I'm excited to announce that tomorrow I will deliver a keynote address at the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) 2024 Conference. This pivotal event, showcasing cutting-edge strategies in hope science, will take place on June 29, 2024, at 8 AM at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Following the keynote, we will host a book signing session at 12:00PM in the School Health Corporation booth.
The keynote, "Activating Hope to Foster Student Mental and Physical Health, Safety, Connection, and Performance," will draw from over a decade of pioneering research in hope science. Attendees will gain actionable solutions for enhancing hope among adults, children, and adolescents - crucial for mental health prevention, violence reduction, and addiction intervention. Studies indicate that individuals with higher levels of hope had significantly better outcomes during COVID-19, underscoring hope's vital role in overcoming adversity.
This week the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country. Hopelessness is a significant predictor of risk behaviors in youth, such as violence, weapon-carrying on school property, self-harm, unprotected sex, bullying, and partner violence. Researchers have found that a history of violent behavior is the only consistent predictor of gun violence. Notably, over 40% of adolescents and 57% of teen girls in the United States report persistent hopelessness. Evidence suggests that programs targeting hopelessness can reduce violent behaviors; thus, teaching hope to all is crucial.
We urge lawmakers, leaders, and community members to start thinking about proactive, upstream approaches, and we aim to bring this message to the school nurses. Hopelessness is a normal experience of life, how we react to it predicts if we use violence, addictive substances, or self-harm to manage it, or find healthier alternatives. Yet we can not expect any of it to stop unless we get to the root cause, so ensuring all know what hopelessness is, and how to proactively manage it and get to hope, is critical to solving this national public health crisis.
Thankful to Rob Rogers and Susan Rogers for making this possible. I'm looking forward to connecting with all at National Association of School Nurses, and sharing Robin Cogan MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN's Shine Hope Story.
Check out the full release:
https://lnkd.in/gMPb4552
