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The Melissa Institute's educational efforts include major conferences, seminars, training sessions and programs for youth. The annual conference, which is the Institute's largest educational forum, is attended by hundreds of teachers and principals, health professionals, social workers, counselors, police officers, judges, religious leaders and policy makers. •The Eleventh Annual Conference entitled Trauma-focused Intervention for Children, Adolescents and Families: School, Clinical and Community Approaches, was held on May 4, 2007. Conference presenters included Esther Deblinger, Ph.D., professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and co-founder and co-director of the Child Abuse Research Education and Service Institute; Betty Pfefferbaum, M.D., J.D., chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and Director to the Terrorism and Disaster center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network; and Marleen Wong, LCSW, Ph.D., Director of the Crisis Counseling and Intervention Service for the Los Angeles School District. Donald Meichnbaum, Ph.D., Research Director of The Melissa Institute served as the moderator and provided commentary throughout the conference. •The Tenth Annual Conference was held on May 5, 2006. The title of this conference was Aggression and Suicide Among Children and Youth: Focus on Gender Differences. Presenters included Don Meichenbaum, Ph.D., Jim Larson, Ph. D., NCSP, and Debra Pepler, Ph.D., C.Psych. The keynote address was given by Leonard Pitts, a nationally syndicated columnist and author, and a member of the institute’s Honorary Board.. Mr. Pitts won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2004. Dr. Meichenbaum is Research Director of The Melissa Institute and Drs. Pepler and Larson serve on the Institute’s Scientific Board along with Dr. Meichenbaum. • The Ninth Annual Conference; Strengthening Resilience in Children and Adults, was held on May 5, 2005. The primary presenters were Ann Masten, Ph.D., Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota; and Donald Meichenbaum, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Participating Discussants were Etiony Aldarondo, Ph.D. and Wendy Silverman, Ph.D., both of whom are members of the Institute's Scientific Board. • The Eighth Annual Conference; Family Violence: Intervention and Prevention Strategies in a Diverse Society, was held on May 7, 2004. The presenters included Gail Wyatt, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA; Fernando Mederos, Ed.D., a noted expert on domestic violence with special focus on Hispanic populations; and Etiony Aldarondo, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Educational and Psychological Studies at the University of Miami. Dr. Donald Meichenbaum, Research Director of the Institute, served as both a presenter and moderator.
• The Seventh Annual Conference, "Trauma, Children and Families, Practical ways to Help", was held on May 2, 2003. Presenters included Dr. Annette LaGreca, Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami, and Dr. Wendy Silverman, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Child and Family Psychosocial Research Center at Florida International University. Dr. Donald Meichenbaum, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, Ontario,Canada and Chairperson of the Institute's Scientific Board made two significant presentations. [Download Presentations] • The Sixth Annual Conference, "Anger Control and Aggressive Behaviors, A Life Span Treatment Approach", was held on May 3, 2002. The faculty included Dr. Donald Meichenbaum,Ph.D., Director of the Institute's Scientific Board, and Dr. James Larson, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin. The keynote speaker was Dr. Marvin Dunn, Ph.D., chairperson of the Psychology Department at Florida International University." • The Fifth Annual Conference (in 2001) featured experts who discussed "Ethnic Minorities and Diversity: Implications for Violence Prevention and Treatment." Keynote presentations were made by Harvard University violence prevention expert Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D., José Szapocznik, Ph.D., from the University of Miami's Center for Family Studies, and Leonard Pitts, a nationally syndicated columnist and author. • In 2000, the fourth annual conference focused on "Preventing Violence: A Life-Span Perspective." The Institute also presented a daylong conference on school violence prevention and intervention for more than 600 principals, counselors and staff from Miami-Dade County Public Schools. • The Melissa Institute launched a pilot project in 2001 — a Youth Conference — to educate students and encourage youth participation in violence prevention activities. Middle school students and faculty from Miami-Dade County Public Schools Region VI learned about bullying, its impact on peers and positive strategies for dealing with bullying. The program, designed and led by an expert from our Scientific Board, empowers students to return to their respective schools and involve classmates in a school-wide program. This work is ongoing. [Get handouts] The Institute is also collaborating with Ponce de Leon Middle School, Coral Gables, to bring the nationally acclaimed, research-based "Second Step" violence prevention program to faculty and students. Students at Ponce are already active with the Ponce Explorers Non-violence Initiative (P.E.N.I.), which includes a variety of educational activities, a peace pledge and poster contests. They also have a penny drive that raises money for local organizations and have made donations to the Institute totaling more than $1,100. Research shows that a major contributing factor to violent behavior is a youth's failure in school. Some 85 percent of juvenile offenders are illiterate. The Melissa Institute is committed to improving student and family literacy by providing workshops, training and consultation. More than 250 reading specialists and teachers from Miami-Dade County Public Schools attended the Institute's reading conference in 2001. The program, led by top reading experts, also recognized a local reading instructor for outstanding efforts to promote literacy with a $500 award from The Melissa Institute. AVAILABLE MATERIALS Board members of The Melissa Institute have written extensively, some of the books are listed below. Meichenbaum, D. (2001), Treatment of Individuals with Anger-control Problems and Aggressive Behaviors: A Clinical Handbook, Institute Press. (Contact renmor@golden.net for order information.) Institute Scientific Board Member
Jim Larson, Ph.D., has published a new book, Think First:
Adresssing Aggressive Adolescent Behavior in Secondary Schools.
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Assistant Principal Carol Brown helps Centennial Middle School students at the Youth Conference on Bullying.
Hundreds of participants attended the forum on school violence prevention. |
