May 10
Allowable Advocacy: Educating and Advocating Webinar
May 16
Financial Planning for Problem Gambling Training*
May 29
Advanced Motivational Interviewing (MI) Training**
June 5 & 6
Ethics in Prevention Training
June 12
More Than Billboards: Using Social Media Platforms to Move Your Message Webinar
Visit the Training Portal for descriptions
and to register.
While youâre there, take one of our FREE courses. CEUs available.
* Register at www.ipgap.indiana.edu/training.
** Payment required for this training.
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Congratulations to our staff member, Albert Gay, for being the recipient of the 2018 Civic Leadership Award from the Indiana Parenting Institute!
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The Ball Brothers Foundation is a that strives to improve the quality of life in Indiana, specifically around the Muncie and East Central Indiana region. They accomplish this by focusing on the stewardship of the Ball Brothers and engaging in philanthropy and focusing on the family values of generosity, stewardship, effectiveness, leadership, integrity, and communication. The Ball Brothers Foundation provides grants for nonprofit groups or organizations in the following areas: education; arts, culture, and humanities; human services; community betterment; health; and the environment. Grants are also awarded to strengthen an organization's effectiveness.
To learn more about the Ball Brothers Foundation or to apply for a grant, please visit www.ballfdn.org.
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With so many people having busy schedules, it is crucial to utilize the limited hours of the day doing something beneficial. One way to maximize the time when you are awake is by getting sufficient sleep. Having a good night's sleep can allow your body and mind to reset after a long day and wake up rejuvenated to take on the day's tasks. If you are wanting to improve your sleep quality and habits, the tips below are a starting point to get all that you can out of the time you allot for sleep.
Have a Sleep Schedule. While it can be nice to have the weekend to sleep in at times, it is actually better for your sleep over the long run to go to bed and wake up about the same time each day, where there is not more than one hour difference. This consistency reinforces your body's sleep schedule and will assist you in falling asleep more quickly and being less tired when you wake up in the morning. If you are having particular trouble falling asleep one night, get out of bed and do something relaxing to separate you from your sleep habitat. Once you are feeling tired again, that is when it is appropriate to go back to bed.
Creating a Calming Bedroom. The environment in which you sleep can make a big difference in your sleep quality. Making sure the bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet can help you fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night. Having lighter layers of blankets can assist in not getting overheated in the middle of the night, or you could try using a fan to keep it cool and reduce the small noises that can keep you awake. Having room-darkening blinds or reducing screen use in the bedroom can also assist with creating this type of environment.
Regulate the Light. The amount of light that you are exposed to can help keep your circadian rhythms in balance, no matter what season. Try to begin dimming the lights a couple hours before bed to help calm your mind for sleep. In the morning, exposing yourself to brighter lights can help wake you up faster and make you more alert. This could be opening up the blinds or turning on a lamp right when you alarm goes off. Either way, light is an important factor to consider when trying to maintain good sleep habits.
Forget the Time. Do you wake up multiple times throughout the night and automatically check to see what time it is? Doing this can actually make it harder for you to fall back asleep because it might make you think more about how many hours of sleep left, what is coming up the next day, what happened the day before, etc. Before bed, turn the clock away from view or put it in a drawer out of sight in order to not be tempted to look at it if you wake up. This way, you will still hear the alarm, but you will not be tempted to look to see what time it is.
Plan the Right Time to Work Out. It has been shown that regular exercise does typically help individuals sleep better. That being said, it is important to plan out when the work out fits within your schedule. If you are consistently working out a few hours before bed and are having trouble sleeping, it could be that too much energy was released from that work out. Working out a little earlier in the day can usually help remedy that problem.
More Details Resource Additional Resource
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 This month we are featuring Junghun Lee as our Staff Spotlight. Junghun is a Manager of Web Services at the IPRC. He has been working toward achieving a doctoral degree for 18 years, and it is likely that he will complete it this year! Junghun recommends setting a concentration time. By this he means that we are easily distracted by emails, people, or other tasks. Instead of letting those things be priorities, it can be helpful to set aside 2-3 hours to complete concentrate on a project. Junghun has a few philosophies that he follows in life: Try not to have prejudice. Be optimistic. Love your family and neighbor. Don't be afraid to be alone.
In his free time, Junghun enjoys assembling and playing Lego blocks. He also enjoys listening to music, specifically trendy K-pop songs. Though Junghun is at his computer during the work day, he really likes swimming, running, and cycling and will sometimes bike to work! He believes the washing machine, dishwasher, and robot vacuum cleaners are the greatest inventions ever because they remind him of the power of repetition. âEat, play (not pray), love"
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Written by Mallori DeSalle
The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH) is not joking around about the health effects of laughter and humor. The annual conference of AATH held in San Diego on April 12-15, 2018 was filled with neuroscientists, behavioral health professionals, medical experts, comedians and humor enthusiasts from across the world. With a focus on âResilience: Harnessing the Power of Humorâ this year, the conference examined how laughter and humor can reduce stress, support the processing of grief and improve health and wellness.
Mallori DeSalle attended the conference and found the experience to be powerful.
âI learned about the healing power of laughter and play. It was incredibly insightful
for me to see how critical humor can be for the brain and the body.â DeSalle went
on to describe how the conference will influence her work at the IPRC. âI use
humor in my style of training, now I understand more about why this approach
is effective. After attending the conference, I am going to use that knowledge
to sprinkle humor into other interactions too.â
Mallori shared that therapeutic humor and its application is not always about a
person telling jokes, âItâs not that a person needs to âbe funny.â Instead, using
humor therapeutically is about helping people âsee funny.â When we lead with
levity, we can help a person promote wellness in many ways.â
Mallori encourages everyone to take a moment each day to laugh.
Knock knock,
Whoâs there?
Ha Ha Ha,
Ha Ha Ha who?
Thanks for laughing; I wasnât sure this joke was funny.
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Pictured: Steve Sultanoff, psychologist and Humor researcher
Mallori DeSalle
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Pictured: Yakov Smirnoff, Comedian and humor researcher
Mallori DeSalle
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The Truth Is: A Social Norms Strategy in Vanderburgh County
The Truth Is Social Norms Strategy utilizes the Montana Model to reduce alcohol use among teens by correcting misperceptions about their peersâ alcohol use. Youth First received a Substance Abuse Block Grant through the Division of Mental Health and Addiction in 2016 to provide the program for the two Evansville Catholic high schools. The schools were very receptive to the strategy. Students took a school-wide survey to gather data about youth alcohol consumption and their perception of their peersâ consumption. Once data was gathered and school administrators and staff were briefed on the outcomes, a campaign began to work with groups of students on how best to communicate the data that showed a high percentage of students did not use alcohol but thought their fellow students did. The campaign utilizes messaging on items chosen and designed by the students, such as: t-shirts, power banks, tumblers, and cell phone wallets. In addition, posters with messages were placed in hallways and classrooms, and blurbs were placed in school newsletters which were sent to all families and alumni. This message was continually in the studentsâ view: The Truth Is a high percentage of students in your school are making healthy choices when it comes to alcohol.
Both high schools continue to be extremely invested in the program and have now, after almost two years, begun to approach Youth First/The Truth Is to be a presence at many school events, such as dances, sports events, after-prom, and student retreats, to bring the message as a reminder to keep making healthy choices and understand that their perception of their peersâ alcohol use is not always correct.
Thank you to Diane Braun and her team at Youth First for their success with this strategy!
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National Safety Month
June is National Safety Month!
June marks the National Safety Councilâs National Safety Month. This month is dedicated to raising awareness about safety issues and unintentional injuries in the home, at work, and on the road. This year, topics will include Emergency Preparedness, Wellness, Falls, and Driving Safety. One important way prevention providers can promote National Safety Month is highlighting the importance of storing and disposing of medications safely. The National Safety Council considers prescription drug and other opioid overdoses to be one of their top priorities, and they will highlight this issue during National Safety Month. You can promote using and disposing of medication safety, as well as the other topics of National Safety Month, through their downloadable resources, available here. National Safety Month can also be promoted through a toolkit on the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotionâs website.
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Risk and Protective Factors
A total of 8,059 students 18-25 years
of age from 23 Indiana colleges participated in the Indiana College Substance Use Survey conducted in Spring 2021.
