FACEBOOK @FLORIDACATHOLIC Nov. 20-26, 2020
FLORIDA Catholic
OR NDO DIOCESE
GLENDA MEEKINS
of the Florida Catholic staff
In 2012, a cluster of teen suicides over three months had shocked neighbors of Lake Forest, an affluent suburb of Chi- cago. The families came together to determine how they could help their youth. It was a shock to the community. These things hadn't hap- pened here before," said Andy Duran of GoLead, the company that created Text-4-Help to provide students a way to anony- mously text when struggling or in crisis. "We realized there were significant gaps in getting assistance for mental health, especially in high performing areas," Duran said. After numerous focus groups and meetings with teachers, the group came up with the idea of Text-4-Help, which now as- sists more than 10 million people. Duran is a former Catholic school student who grew up in the Diocese of St. Augustine. Although the program is mostly in public schools, he wanted to broaden its use. Duran approached the Diocese of Orlando Catholic schools, which began piloting the program this fall 2020. Working in partnership with the Florida Department of Ed- ucation, the Orlando Diocese is the only Catholic school sys- tem in Florida using the program. It is in use in Marion County public schools, but the state education department is assess- ing the diocesan pilot program to determine if and when to make it available to all public schools throughout the state. Text-4-Help is part of our overall school security strategy," said Henry Fortier, superintendent of Catholic schools. "Keep- ing our students safe is not just about locking the front doors and securing the perimeter, it's also about the mental well-be- ing of those inside the schools. This program allows students and teachers to communicate for free with licensed mental health professionals anonymously and receive the help they need before issues rise to a level where they may be destruc- tive to themselves or others." After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, the Florida Department of Education Office of Safe Schools implemented a program called FortifyFL, an anonymous tip line. (It) was introduced to support school safety by providing a way to report physical threats made against a school, but did little to support the social and emotional needs of our stu- dents," said Patricia Dailey, associate superintendent of Cath-
Texting program helps those in crisis 24/7
Catholic Charities of Central Florida Behavioral Health Ser- vices offers the following tips for managing stress in youth over the holidays Play, listen, engage. Inter- act without distractions, even for brief periods daily to lower stress levels. Use age-appropriate, honest language to describe changes in this year's holiday experience. Then find ways of connecting with friends and loved ones safely (Zoom calls, virtual parties, etc.) Have an outdoor adven- ture. Create and keep holiday season structure (regular wake up and bedtime, family meals, expectations for exercise, creativity, and quiet time) so young people keep a sense of routine and normalcy. Keep up faith. Regular engagement in our faith life keeps us all connected to God and lowers fear and anxiety. Cultivate gratitude. Help your child find something new every day. Gratitude like hope is a choice. Encourage learning something new. Let your child choose what they want to learn about and within reason. If your kids are young, pick a few things yourself and let them choose among options offered. Don't be afraid to get silly. Laughter is healing and protective. When the need for discipline arises, parent with love and patience. Remember we are all under increased stress and we express that in different ways depending upon age and development. Love the heck out of them. Don't miss an opportu- nity to let them know you care.
MANAGING HOLIDAY STRESS
GLENDA MEEKINS
of the Florida Catholic staff
DEBARY St. Ann Catholic Parish in De- Bary and Emmaus Lutheran Church joined together to support the Volusia County Thanksgiving Basket Brigade. St. Ann col- lected more than 100 baskets containing the essentials for a Thanksgiving meal and Em- maus Lutheran completed the baskets by pro- viding gift cards to purchase a turkey or ham. This is the first year St. Ann participated in the event. Gabrielle Golka, director of Social Ministries and Family Life, learned about it last year and thought "what a great commu- nity effort for us to support." For a decade St. Ann held a Thanksgiving store in partnership with Emmaus Lutheran. I thought an achievable goal for our first time would be 100 baskets - we reached our goal and then some," Golka said. Amy Hall and her family have run Volusia's Basket Brigade for roughly 10 years and the event is twice that age. Hall's team discussed canceling this year due to COVID-19, but de- cided, "Now, more than ever, our community needed a hand up and we really wanted to come together." The mom and graduate of Sacred Heart Catholic School in New Smyrna Beach said her family wanted "to give back." She and her husband, Jason, see themselves as conductors in an orchestra. "You can be up there waving a stick, but it really takes the instruments - our community of businesses and organiza- tions and members to make the music." She said, "Realizing that this is something greater than what we are as a family and that we can help someone else," motivates her and her family to continue leading the effort." Families are nominated or can register on- line. This year's goal is 3,000 baskets.
Two churches unite to feed families at Thanksgiving
Fathers Gabriel Kamienski, left, and Andrzej Jurkiewicz of St. Ann Parish and Rev. Dr. Mark Winkler of Emmaus Lutheran celebrate exceeding their goal of 100 baskets to assist Volusia Basket Brigade in feeding needy families for Thanksgiving. (COURTESY)
On Thanksgiving Day, we all celebrate our gratitude to God," said Father Andrzej Jurkie- wicz, parochial administrator of St. Ann. "On that day, the Gospel reading shows to us the healing of 10 lepers, but from this number only one comes back and shows his gratitude to Jesus. With this in mind, we are all children of God and we all must give thanks to God and remember others." The baskets will be distributed Nov. 21.
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olic schools in the Diocese of Orlando. "Everyday our students are faced with social pressures, stress, difficult situations or just need someone to talk to when feeling down. Text-4-Help is changing the way students reach out for support." Schools are promoting Text-4-Help with posters in class- rooms, through social media, newsletters and email blasts. Each school is assigned a unique code word that students use to initiate a text session. They are connected to a licensed mental health counselor within 3 minutes. In the case of a life-threating condition, emergency re- sponders will be notified and given as much information as is available to help the person in need. Dailey said, "We've had situations already where we've had students in real crisis and because of Text-4-Help we were able to get students the help they needed." A unique aspect to the program in the Diocese of Orlando is the addition of a code word just for faculty - something never done before. "Our teachers are struggling too," said Dailey, who requested the feature. Both GoLead and the Florida De- partment of Education felt it would be a good data point to track. Some staff have already utilized the service. Megan Meneough is a licensed mental health counselor at Father Lopez Catholic High School in Daytona Beach, where she has worked for three years. The Text-4-Help program can offer support to students during hours she is unable to provide services. I think it's great they have an option for midnight or 2 a.m., or Saturdays and Sundays when they are really stressed or go- ing through something," she said. "There are normal stresses in high school. But with everything going on in society it is more so." This year she is seeing an estimated 50% more students than in past years. Most of them are displaying increased anxiety after returning to school because they feel less safe during the pandemic. Meneough anticipates there will be an increase in use over the holidays and immediately after stu- dents' return to school in January.
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