Office of the Surgeon General (OSG)
U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on Youth Mental Health Crisis Further Exposed by COVID-19 Pandemic
Today, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new Surgeon General’s Advisory to highlight the urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis. As the nation continues the work to protect the health and safety of America’s youth during this pandemic with the pediatric vaccine push amid concerns of the emerging omicron variant, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health outlines the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on the mental health of America’s youth and families, as well as the mental health challenges that existed long before the pandemic.
The Surgeon General’s advisory calls for a swift and coordinated response to this crisis as the nation continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides recommendations that individuals, families, community organizations, technology companies, governments, and others can take to improve the mental health of children, adolescents and young adults.
Today, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new Surgeon General’s Advisory to highlight the urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis. As the nation continues the work to protect the health and safety of America’s youth during this pandemic with the pediatric vaccine push amid concerns of the emerging omicron variant, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health outlines the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on the mental health of America’s youth and families, as well as the mental health challenges that existed long before the pandemic.
The Surgeon General’s advisory calls for a swift and coordinated response to this crisis as the nation continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides recommendations that individuals, families, community organizations, technology companies, governments, and others can take to improve the mental health of children, adolescents and young adults.
The National Children's Disaster Mental Health Concept of Operations (“CONOPS”) model as a method to address discrepancies between research advances that have been made and the typical methods of providing mental health services to children after disasters.
Three key CONOPS strategies are described: (1) the PsySTART Disaster Mental Health Triage System, (2) a child-focused Incident Action Plan (IAP), and (3) a continuum of risk stepped-care model that matches the level of evidence-based treatment interventions with the level of identified risk using a stepped-care framework.
Together, these strategies provide an integrated “disaster systems of care” method for the needs of children. With the goal to strengthen the resilience of children, the CONOPS provides clear operational strategies to facilitate mental health care addressing the full continuum of risk and resilience in the child population. Adapting this tool to health care systems is a vital step to improving mental health services and resilience outcomes for children after a disaster.
PsySTART has four components
Provides solutions to link mental health to “disaster systems of care” in real time
Mental health triage, decision support at point of care
Cloud based/smart-phone application
Population based ICS/IAP
ASPR TRACIE Speaker Series Suicide and Mental Health Emergencies Before, During, and Beyond COVID-19
Pediatric Lessons Learned from COVID-19: Immediate and Future Implications
Christopher Newton (MD, FACS, FAAP, Trauma Medical Director, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland) and Merritt Schreiber (PhD., Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Lundquist Institute, Harbor- UCLA Medical Center) provide a summary of the pediatric lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on WRAP-EM grantees and how they managed suicide and mental health in children.
Management of Suicide and Mental Health Emergencies in Children
Tona McGuire (PhD, Behavioral Health Strike Team, Washington State Department of Health), Jay Fisher (MD, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University Medical Center, UNLV) and Mary King (MD, Pediatric Critical Care, Children’s Hospital Seattle, University of Washington) describe the surge in pediatric mental health emergencies in general and how their teams worked to manage these surges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trauma-Informed Emergency Care for Suicide Prevention
Joan Rosenbaum Asarnow (PhD, ABPP, Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Science, UCLA, David Geffen School of Medicine) describes using a trauma-informed approach and various other treatments and programs to address suicidality risk factors and prevent suicide attempts. Download the handout below.
The Safety Planning Assistant: A Web-Based Tool to Support Suicide Safety Planning Among Adolescents
Ryan Hill, (PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine; Incoming Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio) Fall 2021 discusses a brief intervention designed to assist individuals with suicidal thoughts and urges that can be implemented in fast-paced healthcare settings. Related resources: o The Safety Planning Assistant: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Web-based Suicide Safety Planning Tool for At-risk Adolescents and Their Parents o Suicide Prevention Resource Center o Safety Planning Intervention: A Brief Intervention to Mitigate Suicide Risk
Compound Disaster Pediatric Triage to Care
Mandy Corbin (MA, Associate Superintendent of Special Education and Behavioral Health Services, Sonoma County [CA] Office of Education discusses the use of stepped triage to care support in county schools to help address student trauma. Judith Cohen (MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Drexel University, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh [PA] shares how PsySTART Rapid Triage can be used to target interventions and deliver resiliency skills session and a study that examined the use of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with youth experiencing complex PTSD.
SAMHSA’s Suicide Prevention Resources
Richard McKeon (PhD, MPH, Chief, Suicide Prevention Branch, Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA]) highlights the various resources SAMHSA has develop to address suicide prevention, specifically in youth. Related resources: o Suicide Prevention Resource Center o National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Coping with School during COVID-19
Merritt Schreiber, (PhD, WRAP-EM MH Workgroup and Department of Pediatrics, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) and Tona McGuire, (PhD Behavioral Health Strike Team, State of Washington Department of Health) describe the negative effects on mental health and academic progress the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children 18 and under. They also highlight the "Anticipate. Plan. Cope." app that families can use to address related stress and build resilience.
WRAP-EM Speaker Series - From Science to Practice
The Safety Planning Assistant: A Web-Based Tool to Support Suicide Safety Planning Among Adolescents
Ryan Hill, (PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine; Incoming Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio) Fall 2021 discusses a brief intervention designed to assist individuals with suicidal thoughts and urges that can be implemented in fast-paced healthcare settings. Related resources: o The Safety Planning Assistant: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Web-based Suicide Safety Planning Tool for At-risk Adolescents and Their Parents o Suicide Prevention Resource Center o Safety Planning Intervention: A Brief Intervention to Mitigate Suicide Risk
Trauma-Informed Emergency Care for Suicide Prevention
David Goldston, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, and Joan Asarnow, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Youth Stress and Mood Program, Co-Directors of the UCLA-Duke ASAP Center for Trauma-Informed Suicide, Self-Harm & Substance Abuse Treatment & Prevention, a partner of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, present their work on state-of-the-art interventions for suicidal children in the ED environment.
Building the evidence base on rapid interventions for suicidal children and youth
Molly Adrian, PhD, Attending Psychologist, Seattle Children's Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Adrian is part of a national network of centers building the evidence base on rapid interventions for suicidal children and youth.
Assessment and Management of Suicidal Youth
David Brent, (MD, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and Academic Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital discusses two pediatric suicide interventions.
Washington State Department of Health Statewide Behavioral Health Response to COVID
Tona McGuire, PhD, and Kira Mauseth, PhD, Co-Leads for the Washington State Department of Health Behavioral Health Strike Team discuss the development of a first ever behavioral health deployment capability for the State of Washington Department of Health known as the “DOH Behavioral Health Strike Team”. This deployable asset was developed just prior to the COVID 19 pandemic and deployed in March 2020 to lead overall statewide BH response, supported by the Behavioral Health Group, which included team members with expertise in behavioral health epidemiology, data analysts, systems specialists, and emergency managers. The wide array of expertise on the team allowed the COVID-19 BHG to build response functions to match the demands created by the pandemic.
EIIC PEAK Mental Health Resources Update
Mohsen Saidinejad, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine and Director for the Institute for Health Services and Outcomes Research Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA, discusses his efforts with the EMSC EIIC PEAK mental health process, content and dissemination on mental health emergencies presenting in EMSC.
RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND FAMILIES
Anticipate. Plan. Cope.™ - Building a Family Resilience Map
About APC for Parents
APC is designed to assist parents beyond fact sheets as they cope during COVID-19. In APC, parents learn 3 simple steps: Anticipate challenges, Plan to manage challenges by creating a Family Resilience Map, and Cope by using new coping skills when necessary. APC helps inoculate against stress by empowering parents to map and manage challenges proactively. This version is for parents.
APC for Frontline Providers Who are Parents
APC is designed to assist parents beyond fact sheets as they cope during COVID-19. In APC, parents learn 3 simple steps: Anticipate challenges, Plan to manage challenges by creating a Family Resilience Map, and Cope by using new coping skills when necessary. APC helps inoculate against stress by empowering parents to map and manage challenges proactively. This version is for frontline providers who are parents.
APC Training Guide
The National Childrens Disaster MH Concept of Operations is a customisable strategy for communities, regions or states to develop a systematic, evidence based approach to the continuum of pediatric mental health risk and resilience in all hazard events.
Consultation
Consultation and an instructor/Trainer guide is available for those wishing to implement of pilot APC in their communities: Contact Dr. M. Schreiber at m.schreiber@ucla.edu for more information.
Material to Accompany APC Training - Download the APC Wallet Card v7
Listen, Protect and Connect (LPC)
Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
Listen, Protect and Connect (LPC) Psychological First Aid System:
The Listen, Protect and Connect psychological first aid system designed for families, neighbors, co-workers and first responders. One version is an “all ages” family-to-family, neighbor-to-neighbor version and two are specifically for supporting children. One for parents and one just for teachers and schools to use.
The Listen, Protect, and Connect approach to psychological suggests ways we all can support each other’s resilience and cope before, during and after emergencies. LPC psychological first aid builds on strengths and practices that families and communities already use and offer additional ideas and tools to call upon in times of disaster or terrorism.
Listen, Protect and Connect: Family-to-family, Neighbor-to-Neighbor. Helping those around you in times of disaster Listen, Protect and Connect for children by parents and caregivers.
Listen, Protect and Connect for Children: by School’s- Psychological First Aid for Teachers and schools
Helpful Hints for School Emergency Management- Guidelines from the US Department of Education on using, Listen, Protect, and Connect- Schools version. Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
For further information on Listen, Protect, Connect, please contact:
Dr. Merritt Schreiber, Department of Pediatrics, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. M.schreiber@ucla.edu
LPC Family to Family, Neighbor to Neighbor
When a disaster strikes, those around us - our family, friends, and neighbors -¬ are often the first ones to offer help. You may be close with your family and friends. With neighbors, you may just nod or wave from across the street. No matter how well you know the people living near you, the help we give and get from each other makes it easier to “bounce back” from a disaster and helps our entire community recover. “Connect with your neighbors. Be prepared to respond.”
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First
Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
Listen, Protect, and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Children and Parents
© 2006 M. Schreiber and R. Gurwitch. All rights reserved.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help families and communities during disasters. Visit their website for more information: https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/disasters.
Resources in Response to Wildfires
In response to recent wildfires, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help children, families, and communities navigate what they are seeing and hearing, acknowledge their feelings, and find ways to cope together. Resources include:
Parent Guidelines for Helping Children Impacted by Wildfires (En Español)
Wildfires: Tips for Parents on Media Coverage (En Español)
Simple Activities for Children and Adolescents
Strategies to Manage Challenges for EMS and Other First Responder Families
Trinka and Sam: The Big Fire - e-book for young children. (En Español)
Helping Youth After Community Trauma: Tips for Educators
After a Crisis: Helping Young Children Heal
Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event
Helping Young Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
Helping School-Age Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
Helping Teens with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
The Power of Parenting: How to Help Your Child After a Parent or Caregiver Dies
For community and mental health providers who plan to continue working with affected communities long-term, review Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR; En Español) and take the SPR Online course.
Coping Resources in Response to Mass Shooting Events
Mass violence events evoke a range of emotions and concerns of safety in the community. In response to these events, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help children, families, and communities navigate what they are seeing and hearing, acknowledge their feelings, and find ways to cope together. Resources include:
· For Teens: Coping After Mass Violence
· Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth After Mass Violence
· Helping Youth after Community Trauma: Tips for Educators
· Helping Teens with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
· Helping School-Age Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
· Helping Young Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
· The Power of Parenting: How to Help Your Child After a Parent or Caregiver Dies
· Pause-Reset-Nourish (PRN) to Promote Wellbeing (for responders)
National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center
- Transcend (mobile app to assist with recovery after mass violence)
- Rebuild your Community: Resources for Community Leaders
- Media Guidelines for Homicide Family Survivors
- Timeline of Activities to Promote Mental Health Recovery
- Self-Help: Resources for Survivors
- E-learning Courses: Trainings for Clinicians
- Resources for Victim Assistance Professionals
AAP Resources
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University
- Sustaining the Psychological Well-Being of Caregivers While Caring for Disaster Victims
- Safety, Recovery and Hope after Disaster: Helping Communities and Families Recover
- Leadership Communication: Anticipating and Responding to Stressful Events
- Wildfire Smoke Factsheet: Protecting Children from Wildfire Smoke and Ash
- Grief Leadership: Leadership in the Wake of Tragedy
- Coping with Stress Following a Mass Shooting
MOBILE APPS
