Five Questions With: Susan Orban

The Rhode Island Foundation awarded South County Health an $87,000 grant in mid-August so that South County Health can begin collaborations with the Washington County Coalition for Children, Brown University Continuing Medical Education Office and the University of Rhode Island’s clinical psychology program and Psychological Consultation Center to design a whole new approach to a life of quality mental health. The key: Start with young children.

Susan Orban, director of community health and wellness for South County Health, will oversee the initiative: “8 for 80+: Positive Emotional Health in Children.” A licensed independent clinical social worker and longtime coordinator for the Washington County Coalition for Children, Orban talked about “8 for 80+” with Providence Business News.

PBN: Why is this program needed here and now, and what is the meaning of its name?
ORBAN:
A considerable number of Rhode Islanders are living in despair today. Recent statistics from our small state show that at least 35,000 adults in Rhode Island seriously considered suicide. Four thousand were admitted to a hospital for psychiatric care. Add to this the approximately 69,000 individuals who abused alcohol and the more than 200 accidental deaths from opioid overdoses. These statistics are drawn from high-income communities as well as from inner-city neighborhoods. South County, for example, has the highest suicide rate of any county in Rhode Island. More than one in five people – from young adults to senior citizens – is a binge drinker. South County Health treated more than 2,000 patients with a mental health disorder last year.

Truth is, everyone knows someone with an emotional issue or substance abuse problem. It might be a colleague or a friend, a family member or a child. Or yourself. We just don’t talk about it. And the individual’s needs don’t get met.

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“8 for 80+,” is all about giving kids a great emotional start in life. The title is based on two expectations. First, if we can ensure that infants and young children develop eight essential skills – the “8” in “8 for 80+” – during their earliest years, then, second, they are much more likely to experience emotional wellness for the rest of their lives – 80+ years.

PBN: What are these eight critical skills and why are they so important to emotional health?
ORBAN:
PBN readers will recognize them, and research has proven them to be true: Problem solving,
coping and resilience, conflict management and resolution, identifying and understanding feelings,
emotion regulation, communication, diversity awareness and respect and self-perceived competence.

Together, these skills build self-confidence and resiliency. They enable children to explore, take risks, tolerate setbacks and appreciate differences. We can expect these abilities will promote academic success, strong social skills and effective behavioral and emotional regulation. They will also protect against behaviors like aggression and behavioral health disorders like depression.

PBN: Whom do you expect to reach with “8 for 80+” and how will you teach and reinforce those eight skills to the children?
ORBAN:
“8 for 80+” starts right at the beginning, with infants, toddlers and children, from birth to eight years old. Though these eight skills seem complicated, basic concepts can be introduced to infants or toddlers at a very young age. We can help our children recognize when they are afraid and why. We can nurture problem solving, for example, by encouraging them to “stick with” putting a puzzle together rather than giving up. We can challenge them to solve age-appropriate problems, like finding the milk in a grocery store. As parents and teachers, we can do so much by listening, encouraging, challenging and reassuring our children. “8 for 80+” will be offering daily commonsense ideas about how to help children develop each of those eight skills.

Primary activities will fall into two categories; first, trainings, such as parenting classes and continuing education for professionals, and second, a robust array of resources, such as podcasts, blogs and other online resources available to parents whenever they can fit them into their busy schedules. We’ll give MP3 players to households without access to the Internet.

PBN: We understand that the program is meant to engage with both parents and professionals – such as health care providers, childcare workers, etc. How do they play roles in promoting these skills?
ORBAN:
Infants, toddlers and young children up to age eight have very different settings. An infant may be home most or all of the day; an 8-year-old may be gone after breakfast and not back home until dinner. In the course of a single day, the adults in a child’s life may be parents, childcare providers, extended family, educators and/or after-school coaches. Each one plays a key role and we want to support all of them in promoting these eight skills in young children.

PBN: How do you anticipate measuring outcomes and the Rhode Island Foundation’s return on its investment?
ORBAN:
We will be both responsible and realistic. Just as we hope to make an early “investment” in a person’s life, the Rhode Island Foundation is investing in the inauguration of “8 for 80+.” At the end of the Rhode Island Foundation’s year of funding, we will provide data by which to measure our progress:

  • How many times did people download, comment on and/or share the family- and professional-friendly content we created and/or posted?
  • How many workshops did we offer and what was the content of those workshops?
  • How many people attended the workshops and how many participated in post-workshop surveys?
  • With respect to the website, how many unique hits were there, what was the length of time each visitor spent on the site and how many pages were read?
  • With respect to participant follow-up, we’ll survey parents and professionals about their perspective on the efficacy of the first year’s “8 for 80+” materials and trainings.

    We will achieve a great deal this year, but this is just the start of a long-term effort.

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