encourages individuals and communities to engage in daily acts of kindness. It is open to all places of faith, workplaces large and small, colleges, schools, families, individuals, community organizations, and clubs. There are KIND ideas for all ages and the goal is to inspire a nationwide movement that unifies a diverse array of people of all backgrounds and ideologies to choose to be more kind every single day. They offer various kindness calendars to suggest daily acts of kindness and can be downloaded or customized using a blank template or dynamic calendar.
Stress Less: NPR Series: This series from NPR is aimed at helping individuals cope with life’s challenges. Participants will learn a wide array of science-based strategies that can help improve positive feelings, reduce feelings of anxiety, and empower them to better deal with life’s stressors.
Mind Share Partners is an organization focused on creating mentally healthy workplace cultures through mental health training, strategy, and implementation services. The organization partners with companies to develop strategies that prioritize mental health, reduce stigma, and foster psychological safety. They offer on-demand mental health courses, with discounts available for nonprofits. Additionally, they provide free toolkits to support workplace mental health initiatives, including the Healthy Work Practices, Communications Kit, and 5 Fundamentals, which are excellent starting points for fostering a mentally healthy work environment.
Youth Resources
Demystifying Youth-Engaged Research - Hopelab These case studies illustrate that youth-engaged research is not just possible; it is incredibly rewarding, and with the right support systems, those new to this way of working can meaningfully include young people as research collaborators. They describe how two research teams realized the power of collaborating with young people at strategic points in the research process and came away with insights that would not have emerged without the critical input of their youth collaborators.
This report presents the first national data on self-reported Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) among U.S. high school students under 18, using the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. It examines the associations between ACEs and 16 health conditions and risk behaviors, estimating the population impact of ACEs on these outcomes. The findings help policymakers and public health professionals understand how ACEs prevention could reduce adolescent risks like suicidal behavior, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors, emphasizing the current public health effects of ACEs in this population.