By: Amelia Carruthers,
on 1/8/2016
Despite progress in the care and treatment of mental health problems, violence directed at self or others remains high in many parts of the world. Subsequently, there is increasing attention to risk assessment in mental health. But it this doing more harm than good?
The post The traumatising language of risk in mental health nursing appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Sinead O’Connor,
on 12/7/2015
Canadians have a vast lexicon of phrases they use to diminish accidents and their negative consequences. We acknowledge that “accidents will happen,” and remind ourselves that there’s “no use crying over spilled milk.” In fact, we’ve become so good at minimizing these seemingly random, unpredictable incidents that they now seem commonplace: we tend to view […]
The post Rethinking the “accidents will happen” mentality appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 9/6/2015
The only ones who benefit from the lack of a common European response are the smugglers and traffickers who are making profit from people's desperation to reach safety. More effective international cooperation is required to crack down on smugglers, including those operating inside the EU, but in ways that allow for the victims to be protected. But none of these efforts will be effective without opening up more opportunities for people to come legally to Europe and find safety upon arrival. Thousands of refugee parents are risking the lives of their children on unsafe smuggling boats primarily because they have no other choice.The UN Refugees Agency wrote about words, and how they matter. In this case, the word migrants and refugees: they don't mean the same thing, and have very different meanings in terms of what a government's obligations are to them. http://www.unhcr.org/55df0e556.html
One of the most fundamental principles laid down in international law is that refugees should not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom would be under threat...
Politics has a way of intervening in such debates. Conflating refugees and migrants can have serious consequences for the lives and safety of refugees. Blurring the two terms takes attention away from the specific legal protections refugees require. It can undermine public support for refugees and the institution of asylum at a time when more refugees need such protection than ever before. We need to treat all human beings with respect and dignity. We need to ensure that the human rights of migrants are respected. At the same time, we also need to provide an appropriate legal response for refugees, because of their particular predicament.
With your support, UNHCR will provide assistance such as:As I said on this blog when I came back from visiting the camps:
- Deliver rescue kits containing a thermal blanket, towel, water, high nutrient energy bar, dry clothes and shoes, to every survivor;
- Set up reception centres where refugees can be registered and receive vital medical care;
- Provide temporary emergency shelter to especially vulnerable refugees;
- Help children travelling alone by providing specialist support and care.
By: Amelia Carruthers,
on 8/18/2015
Fire and collapse in Bangladeshi factories are no longer unexpected news, and sweatshop scandals are too familiar. Conflicting moral, legal, and political claims abound. But there have been positives, and promises of more. The best hope for progress may be in the power of individual contracts.
The post The new social contracts appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Jessamyn West,
on 3/5/2015
The principals of all the local schools got together and did a parent safety evening at the school. I was one of the presenters. I think they were expecting a big turnout, but it was a small (but interested) crowd. I did two very short presentations
1. Ten apps in ten minutes. For parents who are not using mobile devices for social purposes outside of facebook, knowing what the various apps are and what they do can be useful. I just had a very basic slide deck and talked over some images of the apps. I had to learn to use Snapchat which was sort of hilarious.
2. “How the heck does this work” a short talk about things parents can control in their home internet environment and what they can’t. Obviously the standard line is that the best thing you can do is talk to your kids and this is more useful than just using technological tools on what is, ultimately, more of a social problem. That said, it’s good to understand what you can and can’t do with the technology.
Most importantly was, I think, people seeing and getting to know each other and getting to have conversations about what their systems were at home. One parent charged all the devices in his room at night, for example, so the kids couldn’t sleep with their phones. Another had a “no phones/devices before homework is done” policy. Another had a “two hours of screen time a night” rule. I was glad to be a “local expert” of a sort who could give people some perspective on what technology can look like form another direction. The newspaper wrote up a short article about the event. Feel free to use my slides for your own safety talks.
By: Elizabeth Gorney,
on 7/3/2014
What do we mean when talk about workplace health and well-being these days? How well are we doing in achieving it?
Traditionally, the notion of employee health and well-being was about protecting workers from hazards in the workplace and insuring physical safety. From this early focus on the physical safety and health of workers, the concept of workplace health evolved to include the protection and promotion of personal physical health and well-being. Corporate wellness programs emphasizing health promoting behaviors like smoking cessation, weight loss, exercise and nutrition, and management of chronic diseases like diabetes fall into this category.
More recently, the idea of employee health and well-being has evolved to include protection and promotion of the psychological safety of workers, the sustainability of the organization itself, and active participation in health promotion of the local community. The World Health Organization developed a definition of workplace health and well-being that includes all of these dimensions. Grounded in research, it defines a healthy workplace as: “one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and well-being of all workers and the sustainability of the workplace by considering the following, based on identified needs:
The World Health Organization’s is not the only definition of workplace health and well-being but it’s a good starting point for conversation.
“Who are clinical social workers?” ACSWA. Photo Courtesy of Maureen Duffy via iStockphoto.
Employee health and well-being, especially psychological and emotional health, could be faring a whole lot better than it is. To start with, the Gallup Organization, in its most recent worldwide survey of employee engagement found that only 29% of North American employees were engaged, and this low number represented the highest rate of engagement among all regions of the world surveyed. That leaves 70% of North American employees unmotivated and disconnected, to some degree or another, from their work and workplaces. Add to widespread lack of engagement the results of the 2014 Workplace Bullying Institute’s US workplace bullying survey indicating that 27% of Americans surveyed had personally experienced repeated mistreatment and abusive conduct at work and an additional 21% reported witnessing it. Especially from the perspective of psychological heath, well-being, and safety, the findings from these two recent surveys paint a gloomy picture and suggest that modern organizational life is in trouble.
A helpful way of improving psychological health, well-being, and safety in the workplace is through the implementation of guiding principles to make the organization more resistant to workplace bullying, mobbing, and abuse. These principles are values-driven, action-oriented, and structure-sensitive.
Guiding Principle #1: Place values like empathy, respect, and ethical communication at the center of organizational life.
Guiding Principle #2: Keep an action orientation toward the mission, tasks, goals, projects, and purpose of the organization.
In other words, this principle is about doing the work of the organization at full throttle every day. The work of the organization is not the perpetuation of the organization despite appearances to the contrary in a number of cases. The work of the organization is to provide goods and services that benefit and please end-users while inspiring those involved in their creation and production. Workers who are inspired, active, and involved are much more likely to work with each other rather than against each other as happens in workplace bullying, mobbing, and abuse.
Guiding Principle #3: Pay attention to structure sensitivity and how the organizational structure impacts the productivity of the organization and well-being of its personnel.
Suggesting that organizations pay attention to their own structures and modify or change them when they no longer seem to serve either the end-users or organizational members might seem like a tall order. But it’s a tall order that’s catching on. Zappos, an online shoe and clothing store with over 1,500 employees, is abandoning hierarchy, bosses, and management as we have come to know it in favor of a non-hierarchical, distributed system of power called Holacracy. Other companies are already using the Holacracy model and still others are utilizing structures that rely on networks and self-organizing systems rather than on bureaucracy and hierarchy. Traditional hierarchical organizational structures rely on outdated methods of control that are authoritarian in nature, even when benignly so, and emphasize obedience, conformity, and punishment. Caring for the psychological health and well-being of employees and, indeed all organizational members, may in the final analysis include serious attention to organizational structure and the possibility of structural change. Such structural sensitivity and change may also be required to rid our workplaces of bullying and mobbing and their destructive effects on the individual and the organization.
The news about organizational life and about emotional and psychological well-being within organizations is not good. Creating organizations that are more humane and that are inviting and exciting places to spend so much of our time is worth our biggest thinking and our willingness to dare to make them better.
Maureen Duffy is a consultant about workplace and school issues, including mobbing and bullying, a family therapist and educator and is the co-author of Overcoming Mobbing: A Recovery Guide for Workplace Aggression and Bullying and Mobbing: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions. Read her previous blog posts.
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The post Improve organizational well-being and prevent workplace abuse appeared first on OUPblog.
By: admin,
on 8/21/2012
Attorney Stacey Honowitz
Courtesy of Stacey Honowitz
This week I interviewed author and Assistant State Attorney, Stacey Honowitz, Broward County prosecutor of sex offenders. She spoke about sexual crimes against children and how important it is for parents to talk to their children about sexual abuse. It was very eye-opening. I highly recommend you read the interview before you speak to your children.
By: Jessamyn West,
on 2/15/2011
Brian points to this article about USB keyloggers that were found attached to computers at public libraries. If I saw one of these on a library computer, I might not even be sure what it was, or that it wasn’t part of the keyboard. Know your hardware, what to expect and what not to expect and check out the backs of your computers from time to time.
By: Kim Wheedleton,
on 1/1/2011
If this doesn't convince you to wear your seatbelt, I don't know what will:
Have a happy - and safe - New Year.
here are over 40 adorable designs of helmet covers including the Fairy Princess, Menacing Monster, Bizzy Bee, Goldie the Goldfish, and Cheeky Monkey. The entire product line can be viewed at http://www.tail-wags.com/. People keep asking me if I’ll ever run out of ideas for new designs and I reply, “I doubt it but if I do, then I’ll retire”. Customers often suggest new designs for Tail Wags, for example, I’ve been asked for years to create a Moose. It’s taken a while because it’s a challenge to prevent the moose’s antlers from drooping but the new moose will be ready in the next couple of weeks.
was so pleased with the final results that I am now offering a bridal cover for bike, ski and motorcycle helmets as part of my regular line.
By: Sevensheaven.nl,
on 5/13/2010
Stylized vector illustration with a rough edge, for an article about leaving your house safely behind during vacation.
You're invited to sevensheaven.nl for an extended impression.
By: Kristin,
on 5/12/2010
Hand the full, tough pine cone to your child. "This pine cone grew way up on a tall branch of a beautiful pine tree. He could see for miles and miles where he sat. One day in a big windstorm he fell down, down, down to the ground with a crash. Does he look hurt? Not really, he is covered with hard scales that protect him from harm. If you fell that far you would probably be really hurt, but not this pine cone, he is tough and built to be strong. Can you feel how strong he is? Can you crush it with you hands? Not really. 
By: Brimful Curiosities,
on 12/9/2009
With so many toys on the shelves, it is hard to know which toys are the best ones for your kids. Toy safety remains a main concern for many parents, grandparents and other consumers when purchasing toys. 
The Toy Industry Association's (TIA) special website www.ToyInfo.org provides consumers with detailed information on toy safety and toy buying tips. The one-stop resource includes safety tips, videos, information on the benefits of playtime, play guides, toy trends, toy suggestions and discussion boards and recall update information. Specifically designed for parents and consumers, the helpful website helps ensure safe and fun play in the home.
I found a number of helpful resources on the website. The Links/Resources section is my favorite area. This is the first time I've seen links to all the toy related websites that mention safety and toy awards (Dr. Toy, Parents’ Choice, Oppenheim and more). The related play publications list includes several informative pdf documents. I also enjoyed the videos featuring discussions with The Moms of Toy Safety. The Toy Safety Tips page offers reminders on what to look for when purchasing toys this holiday season.
The Toy Industry Association also just launched a new website for consumers that lists the best toys of this year, selected by toy industry experts. The website, www.toyawards.org, shows the top toys that have been nominated for the 2010 Toy of the Year Awards (TOTY). (The TOTY winners will be announced on Saturday, February 13, 2010.) There's even a downloadable pdf holiday toy shopping list.
Those that visit toyawards.org can vote for their favorite toys and also enter to win a prize package. I entered to win all the toys in the Outdoor Toy of the Year category, valued at $639.94! For more details, visit TOY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION’S "AMERICA LOVES TOTY 2010" SWEEPSTAKES official rules. The promotion ends 1/12/2010.
Thanks to TIA and Team Mom for this review opportunity and for the chance to win one of three packages of toys and games. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 9/29/2009
A couple months back we profiled the alternate reality game Smokescreen, launched by British public-service broadcasting network Channel 4 to educate UK teens about online privacy.
Now that the game has officially launched, we followed up with one... Read the rest of this post
Ah, the wonders of summer: beautiful weather, outside BBQ, and nice cold beers by the pool. Can it get any better than this? On the contrary, it can actually get worse. How, you may ask? How about being viciously attacked by tiny mosquito’s all night long. Who can relax when you are on a mission to kill these little blood sucking flies.
Don’t even bother covering up or spray those commercial promising mosquito repellents. No matter what you do, they will get you.
So, if you are the sweet kind, excuse yourself and gracefully head on home. At least there you know you won’t be on the edge of your seat, waiting for your next attack.
Ah, the wonders of summer: beautiful weather, outside BBQ, and nice cold beers by the pool. Can it get any better than this? On the contrary, it can actually get worse. How, you may ask? How about being viciously attacked by tiny mosquito’s all night long. Who can relax when you are on a mission to kill these little blood sucking flies.
Don’t even bother covering up or spray those commercial promising mosquito repellents. No matter what you do, they will get you.
So, if you are the sweet kind, excuse yourself and gracefully head on home. At least there you know you won’t be on the edge of your seat, waiting for your next attack.
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The government thinks books are a danger to children and mandates destruction of millions of kids' books starting February 10th, 2009. It sounds like the plot form a science fiction novel, but new regulations are all too real.
By: Jessamyn West,
on 11/20/2008
A few links that have been keeping me from inbox zero for the past few weeks.
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 11/13/2008
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The recent rise in distraction-related car crashes among teens has inspired quite a few high-tech solutions. And while it would seem that the easiest answer would be to create a smarter teen driver rather than a smarter teen car or a smarter way for... Read the rest of this post
By: Debbie,
on 8/27/2008
My 16-yer-old got her driver’s license last week. Yikes! For any of you parents out there who may be in the same boat, or anyone who is thinking about buying a car for themselves, check out the National Highway Safety website. There is so much important information here, everyone who drives should read it. For actual crash test ratings, click here. Don’t buy a new or used car without knowing what the crash test ratings are. You might be surprised to find out your dream car has high rollover rates or poor driver’s side crash test ratings.
My Mom left our daughter her used car, which is 10 years old but in in great condition. The only problem is that it does not have good crash test ratings on the driver’s side of the car. Bummer. It looks like we’ll be shopping for a safer used car this weekend.
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By: Terry Lee Wilde,
on 3/1/2008
By: Becky,
on 1/13/2008
Yesterday I quoted this section from a New York Times article about the tragedy of the Jacks family in Washington, DC,
Mitchell L. Stevens, an associate professor of education and sociology at New York University, said school officials, who are required by law to report suspicion of child abuse, were society’s best watchdogs of how parents treat children.And this afternoon while listening to the radio and folding laundry, I discovered that the topic of today's CBC call-in show "Cross Country Checkup" is school safety, prompted by the release the other day of the Toronto District School Board's School Community Safety Advisory Panel report. According to a CBC news article on the report,
“Home schooling removes children from a lot of that surveillance,” Mr. Stevens said ...
A report on violence in Toronto schools says gun-sniffing dogs may be needed to combat a problem that is not restricted to troubled neighbourhoods in the northwest area of the city.And from The Globe & Mail on the report, the article "Teachers face mixed messages":
Lawyer Julian Falconer, who led a three-member school community safety advisory panel, stressed there have been scores of incidents involving guns in schools in other Toronto areas.
"Ladies and gentlemen, nothing could be further from the truth than that this is a problem involving the black kids at Jane [Street] and Finch [Avenue]," he said Thursday as the report was officially released.
"That's simply an utter, specious myth." ...
The panel was assembled by the Toronto District School Board after the shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Manners in a hallway of C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in May. Falconer asked for a moment of silence in the boy's memory before outlining the panel's findings.
According to the panel, Toronto's school system has become a place where violent incidents go unreported, and where there is fear among both students and staff.
The report says a "culture of fear, or culture of silence, permeates through every level of the TDSB [Toronto District School Board]."
The panel made more than 100 recommendations, one involving the creation of a website on which students could file anonymous reports of violence.
But the idea getting the most attention involves buying sniffer dogs that would seek out guns in student lockers and other hiding places.
The report says that "all potential storage areas for weapons" should be subject to "regular non-intrusive searches, including consideration being given to the random usage of TDSB-owned canine units that specialize in firearms detection."
Falconer said the dogs would not be large or aggressive and would merely sit in front of lockers when they smelled guns inside.
In releasing the report, he highlighted the results of a survey of students at North York's Westview Centennial Secondary School. Twenty-three percent said they knew someone who brought a gun to school in the previous two years, and six per cent said they knew four people who did so.
The danger is from "disengaged, marginalized youth" who are legally required to attend school, Falconer said.
He said the board needs more funding to ensure schools are safe, but stressed that hard-nosed enforcement is not the answer.
"We miss the point if we believe that the road to health involves punishing or using enforcement methods to try to re-engage youth. It doesn't work. We suspend in droves. It fails." Falconer said.
"We as a society failed these youths. The Toronto school board is downstream and houses these youths between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday."
Among other recommendations by the panel:
* Transfers between schools should not be used as an alternative to discipline, and administrators should not urge judges or police to impose conditions that require students to be transferred from their home schools.
* School uniforms should be required except where individual school councils opt out. The uniforms should comply with the Ontario Human Rights Code and should be affordable, and the board should subsidize the cost where necessary.
* In cases of sexual assault on students under 16, school officials should report the crime to the police and, barring exceptional circumstances, notify the victim's parents.
* In cases of sexual assault on students 16 or older, the decision to file a police report and/or notify parents should be left to the student "in order to encourage victims of sexual assault to come forward and protect the school community."
* Students should be required to wear identity cards on lanyards around their necks "for the purposes of quickly identifying students and intruders."
The school board issued a statement saying it welcomes the report.
"These insights will, I am confident, guide us as we make our schools the safest and fairest learning environments they can be, for each and every one of our students," TDSB director of education said in the statement.
Doug Joliffe, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said he outlined the problems from his members' perspective in discussions with the panel.
"I don't think it's such a culture of fear — more a culture of frustration," he told CBC News before seeing the full report.
"There is bitter frustration that has been expressed to [the OSSTF] by members, that they don't feel they get the support they need in dealing with the issues in the halls at their schools."
"There's been incidents where teachers have tried to enforce rules where they have instead been told not to do so. So the frustration happens."
Educators across the country were undoubtedly rattled by the release yesterday of the School Community Safety Advisory Panel report, which suggests there may have been hundreds of incidents of violence within the Toronto District School Board that have gone unreported by teachers.And finally, from another Globe & Mail article on the report, "Fears of career suicide stopped educators from reporting violence",
But some teachers say they are not equipped or trained to deal with the serious array of behaviours and issues being exhibited by students today, and that zero-tolerance policies often directly conflict with the pressure to keep kids -- especially those from at-risk backgrounds -- in school.
"There are kids whose behaviour is so bad that 20 years ago they'd be told to leave school -- they don't want to be there, they're not respectful, they're aggressive and quite prepared to be violent if they need to be - and yet the school system is trying to keep them in school and trying not to disaffect them by punishing them for everything," said one Toronto teacher, who asked not to be named. "So consequently, there's a bit of a mixed message." ...
But, he added, some teachers are finding that action is not always taken when they do report incidents to their superiors.
"A lot of the time, teachers' actions could be nurtured by what has happened in past similar situations," he said.
"Lets say that teacher X reported something and the administration chose not to do anything with it. If a similar situation came forward again, would that teacher be more hesitant to bring it to the administration's attention? I think that would be human nature."
Mr. Coran agreed that there is "tremendous pressure" on schools to increase graduation rates and success among students, a goal that sometimes conflicts with the reality of today's school environments.
"A lot of this stuff is really more societal problems - there's so much poverty, so much gang involvement," he said. "Teachers are grappling with some really important and complex issues and I don't think this situation is going to disappear overnight."
Morven Orr, a teacher with 30 years of experience who works with the Toronto District School Board's Beginning Teacher Coaches program, said she recommends that educators report all potential issues to their principal.
"They should have been given some advice in teacher's college. You're certainly made aware of your legal obligations," she said. "I would immediately tell them to talk to their boss."
But Ms. Orr said that being able to discern which problems require outside intervention can be extremely fraught.
"When a child presents with a problem, you have no idea what might have caused it," she said. "And although as a teacher it's important to keep the idea of abuse in your head, you can't phone someone every time a child is sad, or depressed or crying. There's a million reasons."
Mr. Coran believes that school boards simply need more bodies, and that an infusion of teachers, educational assistants and support staff would go a long way toward helping teachers deal with the problems outlined in the report, including gun incidents, robberies and sexual assaults.
"All of these things require a lot of professional attention," he said. "This behaviour needs to be corrected and not just ignored."
Ms. Orr said many teachers are also mindful of making false accusations or suggesting any interventions when none is necessary, a move that can alienate students and anger their parents."If you do phone [the authorities], the parent often knows it's come from the school and they're furious if there's no reason for it," she said. "They're often furious if there is a reason for it."
Teachers and school staff are too intimidated to speak out about violence in Toronto's public schools, a damning report charges.
A school safety panel revealed yesterday that employees of the Toronto District School Board told them they feared that revealing school safety issues or anything that would reflect negatively on the board would be "a career-limiting move."
As a result, hundreds of incidents that should have been reported were not. This "culture of fear" led to a failure of the system and its overseers to protect students from violence, including robberies and sexual assault, on school grounds, the report said.
"Jordan Manners died on May 23, 2007, of flat neglect, pure neglect," panel chair Julian Falconer said yesterday, referring to the 15-year-old whose shooting sparked the inquiry.
The panel's findings had officials at Canada's largest school board facing uncomfortable questions about why so many violent incidents go unreported, and why it took the death of a 15-year-old to prompt a review of school safety.
"I think that until [the Jordan Manners shooting] happened, we probably thought we had a pretty good handle on it," said John Campbell, chair of the TDSB. "And I think what that did is it really drew attention to the fact that we didn't have a very good handle on it."
Mr. Falconer said many officials within the school system are too intimidated to report violent incidents. Many of the school officials interviewed by the panel refused to go on the record for fear of reprisal.
"People are afraid and it's not just students; it's teachers," Mr. Falconer said. ...
But Mr. Falconer said there is no "quick fix" to the board's problems.
"You could fill a Home Hardware with the amount of knives kids bring to school, but we don't find them," he said. ...
At C.W. Jefferys yesterday, students didn't seem too concerned about the dire condition the report says their school is in. However, some said that students simply don't talk about violent incidents.
"The reputation going around is: when you talk, you're basically a snitch," said student Chandé Wilmot. "[People worry] that they might get beat up."
By: Donna J. Shepherd,
on 9/23/2007
Kevin and I have teamed up again. Guardian Angel Publishing will release No More Gunk! - an ebook for kids about taking care of teeth. Another exciting development - this book along with Ouch! Sunburn! will be released together as a print book. They both address a children's health issue. Watch for more news soon!
By: Donna J. Shepherd,
on 6/30/2007
OUCH! SUNBURN Text Donna Shepherd Illustrations Kevin Collier ISBN 10: 1-933090-60-x ISBN 13: 978-933090-60-3 Guardian Angel Publishing Reviewer Carolyn R Scheidies Sunburn is a big problem. Parents, adults and kids are out under the sun without considering the long-term consequences and they can be severe. As a kid, I seldom thought about sunscreen. Few did.... TO READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW, VISIT
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Library Feed, librarian.net. librarian.net said: §: would you recognize a hardware keylogger in your library? http://j.mp/hkVLZP [...]
Any Android smartphone can have its USB controller reconfigured to do this in theory after that proof-of-concept keystroke injection attack. With prepaid burner Android smartphones out there, this is going to potentially grow.
I just posted about this on my blog with a possible solution – Centurion software (what we use on our public machines to wipe them clean after use) offers a way to disable just some USB functions – including wireless managers, which send the data from the keyloggers to the person who installed it on your machine.