Training Overview
Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health (MACMH) is presenting a training opportunity with Deborah Cavitt, MS, Project Director at MACMH. This training is a great opportunity for educators, parents/caregivers, and other professionals working directly with children and youth (early childhood to young adulthood).
Being bullied significantly harms a child’s ability to flourish both in school and in the community. This presentation examines the devastating harm impacting young people who are bullied, and offers prevention and intervention strategies to minimize bullying in schools and the community. Feeling safe and supported in school is essential to a child’s social, emotional, behavioral and academic development. Bullying threatens a student’s civil rights and is often a form of discrimination based on multiple factors such as race, national origin, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, family income, and more. Schools should use an upstream approach to prevent and reduce the incidences of bullying and have a plan in place to address bullying. Prevention practices should include weaving social emotional learning into the curriculum. Bullying interventions must include positive behavioral expectations and restorative justice based on inclusion and respect.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the nature of bullying, its effects on children’s mental health, and how to prevent bullying.
- To incorporate social emotional learning to create safe and caring school environments.
- To actively teach kindness, emotion regulation, and collaborative problem solving.
- To create a school wide plan to eliminate exclusion and build positive social networks within schools.
About the Presenter
Deborah Cavitt is an advocate, trainer, and project director for Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health (MACMH). Cavitt gives presentations and works on projects with schools, children, youth, parents and professionals to increase understanding and reduce the stigma related to mental health disorders. As a parent coach and advocate, she helps families navigate systems on their journey of raising a child with mental health challenges. Deborah has a master’s degree in human services with specializations in mental health and substance use counseling and a bachelor’s degree in education. Before joining MACMH, she worked as a prevention specialist and grant coordinator for a substance abuse treatment agency in Iowa City. Preceding her mental health and substance use prevention work, she was a teacher for over twenty years, working on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota.