I've been spending a lot of time over at promoteprevent.org recently.  www.promoteprevent.org is a part of Education Development Center, Inc.(EDC)—a leading global nonprofit organization established in 1958 that designs, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health, and economic development.  

They follow four guiding principles: 

• Children and youth benefit when schools and communities work together as partners. Issues that children and youth face today—including cyberbullying, mental health, and substance abuse—are too complex for schools to effectively address on their own.
• Systemic change is the best route to connect schools and other youth-serving organizations to create a positive and lasting impact.
• Collecting and using data to guide decision-making about program services and evidence-based programs is essential to effective program maintenance and long-term sustainability.
• Universal mental health promotion and prevention can support all students in achieving success, both in the classroom and in life.

Visit their site and get involved with the incredible work they are doing.

The Miami Ad School created a series of thought provoking posters aimed at suicide prevention in LGBT youth.  With the tagline “Words Can Kill,” the images demonstrate how bullying with hurtful and derogatory slurs can have serious consequences.  The images are disturbing and shocking, yet serve as a powerful reminder that bullying isn’t always physical.  Just this week a 16-year-old named A.J. Betts from Iowa became the fifth student in five years to take his own life at his school. As his mother said in the wake of his passing, “even if we can save one more life from bullying, that would be a success.”

Visit the The Miami Ad School to see the posters.

A week ago I shared a blog from Karen Pilarski.  She's shared another wonderful entry that I wanted to share entitled 'Labels Don't Stick'.  It's a great post and a great piece to use to start talking about how we perceive one another.

I've put a few paragraphs here and you can follow the link to read the full entry:

Labels Don't Stick 
By Karen Pilarski
 
I once found a can of food buried in my pantry. It was dusty and expired a year earlier.  The label was completely torn off. I had no idea what was in that can of food. My only thought was that it was old and should be discarded. A bout of braveness took over and  the can was opened. Needless to say it was a slimy and green version of what I  want to say was peaches?

Yes, I’m going to compare people to expired cans of food. People don’t stay the same. The marks of life show in  dings and dents, displayed on the surface.  I’m not the same person I was years  ago.  I’d like to hope somewhere in the span of time my personality has evolved  into something more positive. It is unfair to stamp someone a certain way  because of how they were when growing up. I’m guilty of labeling people I’ve  dealt with based on perceptions of the past.

I remember this mean girl  from high school choir. I made the mistake of being funny and making a goofy  face in a picture. She called me out in front of the class and said I was ugly.  I went home in tears.  I wrote her off as a cruel bitch. The end of the year  before our graduation she came up to me and apologized and said
I wasn’t ugly. I  wonder what made her see the error of her way.  Maybe the choir teacher put her in her place. Possibly she realized she hurt my feelings?  I’m sure she would  have been hurt if she heard me say she looked like she hit a few ugly branches on the ugly tree.  Fast forward a decade and she is hopefully a responsible  member of society. Perhaps she learned that words hurt people.  Labels hurt people.

TO READ THE FULL ENTRY...

I received a DM the other day from Karen Pilarski.  She shared a wonderful post she did about LISTENING.  Such a simple and thoughtful act. One that so many miss in the hectic running around of life.

A big thanks to Karen for writing and sharing it!

I'll share the first part here and implore you to follow the link to read the full post:


It’s a Sad Day When Facebook is a Better Listener 
Karen Pilarski

Have you ever walked down a hall and someone passes you by and says “Hi, how are you?” They don’t stop to wait for the answer. In fact before lips part to make a  sound the person is long gone. Another scenario is mumbling out a response such  as “Ok, I guess.” The person responds with “That’s good” as they quickly  vanish  from sight. I wonder why people seem to care less now. Even Facebook is courteous and asks how I’m doing. It seems there are more responses coming from a white text box than an actual human being. What happened to the art of listening?

Listening requires more than just hearing words and nodding.  It requires ‘listening’ to the other person’s non verbal cues. Is the person covering their face as if to say they want to hide from everyone? Is the breath full of long deep pauses? It is understandable each person’s world is full of commotion and noise. Constant beeping of phones and blinking messages in the email take up time. For that troubled soul, all that is needed is a sympathetic smile or just simply asking how they are and waiting for an answer. I would think a person could take the second to do this.

I went to the doctor today and it might as well been done over the phone or via email. The doctor didn’t ask what was new and just wanted to get the general exam done. I’ve been to this doctor for years! I mentioned I felt run down and tired and the doctor simply just mentioned “Oh, well I’ll check your blood tests.” There was no asking if I have been stressed or having lack of sleep. The doctor didn’t listen. The doctor just wanted to get through with exam quick and go to the next appointment.

To read the full post:
http://karenpilarski.blogspot.com/2013/03/its-sad-day-when-facebook-is-better.html