Resources & Toolkits

Merita Irby (Managing Partner, Big Picture Approach Consulting And Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, The Forum For Youth Investment) led the interactive working sessions. Cross-sector table activities focused on identifying what “ready and resilient” look like; the skillsets and mindsets that will help children be “ready”; and how different organizations and sectors can effectively partner. The slides and workbooks that guided the activities are available here.

Organizations have the unique opportunity to build and restore the core capabilities that promote resiliency, reduce stress, and support social and emotional health for adults and the children in their lives. Through a trauma-informed approach, organizations can make changes in organizational beliefs, policies, programs, practices, services and points of contact that value, advocate, and invest in healthy relationships; safe and secure environments and psychological safety; healthy habits;...

The Greater Rochester Health Foundation convened the Commission on Children’s Behavioral Health in the Finger Lakes in spring 2015, in response to concerns from parents, child care providers, schools, pediatricians and children’s mental health clinicians. They consistently raised alarms about the shortfalls of our region’s children’s behavioral health system: the demands placed on it, its capacity, and in some cases, its quality.