Priority Need: Increase Bullying and Suicide Prevention

NPM 9: Bullying

Percent of adolescents, ages 12 through 17, who are bullied or who bully others

NPM 9 Strategies:

9.1 Conduct an environmental scan and needs assessment to determine the status of bullying in Georgia.

9.2 Provide guidance and/or recommendations to DOE and individual schools on laws, policies, and evidence-based strategies to prevent bullying.

9.3 Injury Prevention will engage in events hosted by agencies or organizations that include bullying prevention in their strategic plans and that align overall activities and policy contributions within a framework of shared risk and protective factors and/or social determinants of health, in order to support efforts to display and encourage the use of consistent language and communications around the public health issue of bullying.

Bullying and Suicide Prevention

In the upcoming year, the Injury Prevention program (IPP) will continue to develop resources to assess needs and develop strategies to combat bullying among school-age children. Focus groups will be conducted and data analyzed to gather more in-depth information of desired needs and resources following the Georgia school administrator’s assessment, which was conducted to assess opportunities for mental health support and resources. Based on the focus group findings, mental health trainings and toolkits will be developed to target administrators, teachers, and students.

In partnership with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services and Banyan Communications, the Injury Prevention program will launch the Youth Help Seeking Campaign to normalize youth asking for help when feeling isolated, overwhelmed, or stressed, as well as providing support to other youth. The campaign will target young people ages 10 to 21 and is scheduled to be launched in Fall 2021 during bullying prevention month.

Other Adolescent Health Programs

Adolescent Health and Youth Development

AHYD will continue to implement evidence-based risk-reduction curricula in public health districts, youth development activities using the FLASH curriculum, and Adolescent and Young Adult Centered Care Clinic Trainings in the public health districts’ Family Planning Clinic. AHYD will conduct ten public health awareness events with a focus on five specific topics areas- Drugs and Alcohol, Teen Pregnancy & STDs/HIV, Puberty and Hygiene, Bullying, and Healthy Relationships & Teen Dating Violence. Adolescent and Youth Development Coalitions will continue to be established and supported.

Physical Activity for Adolescents

Georgia Shape will build a network of partners, state agencies, community stakeholders to promote physical activity to adolescents ages 12 to 17 years. Georgia Shape will continue to work with approximately 120 partners to decrease adolescent Body Mass Index (BMI) measures while increasing aerobic capacity measures and physical activity levels. Georgia Shape will continue to partner with statewide partners to increase participation of physical activity of middle school girls, based on the outcomes of the previous Middle School Girls Physical Activity Barriers and Facilitators Project. The agency will reengage post-project recommendations in support of partner-led initiatives, including the Girl Empowerment (GEM) project aimed to create and sustain peer led physical activity programming. The Power Up for 30 programs will continue as a part of the rebranding program for Georgia Shape in the targeted engagement of children ages 12 to 17 years.