Promoting Well-Being in Children and Youth: Multi-Level Strategies for Positive Change

1. Promoting Well-Being in Children and Youth: Linking Personal, Organizational, and Community Change Isaac Prilleltensky, Ph.D. Dean, School of Education University of Miami isaacp@miami.edu www.education.miami.edu/isaac

2. Ora and Matan, 18 years later….

3. Overview of Presentation • Well-Being • Signs and Sources • Personal • Organizational • Community • Strategies • SPEC approaches • Strengths • Prevention • Empowerment • Community Change

4. Part I Signs and Sources of Well-Being

5. What is Well-being? Well-being is a positive state of affairs, brought about by the simultaneous satisfaction of personal, organizational, and collective needs of individuals and communities

6. Research on Well-being • There cannot be well-being but in the combined presence of personal, organizational and community well-being organizational W personal community

7. Signs of Personal Well-Being • Hope and optimism • Sense of control and self-determination • Environmental mastery and self-efficacy • Growth and meaningful engagement • Love, intimacy, and social support

8. Sources of Personal Well-Being • Biological and Constitutional Factors • Early Parenting Experiences • Emotional Intelligence • Supportive Relationships in Multiple Contexts and Settings • Opportunities for growth, engagement and self-determination

9. EFFECTS OF SOCIAL SUPPORT • Less likely to have heart attacks • More likely to survive cancer • More likely to resist common cold virus • Lower mortality • Less degree of stress • More positive outlook on life • Resilience

10. Brain development at age 3 (Perry, 2004 http://childtraumaacademy.org/Documents/McCainLecture_2005.pdf) Prilleltensky

11. High Low Reflective Environment High Low High Low Affective Environment Effective Environment Signs of Organizational Well-Being:ERA Environments

12. Signs of Organizational Well-Being:Effective Environments • Efficient • Task-oriented • Well-organized • Accountable • Responsible • Communicate well • Anticipate challenges • Enabling structures • Program evaluation

13. Signs of Organizational Well-Being:Reflective Environments • Learning opportunities • Organizational learning • Challenge old notions • Take risks • Ask big questions • Promote innovation • Stimulating

14. Signs of Organizational Well-Being:Affective Environments • Climate of acceptance • Appreciation • Affirmation • Respect • Safe place • Sense of control • Conviviality • Voice and choice

15. Sources of Organizational Well-Being:Values, interests, power (VIP) • Competing tendencies within people and groups Values Power Interests

16. Signs of Community Well-being • Social justice and equality • Liberation from oppressive forces • Quality education • Adequate health and social services • Economic prosperity • Adequate housing • Clean and safe environment • Support for community structures

17. Sources of Community Well-being • Poverty • Power • Participation

18. Place Matters

19. Place and class in infant mortality

20. Income Matters for Well-Being

21. Education Matters

23. Male Life Expectancy by Inequality Sweden /Japan Canada/France

24. Social capital and community well-being Low SC: LA, MS, GA Med SC: CA, MO, OK Hi SC: ND, SD, VT, MN

25. Cake of Well-being Easy temperament Physical health Adequate birth weight Good parenting Mutual Support Good mental health Child Parental & Family Child care Good schools Adequate housing Cohesion Access to health care Community Employment Justice Safety nets Quality education Societal

26. Mountain of Risk Poor temperament Poor health Birth weight Teen parenting Family size Stressors Poor parenting Addictions Poor mental health Child Parental & Family No child care Poor housing Lack of cohesion Crime Community Poverty Injustice Violence Discrimination Societal

27. Part II Strategies for Well-Being

28. 9/7/1854…Prevention Lesson Prilleltensky

29. Big wake up call!!! • No mass disorder, afflicting humankind, has ever been eliminated, or brought under control, by treating the affected individual • HIV/AIDS, crime, child abuse, poverty, teen pregnancy, are never eliminated one person at a time. • Cannot eliminate crime by treating the victim or the offender. Only solution is prevention. Prilleltensky

30. Less Draining of Resources Deficits-based Reactive Alienating Individual-focused More in line with SPEC Strengths-based Prevention Empowerment Community-focused Education, health, community, and human services need investments that are: From Prilleltensky, I., & Prilleltensky, O. (2006). Promoting well-being: Linking personal, organizational, and community change. Wiley. Prilleltensky

31. Where our investments are today Community Reactive Preventive X Individual Prilleltensky

32. Where our investments should be Community X Reactive Preventive Individual Prilleltensky

33. Time and Space: Individualistic and Reactive Approaches are not Enough Collective Quadrant IV Examples: Food banks, shelters for homeless people, charities, prison industrial complex Quadrant I Examples: Community development, affordable housing policy, recreational opportunities, high quality schools and health services Reactive Proactive Quadrant II Examples: Skill building, emotional literacy, fitness programs, personal improvement plans, resistance to peer pressure in drug and alcohol use Quadrant III Examples: Crisis work, therapy, medications, symptom containment, case management Individual

34. Where our investment are today Strengths Alienating Empowering X Deficits Prilleltensky

35. Where our investments should be Strengths X Alienating Empowering Deficits Prilleltensky

36. Deficits and Expert driven approaches are not helpful!!! Strength Quadrant I Examples: Voice and choice in celebrating and building competencies, recognition of personal and collective resilience Quadrant IV Examples: Just say no! You can do it! Cheerleading approaches, Make nice approaches Expert driven Empowerment Quadrant III Examples: Labeling and diagnosis, “patienthood” and clienthood,” citizens in passive role Quadrant II Examples: Voice and choice in deficit reduction approaches, participation in decisions how to treat affective disorders or physical disorders Deficit

37. Drain Approach Deficits-based Reactive Alienating Individual-focused Problems Too little Too late Too costly Too unrealistic The Problems of DRAIN approaches Prilleltensky

38. Brain Drain (Bruce Perry, 2004) Maltreatment and the Developing Child: How Early Childhood Experience Shapes Child and Culture. Inaugural Margaret McCain lecture on September 23, 2004 http://childtraumaacademy.org/Documents/McCainLecture_2005.pdf Decline of brain flexibility in young age Increase of public spending in old age Age Prilleltensky

39. Too much reaction, not enough preventionInvestments in Reactive vs. Proactive Interventions in Health and Mental Health(a. Nelson, Prilleltensky et al, 1996; A survey of prevention activities in mental health in the Canadian Provinces and Territories, Canadian Psychology, 37, 161-172; b. OECD, 200, www.oecd.org; de Bekker-Grob et al., 2007Towards a comprehensive estimate of national spending on prevention. BMC Public Health. 2007; 7: 252. Published online 2007 September 20. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-7-252. Investments in Prevention: Italy 0.6% USA 3% Netherlands 4.3% Canada 8% Prilleltensky

40. National spending on preventive methods by disease group (ICD-9 chapters), in the Netherlands in 2003, in € per capita.de Bekker-Grob et al. BMC Public Health 2007 7:252 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-7-252 Prilleltensky

41. National spending on health promotion and disease prevention by age group, in the Netherlands in 2003, in € per capita. de Bekker-Grob et al.BMC Public Health 2007 7:252   doi:10.1186/1471-2458-7-252 Prilleltensky

42. Hoping for individual miracles166 Programs in United Way in mid size US City From Prilleltensky, I., & Prilleltensky, O. (2006). Promoting well-being: Linking personal, organizational, and community change. Wiley. Prilleltensky

43. Costs of Waiting on Child Abuse: $ 103 billionPrevent Child Abuse America 2007 http://www.preventchildabuse.org/about_us/media_releases/pcaa_pew_economic_impact_study_final.pdfhttp: • Direct costs: $ 33 billion • Hospitalization $ 6 billion • Chronic health problems: $ 3 billion • Mental health care: $ 1 billion • Child welfare: $ 25 billion • Judicial system: $ 33 million • Indirect costs: $ 70 Billion • Special education: $ 2.4 billion • Mental health: $ 67 million • Adult criminal justice system: $ 28 billion • Juvenile delinquency: $ 7.1billion • Lost productivity: $ 33 billion Prilleltensky

44. Florida and Miami Dade: Education • Florida second to last in number of drop out factories (Johns Hopkins study) • http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/wdc/dropout/index.html?SITE=AP • 2004-05, 59.9 percent of high school students graduated in Miami-Dade County • Florida number 4 (from top) in terms of access to VPK for 4 year olds, but 35 in terms of resources. 4 out of 10 in terms of quality standards • http://nieer.org/yearbook/pdf/yearbook.pdf#page=6 Prilleltensky

45. SPEC Approaches Strengths-based Prevention Empowerment Community-focused Built to last Start early Give voice & choice Return $$$$ The Promise of SPEC approaches Prilleltensky

46. SPEC INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EXTERNAL EXTERNAL INTERNAL

47. SPEC EXTERNAL EXTERNAL EXTERNAL

48. From Cunha and Heckman, 2007 http://www.partnershipforsuccess.org/uploads/200709_CunhaHeckmanprez.pdf Prilleltensky

49. From Cunha and Heckman, 2007 http://www.partnershipforsuccess.org/uploads/200709_CunhaHeckmanprez.pdf Prilleltensky

50. Ratio of Benefits to Costs in National Exemplary Prevention Models(Lynch, 2007, Enriching children, enriching the nation. Economic Policy Institute) Prilleltensky