Kristyn Kosyluk, PhD, was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Hillsborough County. NAMI Hillsborough is an affiliate of the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization. The nonprofit organization provides free advocacy, education, support and public awareness necessary for all people affected by mental illness to build better lives.

Dr. Vickie Lynn, worked with NIH/NIAID at the United States Conference on HIV and AIDS 2020, October 19-21st, to present and introduce the NIAID HIV Language Guide. The guide includes language suggestions for communicating about HIV and other health related topics. Suggestions include using preferred less stigmatizing and person first language. This guide was created by the NIAID Office of Communications & Government Relations (OCGR) News & Science Writing Branch (NSWB) with input from the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) Workforce Operations, Communications, and Reporting Branch (WOCRB) and the community of people living with HIV. The guide is a living document, subject to change as language/terminology standards in various fields evolve. The language guide can be found here.

Christina Dillahunt-Aspillaga & Tammy Jorgensen-Smith (CFS)
Rehabilitation Counseling Master's Degree Program - A Solution to Personnel Shortages in the Florida Public Vocational Rehabilitation System
Sponsor: US Department of Education
10/1/2020-9/30/2025
Amount: $1,000,000

The USF Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (RMHC) graduate program has been awarded a second five-year (10/1/2020 - 9/30/2025), federal long-term training grant to increase the number of highly qualified rehabilitation counselors available to work within the vocational rehabilitation system. The major purpose of the RSA academic scholarship award is to increase the supply of rehabilitation personnel available for employment as rehabilitation counselors in public and private sector and in nonprofit agencies involved in the vocational rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. The focus of the project is to integrate customized employment (CE) practices into the core curriculum in alignment with new legislation (WIOA) that requires public VR systems to add customized employment options to their menu of services.

Gizem Hueluer (SAS)
Project VITAL
Sponsor: Alzheimer's Association
7/1/2020-6/7/2021
Amount: $10,000

The objective of this study is to measure the effectiveness of technological approaches on reducing social isolation in residents of care communities in Florida. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at-risk populations may experience difficulty connecting with their loved ones. An example of such a population are older residents in care communities as many facilities have reduced or eliminated in-facility visits. An effect of this distancing may be social isolation in residents and a lack of communication between the resident and their family. The goals of this study are (1) to measure staff members' perceptions about the effectiveness of an intervention using tablets in reducing social isolation due to COVID-19 restrictions among residents in Florida care communities, and (2) to contribute to technological implementations to reduce social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CABH master's student Julia Brookover is interning with the Children's Mental Health Network. She needs our help with her final project, which examines changes that mental health and developmental disabilities organizations have had to make during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please take a few minutes to complete her survey and help an aspiring mental health professional!

Karen L. Fingerman, PhD, will present "Getting Out of the Family: Weaker Ties in Late Life" on Friday, October 30, 2020 at 1:00 pm. Dr. Fingerman is a Professor of Human Development & Family Sciences at the University of Texas (UT)- Austin, oversees the Graduate Portfolio in Health and Aging at UT-Austin, and is the founding director of the Texas Aging & Longevity Center. She studies adult development and aging. Her research has asked how relationships with family members, friends, and acquaintances change from young adulthood to old age, with particular attention to emotional qualities of ties and support exchanges. She has published over 150 scholarly articles and chapters on families and friends in late life. Her research has drawn on experience sampling, daily diary, electronically activated recorders (EAR) survey methods, observational techniques, experimental paradigms, and salivary hormone data collection techniques. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has funded her work for over 20 years. Dr. Fingerman's prior work has been funded by the Brookdale Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation Network on Transitions to Adulthood and the MacArthur Foundation Network on an Aging Society.

This will be a Microsoft Teams presentation. Click here to join the presentation at the appropriate time.

1. Reid, J. A., & Beauregard, E. (2020). Exploring a machine learning approach: Predicting death in sexual assault. Journal of Criminal Justice, 101741. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101741

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