Workshops

Schedule for NC-ACE Workshops, 2012-2013

These events feature distinguished scholars in the fields of youth violence prevention. All NC-ACE works are open to the public free of charge, and relevant to educators, academics, policymakers, parents, and practitioners. All events take place at the UNC School of Social Work on Mondays from 12noon-2pm, with a catered reception and sign-in that opens at 11:30 am. Please pre-register for events.

1. October 1, 2012, Cyberbullying: What we know and what we can do about it, presented by Susan Limber, PhD, MLS, Professor, Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University, 12noon-2pm | slides| handout

video, part 1       video, part 2
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Description: Cyberbullying among children and youth has received considerable attention by educators, policy makers, and the general public. Although most cyberbullying occurs away from school, it impacts students’ social interactions and academic work. Educators are, therefore, increasingly called upon to incorporate cyberbullying prevention strategies into their existing bullying prevention efforts and to help students and parents deal effectively with instances of cyberbullying. In this workshop, Susan Limber will addresses similarities and interesting difference between cyberbullying (through e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, websites, and digital messages or images sent to cell phones) and more traditional forms of bullying, and what is known about the nature, prevalence, and possible effects of cyber bullying. Dr. Limber will also discuss schoolwide policies, classroom tools, and parental strategies to prevent this form of bullying, as well as ways to intervene in the event of cyberbullying both on- and off-campus.

NC-ACE Workshops, 2011-2012

1. October 31, 2011 – The Social Tasks of Friendship, presented by Steven Asher, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University

video | slides

Monday, October 31, 2011, 12-2pm, at UNC School of Social Work Auditorium, 325 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill, NC

Description: Children who are poorly accepted by peers and lack friends in school are more likely to experience negative treatment at the hand of peers and to report elevated levels of loneliness in school. This is true even for children in the early school years. Social skills interventions have had some success in improving children’s level of acceptance with peers but little research exists on how to help children be more successful in their friendship. In this workshop, Steven Asher will discuss research aimed at building a foundation for future friendship interventions. Social skills interventions addressing friendship may be an important strategy for reducing aggression and violence in children and youth. Dr. Asher will focus on how children respond to key “friendship tasks,” such as conflicts of interest with a friend, giving and receiving help, and responding to the inevitable disappointments that can arise in a friendship. He will discuss research findings that suggest that success in friendships are affected by the beliefs that people hold about friendship, the interpretations they make of their friend’s actions, and the goals they decide to pursue in various friendship situations.

Bio: Steven Asher is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He has had a long-standing interest in the problems of children who lack friends and are poorly accepted by their peers. His most recent research is focused on children’s loneliness in different contexts, and on the linkages between children’s goals, their behavior in response to specific interpersonal situations (e.g., conflict, helping, coping with friendship transgressions), and their success in creating higher quality friendships. This research includes a focus on the motivational and social-cognitive processes that give rise to prosocial versus aggressive behavior. In recent years, he has also initiated research on the social relationships of college students, including a longitudinal study of the factors influencing college students’ loneliness and belongingness at college, and research on college students’ responses to conflicts of interests in friendships and other relationships.

 NC-ACE Distinguish Lecture on Youth Violence, cosponsored by  the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, and School of Social Work’s Clinical Lecture Series.

2. February 20, 2012 – What will it take to improve the effectiveness and relevance of violence prevention programs for adolescents? presented by Al Farrell, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University

video  |  slides

Monday, February 20, 2012, 12-2pm, at UNC School of Social Work Auditorium, 325 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill, NC

Description: Concerns about extreme forms of youth violence such as physical aggression and less extreme forms such as bullying and relational aggression have led to national efforts to develop prevention strategies. Although considerable progress has been made, findings suggest that universal violence prevention programs focused on adolescents are generally less effective than those designed for younger age groups. This is a particular concern as adolescence represents a particularly challenging stage of development for youth that coincides with increases in levels of aggression and associated risk factors. Dr. Farrell’s presentation will summarize findings from several large-scale studies that have evaluated violence prevention programs for middle school students. He will also describe the findings from a series of qualitative and quantitative studies designed to uncover some of the individual and contextual factors that have reduced the relevance and effectiveness of interventions focused on early adolescence.

Bio: Albert D. Farrell, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where he directs the VCU Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development – one of six National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Farrell received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Purdue University and completed his clinical internship at Brown University. He has published over 100 articles and book chapters, primarily focused on the identification of risk and protective factors related to adolescent problem behaviors, especially youth violence, as well as factors that promote positive development of youth in high risk environments. For the last 20 years, Dr. Farrell has been involved in collaborative work with community agencies to develop effective evidence-based violence prevention programs for early adolescents. Dr. Farrell was one of the four principal investigators for the CDC-funded Multi-site Violence Prevention Project that involved the assignment of 37 schools across four sites to school-level intervention conditions. His current work includes a large-scale study to evaluate the community-level impact of a comprehensive violence prevention effort. Dr. Farrell is a licensed clinical psychologist and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He recently completed a term as Associate Editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, is a member of the editorial boards of several other journals, and serves on a variety of federal committees and task forces.

NC-ACE Distinguish Lecture on Youth Violence, cosponsored by  the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, Department of Psychology, and School of Social Work’s Clinical Lecture Series

3. March 26, 2012 – Adolescent peer victimization, depression, and self-injury, presented by Mitch Prinstein, PhD, Professor of Psychology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill     slides

video, part 1    video, part 2

  (click to enlarge)

Monday, March 26, 2012, 12-2pm, at UNC School of Social Work Auditorium, 325 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill, NC

Description: Are kids who are victimized more likely to attempt suicide? The question may be more complicated. For example, specific factors may make some children more vulnerable to being victimized by their peers, and these factors also may be related to the development of depressive mood and self-injurious behavior. In this workshop, Mitch Prinstein will address four interrelated questions:

(1) Are individuals with psychopathology more likely to be bullied?
(2) Is peer victimization associated with negative cognitions or psychological skills deficits?
(3) How might peer victimization increase risk for psychopathology or suicidality?
(4) Is peer victimization related to other peer constructs that are more closely associated with suicidality?

Dr. Prinstein will tease apart these questions by drawing primarily on his own research, which focuses on adolescents’ experiences, peer processes, and the development of depression, self-harm and suicidality. This workshop will focus more explicitly on academic research than on clinical applications; nonetheless, the issues raised have obvious value to applied work.

Bio: Mitchell J. Prinstein, Ph.D. is a Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor and the Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research examines interpersonal models of internalizing symptoms and health risk behaviors among adolescents, with a specific focus on the unique role of peer relationships in the developmental psychopathology of depression and self-injury. He is the Incoming Editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, and co-editor of a public service website designed to teach parents and professionals about evidence-based treatment options for children and adolescents: http://www.effectivechildtherapy.com. Dr. Prinstein has received numerous national and university-based awards for his contributions to research (American Psychological Association Society of Clinical Psychology Theodore Blau Early Career Award, Columbia University/Brickell Award for research on suicidality, APA Fellow of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology), teaching (UNC Chapel Hill Tanner Award for Undergraduate Teaching), and the professional development of graduate students (American Psychological Association of Graduate Students Raymond D. Fowler Award).

 NC-ACE Distinguish Lecture on Youth Violence, cosponsored by  the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, and School of Social Work’s Clinical Lecture Series.