Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Northbrook Cares Subcommittee of the 3 Community Relations Commission 4 Northbrook, IL 5 Wednesday, June 29, 2016 6 7 Present: Chair Bruce Doughty, Subcommittee Members Elliot Bruckman, Safa 8 Hamed, Sharon Latek and Alice Lonoff 9 10 Others: Village Staff Liaison Erik Jensen & Director of Counseling Services Nancy 11 Vaccaro 12 13 Welcome 14 Chairman Doughty called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. in the Terrace Room at Village Hall. 15 16 Project Updates: 17 1. Website 18 19 Staff Liaison Jensen reviewed the status of the Northbrook Cares website project. 20 21 2. Information from Erika’s Lighthouse 22 23 Staff Liaison Jensen stated that Erika’s Lighthouse had been invited to present this evening 24 but could not attend. He distributed some materials on the program. 25 26 Director Vaccaro discussed Erika’s Lighthouse and its general mission based on her 27 experience working with them. 28 29 Chair Doughty stated that challenge mentioned to the Subcommittee was the issue of how 30 to normalize the channels of communication to youth on mental health resources. 31 32 Member Hamed asked if resources could be transmitted to student cell phones. 33 34 Member Latek stated that any communications would need to brief in order for youth to read 35 and retain the information. 36 37 Chair Doughty reiterated that the Subcommittee had previously discussed having mental 38 health resource information on school syllabi and that maintaining a constant presence 39 would be important. 40 41 Review of the June 14, 2016 Meeting with Teen Representatives: 42 Chair Doughty asked each member to discuss what they thought of the meeting with teen 43 representatives. 44 45 Member Latek stated that she felt that privacy and instant communication were the primary 46 things the teens desired and that the Text-A-Tip service would be ideal for connecting teens 47 with resources. 48 49 Member Bruckman stated he felt that the teen representatives gradually warmed up to the 50 Subcommittee and felt that they shared quite a bit of good information. 51 52 Member Lonoff mentioned that the students seemed receptive to Member Hamed’s idea of 53 putting the mental health resource information on class syllabi. 54 55 A brief conversation occurred on the importance of texting. 56 57 Chair Doughty echoed Member Latek’s observations. 58 59 The group held a conversation on Text-A-Tip, its potential value and how it might be funded. 60 The group then asked Staff Liaison Jensen to reach out to other agencies and see if others 61 would be interested in helping fund it. 62 63 Chair Doughty that he was not surprised with much of the feedback from the teen 64 representatives except on the issue of body image. 65 66 The group held a brief conversation on body issues and how many types of stress for teens 67 result from not “fitting in.” 68 69 The group discussed how the school counselors are currently viewed and utilized by students 70 and that it might be appropriate to share some feedback with the schools. 71 72 Member Hamed detailed how she encourages students to interact in her classroom and build 73 bonds. 74 75 The group held a conversation on the importance of connections and “connectedness” and how 76 to encourage that with students. 77 78 Planning 79 The group discussed its plans for the immediate, medium and long-term and how to connect 80 with the various groups the Subcommittee was planning to work with. 81 82 Next Meeting 83 The next meeting will be Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 7pm in the Terrace Room at Village Hall. 84 85 Adjournment 86 A motion was made by Member Latek and seconded by Member Lonoff to adjourn. On a voice 87 vote, all aye. The meeting closed at 7:55pm. 88 89 Respectfully submitted, 90 91 92 93 Erik Jensen 94 Staff Liaison 2