We only had a couple of you fill out our survey so we could showcase you in the spotlight--are you there? Can you help us out? Fill out our survey so others can get to know you please.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month (CAPM), and we invite you to help empower communities with resources that support Texas children, youth, and families where they live, work, and play!

We encourage you to promote child abuse prevention awareness through your social media networks during April. Our goal is to reach as many Texas families as possible to equip them with knowledge and resources that make them stronger and more resilient.

This social media toolkit includes daily messages that you or your organization can use to promote child abuse prevention awareness and CAPM resources. You can use the messages, images, and links in the toolkit as they are or customize them in any way that works best for your community.

Thank you for continuing to support the children and families of Texas!

Date to Remember: Friday, April 14, Wear Blue for #GoBlueDay

Explore the Toolkit

• April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This makes it the perfect time to teach your students about body safety.
• A great tool to check out is called the “Fight! Child Abuse Program". The website has a lot of great talking points, activities and videos!

April is Month of the Military Child. Military bases, cities and school districts around the world will honor military children with special events just for them. As part of this month-long celebration, local communities are invited to take part in PurpleUp Day! and wear or display purple to recognize our military children. This year TEA, in conjunction with our stakeholders, has designated April 14, 2023, as PurpleUp Day. We encourage you to join us on April 14th or choose another date that works best with your LEA’s local schedule, in the month of April, to celebrate your military-connected children.

This is a great time to start planning. If you are looking for ideas or activities to help celebrate Month of the Military Child, please visit the resources below:

• Air Force School Liaison Child & Youth Education Services: 50 Ways to Celebrate Month of the Military Child
• Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC): Month of the Military Child Toolkit website
• The Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission (MIC3): Month of the Military Child Toolkit website

Scholarship applications are open and ready for applicants! The flyer is attached and the deadline to apply is April 21st.

Mental Health Texas addresses myths about mental health. Understanding the difference between a myth and a fact can make a real difference in the stigmas associated with mental health. Mental Health Texas has also partnered with Texas Health and Human Services Commission to provide educational webinars. These webinars address behavioral health, depression, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder, serious emotional disturbances in children, and more.

TEA will host a statewide listening tour for educators, business and industry representatives, parents, and students to gather diverse perspectives on opportunities to strengthen our statewide programs of study. Your input is essential to ensuring that the revised programs of study are aligned to high-wage, in-demand occupations across the state, and designed to facilitate strong implementation.

There will be six in-person events held in Austin, Houston, Dallas, Abilene, El Paso, and Edinberg as well as two virtual opportunities. Each event will have a session for educators in the morning, a session for business and industry representatives after lunch, and an evening session for parents and students. Participants in each session will hear from TEA CTE staff on proposed additions to programs of study and then move into smaller breakout groups to provide feedback on the proposals.

To register to attend a listening tour session, click here for dates, locations, and registration information. For questions about the listening tours, please contact the TEA CTE team at CTE@tea.texas.gov.

Texas OnCourse is excited to provide free virtual college and career readiness and success workshops to support your counseling and advising efforts. Our current offerings are listed below. Each webinar will last one hour. Click the link to register.

• Making an Impact Using the ApplyTexas Counselor Suite​
  • Thursday, April 20, 2023 @ 10am​
• Meet ADVi: Texas’ Virtual Advisor​
  • Friday, May 5, 2023 @ 12pm​
  • Wednesday, May 17, 2023 @ 10am

Visit our Professional Development page for full descriptions of all of our offerings and feel free to share with your colleagues. If these sessions don't work for you, you can make a specific request from our PD page.

We are so excited to provide extended learning opportunities and events to support your efforts!

The Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) is partnering with the Trauma and Grief Center at The Hackett Center for Mental Health to bring Beyond Burnout: Exploring the Cost of Caring Lunch and Learn virtual events.

Educators, administrators, and school safety professionals have the strenuous task of caring for students and staff, in addition to caring for their own families and themselves. Utilizing a light-hearted, engaging approach, this presentation explores the ways in which our work impacts us as helping professionals. Participants will be given tools to decrease risk for compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burn-out.

Discussion will then focus on enhancing compassion satisfaction and resilience through individualized strategies. This presentation seeks to reframe the way we think about self-care and will include a live Q and A with the Director of School and Community Engagement for The Trauma and Grief Center at The Hackett Center for Mental Health.

The lunch and learn virtual events will take place from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Central Time.

• April 14, 2023
• May 12, 2023

Please Note: This training is open to public ISDs, open-enrollment charter schools, junior colleges, school-based law enforcement, and state agencies that support Texas schools. Due to limited space, vendors and contractors are not permitted to register for this event.

The TEA Mental and Behavioral Health Team and Project AWARE Texas will be hosting a series of monthly webinars on school mental health topics including substance use/abuse prevention, school and community partnerships, parent engagement, and school safety.

Join a webinar every 2nd Wednesday of the month from 11:00 am CST to 12:00 pm CST from January to June.

This Webinar Series is sponsored by
Project AWARE Texas
for the purpose of advancing wellness and resiliency in education.

Save the Dates
and Time via Zoom
11:00 am-12:00 pm (CST)

• April 12th: Securing Community Partnerships
  
• May 10th: Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT)
  
• June 14th: Parent & Family Engagement

  
  

We've got some really great sessions this spring and summer designed to support you this school year. You can simply click on any of the graphics to register.

Registration is officially open for the Little Changes = Big Results Conference. This two-day conference is meant to tailor your needs and availability! You will receive a certificate for each session that you attend during the two-day conference, being able to earn up to 12 hours of CPE. Just like last year you get to choose the tools you need in your toolbox to get you ready for the upcoming year. This conference is for anyone that works with students: Admin, Gen Ed, SPED, Mental Health, Paraprofessionals, etc. This year we will have a variety of local presenters training on a variety of topics: Autism, Behavior, learning, classroom management, sensory, mental health, and so much more. Please share this with all your listserve, and with anyone that you feel will benefit from this conference. Looking forward to seeing you all this summer!

Our Key Speaker is Ashley Mohesky. Some of you might have even worked with Ashley Mohesky during your education career.

Ashley Mohesky is a graduate from San Angelo ISD. Ashley has a neurological disorder called Cerebral Palsy that affects her ability to walk and talk. Due to brain damage caused at birth, doctors predicted that she would not have a quality of life and at three years old, she was placed in special education. Ashley was evaluated for a communication device and after using it for a short time proved to excel at her studies and was transferred to general education. As Ashley reports, “During my time in school, I did everything that other kids my age did. In fact, I was voted prom queen during my senior prom. I also was on a bowling league for people with disabilities throughout college.” Ashley graduated high school and attended Howard College where she received her Associate degree in General Studies. Ashley went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Angelo State University.

If you will be attending the Counselor Retreat, please contact the Fredericksburg Inn and Suites to make your reservation. You must secure the reservation with a major credit card at time of booking. The group rate is not available online. Contact the hotel at (830) 997-0202 and ask for the ESC Region 15 Counselor Retreat. The rate is $98 per night and cut-off date for this rate is June 11.

I wanted to share with you all several opportunities for professional development this summer. Last year, TEA created training geared toward new counselors and administrators and asked ESCs to conduct regional convenings. ESC 15 partnered with ESCs 14, 16, 17, 18, and 9 and held training at ESC 14. This year, these sessions will be available here at ESC 15. In addition to the new counselor/administrator training, TEA is releasing a series for experienced counselors and administrators. Please know you are welcome to attend any and all training regardless of your experience level or role. Counselors serve in many different capacities and you are welcome to attend administrator training. Registration is open for all sessions. Flyers have been attached detailing each session. Additional resources will be provided if applicable to the session.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Hope to see you this summer.

Traci

This list is of known providers of particular services. The providers on the list are from a variety of sources. The list is being provided as a courtesy, for information only, and the user should understand that no assurances or guarantees regarding the providers on the list are being made by providing this list. We do not endorse, approve, or recommend any specific provider listed below. This list is not inclusive of all community agencies, services, or organizations that provide the particular service, and the omission of an agency, service, or organization from this list does not imply disapproval. It is the responsibility of the user of this list to determine whether any of the content is of value to them and whether or not the agency, service, or organization meets their specific needs.

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National

• Emergency: (24/7): 911
• Referral Services: (crisis counseling, housing, food, health care, family services): 211 | https://www.211texas.org/
• Suicide Prevention: 988 | 988lifeline.org
• Self-Injury/Cutting: 1-800-366-8288 | selfinjury.com
• Eating Disorders: 1-800-931-2237 | nationaleatingdisorders.org
• Runaway Hotline: 1-800-231-6946 | 1800runaway.org
• Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453 | childhelp.org/hotline/
• Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 | rainn.org
• Domestic/Relationship Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | thehotline.org
• Trevor Hotline for LGBTQ Youth: 1-866-488-7386 | thetrevorproject.org
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline | samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
• Other resources for developing healthy lifestyles, including mental and emotional help: helpguide.org

Email: mentalhealth@esc15.net
Website: https://www.esc15.net/
Phone: (325)658-6571
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Region15ESC/
Twitter: @Region15ESC