Our 5th Meeting

We have met several times since the last blog and continue to make progress.  All five us were there.  We divvied up sections of the final paper and are all looking into literature to support our separate sections.  Chase took the initiative to write the beginning of it so we could all be on the same page before starting.  Thanks Chase!  Speaking of thanks, a big one goes out to Mary Beth for being the point lady with Youth Move and narrowing down questions to send to them prior to us meeting with them next Thursday.  We narrowed down a dozen questions to just a few in hopes to hear from more members in a short time frame.  Hopefully we can make it an environment where all members, even the quiet ones have a voice.  The possibility of breaking into smaller groups may be beneficial.  We are excited to have greater perspective after this meeting.  We hope that this continues to narrow our focus and give us clarity in our direction.

The questions are as follows:

Is stigma a problem for you and the other kids that you know?

If so, what does that look like?  Your feelings?  Your everyday life?

Do you have any ideas about how to reduce stigma for kids?

In addition to this we discussed talking to parents with children with mental illness about stigma and barriers to treatment.  We talked about the question of what they might need to better deal with stigma themselves or with their kids.  We discussed the possibility of interviewing parents of the kids in Youth Move.  Robert was also interested in the perception of kids that do not have mental illness and how we could ethically get a population to interview.  He and Chase talked about the possibility of getting a group together at their work.  Anikka thought that she could do the same.  Scott said that he has been talking to kids and their parents about this in his practicum.  He suggested that if we wanted to narrow things down further, that he talks daily with kids and their parents about additional stigmas in the Latino community.  We then discussed how this is the case in other minority groups in the valley. 

Finally, we appreciate the feedback from Lindsay.  The suggestion for looking into literature on interventions and stigma education in schools was valuable.  In response to the question on ensuring sustainability, it is a big reason that we feel good about making a connection with NAMI and Youth Move.  It helps to know that if we move forward with them, then they can use the work we are doing in the future.  It isn’t just an assignment that will be done when we are done with school. 

Scott