By Ken Kondo, Public Information Officer II
The Fourth Annual Childhood Grief and Traumatic Loss Conference "Restoring Joy to Children and their Families" was held at the Pasadena Convention Center from March 11-12, 2008.
"This is our fourth year, and we are growing like a toddler. We doubled our attendance in year two, and again in year three," said Joan Cochrane, MA, CT, Executive Director and founder of the Center for Grief and Loss for Children. "Due to extraordinary response, we are now doubling the length of our conference from one day to two."
The conference remains unique as it focuses on children who lack family support or who are served by agencies that may not have the information or resources necessary to deal with children, death, grief, and trauma. This year's conference also concentrated its efforts in addressing childhood experiences with traumatic death due to youth violence and from the homicide or suicide of parents and siblings. The main objective of the conference was specifically designed to further the knowledge and expertise of professionals from law enforcement, hospitals, child protection, health, public health, mental health, fire/emergency, medical response, coroner, education, in addition to child and family advocates.
Welcoming the conference attendees were Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Los Angeles County Superior Court for Dependency Court Supervising Judge Margaret Henry, Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) Deputy Director Dr. Tony Beliz of Emergency Outreach Bureau, Chief Executive Officer of Hathaway-Sycamores William Martone, and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Medical Director Dr. Charles Sophy.
"This is a wonderful program to raise sensitivity and have resources in place to deal with the issue of grief, especially for foster children who have encountered death and do not have the support system in place to help them move on," said Supervisor Antonovich.
"The conference was the first of what officials hope will be a series of gatherings aimed at providing tools for families who deal with a loss," said Deanne Tilton Durfee, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN).
Following the introductions and welcome speeches, 15 boys and girls who lost a loved one in the last 90 days and are participating in the Center for Grief and Loss for Children program joined members of the Grant A.M.E. Choir from Watts in performing two inspirational songs, "Lean on Me" and "I Believe I Can Fly." 12-year old Zadzia Pittman brought the house down with her powerful "American Idol" performance. After the performance, the 400 attendees gave the children a standing ovation as they exited out of the East Pavilion of Pasadena Convention Center.
The conference featured 29 sessions and workshops hosted by various experts in the grief and traumatic loss field from around the country. Emergency Outreach Bureau's Linda Boyd, M.N., Program Manager who oversees DMH's Law Enforcement Mental Health teams, participated with her colleagues from ICAN, DCFS, Los Angeles Fire and Medical Services in a discussion entitled, "First Scene Responders: The Need for Line Support." The discussion focused on the types of stresses emergency first responders experience when working on cases that deal with violence.
The Childhood Grief and Traumatic Loss Conference sponsors included the following: Children Hospital Los Angeles, California Association for Child Life Professionals, The Center for Grief and Loss for Children, a program of Hathaway- Sycamores Child and Family Services, Los Angeles County DMH, DCFS, Los Angeles County Office of Education, Los Angeles County ICAN, in addition to 30 local, state, and federal agencies.
Congratulations to Patricia Lopez White, M.A., M.F.T. for serving on this year's conference committee.
By Ken Kondo, Public Information Officer II
The Sixth Annual African American Mental Health Conference "Healing Grace: Honoring Spirit, Strength and Survival" co-sponsored by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Charles R. Drew Physician Assistant Alumni Association was held at the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City Hotel on February 28, 2008.
The conference featured 11 workshops hosted by various DMH and mental health professionals. The conference featured guest speakers including Dr. Cornel West, Ph.D., Professor at Princeton University, and Dr. Winston Earl Gooden, Ph.D. of Fuller Graduate School of Psychology. Dr. Gooden presented on "Hope and Recovery: Engaging the Black Church in the Service Delivery of African American Consumers" in the afternoon session.
Serving as the keynote speaker in the morning session was Dr. Cornel West, one of America's most provocative public intellectuals, who had the audience asking for more during a standing ovation that he received following the conclusion of his presentation "The Historical, Cultural and Psychological Context of the Struggle for Mental Health for Black People."
Referred to as one of the "Great American Philosophers" of our time Dr. West burst on to the national stage when his 1993 best selling book Race Matters, a searing analysis of racism in American democracy, sold more than 450,000 copies. He also was an influential force in developing the storyline for the "Matrix" motion picture trilogy where he has served as an official spokesperson as well as playing a recurring role in the final two motion pictures. A graduate of Harvard University, Dr. West has published 16 other books and has edited 13 texts.
At the conference, Dr. West chronologically highlighted the struggles of the African American people beginning with slavery to separation, living in poverty to Civil Rights to the present times. He eloquently echoed the themes of returning to family values, respect your parents and elders; instill in your children to stop listening to "hip-hop" or "rap" music and believing in the "bling bling," but most importantly to love and support them. "Without it, you do not feel important," said Dr. West.
He stated that young people need role models which they do not have. The media has glamorized the "hip hop" performers and rappers where the destructive images of money and jewelry are highlighted. Young people need to understand that these performers and rappers had to work hard on their art as well as convince a record label to sign them. It is not as easy as the media portrays them to be. "Instill in your children to work hard, value character and look more in depth, and help guide them to find a purpose in life," added Dr. West. All of the above has affected the African American community and where the community is in need of mental health services because of it.
What kept Dr. West out of trouble when he growing up? He simply stated that someone loved him and took the time to help him grow as a person. Dr. West credited his Sunday school teacher who is a deacon at his church. "Without his support, I do not know where I would have ended up," said Dr. West.
He finished his presentation by saying, "Take care of your own community first, and then take care of others."
Some comments from the attendees:
"He provided some much information. I had to focus on what he was saying. It was amazing," said Crystal Wilson of Adult Systems of Care.
"We have to get our community to move forward and teach our children the right values and ethics," said Archie Wilson of Chief Information Office Bureau.
"He made the connections with the struggles of the African American people and explained to us, why, it is so difficult to treat African American mental health clients and consumers," said Beatrice Jones, a retired DMH employee who worked 34 years in the County.
Allen presented the Community Service Legacy Award:
At the conference's luncheon DMH Deputy Director James C. Allen of Adult Systems of Care and Jail Mental Health Services was presented with the Anna L. Smith Community Service Legacy Award for his outstanding dedication and service to the Department of Mental Health and Los Angeles County.
Congratulations to all of the African American Mental Health Conference Committee members for an outstanding day.
ThinkCure! is the official charity of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The non-profit organization was modeled after the Jimmy Fund, created by then owner of the Boston Braves Francis McCourt, grandfather to Dodgers Owner and Chairman Frank McCourt designed to raise public awareness, raise the necessary funds for cancer research, treatment, and hopefully finding a cure for all cancers. ThinkCure! is a collaborative partnership between the Dodgers, the McCourt Family, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and City of Hope The Jimmy Fund is the official charity of the Red Sox.
The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) honored 75 first and second year Masters in Social Work (M.S.W.) interns by hosting a social work intern appreciation and career opportunities luncheon at DMH Headquarters on March 19, 2008. The event was coordinated by Hector Reyes, a macro-social worker from the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Social Work who is interning with the Office of the Medical Director.
The luncheon featured graduates of the internship program who are now working for the Department. One of the graduates was Rachel Moore, L.C.S.W. who works at the Hollywood Mental Health Center as a Psychiatric Social Worker II. "I was terrified when I started, but I have grown in the job. My advice to you is to follow your heart." Since 2004, Moore has worked with the CalWORKS Welfare to Work Program. She is involved with the acute Institute of Mental Diseases (IMD) Program, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and teaches a class for family members.
