Relationship education (RE) has been effective for youth, especially in contexts of adversity (i.e., high rates of STDs, teen pregnancy). Resilience theory suggests that youth under more adversity benefit more from resource-based interventions. However, most evaluations of RE programs focus on majority youth or take a deficit approach. Our mixed method study evaluated the effectiveness of the Love Notes curriculum, comparing improvement in program outcomes for youth from various backgrounds of potential disadvantage (urban high schools, alternative education, and behavioral health contexts). We found that youth from behavioral health contexts had greater gains from participating in Love Notes than other groups on some outcomes, indicating resilience. Participants found relationship skills, recognizing risks, and sex education most useful. Our study emphasized the importance and effectiveness of youth relationship education, highlighting unique experiences based on context. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Learn about relationship education among youth and its main goals…
High Risk Youth
The Innovative Uses of Mind Matters to Promote Youth & Family Well-Being This webinar will describe implementation approaches, including adaptations, of Mind Matters across diverse populations and settings, including traditional school, alternative schools for at risk students/young adults, residential treatment for youth, community-based organizations, and college campuses. The presenters will then review data collected from a series of grants/research projects evaluating Mind Matters with a focus on the impact on knowledge of trauma, trauma related coping skills, PTSD symptoms, resilience, and social skills. This discussion will also include various evaluation strategies and guidance on how to gather essential data for continuous quality improvement and documentation of impact. Lastly, the presenters will share emerging opportunities for applications of Mind Matters to new populations and issues including parents and children affected by the opioid epidemic, racial trauma, and supports for refugee/immigrant youth and families. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Describe implementation strategies and adaptations of Mind Matters across diverse populations…
The Power of Relationship Education from a Policy Perspective Policymakers and policy analysts are increasingly turning to micro-level interventions to address large and widespread social issues. There is a growing recognition that what happens inside a home and family has broader social ramifications, which is turning policy conversations toward approaches that can strengthen couples and families. Relationship Education has proven to be effective for improving outcomes in a variety of settings related to families. Because many of the issues that public policy seeks to address are affected by family instability and parental conflict, Relationship Education can act as a preventative measure that diminishes risk factors that originate in the home. Also, addressing a problem after it has taken hold is often more expensive than stopping it from happening in the present. Join Dr. Jocelyn Wikle to learn how Relationship Education can be beneficial in diminishing serious and costly issues of…
Young People’s Experiences and Thoughts on Relationships Today: A conversation with Marline Pearson Many of us wonder about young people’s current lived experience and aspirations regarding their relationships. For instance: Do adolescents still date? Do they still hope for a long-term committed partner or spouse? How are young people thinking about their intimate relationships? How are they visualizing their current or future families? Join Love Notes author and noted thought leader, Marline Pearson, as she shares her experiences and reflections that come from teaching thousands of young people at Madison College, a two-year technical and community college as well as younger teens through STEM and Gateway programs. She will also share the different messages she gives young people from teens to late twenties about how best to approach relationships during those years. Note: This is a conversational format. Please come prepared with questions to ask Marline. Objectives: Participants will be…
The State of Youth Relationship Education Today Relationship education has moved from being an unfamiliar and unrecognized intervention to being an appreciated and effective intervention that can pull many levers in young people’s lives. We know from research that it can change sexual behaviors, reduce violence and the acceptance of violence. And, most recently, we see that relationship education can help build hope. Join Executive Director, Kay Reed, to learn about the current landscape for the field of relationship education. She will share new research outcomes, innovative funding streams and settings, along with challenges and opportunities for the field. Objectives: Participants will be able to: List outcomes that result from evidence-based relationship education. Target new state and federal funding to support relationship education programming. Share current challenges and opportunities for the field Presenter: Kay Reed, Executive Director Resources: January 2024 Webinar Slide Deck
From underperforming schools to unsafe neighborhoods, from institutional racism to other structural barriers, hindrances often stand in the way of financial success for young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. Given these challenges, many young adults lose hope, thinking they have no way of changing their life trajectories. However, there is a path that frequently leads to the “American Dream” and away from poverty. This path is called the “Success Sequence.” The sequence entails three steps: (1) getting at least a high-school degree, (2) working full-time, and (3) marrying before having children. Young adults who manage to follow the sequence – even in the face of challenges – are much more likely to forge a path to a better economic life. Join Brad Wilcox and Wendy Wang as they discuss how poverty is basically nonexistent among young adults who followed all three steps according to their new analysis of data from the…
Youth Voice and Youth Engagement are pillars in youth development and program implementation. As part of the implementation plan for their Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) grant, The YMCA of Greater Louisville partnered with the Teaching and Learning Magnet of Central High School to train seniors as peer facilitators in Love Notes. The peer facilitators then led sessions of Love Notes with adult support, both within their schools and at other community programs. Join YMCA of Louisville’s TPP grant manager, Kelley Luckett, as she describes their model of program implementation that uses peer facilitators to increase both youth voice and engagement. This presentation will demonstrate how this model benefits not only the youth participants but also the peer facilitators. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Describe how the YMCA of Louisville used peer facilitators in the implementation of Love Notes. Explain how the use of peer facilitators increases youth voice. Explain…
Young mothers in Delaware have the option of attending school with other expecting and parenting young ladies in one of three locations throughout the state. This alternative educational option is the 54-year-old organization called the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc. (DAPI). DAPI combines programming for pregnant and parenting teens through academics, health, and outreach. DAPI’s model helps its “DAPI Daughters” soar to new heights both academically and personally. Join DAPI’s executive Director, Doris Griffin, as she discusses the DAPI model and how relationship education is an integral part of that work. Objectives: Participants will learn: Information about the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc. (DAPI) What makes the DAPI model different from other alternative education How DAPI integrates relationship education in their work About DAPI’s goals for future programming Presenter: Doris L. P. Griffin, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc. Who should attend: Program managers working with expecting and parenting youth,…
The University of Louisville, Center for Family and Community Wellbeing study found that Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Increasing Resilience significantly reduced Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms and increased trauma coping skills. What makes Mind Matters so effective? In this webinar author Carolyn Curtis reviews the research behind Mind Matters’ effectiveness. She discusses the program’s theory of change as well as the individual lessons that bring results. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Understand what the University of Louisville study results say about the effectiveness of Mind Matters. Explain the theories used in Mind Matters. Describe the research behind the Mind Matters Pinwheel Curls. Presenter: Carolyn Curtis, Ph.D., Author of Mind Matters Who should attend: People who work with youth-in-care, community based organizations who work with youth in challenging circumstances, those who help people heal from trauma, organizations that focus on dating and interpersonal violence, adolescent group facilitators, secondary educators, state and federal…
In this webinar the new PACES Connection CEO, Ingrid Cockhren, will explore the connection between advise childhood experiences, trauma, attachment styles and various types of abuse in dating and romantic relationships. She will examine the systemic nature of trauma and adversity and how early adversity is a root cause of poor relationship outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood. This webinar will also outline systemic solutions for populations that have experienced historical trauma and adversity. Objectives: Webinar Participants will understand: 1. The impact of early adversity on the brains and bodies of children and adolescents. 2. The impact of early adversity on developing secure attachment. 3. The link between attachment in infancy and early childhood and adolescent/young adult relationships. 4. The systemic barriers that impact the attachment bond and dating relationships in populations that have experienced historical trauma. Presenters: Ingrid Cockhren, M.Ed., CEO of PACEs Connection Resources: April 2022 Slide Deck
In today’s uncertain times, many youth experience housing insecurity, unstable or unsafe relationships, and toxic stress. Social and emotional wellbeing can help these young people overcome adversity, heal from trauma, and build resilience, thereby increasing their hopes for the future. Learning and practicing mindfulness skills can be the pathway to increasing self-regulation, building healthy relationships, and increasing resilience. The question is how can youth move towards social and emotional wellbeing? During this webinar, we will explore some of the social-emotional needs of youth and how the Milestone Transitional Living Program in Utah utilizes mindfulness skills and the Mind Matters program in group sessions and in group homes. Join Mina Koplin, Lorri Lake, and Maygan Martinez as they share how they utilize the ACEs questionnaire, how they present Mind Matters content, and how they implement mindfulness skills in sessions with disconnected youth. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Identify the Social-Emotional needs…
In response to the multiple stresses on teens from COVID, The Dibble Institute is pleased to announce its latest project, Me & My Emotions, a fun, free, interactive website for teens. Me & My Emotions is designed to support teens’ social-emotional learning while increasing their resilience. With engaging graphics and bite-sized lessons plus awards and points, Me & My Emotions invites teens to slow down and check in with themselves as they learn skills from Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience. Join Kay Reed to explore the research from the ArtCenter College of Design that helped create Me & My Emotions and enjoy a guided tour of the website. Objectives: Webinar participants will understand: Who Me & My Emotions will benefit and ways to promote it How the website is organized and what content is covered How Me & My Emotions can support teens individually as well as in…
Becky Antle, Ph.D., Professor of Social Work and esteemed University Scholar at the University of Louisville, won The Dibble Institute’s national competition to evaluate Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience in 2019. As a result, Dr. Antle and her colleagues have conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of Mind Matters on a host of outcomes related to trauma symptoms, emotional regulation, coping and resiliency, and interpersonal skills for at-risk youth in a community-based sample. Youth in the study reported high levels of childhood trauma and related trauma symptoms upon entry into the program. Following provision of this evidence-informed program by trained providers within community-based organizations, youth reported a reduction in trauma symptoms and improvement in resiliency despite a number of complicating risk factors and across multiple demographic groups. Join the researchers on this project as they discuss their most recent findings from the pilot of Mind Matters with high-needs youth in the…
In this webinar, Dr. Heidi Rueda will discuss the implementation and pilot evaluation of Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience among middle- and high-school youth attending an after-school program in one of the most impoverished areas of San Antonio, Texas. She will be joined by two former and one current graduate students. Youth participated in the curriculum just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which created a unique opportunity to assess their perceptions in person immediately following its implementation, and by phone three months later when they were not able attend school or the after-school program. Objectives: Webinar participants will be able to: Describe the population, program contexts, and evaluation study that was conducted. Explore youth’s perspectives of the program, including what they learned during the program and skills they continued to utilize during the COVID-19 pandemic. Explore practitioners’ perspectives of the program, including potential adaptations for Hispanic middle- and high-school…
WEBINAR: Co-Regulation Strategies: Practical Tools for Program Staff to Foster Youth Self-Regulation
What is co-regulation? Why does it matter? How can I integrate co-regulation into my program or practice? Join interventionist and nurse-educator Aly Frei to explore co-regulation, its importance for youth development, and its potential to improve program outcomes. Co-regulation is a term that helps describe the important interactions between adults and young people that foster youth self-regulation. Self-Regulation is a central ingredient in lifelong success, predicting healthy relationships, economic self-sufficiency, and physical and emotional well-being. Because of rapid change in youths’ brains and bodies, adolescence is an important time for adults to promote self-regulation development. Through co-regulation, adults form relationships where youth feel cared for and known; co-create safe and nurturing environments; and give youth opportunities to practice self-regulation skills and reflect on how to apply them in their lives. Integrating co-regulation strategies into youth service delivery is a promising approach for improving program implementation and youth outcomes. Objectives: Webinar…
Despite your best efforts, you’ve just learned that your federal grant proposal was not funded or your grant non-continued. Bummer. We’ve been there too. After an appropriate amount of time to grieve, time to roll up your sleeves and get back to it! The youth you serve need relationship education. But how? Join Kay Reed and Aaron Larson in this webinar just for Dibble clients to explore alternative funding possibilities. Objectives: Webinar attendees will learn: What grants the feds have forecast for the remainder of 2020 and early 2021. Outcomes of relationship education that justify the intervention with a variety of funding streams. Alternative, ongoing local, state, and federal flow-through funding. Presenters: Kay Reed, Executive Director, The Dibble Institute Aaron Larson, Director of Programs, The Dibble Institute Duration: 60 minutes Cost: Free! Resources: Creative Sustainability Links Sustainability PowerPoint Slides Sustainability Tip Sheet Sustainability Worksheet Department of Justice Funding Opportunities
The prevention educators of Women In Need, Inc., based in north Texas, will share with participants their experiences in developing curriculum to help high school students choose healthy relationships. They will also share with participants their experiences in developing curriculum to help middle school students develop healthy social and emotional skills. In addition, participants will hear how Women In Need’s prevention educators utilize Love Notes 3.0 to serve at-risk teens. Finally, participants will be reminded of the significance of ongoing curriculum evaluation and modification. Participants will be encouraged to adopt a process of curriculum evaluation and modification that works best for their organizations and the students they serve. Objectives: Webinar participants will understand: The history, mission, and services of Women In Need, Inc. (WIN). WIN’s Teen Dating Violence Prevention curriculum for high school students designed to help them choose healthy relationships. WIN’s prevention education curriculum for middle school students designed to…
Does marriage still perform a valuable role in today’s society? Or, is it just another quaint tradition or something only a privileged few seek and attain? Join Kay Reed, Executive Director of The Dibble Institute, as she shares recent trends in family formation; explores the most recent data on marriage, cohabitation, and single parenting; and brings it back to what matters to children. Explore ways to integrate these skills and concepts about building healthy relationships into your programs, sometimes in unexpected ways. Objectives: Webinar participants will be able to: Describe current marriage trends and adolescents’ views of marriage. Identify current research questions in the field. Communicate why family form matters to adults, youth, and children. Presenters: Kay Reed, President and Executive Director, The Dibble Institute Who should attend: Healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood grantees, healthy relationship program staff, child abuse prevention advocates, mental health practitioners, family stabilization coaches, and employability specialists. When: Wednesday,…
Join Dr. Kristen Plastino and Jennifer Todd from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio as they define trauma and discuss Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). They will explore trauma’s effects on young people as well as youth’s reactions to trauma. You will learn how they shifted from the existing paradigm to a trauma-informed approach utilizing relationship education. They will share lessons they learned in the field as they implemented their approach with over 100,000 young people over the last 4 years in San Antonio. Objectives: At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to: Describe trauma. Name two causes of Adverse Childhood Experiences. List three either immediate or delayed responses to the “Effects of Trauma.” List one lesson learned from the field. Presenters: Kristen Plastino, MD, UT Health SA, UT Teen Health, San Antonio Jennifer Todd, JD, RN, UT Health SA, UT Teen Health, San…