This is an opportunity for middle and high school staff to share their voices on mental health post-COVID-19. The University at Albany School of Public Health and the New York State Public Health Association (NYSPHA) are conducting virtual conversations about mental health with middle and high school teachers, administrators, and student support staff. Through these conversations, we are seeking to better understand the mental health needs of the school community in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and what should be done to address these needs.  

This project, titled “School Mental Health Listening Sessions with Teachers, Administrators, and Student Support Professionals in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is a research project conducted by the University at Albany (project #23X061). We are providing a unique opportunity for school staff to share their voices on school mental health with colleagues working in schools across the state. 

If you are a teacher, student support staff member, or administrator at a middle or high school in New York State, please join us in one of our listening sessions. The sessions will take place on Zoom and last 60-90 minutes, and we expect participants to actively contribute to the conversation.  To be eligible to participate, you must be currently employed as a teacher, student support professional (e.g., guidance counselor, mental health counselor, psychologist, social worker), or school administrator in a New York State middle, junior, or high school and have access to a computer or phone to participate in a zoom meeting. Participation is completely voluntary and, if you choose to participate, you will participate in one 60-90-minute session only. We will be mailing $10 Starbuck’s gift cards as a token of our appreciation.

School Mental Health Listening Sessions 

Teachers:

Monday, April 3 at 4pm

Wednesday, April 19 at 4pm

Student Support Professionals:

Tuesday, April 4 at 4pm

Monday, April 17 at 4pm

Administrators:

Wednesday, April 5 at 4pm

Tuesday, April 18 at 4pm

To register, please complete our registration form using the link below: 

https://forms.gle/HJtZEiJNcpx7b2Zf9

After you register, you will receive an email from Samantha Fandl with the Zoom link to access the virtual conversation. If you have any questions, please contact Samantha Fandl at sfandl@albany.edu. 

NYSPHA Tree Planting Event!

Saturday, April 15, 2023

10:00 a.m.

Meet at the Radix Center

153 Grand Street

Albany, NY

Under auspices of the Radix Center, supported by the City of Albany, your NYSPHA Climate Committee is volunteering to help build AN URBAN FOOD FOREST!

We INVITE you, our friends and colleagues, to join us Saturday, April 15th, at 10:00 a.m., 153 Grand Street in Albany where we’ll be given training and a demonstration. We’ll be planting apple, pear, juneberry, pecan, hickory, and oak trees along the sidewalks of Morton and Myrtle Avenues, and Lincoln Park.

We’ll benefit from camaraderie and the sheer enjoyment of being together in the great outdoors. As Public Health professionals we’ll be helping to address systemic inequality, build climate justice, reduce urban heat islands, improve air quality, and increase local food sovereignty. That’s reward in itself!

Please register by Wednesday, April 5th, so we can tell the Radix Center to save our places!

For more information, email Brett Harris, bharris@albany.edu

You are invited to attend the NYS Public Health Partnership Conference to be held April 27- 28, 2023 with a pre-conference workshop (TBA) on Wednesday, April 26th. Information and registration for the pre-conference workshop will be separate.

This event is a collaboration between the New York State Public Health Association, the New York State Association of County Health Officials and the New York State Association for Rural Health.