...Executive Director Sandra A. Spencer issued a powerful charge to the National Federation membership during the Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., December 9, 2007. Her charge is focused on addressing the issue that too many times tragic outcomes result from law enforcement's response to children and youth in mental health crisis. She charged all members to build upon the very promising and collegial relationship built between the National Federation and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. (Read more about that relationship and the September Roundtable on Law Enforcement and Children's Mental Health: more at www.ffcmh.org)

.Families and Youth:

> Help to create guidelines on how, why, and when to engage law enforcement (Join one of three National Federation teleconferences to provide your input: see bottom of this announcement )
> Create forums for dialog between all stakeholders, families, youth, and police officers
> Learn local police policies
> Advocate to develop model policies for positive police intervention

.Mental Health Providers:

> Identify the gaps in service (Emergency crisis services are severely lacking leaving police without appropriate options.)
> Develop crisis responses together with police, families, and youth
> Promote advance crisis planning to avoid being overly reliant on police departments

All of Us:

> Help us promote the vision of the National Federation: Through a family and youth guided approach, children and youth with emotion behavior and mental health challenges can obtain needed supports and services to grow up healthy and enable them to maximize their potential.

..Sandra Spencer's speech was preceded by comments from Ronald Ruecker, President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). He began, "On behalf of IACP we are pleased to work with you. IACP is the world's oldest and largest law enforcement association. Our leadership is made up of executives from international, local, state, and tribal agencies around the world. Since 1893 we have been serving needs of law enforcement with research, services, and programs such as the FBI finger printing." After describing the progress made in the relationship between the National Federation and the IACP, he concluded with his own statement of hope for the future, stating "We hope that our collaboration will allow us to be in better understanding of children with mental illnesses. Some of you had tragic and unfortunate interactions with police. We want to make a difference. Our children's and youth's lives depend on it."

..In addition, Terry Cline PhD, Administrator of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, supported this call to action. "Take the power and put it to work transforming behavior health care in your communities. Focus on building bridges."

.. Guiding Communities to Develop Family-Youth-Police ...

Collaborations:

National Federation Teleconferences

Listen to a short presentation of recommendations for communities to develop positive working relationships between families, youth, and law enforcement to improve encounter outcomes, then participate in a responsive dialogue.To register for one of three teleconferences, please fax or E-mail the following information to Elaine Slaton at the National Federation (FAX 240-403-1909 or Email ESlaton@FFCMH.org). You will receive confirmation of your registration and a toll-free number to dial and participate.

• Name·
• Identity (family, youth, mental health provider, law enforcement, or other)·
• Mailing address·
• Phone·
• Fax·
• E-mail·
• Preferred date of participation (Choose one of three dates/times below)

Dates and Times: :

• Thursday February 21, 2008 5:00-6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

• Thursday March 13, 2008 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

• Monday March 17, 2008 4:00-5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Salud+HealthInfo is for information and educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for personal medical attention, diagnosis or hands-on treatment. If you are concerned abut your health or that of a child, please consult your family's physician or health provider immediately and do not try to diagnose yourself. Salud+Health Info is published and distributed free of charge by Info Option Network (ION) Publishing Company. Copyright © 2001-2006 Info Option Network

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