The Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders has authorized $50,000.00 in funds to promote mental health awareness, wellness and linkages to resources. 

The RWJF Culture of Health Prize is an annual competition honoring communities that have placed a priority on health and are creating powerful partnerships and deep commitments to provide everyone with the opportunity to live well.

Please find the link to the quick online survey about “DD Eligibility Application” for children with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.

 The Program provides services for elderly and functionally impaired person to relieve their caregivers of the stress arising from the responsibility of providing daily care. Services in Bergen County are coordinated by the Bergen County Department of Human Services, Division on Disability Services through funds provided by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

The New Jersey Youth ChalleNGe Academy gives at-risk youth a second chance at receiving their high school diploma.

Apply for  a  Healthy Community Grant! Supported projects make the healthy choice the easy choice; make healthy food and beverages the affordable, available and desired choice; encourage and support physical activity by ensuring accessibility and safety; and make healthy school, work, and community environments the norm and not the exception.

Click here to see FREE training opportunity regarding CREATING A HEALTHY, INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY.

This newsletter further describes Promising Path to Success, including emerging success stories and how we’ve been implementing it during the last four years.

On August 1, 2017, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET, OJJDP, in collaboration with the National Girls Initiative, will present “Mi Hermana’s Keeper: A Toolkit of Promising Practices for Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs Supporting Latina Youth.”

Participants will attend a one-day training session designed to prepare them to teach the “Law Enforcement Response to Individuals with Special Needs/Mental Health Issues” training course. The course is designed to enhance the law enforcement officer’s ability to identify citizens dealing with mental health disorders and/or various special needs.

Stepping Up the Right Way: Best Practices in the Treatment of Persons with Serious Mental Illness Who Have Contact with the Criminal Justice System

The U.S. is in the midst of an opioid epidemic (PDF, 270 KB), with approximately 12.5 million people who misused prescription opioids and over 33,000 deaths by opioid overdose in 2015.  The National Library of Medicine (NLM) recently released a portal on Opiate Addiction and Treatment with links to help health professionals learn more about opioid-related topics:

A great New York experience starts with a NY Waterway Ferry!  Our top deck offers the best panoramic views of the New York skyline.  Our modern ferry terminals have food services, air conditioning, free WiFi and clean restrooms.  

Bringing the Mental Health Conversation to NJ! Newsletter about Mental Health - related events in Bergen County!

Professional Task Force for eating disorders meeting.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (The IACP) and the Yale Child Study Center (Yale), with support from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, has launched the Enhancing Police Responses to Children Exposed to Violence: A Toolkit for Law Enforcement. This new toolkit provides practical tools and resources to assist law enforcement agencies in building or enhancing effective operational responses to children exposed to violence (with or without a mental health partner). This toolkit contains tools targeted to police leaders and frontline officers.

The New Jersey Department of Children and Families has now made available a mechanism for relevant professionals delineated in the protocol to statistically report in real-time non-identifying demographic information regarding a student or youth who has either attempted or completed suicide. To view the “Youth Suicide Reporting Form” and the “Protocol for Reporting Youth Suicide Attempt or Completion”, please click on the link  http://www.nj.gov/dcf/adolescent/prevention/

The purpose of PTSD Awareness Month is to encourage everyone to raise public awareness of PTSD and effective treatments. We can all help those affected by PTSD.

We are looking for honest opinions about transportation: what's working, what needs improvement, and novel ideas for making all forms of transportation (agency provided, personal, public) more accessible.

Tens of thousands of New Jersey children rely on school meals to get the nutrition they need to be healthy and learn. In the summer, these children lack access to those meals and families struggle to put food on the table.

Remember it is not uncommon for people to feel sad, confused, anxious or vulnerable during this time.  There may even be a combination of feelings which is normal.Have the conversation with your children:  ask them what they heard and provide accurate information in language they understand.

Attached is a handout from the National Association of School Psychologists which provides some excellent guidelines for discussion and response whether you are an educator, mental health professional, parent or youth.

People working in health care recognize stress as something that can compromise the wellness of the people they serve. However, health care workers may neglect their own wellness and not realize that an even a greater challenge is to manage their own stress.

On May 4th, SAMHSA debuted a new report on the association between a major depressive episode and chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and obesity. The SAMHSA report is being released in recognition of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day (Awareness Day).

NIH-funded research shows an intervention that includes follow-up phone calls reduces the risk of future suicide attempts for people at risk.

The 2017 Autism Family Services of New Jersey Scholarship Program is open to New Jersey residents with a diagnosis of Autism. This year, in partnership with the Hinkle, Fingles, Prior and Fischer, Attorneys at Law, Autism Family Services of New Jersey will be selecting two recipients; each receiving a $1,000 scholarship. 

In this toolkit, we provide implementers of youth programming a variety of references, resources, and tools on how to use a positive youth development (PYD) approach for evaluating youth-focused programming. A PYD approach to evaluation will measure whether youth are positively engaged in and benefiting from investments that ultimately empower them to develop in healthy and positive ways so that they can contribute to the development of their communities.

Teen dating violence, also called adolescent relationship abuse, is a serious public health problem. There is still much we do not understand about the nature and scope of this problem. Results of an NIJ-funded study can help change that.

Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) has received calls related to immigration and the impact of recent executive orders on undocumented families here in New Jersey. Since ACNJ staff does not have expertise in the immigration arena, we reached out to other organizations and colleagues to find answers to frequently asked questions. Please share these helpful resources to help undocumented families understand their rights.

The New Jersey Children's System of Care, which serves children and youth up to age 21 with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is now accepting requests from families for financial assistance toward the 2017 summer camp session. Requests MUST be postmarked or received by PerformCare no later than April 30, 2017.