| The Maturation of Professional Psychology - National Perspective/Patrick DeLeon | |
| Washington Update/Ron Levant | |
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Practice Directorate and MTV Launch Youth Anti-Violence Initiative/Tricia Alvarez |
| New Developments and a New Division in Psychopharmacology/Jack Wiggins |
| Tricia Alvarez | Practice Directorate and MTV Launch Youth Anti-Violence Initiative
APA’s Practice Directorate and MTV: Music Television are answering the call of concern about youth and violence. As part of its public education campaign, “Talk to Someone Who Can Help,” APA launched a timely and important youth anti-violence initiative, “Warning Signs,” in April that offers every practitioner the opportunity to connect with his or her community and begin a dialogue with youth on the topic of violence. As part of this campaign, APA and MTV co-produced a documentary on teen violence called “Warning Signs,” which aired on MTV just a few days after the Columbine shooting in April. The 30-minute documentary explores the thoughts, opinions and fears of teenagers and young adults about the issue of violence and features psychologists, Dr. Russ Newman, APA’s executive director for professional practice and Dr. Karen Zager, a past president of Division 42. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley expressed his support for the “Warning Signs” initiative in a letter he sent to almost 60,000 educators nationwide commending the project. Riley wrote, “It is my sincere hope that you will welcome these youth forums in your school and join me in applauding the efforts of APA and MTV as they embark on this effort to educate our nation’s youth.” Empowering Youth The “Warning Signs” documentary includes a toll-free number (800-268-0078) that teens and young adults can call to receive APA’s free “Warning Signs” guide. Produced by APA and MTV, the “Warning Signs” guide is aimed at teenagers and young adults and includes information about what normal anger is, the warning signs of potentially violent behavior and what to do when recognizing these signs in peers. Psychologists Eva Fiendler, Ph.D., Arnold Goldstein, Ph.D., Nancy Guerra, Ed.D., Rodney Hammond Ph.D., Peter Sheras, Ph.D., and Fernando Soriano, Ph.D.- all of whom have been involved in violence initiatives through APA’s Public Interest Directorate - have provided input for the guide. Youth violence is a critical national issue that ties into the family relations and troubled-teen theme of the “Talk to Someone Who Can Help” campaign. As way to extend the reach of APA’s public education campaign activities, APA began talking with MTV about an anti-violence campaign last year in the wake of the school shootings in early 1998 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Springfield, Oregon, and West Paducah, Kentucky. APA and MTV were on the verge of launching the youth anti-violence initiative in April when the news broke about the high school shooting in Littleton, Colorado. “The horrible incident in Littleton strikes at the heart of every community, and everyone needs to do something about it,” said Russ Newman, Ph.D., J.D., APA’s Executive Director for Professional Practice. Demand for information about youth violence was so great that within two weeks of the project launch, the Practice Directorate needed to print an additional 100,000 Warning Signs guides. As of mid-summer, more than 21,000 requests for the guides had been received through the toll-free phone number and APA Help Center Web site (helping.apa.org) alone. Altogether, more than 100,000 guides were distributed by the end of June, including those being disseminated at youth forums. Community Outreach Encouraged To foster more discussion about violence among teens, APA has been working with its national network of psychologists to conduct community-outreach activities across the country, says Jan Peterson, the Practice Directorate’s assistant executive director for public relations and communications. “APA members have conducted hundreds of youth forums across the country to date,” said Ms. Peterson. These events are held in conjunction with church groups, boys and girls clubs and other local youth organizations. The campaign will be reinvigorated in the fall when students return to class - with more youth forums and a rebroadcast of the “Warning Signs” documentary on MTV, Ms. Peterson said. MTV officials, including vice president of public affairs Stephen Friedman, expressed eagerness to work with APA because of the expertise psychologists bring on violent behavior and APA’s existing public education campaign infrastructure. “This project builds on the public education campaign network that we have created across the nation over the past few years,” says Dr. Newman.”Without that foundation, a partnership of this kind an a project of this size would be impossible.” Dr. Karen Zager adds, “As psychologists, we are extremely well equipped to help our communities deal with the ever-present issue of youth violence. At the same time, the youth forums enable us to make connections and may enhance our opportunities as health care professionals.” Practitioner Resources Special involvement kits are available to APA members that will help organize and prepare for activities that can be implemented in every community. The kits contain information and sample materials for carrying out presentations to youth, alerting media and conducting other grassroots activities. The kits, which also include a discussion outline, have been distributed to more than 1,500 psychologists around the country. Three approaches to community outreach have been developed that will help practitioners engage in lively discussions with youth. In one approach, individual practitioners can partner with a school in their community and identify a class - such as a health class - watch the “Warning Signs” documentary and afterwards facilitate a discussion about violence warning signs, as well as good ways of coping with anger and frustration. As the second option, psychologists can convene a community youth forum. Groups such as church youth groups or boys and girls clubs and scouts could be invited to co-host and thereby provide a built-in audience for the youth forum. “We hope to connect with this important teenage audience and help them learn what they can do about an issue that has become far too prevalent in our society,” Peterson said. “At the same time, we will help educate the next generation of young adults on the value of psychology.” The third approach would be to team individual psychologists with a school to provide a series of forums around the “Warning Signs” documentary. Psychologists could conduct youth sessions, for example, during all of the physical education classes for an entire day. Each approach will lend itself to co-promotion with local MTV cable affiliates. Information about how to work with local MTV cable affiliates is also included in the special involvement kits. How To Get Involved
Tricia Alvarez is the Practice Directorate’s Public Relations & Communications Associate. |
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