Jun 26, 2025 | Charity, Children-Youth, News
We’re thrilled to be honored by PRMS as one of the 2025 Partners in the Community Grant recipients!
Thanks to our nomination and commitment to children’s mental health, we’ve been awarded a $2,500 grant to support our vital outreach efforts.
This funding will enhance our ability to provide essential mental health resources and programs for children and youth across Delaware. It’s a wonderful recognition of our mission—and a significant boost to our ongoing community impact.
A heartfelt thanks to PRMS for this support and trust in our work!
Jan 16, 2025 | Children-Youth, News, Outreach
On January 8th, Shemar and Simran from the 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 presented 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐔𝐩 𝐁𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 to the children at 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 in Wilmington. The children were very excited and actively participated in learning safety and shared their stories.
Shemar and Simran from the 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭
Dec 3, 2024 | Children-Youth, Families, Teens
A youth psychology expert explains what’s behind their harmful behavior
Sara Goldstein, University of Delaware, The Conversation
Being bullied can make your life miserable, and decades of research prove it: Bullied children and teens are at risk for anxiety, depression, dropping out of school, peer rejection, social isolation and self-harm.
Adults can be bullied too, often at a job, and they may suffer just as much as kids do.
You can help stop bullying in your school or workplace.
I’m a professor who studies child and adolescent development. That includes learning how people become bullies – and how they can be stopped.
First, let’s define what bullying is: It’s mean-spirited, harmful behavior by someone with more power or status – like a popular kid at school or a supervisor at work – who repeatedly picks on, harasses, irritates or injures a person with less power or status.
Bullying can take many forms – physical, like pushing, shoving and hitting; relational, such as spreading rumors, keeping somebody out of a friend group or just rude remarks; or sexual harassment and stalking behavior.
Sometimes, bullies target someone because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or appearance. People from the LGBTQ+ community, or who are overweight, or with a physical or developmental disability are more likely to be bullied. As a result, they may develop mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and self-harming behavior.
So why do bullies do it?
People learn how to bully others early on through what psychologists call modeling and social learning. This means bullies see other people bullying and they essentially model, or copy, this aggressive behavior.
Media is a big culprit here. When mean or violent conduct is glamorized and gamified in music, video games, TV and movies, bullies will imitate what they see and hear, especially if it seems cool or if it’s rewarded.
Family is also an influence. If children grow up in a home without kindness and closeness, but with plenty of physical punishment and heavy conflict – including parents fighting with each other – then children view this behavior as acceptable. They can go on to treat their peers this way.
A similar thing happens when a kid falls into a group of friends who are bullies; they become more likely to bully others themselves. To say it another way, they bully because they think it makes them look cool in front of their friends.
And bullies bully for lots of other reasons. Some do it because it makes them feel better about themselves when they put other people down. Other bullies discovered that force and intimidation worked for them in the past, so it’s a go-to strategy to get what they want. Still others simply have difficulty controlling themselves and can’t calm down when they’re angry.
And with some bullies, it’s just a way to get ahead. For instance, an adult bully in the workplace may spread an embarrassing rumor about a co-worker to keep a rival from being promoted.
Sep 17, 2024 | Children-Youth
Funding is essential to ensure Delaware Children’s Museum continues to fulfill mission
Jen Bush | Guest columnist
Since opening its doors in April 2010, the Delaware Children’s Museum is the only children’s museum in the state and has welcomed over 1 million guests.
The big, yellow building on Wilmington’s Riverfront is specifically designed to serve young children by offering hands-on, unique exhibits and programming powered by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education and playful learning.
For generations of Delaware children, the DCM is their first museum experience. The children who explored our galleries when we opened are now in college or will be graduating from high school. Our young visitors today are discovering STEAM in our exhibits and programs.
DCM’s founders wanted to bring a unique experience to children in Delaware. Our first board president, William Smith, and current board member explained the founders’ vision: “When I first was involved with the DCM, my children were young. The founding members envisioned a place children could learn about the world and for me, the effect science has in their day-to-day environment. The goal was to have a safe place children can learn through play. I am so pleased we have continued to achieve this mission.”
We see the power of play every day at DCM. Young children learn through their play, and play is the serious work of childhood.
Playful learning or “plearning” was coined by Dr. Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair and professor in the School of Education at the University of Delaware and former DCM board member.
She shared her thoughts on how the DCM is an important resource to families: “Research tells us that the kind of play that takes place in children’s museums is very important to children’s wellbeing – especially after COVID when children experienced much isolation and too much screen time (although this was often essential so that parents could work.) DCM is a gift to the children and families in our community and deserves our full support!”
Jul 25, 2024 | Children-Youth, DGS Staff, Families, News
To help parents facing adversity nurture their children, a Delaware prof created a program now used by 10 countries.
‘Babies can’t wait’ for their families to resolve issues like homelessness and addiction, Mary Dozier says. So, she found a way to equip their mothers and fathers with the skills needed to meet their kids’ needs while addressing their own issues.
A young mother sits on the floor in a motel room with her baby girl on her lap, her son milling around in the background. The mother taps the infant’s fist on a toy, as the baby dazes blankly, unengaged.
These moments were captured on video before the mother underwent a 10-session intervention for parents who have trouble bonding with their children because of challenges tied to poverty, homelessness and other issues. In a montage of clips filmed afterward, the woman can be seen snuggling the baby sleeping on her chest while she talks to and plays with her young son at her side. In another clip, the son dangles his arm around his mother’s shoulders as she jostles the baby in her lap.
There is life and love in the room.
“This mom continues to live in a motel room,” said Mary Dozier, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Delaware who developed the program. “We haven’t helped her with child care. We haven’t helped her with housing. We haven’t directly tried to change depression or anything else, and yet, these two children’s lives have fundamentally changed.”
Dozier has spent three decades studying the development of infants and young children. The home visiting program that she developed, dubbed ABC for Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up, uses coaches who provide in-the-moment positive reinforcement to help parents learn to nurture a child, follow a child’s lead and avoid frightening behaviors. These skills are useful for anybody, but they are “especially important when children have experienced adversity or trauma,” Dozier said.
Through a series of studies coordinated with the Philadelphia Department of Health and Human Services, Dozier and a team of researchers identified children who were at risk of neglect and have followed their development for 15 years, examining the short- and long-term effects of the ABC program. This research has shown that the ABC program – now used in 26 states and 10 countries – improves children’s brain and behavioral development and helps them gain trusting, secure relationships with their parents. Studies have indicated that the easily-implemented ABC program improves children’s executive-functioning and self-control and that it regulates cortisol production, the stress-hormone that partly affects sleep.
“We see this everywhere we go, whether it’s when we implement it nationally and internationally or in a randomized trial,” said Dozier, the UNIDEL Amy E. du Pont Chair of Child Development at the University of Delaware. “We see the parents change. They become more sensitive. They follow the lead more of their child. We see the children’s attachment is more likely to be secure and organized.”
Currently, Dozier and her team have been researching how the ABC program impacts parents with substance use disorder. The $3.1 million, National Institutes of Health-funded study began in 2020 and ends in 2026. It includes about 200 parents from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland who are receiving treatment, such as the medications methadone or buprenorphine that help stem the cravings for and effects of opioids. Since opioids and other drugs interfere with brain receptors involved with the reward system, the natural rewards that come from bonding with a child and parenting may be affected.
“We (humans) are designed so that parenting will be rewarding, but that system gets disrupted when we have enough challenges in our life, either because of drugs or mental health issues or living in a motel room with three kids,” Dozier said. “So what you’ve got to do is change the system, tweak it so that eventually children can be become more rewarding, so that the process of parenting is itself rewarding.”
With the parents with substance use disorder in the ABC program, Dozier’s team has been placing electrodes on their heads to study brain activity as they look at pictures of babies and pictures of drugs.
“What we anticipate is that the baby would become relatively more important to them than the drug, if they’re in the … ABC intervention than if they’re not,” Dozier said. “But I don’t know the answer to that at this point.”
Helping parents learn to become more engaged with their children is necessary even before resolving substance use, stabilizing housing or addressing other challenges because “babies can’t wait,” Dozier said.
No matter what situation the parents are in, coaches conducting the ABC intervention do not critique or correct parents’ actions. Instead, starting in the very first session, the coaches “are already trying to find something in what they’re (the parents) doing that is positive and pointing it out,” Dozier said.
The parent should feel supported by the ABC coach whose ongoing, positive reinforcement of what the parent is doing well elicits a “cascade of behaviors, and it makes parents really feel empowered. It makes them feel good about themselves,” Dozier said.
“I was 37, and I was a psychologist when I had my first child,” Dozier said. “If you had an expert come in to say they’re going to evaluate my parenting, I would have found that threatening. And so you can imagine what it would feel like for a 20-year-old who is using opioids.
“Everybody said, ‘How in the world could you possibly have a child? You have no business having a child.’ They’re (the parents) going to just feel so demeaned. So, the positive comments are just so critical in helping them feel rewarded by this process. And eventually, what we want is that they are rewarded by their baby and rewarded by parenting itself. We’re sort of scaffolding that process to get them to that point.”
Jun 7, 2024 | Children-Youth, DGS Staff, Outreach
A huge thank you to Malia Boone, Brandy Beatty, and Sara Heinicke for representing DGS at the AKA Zeta Omega Mental Health Forum on the Delaware State University campus.
AND, Michael Hoffa and Sammi Becker met with community members at the
Food Bank of Delaware‘s Resource and Job Fair in Milford.
Their enthusiastic outreach ensures the services and opportunities provided by DGS are easily available to
#Delawarians. Thank you all for representing DGS so well!
May 24, 2024 | Children-Youth, Events, Families, News, Outreach
Join the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and it’s Delaware Chapter for the annual ‘Out of the Darkness Walk. Raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention. Funds benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and its Delaware Chapter.
- September 22 – Wilmington Walk at Delcastle Recreational Park. Register Here
- October 19 – Milford Walk at Bicentennial Park. Register Here
Feb 28, 2024 | Children-Youth, Families, Teens
Especially students from LGBTQ+ and marginalized communities
A new survey shows one-third of students cite mental health concerns for dropping out of college, or never going.
High school juniors and seniors frequently find themselves pondering tough decisions about the road ahead. Will they go to college? If not, what comes next?
That journey can significantly impact students’ mental well-being, leading many to choose to delay enrollment or opt out of college entirely.
A recent study by EAB, an educational company once known as the Education Advisory Board, revealed a concerning statistic: nearly one-third of the nearly 6,500 students studied opted out of college due to mental health concerns, with mental well-being concerns being most pronounced among underrepresented groups. Specifically, the issue is particularly notable among 54% of trans students, 53% of nonbinary students, 33% of Black students, 30% of Native American students, and 30% of female students.
Eric Layland, a researcher and assistant professor in the department of human development and family sciences at the University of Delaware, concurs with the research findings, noting deeper stressors within the LGBTQ+ student community.
He said LGBTQ+ students “also face additional stressors based on their LGBTQ minority identities that come from the systemic and day-to-day mistreatment and devaluation of LGBTQ students. … For trans and non-binary students in particular, that’s living in a political climate that is often devaluing their identities and threatening to block their basic human rights.”
While most students who apply for college worry about independent living and forming new connections, some also grapple with the added challenges of being transgender, gay, or Black.
“You layer on top of that additional stressors of having to navigate whether they’ll be accepted for their identities, how they will access and reach firming and positive mental and physical health care and looking for workplace and living environments that will validate and be fair to their identities,” he added.
During the survey, students indicated that stress and anxiety overshadow their college search and planning. Layland even mentioned that suicide attempts are rates of anxiety and depression are higher among LGBTQ adolescenets.
Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death in Delaware for individuals aged 10-24.
According to America’s Health Ranking, Delaware high school students who identify as queer are more likely to consider attempting suicide compared to their heterosexual counterparts.
‘Cultural competence and cultural humility’
Universities need to proactively consider how they will care for trans or non-binary students, Layland said.
“Cultural competence for providing care to trans and non-binary students is extremely important at universities and that takes continued training and reflection with staff particularly advising in Mental Health Care staff,” Layland said. “So cultural competence, or another idea we might talk about, cultural humility, is really important for working with groups who may have experiences that providers and admin and staff don’t have themselves.”
He says cultural humility centers on an individual’s willingness to learn and engage with people from marginalized groups or communities they may not be part of. This encompasses the adeptness to interact sensitively with individuals, including queer students or those from diverse racial backgrounds.
Another expert from the University of Delaware, Roderick L. Carey, a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, emphasizes the crucial role of cultural competence for marginalized groups, particularly in matters of race.
“Race is a very important, life-shaping variable, not necessarily just the color of your skin, but just the ways that the color of your skin offers you opportunities, but also challenges
in maneuvering up and through the K-12 system to even get to college,” Carey said. “We see even preschool age boys Black boys getting suspended and expelled from school.”
Following a suspension, students may be labeled a “problem.” Carey said that experience based on the color of one’s skin can become a traumatic experience for the student, significantly impacting their cognitive development from kindergarten through high school.
“It’s like those types of things, when kids experience those types of traumas in their school, they grow to start to wonder whether or not school in other formations of school like higher education is for them,” he said.
To better support underrepresented groups, experts suggest that universities gather sexual orientation and gender identity data during admissions to get a better sense of enrollment patterns. They say schools should also allocate more resources to help educators enhance their cultural competency.
Jan 15, 2024 | Children-Youth, Families, Teens
Want to make sure your child’s school is safe? These are the questions parents should ask.
With gunfire in schools at an all-time high, though still rare, back-to-school season begins this year with many parents more concerned than ever about school safety.
While many schools and states have turned to physical safety measures such as extra police presence and metal detectors, others rely on social-emotional learning to improve school climate.
“You have these two genres – the zero-tolerance policies and making each school look like a little prison on one side. Ironically, you have – at the same time – the opposite vision of making school’s a more loving and caring and supportive place,” said Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He noted that schools are increasingly leaning on both methods simultaneously to address school safety – a route he said might not work.
“Are both of these views compatible? Can (students) feel like they belong … if their school is doing both? We don’t know for sure,” Astor said. “These are really, in some ways, scary times in our country, because it’s not a simple list that parents should think about. They have to balance all these issues.”
Experts, educators and advocates offered USA TODAY some of the questions parents should consider when assessing the safety of their children’s schools.
What is social-emotional learning?
School climate, which refers to students’ feelings of acceptance, appreciation and value in their school, is the most important factor for maintaining safety, said Aaron Kupchick, professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware.
To maintain a positive school climate, experts stress the importance of teaching social emotional learning (SEL) – which prioritizes the development of social and emotional skills in students, including self-awareness, empathy and resilience. Over the past few years, SEL has been linked to critical race theory, and conservatives have said the practice as a form of “woke indoctrination.”
SEL at school is crucial for student safety and success, said Heather Reynolds, a professor of teacher education at State University New York, Empire State University.
“It impacts not only safety, but academics. It improves mental health and students feel safer. They’re more engaged, more likely to come to school and have a positive perception of school.”
Jan 2, 2024 | Children-Youth, News
Delaware Governor John Carney has signed in to law three pieces of legislation meant to improve mental health resources in Delaware.
“My highest priority is making sure we give students everything they need to be successful,” said Governor Carney. “This package of legislation strengthens our mental and behavioral health services so that we can identify, support, and help students in and out of the classroom. I want to thank Speaker Longhurst and the members of the Delaware General Assembly for their advocacy and hard work on behalf of our students.”
“Today we took another critical step forward, not just in policy, but in our commitment to creating a future where every Delawarean has access to the mental health care and resources they need,” said House Speaker Valerie Longhurst. “The bills Governor Carney signed today will help to deliver the compassionate, comprehensive mental health support residents need and deserve, but we’re not stopping here. Just as we have for the last several years, we’re going to continue to address the mental health crisis in our state with the urgency and seriousness it deserves.”
Legislators say the first bill, House Bill 3, helps students by allowing them excused absences for mental or behavior health reasons. As a part of this bill, any student who needs more than two of these absences be referred to a school-based mental or behavioral health specialist.
The second is House Bill 4, which is also aimed at students. Legislators say that it makes sure students have access to behavior health support in school after a school-connected traumatic event, which is defined as the death of any student, educator, administrator, or other building employee, or any other traumatic event that effects a significant portion of the students at the school.
“During my 25-year tenure as a public school teacher, I saw firsthand how mental health played a crucial role in a student’s ability to meaningfully learn and develop,” said Sen. Laura Sturgeon, chair of the Senate Education Committee and Senate prime sponsor of HB 3 and HB 4.
“With House Bill 3 and House Bill 4, we are ensuring Delaware’s youngest minds have access to the mental and behavioral support they need to thrive both in and outside of the classroom.”
As a part of House Bill 4, officials say the Delaware Department of Education will develop guidance, best practices, and written resources for school dealing with school-connected traumatic events. They say the department will also be responsible for covering the costs of grief counseling offered to students for up to 45 days after the event, with an option to renew for another 45 days.
“We’re grateful to Speaker Longhurst for, once again, taking important steps to support youth mental health in Delaware,” said Angela Kimball, senior vice president of advocacy and public policy at Inseparable. “This year’s legislation showcases the Speaker’s leadership and dedication to youth mental health, which not only makes Delaware a better place to grow up but also is putting Delaware on the map as a national leader in mental health.”
Both bills are part of a larger package called “the 2023 Delaware Behavioral Health Package.” They say the measures are part of a holistic approach to improving the way mental health care is given to children in Delaware.
The third house bill, 160 (S), is about creating a way to fund the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The 988 National Suicide Designation Act was passed by Congress in 2020, but legislators say states were independently responsible for setting the lifeline up. 988 would be the universal three-digit calling code for it, like how 911 is used for public safety emergencies.
The bill generates income to fund the lifeline through a 60-cent monthly surcharge on all phones and landlines, as well as a 60-cent fee on prepaid services. Legislators say these fees mirror fees already collected to support 911.
The bill has the money go to the Behavior Health Crisis Intervention Services Fund, which would fund the lifeline and a plan for a variety of services meant to help Delawareans experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
House Bill 160 (S) also creates a 20-member board, says legislators, that will develop a comprehensive statewide crisis intervention services plan and recommend to the governor and general assembly how to use the money from the surcharge. They say the board will be made up of state health officials, behavioral health experts, medical professionals, law enforcement and others.
“The creation of the 988 hotline wasn’t just a symbolic gesture — this has been a critical tool to help people get the same level of urgent and individualized care that they would if they were to call 911,” said Sen. Poore. “I’m proud to work alongside Speaker Longhurst to make the 988 hotline a more sustainable resource here in Delaware. We must continue to invest in our state’s mental health infrastructure, and I thank Governor Carney for signing this next important step into law.”
Credit WRDE | Benjamin Rothstein
Oct 17, 2023 | Charity, Children-Youth, Events, Families, News, Outreach, Teens
With your support, Delaware Guidance Services continues to serve children and their families here in Delaware!
Click on our video to see images from our 70th anniversary celebration!
Jun 5, 2023 | Children-Youth, Families, News
U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has issued an advisory about social media’s impact on youth mental health. It notes that while social media can provide benefits for some children and youth, there is a growing body of research about potential harms social media use poses.
Children and adolescents on social media are commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content and frequent social media use can contribute to poor mental health, including depression and anxiety. The advisory outlines action steps that policymakers, technology companies, researchers, and families can take to mitigate the risk of harm and make social media safer and healthier for children and youth.
OJJDP, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), provides resources to keep youth safe online, including NCMEC’s NetSmartz program.
In addition, OJJDP’s mentoring programs support youth mental health and its National Mentoring Resource Center is dedicated to enhancing mentoring practices that support positive youth outcomes.
Download the Advisory
