Ask an Advisor Questions

I am a founder and project director of a newly launched nonprofit initiative based in Pittsburgh, NASNIcares, that is focused on improving the lives of people living with brain health disorders. This initiative and its principle advocacy partner believe that there is a lexicon problem in that the terminologies we are using in public discourse are fueling misunderstanding, which in turn, hinders the public awareness that is needed to confront some of the social policies that fail the population for which this advocacy is needed.

It is mission critical for us to move beyond speculation and assumptions about how people generally conceptualize mental health and mental illness. As project director of NASNIcares, I believe that the only way to validate these assumptions is to conduct in person surveys. It is important that people self-define these terms in response to a small number of very carefully designed questions. Methods other than in person questionnaires may compromise the goal of the survey in that it is likely that individuals may web search definitions of the subject terminologies. A recitation of one of these definitions may mask the conceptual ideas that the survey would seek to reveal.

Unfortunately, during this pandemic, in person surveys may not be viable. Can your advisors offer any insights on how to grapple with this dilemma?

Hello,

I am interested in the "Learning to be an Ally for People from Diverse Groups and Backgrounds" module. Would you please send me additional information about your program, including the costs.

Thank you

Hello,
I am the coordinator for the Douglas County Healthy Youth Coalition in Colorado. I could use some coaching/examples around creating coalition bylaws for our unique situation. We are currently not a 501©3 but, have recently discussed perusing this status. We have two fiscal agents Tri-County Health Department and the Douglas County School District who manage our Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration grant. We want to begin to develop a bylaws document that creates more space for community ownership/decision making and allows us to tackle issues in our community that stretch beyond just what funders want us to address (Mental Health) Hope this helps, we look forward to hearing from you and your team
V/r
Curtis Hanock
720-682-5283

Hello,

My name is Michael Vargas and I want to learn more about improving community health utilizing anchor institutions. I have been reading about community needs assessment to start my understanding of how to improve overall community health.

My question is this: How can I, as someone who isnt connected to an organization as of now, get more hands on experince to develop a deeper understanding of the topic and eventaully make a career out of this?

I have a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology and worked at residential facilitates for mental health and substance abuse (which was several years ago). But I havent been able to work on any community healthy issues. As of now I am not associated with any orgs. I am just an individual that is learning about the power of improving community health. I am open for all suggestions of where I can get real experince starting from basically scratch.

Thank you so much for your time and effort!

Hi there. I read with great interest a reference to a "recent" study in your online publication (Chapter 3) in which African American students, who self-identified as Black, received lower test scores than those who didn't reveal their racial identity. Can you provide a citation for this study? I've searched and searched but can't find the source material. Many thanks!

I'm the training coordinator in small youth treatment center operated by the State of Maryland Dept of Health. We are interested in using some of the toolbox information and power point for employee development activities. Is this permit-able? We are not charging any fees and we will give credit to your website/organization. Thank you, Cathy Wilson

What are the essential elements of a report and proposal? The best way to presenting elements

Do you have examples of community initiatives that have been successful in building the social capital of individuals, organizations, and communities more broadly? Relatedly how are community initiatives measuring success against this complex concept?

How does the organisational structure help in decision making or problem-solving? From what I read here, I think communication is one but apart from that, its there anything else about structure that help or hinder decision making. Thank you.

Hello,

I am serving on the committee to create a Community Psychology track at my Clinical Psychology Graduate Program. I've been trying to find a set of guidelines to determine how a clinic is designated as a Community Psychology clinic. I haven't found anything like this yet, but I am wondering if you all may be able to provide any guidance on how we can determine which of our practicum sites would be considered community psychology settings? Thank you in advance for your help!

Can you please refer me to any platforms that we can use to stream monthly meetings live online and via conference calls? I want to offer options convenient for those who cannot be there in-person? Please and thanks!

Hello, I am a librarian trying to help students and instructors in a Public Health Program Planning course. Normally, students connect with community orgs for project-based learning. But these orgs are having a hard time making time for students because of reduced staffing, closed offices, etc. Any ideas on a substitute project? Thanks, just trying to get a feel for what might work these days.

Hello, does the Community ToolBox website have resources for writing a business plan? I am writing a business plan for a massage therapist and wanted to see sample business plans as a guide. Thank you so much. Regards, Tamara

do you have a toolkit available for raising awareness for people with disabilities? im trying to change my part of the world by educating and breaking down barriers.
any help would be appreciated.

Hi,

Your resource is amazing! And inspiring!

I am studying for the ASWB master's exam and hope you can help me understand the rationale for this question. I think questions are written to trip you up but as I am truly interested in community work, I want to understand the real reason why the correct answer is A and not C (I’m only presenting the two viable choices).

The juvenile facilities in a city are clearly substandard. As a first attempt to aid in correcting the problem, the social worker should:
a. Mobilize interest groups to explore and recommend alternatives
c. Organize the parents of the juveniles to demand change

I thought it would be C, to organize the parents. Is the reason C is wrong because of the second part of the answer “to demand change.”? Is A better because it says to “explore and recommend alternatives.”? Or is it better to begin with existing interest groups than to organize parents.

I hope you can see my confusion and help me understand the best approach to go about affecting change in the real world.

Thank you so much!!!

Linda Mason

Hello,

I am a student in a Canadian university (UQAM, Montreal) finishing my last year of Ph.D/Psy.D in community psychology and I am realising my intership in France in a non-profit organization.

In my intership, I am coordinating a territorial project (initated by the government) to bring all actors working around mental health (medical professionals, social professionals, community actors, etc.) to propose new initatives and new collaboration inside the territory.

I am supervised by a Social and Health Psychologist and I am realizing now that I sharing my experience with pairs in community psychology could help me structured my community work.

I don't know if this request could be answered, but thank you already fot all the work you do!

Cordially,
Paul