JJAB BUZZ

Santina is a tribal member of San Ildefonso Pueblo. She is a Mother/Guardian of 5 children, ages 5-14yrs old. Santina has been working with youth and their families for over 10 years. She started her career at the State of New Mexico Income Support Division as a Case Worker, assisting youth and families to obtain state assistance and moving on to a Career Development Specialist for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, assisting families in obtaining employment and training. After leaving the State of New Mexico, she received her Master’s of Social Work Degree and a State Licensure. Santina now works for JJAB as a Youth Resource Specialist. Santina is caring and is passionate about assisting youth and families in the best way for each unique situation as she knows about overcoming challenges and living in a community where there is available supports.

Hello JJAB Listeners. 

My name is Danielle Sutherland, I am a Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor.  May is Mental Health awareness month, and since we have been under stay at home orders since March, it is important for us to stay vigilant in keeping our minds and bodies health.  If you have taken a Youth Mental Health First Aid class you learned about our ALGEE, our action plan.  ALGEE is an acronym for:

Asses for risk of suicide or harm

Listen nonjudgmentally

Give reassurance and information

Encourage appropriate professional help

Encourage self-help and other support strategies

If you or someone you know may be at risk of harming themselves its important to let them know that you are there to support them. Here are some examples of how you may start that conversation:

I’ve noticed that you don’t talk to your friends anymore, can I help you connect with them?

I’ve noticed that you’ve been spending a lot of time by yourself, would you like to go for a walk, play game, or bake some cookies?

I know that these past few months have been hard for you.  I’m here for you if you’d like to talk or I can help you find someone you feel more comfortable with.

If the person you are concerned about is close to you, they may not want to open up to you for a variety of reasons… and that’s ok. We have lots of people in our community who can help you connect with the right people.  Here in Los Alamos you can reach out to your school counselor, JJAB Resource Specialists, or you can call the suicide prevention hotline.

Los Alamos Public School: https://laschools.net/ 

JJAB: https://www.losalamosjjab.com/resource-specialists 

Suicide Prevention Hotlines: 

National: 800.273.8255

New Mexico: 855.662.7474

New Mexico Peer to Peer Warmline: 855.466.7100

National Text line: 741741

Tara Adams has been working with children, families, and communities for over 20 years. She first worked as a family daycare provider and volunteer community organizer while raising her babies in rural northern California. During this time, she began studying child development and helped to organize a community stream restoration project, leading community meetings with children in tow. After moving To New Mexico in 2005 with her husband and three sons, Tara worked as a family daycare provider and instructional assistant in the public schools before taking a job at the First Born Program in 2014. As a home visitor working with families from pregnancy through three years of age, she realized that working with parents and young children together was her passion. Tara completed dual majors in Early Childhood Education and Family Support and Social Work at Western New Mexico University, graduating summa cum laudein 2019. Having completed her fieldwork with JJAB under Santina Shije, Tara decided to become a family resource specialist, working primarily with the elementary school population. This is work that allows her to engage with community, parents, and children simultaneously, creatively combining the skills learned in previous work and education.

Santina is a tribal member of San Ildefonso Pueblo. She is a Mother/Guardian of 5 children, ages 5-14yrs old. Santina has been working with youth and their families for over 10 years. She started her career at the State of New Mexico Income Support Division as a Case Worker, assisting youth and families to obtain state assistance and moving on to a Career Development Specialist for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, assisting families in obtaining employment and training. After leaving the State of New Mexico, she received her Master’s of Social Work Degree and a State Licensure. Santina now works for JJAB as a Youth Resource Specialist. Santina is caring and is passionate about assisting youth and families in the best way for each unique situation as she knows about overcoming challenges and living in a community where there is available supports.

Meet Danielle Sutherland

Danielle has been working with youth and their families for over 12 years. She started her career at Spring Ridge Academy, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona. As a Community Life Director it was her responsibility to help the students and families adjust to their new way of life and assist the students in developing the skills that they were learning in therapy and apply them to everyday life. After leaving SRA she received her Masters in Psychology, focusing on Marriage and Family Therapy. Now she works for JJAB as Resource Specialist, One Circle Facilitator and Coordinator and Restorative Justice Facilitator. Danielle is passionate about the group work that she does and continues to assist students and families in learning new skills to help them thrive as a single unit.

Internet Safety Tips for High School Students with Christine Martinez

Good Morning JJAB Listeners, my name is Christine Martinez, Youth resource specialist with JJAB. I am here to give you tips in online safety. Being online- connected through some sort of device is how you are currently living your life. As you spend more of your time there, it can be easy to over share, mess up your computer and possibly get messages from creepy people. The truth is there are some risks involved in socializing, playing and communicating online. 

Lets talk about how you can protect yourself, your information, and your computer:

Protecting yourself: 

Use privacy setting to restrict who can see and post on your profile. Many social networking sites, chat rooms and blogs have privacy settings. Find out how to turn these setting on, and then do it. 

Limit your online friends to people you know.

Learn about location based services. Many phones have GPS technology, and there are applications that let you find out where your friends are… and let them find you. Set your privacy settings so that only people you know personally can see your location.

Trust your gut if you feel threatened or uncomfortable because of someone or something you find online.

Do you download apps? If you do, you might be giving the apps developers access to your personal information- maybe even info that’s not related to the purpose of the app. 

Protect your information:

Some information should stay private- Your social security and family financial information should stay private. 

Keep your passwords private. The longer your password, the harder to crack. Don’t share your passwords with anybody, including your best friends or your bf or gf. 

Don’t reply to text email or pop messages that ask you to reply with personal information. These messages may be fake and sent to steal your information. 

Protect your computer: 

Be cautious about opening attachments or clicking on links. They may contain viruses or spyware. 

Learn about security software and how your computers are protected. 

Remember that sometimes, free stuff like games, ring tones, or screen savers can hide viruses and spyware. 

Whether its your laptop or phone don’t leave it in public- even for a minute. If it goes missing, all the important information stored on it like your messages and photos may fall into the wrong hands. 

Regardless of how fast your fingers fly on a keyboard, phone or tablet the best tool you have to help avoid risks online is your brain. Asking a few questions first can help you protect yourself your friends, and your computer. To find out more in how you can protect yourself online visit: 

Onguardonline.gov

Commonsensemedia.org. 

Internet safety ages 8-10

By the time children are 8 to 10 years old, they may be more interested in what older siblings are doing, but they also may begin to develop a sense of their own identity. Virtual worlds, online games, and online videos may be favorite pastimes, but social networking platforms can also come into play at this point. This is also the age parents may begin to introduce personal cell phones to their kids.

At this age, children are at a higher risk of communicating with online acquaintances and may be influenced by media personalities and images. When playing in virtual worlds, they may also begin to explore different identities and behaviors.

A few practices to consider implementing:

First, there are two kinds of online privacy. Personal privacy refers to your kid's online reputation, and consumer privacy (also known as customer privacy) refers to the data companies can collect about your kid during an online interaction or transaction. Both are important, and a few simple steps can help parents and kids keep their private information private.

The first step is using strict privacy settings in apps and on websites. When you or your kid gets a new device or signs up for a new website or app, establish your privacy preferences. Follow the directions during initial set-up, or go to the section marked "privacy" or "settings" and opt out of things such as location sharing and the ability for the app or website to post to social media sites such as Facebook on your behalf. Encourage kids to read the fine print before checking a box or entering an email address. Although it might not be practical to read through every Terms of Service contract, it's good to remind kids to be aware of what information they're agreeing to share before they start using an app, a website, or a device.

Next, teach your kids always to consider the information they're potentially giving away when engaging online. For younger kids, define that information as address, phone number, and birth date. Make sure they understand the basics of good online behavior, too, including thinking about the impact of posting a photo or comment. Remind them that it's not always easy to take back something once it's online and that texts and photos can be forwarded to anyone.

Finally, there are some legal restrictions in place to help protect your kids' consumer privacy and insure they're using age-appropriate websites and apps. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) prevents kid-targeted websites and apps from collecting data from kids younger than 13 without parental consent.

Tip #2

How can I check to see if my kid signed up for something online?

The Internet is full of enticements to sign up for something. Sometimes these come-ons make it sound as if you've won a prize and all you need to do to receive your winnings is register. If your kid registered for an account, downloaded a program, or entered a contest, you may not know unless you notice a new program on your computer. Here's how to get to the bottom of things, starting with the least intrusive:

Tip # 3

What are massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs, and are they safe for my kid?

JJAB April 2020 Announcements

Christine:

Rachel:

Christine Martinez was born in El Paso Texas, raised in Mexico, lived in Canada, and settled in the USA.

Graduated in 2016 from New Mexico State University with a Social Work degree. Her practice took her to work with a variety of agencies such as geriatric services,  halfway house, and a domestic violence shelter. Currently, she is working with our local youth population as a Youth resource specialist with JJAB. Christine enjoys working with people, and values individuality.  Christine enjoys a good conversation, dancing, singing, and practicing roller derby.  Christine Martinez is not afraid of trying new things, and has a competitive heart.