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Organizer's Guidelines
Individuals and organizations that initiate the literary project
in their community must sign a Letter of Understanding and be sure
it is on file at the APA Alliance if they want to participate in
the national level of the project.
The APA Alliance works closely with chapters of the American Medical
Association, American Medical Association Alliance, chapters of
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), mental health associations,
school nurses organizations and parent teacher associations.
A list of mental health resources can be found on the APA Alliance
website.
“Secrets” is funded at the national level only. Organizations
are financially responsible for their own implementation of the
project at the local and state level.
Below are some guidelines and strategies that may be helpful as
you organize the literary project for your community.
- Community Contacts:
Involving like-minded organizations will
bring strength and commitment to the project. This will also help
by adding volunteer judges, providing potentially several venues
for the award ceremony and addressing mental health concerns from
a collaborate position.
- School District:
Identify the school hierarchy.
The school superintendent, director of curriculum, director of
school safety
and health, and principal will become important advocates as
the essay project evolves. Experience indicates contact with
the English
teacher, life skills teacher or creative writing instructors
have made the project successful in their school.
- County Level Judges
- 1st Tier: English, Social
Studies, Life Skills – teachers
that integrate the project into their curriculum
and select the top five entries in both divisions from
their
school.
- 2nd Tier: Enlist additional volunteers from
your community contacts. (These judges would receive
the sample letter, criteria
and rating scale found on the website.)
- 3rd Tier: Community leaders: Directors
or presidents of local medical societies, public health,
TV anchors, juvenile justice
judges, city council members, local legislators, health reporters.
- Each entry
should be read by at least three people. Experience has
shown that most judges should not receive more
than 15 entries. So you will need to enlist as many judges as necessary for
the task. Fifteen entries will take about 1 hour to complete.
- State Judges
Each community is allowed to send
its best three entries in each division. If there is no state
coordination and several
counties have participated, your organization should select the top
three essays in each division to send to national.
- Award Ceremony
Varies by community and funding.
Many communities celebrate in conjunction with an established
venue (mental health community
awards, educational programs, PTA events, etc.) The options are
limitless. Whatever opportunity exists or you create, always
include the school librarian. The school librarian has been underutilized
as a resource to students when they seek mental health resources.
This will also be an opportunity to work on mental health literacy
within your community.
Typically winners receive a gift certificate and certificate of
recognition for their efforts.
Award Grantors – some ideas:
- 1st Tier: County: Mayor, council
members, principals, juvenile justice judge, child advocate,
community leader
- 2nd Tier: State: Governor, Lt. Governor, presidents
of state service organizations
Involving legislators and health reporters adds another dimension
to the project.
Example: In one large community, several excellent entries addressed
eating disorders. It was a problem familiar to the school nurse,
child and adolescent psychiatrists and pediatricians. There was
nowhere to send these young people for help. Enlisting health reporters
and legislators as judges, the problem became public and pressure
was on from the community to find/fund a program to help these
young people. And they did!
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