You Say Potayto I Say Potahto, Don’t Call the Whole Thing Off: The Need for Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Cross cultural dialogue is critical to address and remediate disparities in behavioral health.  While it may sound simple, effective cross cultural dialogue requires an intentional and sustained effort to balance inquiry and advocacy.  Watch the recording.

This NNED Forum Call on April 27th explored innate patterns and methods of communication.  Presenters shared best practices in cross cultural dialogue, such as the responsibility to authentically engage in dialogue as well as acknowledge others in that process.  Presenters also defined environments that support the value of diversity and the expectation that diverse perspectives will be integrated.  Finally, the presenters described their experiences with culturally specific styles of dialogue and how they might work across cultures.

Presenters:

• Shannon Crossbear, StrongHeart Resource Development
• Suganya Sockalingam, Founding Partner, Change Matrix LLC
• Liz Waetzig, Founding Partner, Change Matrix LLC

 

You Say Potayto, I Say Potahto: Don’t Call the Whole Thing Off - 4/27/11 from Change Matrix LLC on Vimeo.

Indian Youth Suicide Crisis Baffles Fort Peck (posted 3/29)

A series of recent youth suicides have sent the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana into crisis, according to the Associated Press.  National Public Radio (NPR) reports that:

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death behind unintentional injuries among Indian children and young adults, and is on the rise, according to the Indian Health Service. Native Americans ages 10 to 24 killed themselves at more than twice the rate of similarly aged whites, according to the most recent data available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On the Fort Peck reservation, five children killed themselves during the 2009-2010 school year at Poplar Middle School — enrollment about 160 — and 20 more of the 7th and 8th graders tried. In the current school year, two young adults have committed suicide, though none at Poplar Middle School.

Emergency teams from the U.S. Public Health Service descended upon Fort Peck last June after Sioux and Assiniboine leaders declared a crisis. The teams provided counseling and mental health services to assist the overworked counselors and strained resources of the reservation.

No suicides were recorded during the 90-day deployment of the federal health team. When they packed their bags in October and left a detailed report with a dozen recommendations, the Indian Health Service declared the crisis had passed — a view repeated to The Associated Press last month by IHS behavioral health director Dr. Rose Weahkee.

But it proved to be only a lull. Two more teenagers killed themselves since October and dozens of other children across the reservation have tried.

Spiritual leaders in the community say the suicides are rooted in the loss of cultural identity that many young American Indians experience, as well as historical trauma.  Though there is no simple answer, the community is working to connect youth to positive role models and to help youth develop an understanding of their culture.

To read the full article visit the NPR website.  Warning: the first few paragraphs of the article detail the way a youth took her own life.

Minority Women Might Have Higher Depression Risk During Pregnancy (posted 3/28)

A new study out of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry finds that "African-American and Asian/Pacific Islander women have double the risk that others do of becoming depressed before giving birth, after adjusting for socioeconomic risk factors," reports Health Behavior News Service.

Previous research comparing prenatal depression rates according to ethnic background has varied. Many studies have found white women at higher risk of this illness. Fewer have shown minority women to be at especially high risk.

“Clinicians may be under the false impression that women of color have lower rates of antenatal depression. I want to highlight that race and ethnicity can be risk factors for antenatal depression,” said lead author Amelia Gavin, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the school of social work at the University of Washington.

To read the full news article visit the Behavior News website.  To read the abstract visit the General Hospital Psychiatry website.

County Health Rankings Show There is More to Health Than Health Care (posted 3/30)

How healthy is your county? A new set of reports released on March 30th rank the overall health of nearly every county in the nation, confirming for the second year the critical role that factors such as education, jobs, income, environment and access to health care play in how healthy people are and how long they live.

Published online at www.countyhealthrankings.org by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the County Health Rankings look at a variety of measures that affect health, such as high school graduation rates, access to healthier foods, air pollution levels, income, and rates of smoking, obesity and teen births. The Rankings is the only tool of its kind that allows people to see how their county compares with others in their state and against national benchmarks in areas like diabetes screening rates or number of uninsured adults, and makes it possible for leaders in all sectors to identify gaps and work together to develop solutions.

In conjunction with the release of the Rankings, the University of Wisconsin and the Foundation will launch a new program that includes funding up to 14 communities across the country to use the Rankings to improve the health of their residents.  Read the full County Health Rankings press release.  Learn more on the RWJF website.

In addition, to further illustrate the connection between social factors and health, the Foundation along with the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Human Needs today unveiled the County Health Calculator. The County Health Calculator is a new interactive online app that shows people how much higher levels of education and income influence premature death rates in a county.

 

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Has a New Website (posted 3/28)

Come take a look at the new website from the public-private partnership addressing the preventable public health problem of suicide, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. It offers the latest news and information about the Action Alliance to the general public, suicide prevention community, media, policymakers, and other key stakeholders in suicide prevention.
 
The new site provides information and updates on the work of the Action Alliance's Executive Committee (EXCOM), which provides strategic leadership to the Action Alliance and represents diverse fields and perspectives needed to advance suicide prevention.  The EXCOM is co-chaired by the Honorable Gordon H. Smith, President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, and the Honorable John McHugh, Secretary of the Army. To get more information on the dedicated group of individuals that make up the EXCOM, take a look at the full list of members, complete with biographies and photographs.

The site also tracks developments of Task Forces, groups that are charged with making advancements in specific areas of suicide prevention. Existing Task Forces are focusing on strengthening our nation's suicide prevention infrastructure by updating the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, prioritizing suicide-related research, and enhancing suicide-related data and surveillance, along with reducing suicide risk among three high-risk populations: American Indian and Alaska Native populations, LGBT youth, and military service members and veterans. Find out more about Task Forces by visiting the new site today.

[ » More News & Announcements ]