Conversations in the Disciplines: SUNY Solutions to School Violence Prevention

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University and SUNY Upstate Medical University will co-host the 5th Annual Forensic Psychiatry Conference, “Conversations in the Disciplines: SUNY Solutions to School Violence Prevention,” from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the Hutchings Psychiatric Center Auditorium, 810 East Genesee St., Syracuse.

This conference is free and open to physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, criminal justice/criminologists, mental health professionals and advocacy groups, school teachers, primary healthcare providers and counselors.

This workshop has been developed by Binghamton University’s Decker School of Nursing and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University, in collaboration with experts from SUNY Upstate’s Golisano Children’s Hospital and the Department of Psychology at Syracuse University.

When 20-year-old Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012, in one swift incident, he propelled the 2012-2013 school homicide total in the United States beyond the total (17) for the entire 2009-2010 school year. School-associated homicides, however, are a small segment of the total number of violent incidents in schools, as demonstrated by the 828,000 nonfatal victimizations of 12- to 18-year-olds on school grounds in 2010.

This workshop will address school violence prevention from a scholarly, multidisciplinary perspective, bringing together faculty and practitioners from across the SUNY system and its neighboring regions to discuss promising new research and evidence-based projects. The workshop’s goal is to advance the state of knowledge of school violence prevention through ongoing research, networking, collaboration and program development.

This workshop also links to SUNY’s Healthier New York ‘big idea’ by addressing one of the state’s most vulnerable populations and most important natural resource − children − whose health and wellbeing is critical to the future of the state. No other organization, public or private, can address these health challenges as powerfully as SUNY.

This conference is sponsored by the Conversations in the Disciplines Program of the State University of New York; Binghamton University’s Decker School of Nursing and Department of Continuing Education & Outreach; the Division of Forensic Psychiatry of the Department of Psychiatry and the Office of Continuing Medical Education at SUNY Upstate Medical University; the Central New York Psychiatric Center; and the New York State Office of Mental Health.

Pre-registration is required by Aug. 6, by calling 315-464-8668 or 800-464-8668. For more information, including a copy of the brochure, contact Linette Thorp at 315-464-3104 or thorp1@upstate.edu.