SBHCs in the News

Washington Middle School – Principal’s Thank You for Front-Line Support for the Community

We had something happen yesterday here at Washington that I wanted to share with you. It crystallized for me the importance of having the UNM school-based health clinic here on our site.

We had a young man, a very sweet focused 7th grade student, come to the office in the morning with his father. They are both Spanish speaking, poor, and without health care services. They came to pick up his homework because they were worried he would fall behind in class due to having to stay home that day.

He and his father had been injured the day before while working on their car. It must have been an old car because the father was putting gasoline on the carburetor and when it exploded, both he and his son were burned on the face and arm. They used home remedies, but you could tell they were in pain and the wounds were terrible. It broke our hearts when we saw them.

We immediately took them down to the clinic so that Bridget could help them. Bridget and Sylvia were wonderful, taking them to the emergency room, staying with them, translating, and setting up follow-up appointments. They were very caring and professional with the father; a father who had to watch the brave suffering of his child because he did not know there were resources available to help.

The clinic is the frontline of support for our families that work hard, yet still exist on the margins in our health care system. If at any point you would like for us at Washington to advocate on behalf of the school-based clinics, their importance to our communities, and their continued funding, please let me know.

Cynthia Challberg-Hale
Principal, Washington Middle School
Albuquerque Public Schools

Due to the incredible power that the school-based health care movement has built over the last few years, Congress is now turning to NASBHC to demonstrate how the school-based health center (SBHC) model is a solution to broader child health care issues.  In partnership with the School Community Health Alliance of Michigan, NASBHC identified the ideal spokesperson to explain how SBHCs changed his life. 

Jonathan Miller, a former student at Stone High School, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, testified before Congress about how he was able to lose 137 pounds because of the supports provided by his high school SBHC.

The Children and Families Subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Alexander (R-TN) held a hearing entitled “Childhood Obesity: The Declining Health of America’s Next Generation – Part II.” Jonathan, along with the SBHC dietician, Beth Van Helden journeyed to Washington and shared their story among a packed audience, including Congressional staffers and local media, on Capitol Hill.

At the beginning of the hearing, Senator Dodd announced the introduction of the Federal Childhood Obesity Prevention Act. The discussion on this bill will likely occur in 2009. Given Jonathan and Beth’s inspiring story, there is no doubt that SBHCs will play a pivotal role in this legislation.

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Shiprock program helps students
‘honor who we are’
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

SHIPROCK — More than 100 Shiprock High School pupils and 40 behavioral health professionals learned about suicide prevention at the two-day Native H.O.P.E. program held at the school’s gym on Tuesday and Wednesday.

H.O.P.E. stands for “Helping Our People Endure,” and that is what the program hopes to do for young people in the area with the peer-to-peer training to prevent suicide, especially because youth are greatly influenced by other youth.
Dr. Clayton Small said that in about 80 percent of youth suicides nationwide, other teenagers knew the person was in trouble but maintained a code of silence.
“A lot of the things we do is focus on teenagers to commit to break the code of silence when their friends are in trouble,’ he said.

With a national suicide rate among youth ages 14 to 24 twice that of the general population, the Native American population is targeted with the cultural-based model that Small developed and used during the conference.
Shiprock’s conference was only the second time that the Native H.O.P.E. model was being used. It was first used in Bernalillo and will next be used at Laguna Acoma. A youth group in Laguna had determined that teen suicide was a core policy issue that needed to be addressed and worked to obtain the funding to do so.

The training workshop looked at certain risk factors, including drugs and alcohol, coping with trauma, violence and depression.

Though it looked at such issues, the focus is on the positive. “We focus on strengths, spirituality, culture, tradition,” Small said. “We help young people identify sources of strength. . . It’s about improving our skills, communications, leadership, support.

“Peer counseling is a very profound, effective tool. Kids have so much influence on each other. With peer counseling it’s changing direction. Instead of leading in a negative way, it’s leading in a positive way,” he said.

Small, a former school administrator and teacher, has traveled the country to bring these types of training to youth and adults.

Small, who is Northern Cheyenne from Montana, said, “No matter what your tribe, we have values that need to be reinforced, and if we do that and we practice our culture and traditions and ceremonies, and we’re proud of it, we’re going to see these things disappear.”

“We need to fit into the mainstream world but we also have to honor who we are,” he added.

He said that the kids are challenged to be leaders and on the second day of the program, they are to put together a plan for services that are needed in the community. About 15 community service providers are working with the group to deliver those services.

The participants were divided into smaller groups, or clans, for parts of the training to create a sense of belonging and a safe place to express themselves. After breaks, participants also listened to and danced to the school’s drum group, including a round dance that got everyone on their feet and smiling, and a two-step competition.

With the presenters focusing on the positive, so were the participants.
Leandra Benally, a freshman at Shiprock High School, said she was learning about how to cope with feelings and thought the information was helpful.

Her favorite part was sitting in the clan group and talking about strengths.
Shawntina Thompson, also a freshman, was writing positive comments on folders on the wall for the participants to share.

She said she was learning that “we should take care of ourselves and take care of others and get to know one another.”

Asked why she was participating, she said, “I just thought it would be a really fun thing to do and to get to know one another.”

Erica Whitesinger, a sophomore, was dancing in the round dance and said she was at the conference to help out.

“I’m learning more about my culture,” she said.

Lance Coggeshell, freshman, was watching the two-step dance competition.
“I thought this might be fun,” he said. He said he was learning about expressions and enjoyed breaking into clan groups to talk about strengths.

Teresa Pablo from the Teen Life Center was participating as a counselor and said she thought the program was great.

“It’s a different style of getting the students to talk about their feelings. It’s a lot of fun,” she said.

Pablo added that when one person commits suicide it creates a chain reaction.
“It’s a big issue right now. It’s the youth that find out about it before anyone else and don’t tell anybody. A lot of it can be prevented,” she said.

Rep. Ray Begaye helped the suicide prevention program to secure partial funding from the state. Funding in the amount of $50,000 will be recurring, according to the program’s organizers. Begaye delivered remarks to the participants on Tuesday morning.

“The engine behind indigenous youth of today is in the language and culture of its people,” he said to them. “As the only Navajo serving in the House of Representatives in New Mexico, it is wonderful to get support from the governor and colleagues in bring funding to this type of program.”

With the emotional subject, counselors were on-hand in case anyone required counseling or needed a referral.

Students talk stereotypes, stress in effort to educate American Indian teens on suicide

By Alysa Landry The Daily Times
Article Launched: 05/08/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

SHIPROCK — A heavy silver pendant dangles from a chain around Harlee Case's neck.

The pendant, a tiny image of the Hindu deity Ganesh, is a constant companion to the 14-year-old freshman at Shiprock High School.

"Ganesh is fierce on the outside, but he's a lotus blossom on the inside," Case said Wednesday during a suicide prevention workshop at the high school. "I'm a lot like Ganesh."

Case lost her father in Iraq, she said, and she struggles to find an outlet for the deep anger and sadness that sometimes threaten to overwhelm her.

"I get so stressed about what is going on in my family and with my friends," she said. "I want to learn how to not keep my anger and feelings bottled up inside, but to let them out."

Case was one of about 100 freshmen and sophomores to attend the two-day suicide prevention workshop, a first of its kind in Shiprock, facilitator Clayton Small said.

Small developed a suicide prevention curriculum geared specifically toward American Indian students. His program, Helping Our People

Endure, or HOPE, is used in educational settings to help students both embrace and break away from their native cultures.

Returning to the positive aspects of native culture can have a healing effect, Small said. Spirituality, ceremonies and talking with elders all can help at-risk teens rise above their challenges.

"This program really focuses on strengths," he said. "The greatest source of strength is the culture."

Talking about death is taboo in many American Indian cultures, yet Small is calling on youth to speak up when they spot the warning signs of suicide in themselves or their peers.

"I want to get people to acknowledge that talking about suicide is no different than getting your eyes, ears or throat checked when you're sick," he said. "We need to get out of this denial mode."

Teens are no strangers to stresses like drug use, poverty, unplanned pregnancies, mental illnesses, violence and trauma, Small said, and it's impossible to talk about suicide without first addressing the factors that can lead to it.
"It's hard to talk about suicide," said Shawntina Thompson, 15, a freshman at Shiprock High School. "There are people who deal with drugs and alcohol and self-injury. It's better to be able to let the stress out, or it builds up into more stress until you want to do something crazy."

An estimated 80 percent of all people who commit suicide told at least one person, Small said, and he is encouraging students to break the "code of silence" and direct their peers toward people and resources that can help.

Learning to help others was Santana Tunney's goal when he decided to attend the suicide prevention workshop. Tunney, a 15-year-old freshman at Shiprock High School, said he experiences stress from peer pressure and family conflicts.
"I came to this to let some things go, to get some weight off my chest," he said. "I also learned things about leadership and how to spot the different signs of someone who is considering suicide."

The goal of the workshop, Small said, was to forge a connection between the youth and community resources.

"This is not a one-time thing," he said. "This is about creating a safe place for kids to talk, and having people available in the community to help them."
American Indians between the ages of 15 and 34 are at the highest risk of suicide in the nation. The suicide rate among American Indian youth is nearly 2.5 times the national rate, according to data collected by the American Indian/Alaska Native National Resource Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services.