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NEWS

Child Abuse Prevention Month: At A&C, We’re All a Part of Creating Safe and Happy Childhoods

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April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

At Adult & Child Health, we know the value of the continuum of care that our staff are able to provide to our patients and clients. Our comprehensive, wide-ranging services touch the whole health journey, from prevention and outreach to treatment and management/enabling services.

The continuum of care is also crucial in preventing child abuse and working toward creating a safe, healthy, and care-free childhood for every child in our communities. Even the service lines that don’t directly work with youth have the capability to positively impact adults, lifting them up and enabling them to care for the children in their lives in more effective and compassionate ways.

 

Let’s talk about prevention.

Primary Prevention: Programs and services designed to promote the general welfare of children and families.

Secondary Prevention: Services identified and provided to families who have identified risk factors for maltreatment.

Tertiary Prevention: Services provided after the occurrence of abuse or neglect. These services are designed to prevent the recurrence of abuse.

Most of Adult & Child Health’s services fall under primary prevention. It’s even described in our value statement:

“We strive for caring communities, where every child, adult, and family have opportunities to live healthy, purposeful lives.”

Our child welfare and wraparound teams play a large role in secondary prevention, with therapeutic foster care and behavioral health/therapy services stepping in to provide additional tertiary prevention.

The ability to focus on upstream efforts to build stronger families is a major positive outcome of Adult & Child’s continuum of care. According to Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, “by focusing especially on primary prevention, we can help mitigate the necessity of the other two.”

A&C provides and links families to crucial supports.

Linkage to supports and services is a significant way in which many Adult & Child teams are creating stronger families. Below are some ways Prevent Child Abuse Indiana recommends that communities can get involved– and where A&C is already working to have an impact.

  • Strengthen parenting. Adult & Child Health provides many ways for parents to access support. Different service lines offer education, home visits, and additional resources.
  • Respond to family crises. Families can receive additional support when they need it through Adult & Child Health’s Crisis Services, which include a crisis receiving and stabilization center at our Madison Avenue location, a 24/7 mental health crisis support phone line, and a mobile crisis team. Additionally, A&C is the coordinating agency for Safe Place services for youth aged 10-17 in Marion, Johnson, and Monroe counties. 
  • Link families to services and opportunities. Adult & Child Health strives to be a hub for families to find connections to housing resources, education, health care, mental health and other essential services.

You can learn more about the roles of our Child Welfare Specialists, including their insights and advice for parents and caregivers, through spotlight interviews with Chris and Lindsay

If you or someone you know could benefit from Adult & Child’s services or if you’re interested in learning more, please call our main line at 317.882.5122 or fill out our inquiry form here

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Agency News

Mental Health America recognizes Adult & Child Health will Gold Bell Seal

Adult & Child Health received the national Gold-level Bell Seal certification from Mental Health America, which recognizes policies, practices and benefits supporting employee mental health and wellbeing.  Every year since 2019, Mental Health America has recognized employers for implementing policies and practices to improve employees’ mental health. Companies across all sectors undergo a 54-point evaluation that includes surveys of employees.  Adult & Child Health employs more than 600 people in southern Indiana, with areas of focus on behavioral health, primary care and treatment for substance use addictions.  “The work our team members perform on a daily basis is challenging, but they continue to live our mission of providing access to quality care for all who need it on a daily basis,” said Dr. Christine Negendank, Adult & Child Health Regional President and Chief Medical Office. “This recognition from Mental Health America is a testament to our team members and the work they do in order to make Adult & Child a great place to work.”  Part of Adult & Child’s recognition comes from a three-pronged strategy to address employee mental health:  1) Adult & Child’s employee assistant program provides mental health services, including short-term counseling and provider referrals. The average time between an employee inquiry and their first session with a provider is five business days. The EAP program provides up to five free in-person or virtual therapy sessions.  2) The HOPE Taskforce is a safe place for non-managerial staff members to convene to discuss work stressors, life stressors, mental health resources and coping strategies in a space that encourages colleagues to support one another.  3) The GROW committee is for leaders to convene and develop support systems for one another.  Mental Health America is the nation’s leading national nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of mental health, well-being, and illness prevention. Its Bell Seal awards recognize an average of fewer than 300 American companies per year.

Sarah Miller, PMHNP-BC

Sarah Miller works with the addictions team, general psychiatry for adolescents and adults, and the competency restoration team. She is board-certified as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Her specialties are working in addictions and with people who experience serious mental illness.

Miller graduated from Indiana University with a psychology degree and went back to school for nursing. She received her nursing degree from Indiana Wesleyan University and worked in a nursing home and also spent time working in a group home with adolescents. She received her master’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

She enjoys hanging out with her family and her two dogs, and going to sporting events.

Joanna Chambers, MD

Dr. Joanna Chambers is a psychiatrist who began seeing Adult & Child Health patients in November 2021. She graduated from Medical College of Georgia with her Doctorate of Medicine in 1996 and completed her residency in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. In addition to bringing a wealth of experience, she currently serves as an associate professor at Indiana University School of Medicine where she teaches Clinical Psychiatry. She is certified in Addiction Medicine and has a special interest in treating pregnant and postpartum women. She is President of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry Organization as well as a sitting member of many medical association boards. Recently, she has won the Residents’ Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020 from Indiana University and has received “Best Doctors Award” in 2010, 2011, and 2014. Dr. Chambers is incredibly active in the medical, academic, and research realms of medicine. She is currently accepting new patients on Wednesdays.