PRC Faculty & Staff Highlights
Staff Transitions
Jamie Grilz, Deputy Director and Trainer for the HYD-PRC accepted a position outside of the University. Grilz was an integral part of the center where she facilitated Anti-Racism Community of Practice sessions, co-facilitated and conducted sexual health trainings, and helped establish a divisional Youth Advisory Board.
Lynn Bretl, Youth Advisory Board Program Manager has agreed to step into the role of Deputy Director for the HYD-PRC. Expertly skilled at providing technical assistance and capacity building, Bretl will oversee the center budget, engage with our CDC project officer, and assist with close-out reports.
Cathy Jordan, HYD-PRC Training Team Leader, has transitioned from her role as Director of Leadership & Education at the Institute on the Environment to the Masonic Institute for the Development Brain (MIDB). She will continue her role supporting the HYD-PRC.
Nature-Based Learning
HYD-PRC Training Team Leader, Cathy Jordan, and partners launched year 2 of the Nature-Based Learning Teacher Field School. It aims to increase the comfort, confidence, and competence of K-8 teachers in applying nature-based instructions across the curriculum. Jordan talks about “Minnesota Teachers Learn New Ways to Bring Nature to the Classroom” on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).
Youth Health and Housing Lab Presents
Janna Gewirtz O’Brien, HYD-PRC researcher, and members, community partners, and youth advisors from the Youth Health and Housing Lab presented, Optimizing Health Services and Public Health for Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Strategies for Engaging Youth and Multi-sector Partners, at the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference.
Stop Separating Mothers in Prison from Their Newborn Babies
HYD-PRC Director, Rebecca Shlafer was featured in a National Public Radio (NPR) All Things Considered radio program. In, “Minnesota Aims to Stop Separating Mothers in Prison from Their Newborn Babies,” Shlafer highlighted research around Minnesota’s Healthy Start Act.
HYD-PRC Represents at SAHM
Several members of the HYD-PRC presented at the 2024 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine conference, “Maximizing Adolescent and Young Adult Health through Structure and Agency.” Congratulations to Janna Gewirtz-O’Brien, Chris Mehus, and Renee Sieving. Topics included:
- The Teen and Parent Surveys of Health (TAPS): Perspectives on Information, Resources, Confidentiality, and Sensitive Topics in Primary Care
- Youth & Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness SIG
- Youth-driven Systems Alignment Strategies to Optimize Health among Youth Experiencing Homelessness
- Development and Testing of TALK: Toolkit for Adolescent Care
Restorative Justice with Youth Featured on MPR
HYD-PRC researcher Kara Beckman was a featured guest on MPR News with Angela Davis. Beckman can be heard speaking about restorative justice and youth on, “Can Restorative Justice be an Alternative Approach to Teen Crime.”
Events, Trainings & Resources
Wanted!! YouthCHAT Educators
YouthCHAT is hiring two additional Educators to the current team. This part-time position is open to young people. Please read the job description and posting. Contact Lynn Bretl [email protected].
2024 Adolescent Health Summer Institute - Cultivating Adolescent Well-Being in the Digital Age
All of us are social creatures, and the strength of our relationships has a significant impact on our overall well-being. Young people use social media to build connections, access resources, and explore their identities. Adults are sometimes aware of the positive and negative aspects of technology, but often struggle to guide and advise adolescents on safe and healthy use when technology is constantly present and ever-changing.
During the 2024 Summer Institute in Adolescent Health, we will explore how professionals, parents, and caring adults can engage with and promote the healthy use of technology. Identify how childhood experiences with social media affect adolescent brain development and social, behavioral, academic, and health outcomes. Examine digital literacy, dissect the exploitative nature of influencer culture, and develop skills to empower youth with marginalized identities. Gain an understanding of current advocacy efforts at state and national levels aimed at boosting online protections for youth and envision a future where young people’s needs come before advertisers’ and big tech’s profits.
What’s New in 2024? The State of Adolescent Sexual Health in Minnesota
Understanding current adolescent sexual health data and statistics is an essential part of our work as professionals. Participants will review the most current statistics on the sexual health of Minnesota youth, including pregnancy, birth and STI statistics, trends in adolescent pregnancy and sexual behaviors, and how Minnesota measures up regionally and nationally. We'll also examine Minnesota Student Survey data on trading sex and sexual exploitation, and closely examine health disparities among the young people in Minnesota.
The June 11 workshop is a 3 hour interactive workshop featuring small groups, networking with colleagues, and an opportunity to dive deeper into the data. The June 13 webinar is a 90 minute data/statistics presentation without interaction and networking. Click here to register for the June 11 workshop and here to register for the June 13 webinar. Questions? Contact Jill Farris at [email protected].
TALK: Toolkit for Adolescent Care - Learning Series
Join the Minnesota Department of Health for a professional development series in partnership with the Healthy Youth Development - Prevention Research Center, developers of the TALK: Toolkit for Adolescent Care. Register today for this FREE event!
TALK helps primary care providers give their adolescent patients high quality preventive care through good communication about psychosocial and sexual health topics.This 4-part Lunch and Learn series helps providers start and sustain friendly conversation with teens and their families using Motivational Interviewing skills and evidence-based TALK guides developed at UMN's HYD - PRC. Questions? Contact Jill Farris at [email protected].
Certificates of attendance will be available for participants to file with their accrediting agency.
*This training is restricted to professionals that live or practice in Minnesota*
HYD-PRC Faculty & Staff Selected Publications
On the Minnesota Student Survey, over a fifth (22.2%) of students self-reported a minoritized sexual identity. Bisexual and pansexual were most common among Native+ (12.3%, 5.7%, respectively), multiracial (11.6%, 4.4%, respectively), and Latina/x/o (10.4%, 4.1%, respectively) youth: Differences in the Prevalence of Adolescent Sexual Identity: Results of Expanding Survey Response Options
Gower AL, Eisenberg ME, Brown C, McMorris BJ, Rider GN. J Adolesc Health. 2023 Dec 8:S1054-139X(23)00505-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.10.001. PMID: 38069925
UMN research confirms that children in rural areas (12%) are more commonly affected by parental incarceration than children in urban (8%) and suburban (6%) areas. ACEs were more prevalent among PI children compared with non-PI peers across regions, with slight differences between PI children across locales. Parental Incarceration in the United States: 2016-2021
Muentner L, Shlafer RJ, Heard-Garris N, Jackson DB. Pediatrics. 2023 Dec 1;152(6):e2023062420. doi: 10.1542/peds.2023-062420. PMID: 37909107
This study analyzed the motivators and barriers to incarcerated individuals’ receptivity and hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. In three large state prisons in Minnesota, the most common reason for getting vaccinated was to hasten their return to normal activities in prison. Facilitators and barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among incarcerated people and staff in three large, state prisons: a cross-sectional study
Osman, I, Williams, A, Pierson, K, et al. Health Justice 11, 38 (2023).
Youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) are uniquely vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, but were often excluded from response planning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to describe youth perspectives that influence COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake, and identify youth-driven strategies to guide public health efforts to improve vaccine confidence and access. COVID-19 vaccine attitudes among youth experiencing homelessness: a qualitative analysis with opportunities for action
Balma B, Vasilakos L, Osman I, Elgonda A, Gewirtz O'Brien JR. BMC Public Health. 2023 Aug 31;23(1):1672. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16413-0. PMID: 37648987