When Youth See Themselves for Who They Are, Magic Happens

Change people's perceptions and you will change their behaviors: that is the magic of Positive Community Norms. We've tried to capture some of that magic in this short video about the community of Deer River, Minnesota. It had its world premiere last week at our annual Summer Institute, and I'm proud to be able to share it with you all now. 

I've written before about the incredible norms change work being done across Minnesota around the issue of youth alcohol consumption. Deer River was selected for the project because of its higher-than-average rates of youth drinking; the changes they achieved in just five short years are nothing short of astounding.

Led by a tireless and passionate community coalition, they changed the way parents, teachers and other adults perceived local youth. More importantly, they transformed the way that Deer River youth perceived themselves. The project allowed middle and high school students to reveal themselves for who they really are: young people who care about their school and their families. Kids who have multiple interests and goals that have nothing to do with drinking.

At the start of the project, most students thought their peers drank far more than they actually did. As the Deer River team closed this misperception gap, rates of youth drinking dropped. By the end of the five year project, they measured a 50% reduction in monthly youth alcohol consumption. 

In this video, you get a chance to hear from the local changemakers who helped their youth see themselves -- and each other -- with clearer eyes. I hope you'll watch and share your comments below. 

This project -- and this video -- was funded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division. Their vision and leadership has been crucial to the success of PCN in Deer River and beyond. 

Culture is Key to Ending Campus Sexual Assault and Dating Violence

How can the Science of the Positive process help to end sexual assault and dating violence  at colleges and universities? By using the Positive Community Norms framework to change campus cultures. Together, the Science of the Positive and PCN can: 

1) Ignite transformational leadership
2) Establish clear communications based upon protective norms
3) Integrate science-based strategies and policies across the campus/community ecology
4) Reflect upon returns and evaluate effectiveness

During this week's Enhancing the Campus Response to Dating and Sexual Violence workshop -- sponsored by the DC Coalition Against Domestic Abuse and the Department of Justice -- forward-thinking leaders from eight DC colleges and universities laid the groundwork for a Strategic Communication Frame for talking about and responding to campus sexual assault and dating violence, one that aligns the communications of each of their institutions around a common set of positive values, priorities, and prevention perspectives. This is just the beginning of our work together cultivating healthier cultures by building on strengths and protective factors that already exist in their campus communities. There is much work ahead, but I am eager to get started. 

New PCN Project: Campus Sexual Assault and Dating Violence

I've spent the day prepping for a very important trip next week. The DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence (DCCADV) has invited me to lead a two-day workshop on how the Science of the Positive Process and Positive Community Norms can change how we talk about, respond to, and prevent campus sexual assault and dating violence. The group will include representatives from eight DC-area colleges and universities; our goal is to connect leaders from these different institutions around a common prevention framework, one that balances hope with concern and builds on the strengths that already exist in their campus communities.

Positive Community Norms is poised to make measurable change around this critical issue – one that, with my son heading off to college in the fall and my daughter not far behind, feels more personally urgent than ever. My wife and I recently sat down with both kids to watch “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses. It was difficult to watch, but it opened up some conversations that were important for us to have as a family. More to come on this issue when I’m in DC next week.  

From Practitioner to Expert: Sara Thompson Joins the MSI 2016 Faculty

I am honored to announce that Sara Thompson will join me as a faculty member at the 2016 Montana Summer Institute. In addition to nearly a decade of hands-on experience with Positive Community Norms, Sara brings her intelligence, wit, and a passion for applying marketing to correct misperceptions of norms to make a measurable difference in the lives of the people in her community.

I first met Sara nine years ago at a training I was conducting as part of my 10-site Positive Community Norms project in Minnesota. Sara was there as the media consultant for one of the participating community coalitions, using her background in radio and marketing to help them build powerful community-wide media and messages. I remember seeing Sara sitting at her table with a thoughtful scowl, as she carefully considered -- and often challenged -- the norms change theory and process that I was presenting.

Today, Sara is a skilled PCN practitioner with a deep understanding of the Science of the Positive. She has become a vital member of the TMI team, one who continues to challenge my work in the very best of ways. It is not too late to join me, Sara, and the rest of the team next month in Big Sky. I hope to see you there!

The Science of the Positive and Essentials for Children

Happy to be back in Boston to deliver the keynote speech and run an all-day Science of the Positive institute for the CDC-funded Massachusetts Essentials for Childhood Inaugural Summit: "The Next Revolution for Our Common Wealth." Excited to apply the Science of the Positive to the job of keeping children healthy and safe, and to know that this state so rich in history is working hard to create a bright future for its youngest citizens.

A Conference with a View

Image Courtesty Big Sky Resort

The problem with holding the Summer Institute in a place as scenic as Big Sky is that I have to find speakers who are as compelling as the view. Which is why I'm so pleased to welcome Dr. Darren Lubbers to the faculty of the 2016 Montana Summer Institute. Darren and I first worked together 10 years ago, and I am lucky to be partnering with him again. We have been working together on two fascinating projects: a 10-community PCN campaign in Minnesota that has shown astounding results in reducing youth drinking, and a nationwide survey for Prevent Child Abuse America on protective norms related to protecting children from abuse and neglect.

Darren is the ultimate scientist-practitioner. He and his team are outstanding at developing research methodologies and constructing surveys and are impeccable with their analytics. On top of these talents, Darren has over 20 years of experience working on substance abuse prevention projects. What makes all of his expertise even more valuable are Darren’s gifts as a teacher. He can take even the most difficult concepts and put them into language that everyone in the room can understand.

His passion for sharing his life’s work is palpable, as all of you who join us in Big Sky will soon learn. I look forward to presenting with him next month!

THIS JUST IN: BIGFOOT TO PRESENT AT MSI!

I'm thrilled that my colleague and friend Dr. Jason Kilmer will join me as a faculty member at the 2016 Montana Summer Institute. Jason's expertise as a prevention professional is matched by his famously engaging presentation style. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, and serves as an investigator on several studies evaluating prevention and intervention efforts for alcohol and other drug use by college students. And that is only part of what he does. 

Jason is hoping that Sasquatch will pay us a visit at Big Sky. Last winter a family claimed they saw him in Yellowstone taking in the sights, so maybe he'll swing by and join us at the resort! I'd love to get Squatch's take on awareness and misperceptions -- but if his presentation follows Jason's, he'll have big shoes to fill. 

image from http://www.krtv.com/story/28087433/bigfoot-family-spotted-on-yellowstone-webcam

PCN and the Heart of Ojibwe: A Red Lake Story

Yesterday I had the honor of presenting on Positive Community Norms with some extraordinary Native leaders. Jo Lightfeather is the Director of the Learning Center at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in Minneapolis. She and I met seven years ago at one of my trainings on the Science of the Positive and norms-based prevention strategies. Since then, she has been instrumental in developing Native projects based upon the Science of the Positive, and has initiated trainings for tribes across Minnesota. We were joined by Tom and Karen Barrett from the Red Lake Nation, who shared how Positive Community Norms has become a powerful framework for honoring tribal cultures and organizing events that build on the tremendous strengths that already exist in people, land, and drum.

Me and Jo Lightfeather of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center

with tom and karen barrett of the red lake nation

We organized our workshop around the Science of the Positive Cycle of Spirit, Science, Action and Return:

1.  SPIRIT: Explore of the science-of-the-positive process, and the positive community norms (PCN) framework as hope-based ways to increase resilience by honoring Native cultures;

2. SCIENCE: Understand science-based elements involved with planning successful normative interventions that align with Native values;

3. ACTION: Identify practical ways that PCN strategies have been used on the Red Lake Nation to grow culturally- based protective factors;

4. RETURN: Reflect upon ideas regarding the data, people and resources that are needed to implement positive community norms strategies in diverse programs and environments.

It was a terrific event, but we are still just scratching the surface of how the Science of the Positive can be used to honor and grow tribal strengths. Jo and I are currently designing a resilience-building Digital Storytelling Curriculum for Native Youth based on the Science of the Positive that we will pilot-test this June. And I look forward to working with Tom and Karen again soon.

Safety Culture: Two Words That Launched a Field

Diana Markosian: One Day in the Life of Chernobyl, VOA News, photo gallery. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Do you remember where you were on April 26, 1986? I do. I had just finished my Master’s Degree in Counseling and was taking a few months to travel across Europe. I woke up that morning in Venice, Italy to the news of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. For the rest of my trip I read the paper every day to see which way the wind was blowing – and decide which areas to avoid.   

As I continued my travels, the International Nuclear Safety Group began meeting to determine the underlying causes of this tragic event. Unbeknownst to me and the rest of the world, they were studying more than the meltdown of a nuclear reactor. They were examining another hidden risk factor: the norms, attitudes, and behaviors that created disastrously dangerous human safety conditions. The INSG coined the term “Safety Culture,” and with those two words began a new era of health and safety research.  

Over the next three decades, my early interest in treating people on an individual level expanded into a focus on larger communities, and eventually encompassed the role of norms, perceptions, and misperceptions in creating Safety Cultures. I went from working with single clients, to working with university undergraduates, to creating community and statewide campaigns that worked across an entire social ecology. After founding a university center on health and safety culture, I now work full time with The Montana Institute, innovating ways to build strong cultures of health, safety, and caring using Positive Community Norms and the Science of the Positive.

Recently my work has expanded into new fields, including sexual violence prevention and child maltreatment prevention, and I am energized to find more ways that culture itself can act as a protective factor that reduces dangerous behaviors and increases positive ones. A key theme is that the positive exists in every culture, organization, tribe, community, and school. The Science of the Positive and Positive Community Norms can be used to cultivate the conditions for this positive to emerge, expand, and create healthy safety cultures.

Traffic Safety: A PCN Classic

I hear North Dakota is the least-visited state in the union, but I'm doing my best to buck that trend. I'm spending two days in Bismarck with folks from the Department of Transportation, exploring ways to use Positive Community Norms to make their roads safer. PCN can be used to reduce driving after drinking (as I did in a statewide campaign in Montana), increase seatbelt use, and combat texting and driving. Unfortunately, nothing has yet been invented that can keep me from singing along with classic rock radio in my rental car. 

When Positive Community Norms Just Clicks

Clickers allow for instant, anonymous voting. 

I have been working with key prevention leaders in the Boston area for over ten years on issues including youth alcohol and substance abuse, and, most recently, child maltreatment prevention. My friend and colleague Stephanie Patton just reached out to me with an interesting update. She and the team at OASIS (Organizing Against Substances in Stoughton) have been turning up the volume of their work, expanding from a limited social norms campaign focused on teens in schools to a true Positive Community Norms intervention that engages groups across the social ecology, including teachers, parents, business leaders, law enforcement, and government officials. In the process of building their PCN efforts, OASIS’ coalition leaders have developed into true civic leaders, who now help build support for healthy community initiatives and steer difficult public conversations using the Science of the Positive.

Stephanie writes, “I wanted to drop you a note to let you know about an unanticipated outcome of our work together. Stoughton's local government has decided to use clickers for electronic voting due to our collaborative work.” For those of you who don’t know, clickers are great tool for exposing misperceptions and learning how they work – I use them often in my trainings. But back to Stephanie: “Because we have become the local clicker "experts" we are building some important new relationships in town hall and with town meeting reps. What is really cool is that in some of the planning meetings people are talking about peer influence on voting and how misperceptions can arise from standing or hand-raising votes. This is an exciting example of how Positive Community Norms is really having an impact on how our community thinks.”

Bravo, OASIS! I’m looking forward to hearing more about their success when I see Stephanie and her team in July for the Montana Summer Institute.

The Seven Core Principles in Practice

This is Tanis Henderson, the school counselor at the high school in Deer River, Minnesota. She infuses the Seven Core Principles into the school culture one conversation at a time, helping her students learn to be positive, present, perceptive, purposeful, perfected, proactive, and passionate as they evaluate the world around them and make their own choices in it. She is applying the Science of the Positive at its deepest level, transforming perceptions -- and lives -- in the process. 

Montana Summer Institute 2016: Extended Early Registration Deadline!

I have extended the early registration deadline for the Montana Summer Institute to May 16th! There is no more beautiful setting for digging deep into norms science, learning the ins and outs of Positive Community Norms, and getting inspired to transform attitudes and behaviors across a virtually limitless array of issues. I hope that all of you who are working to change culture and improve positive norms in your communities, schools, and workplaces will join me July 6th-9th in Big Sky. Read more about it or register online. 

The Proof is the Pudding -- Or in this Case, The Cake

...that's exactly what an incredible group of leaders acccomplished over the past five years. In ten Minnesota communities, they changed the way youth THOUGHT about underage alcohol use, and that changed the way youth ACTED around alcohol. We're talking change to the tune of double-digit reductions in monthly youth alcohol consumption. That is the magic of Positive Community Norms: change the way people think about a behavior, and behavior change is just icing on the cake. 

The Minnesota leaders at our final meeting and celebration.

Hold My Calls -- I'm With an Important Client

Five Years of PCN Yields Double-Digit Impacts

I’m on a plane again today, on my way to meet with leaders from ten Minnesota communities that have been implementing the Science of the Positive and Positive Community Norms over the past five years. The results have been astounding: some of these communities have measured double-digit reductions in monthly alcohol use among youth over the time we have worked together. We’ll spend two days looking at the results of their most recent student and community surveys, talking about what we’ve learned so far, and getting charged up for what comes next. Beside a lake, of course -- I hear there are 10,000 to choose from.

Does Culture Matter in Creating Good Health?

Earlier this month I traveled to Missoula to present at the Innovation and Imagination in Global Health Conference hosted by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana. (I am honored to be a faculty affiliate at the Mansfield Center, which is dedicated to enhancing mutual understanding between the United States and Asia and to fostering ethical public policy and leadership relating to international affairs, public service, and the environment.)

In my talk I posed the question: DOES CULTURE MATTER IN CREATING GOOD HEALTH? The answer is a profound yes. The social determinants of health that shape the environments in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age have been well studied. But there is another element of culture that hides in plain sight: perceptions of norms. Our perceptions of how most people around us think and behave have a profound impact on our own beliefs, attitudes, and actions. What’s more, our perceptions of these norms are often wrong, leading us to make riskier choices. These culturally-embedded misperceptions of norms are hidden risk and protective factors become the powerful fulcrum for change upon which Positive Community Norms is based. 

Science of the Positive: Meteorology Edition

...and just like that, bike season begins. Ski you next year, Lone Mountain. I'll see you in July for the 2016 Montana Summer Institute. Funny story: last year, our entire group took the lift halfway up the mountain, where we were stranded by a lightning storm and pelted by marble-sized hail. We were ferried down the hill in a rag-tag rescue convoy of buses, construction trucks, and pickups, laughing all the way. Everyone stayed upbeat even in challenging circumstances -- a wonderful example of Science of the Positive leadership at work. I know that many of these terrific folks are braving the elements to join me again in Big Sky. And this year, we've left the ski lift reflection exercise off the agenda!

Montana Rush-Hour Commute

Driving back from Missoula after delivering the closing keynote at the Montana Department of Health and Human Services' conference on child abuse and neglect. I was honored to present 15 years of Positive Community Norms research -- research that this far-sighted agency funded way back when I first put the approach together. All these years later, the potential for Positive Community Norms to promote health and safety is still as wide and open as the road unspooling ahead. I'm returning home tired, inspired, and ready for what's next. 

Empowering the Next Generation of Native Research Scientists

Two weeks ago I paid my first visit to Stone Child College, the official Tribal College of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe. Stone Child is located in the gorgeous Bears Paw Mountains in North-Central Montana; rarely do I enjoy a drive to work as beautiful as the trip from Bozeman to the town of Box Elder. I was invited by the American Higher Indian Education Consortium to explore how the Science of the Positive might help empower the next generation of Native American research scientists. I had the honor of being accompanied by my dear friend and colleague Dr. Cecil White hat from Minnesota. Cecil and I spent two days with a dynamic group of Stone Child students and administrators unpacking the Positive Community Norms framework, discussing how native traditions can serve as Cultural Protective Factors, and talking about how perceptions of norms (how most people think others feel and act) act as powerful risk and protective factors when it comes to improving community health.  I was energized by how my colleagues there see the Science of the Positive as a bridge between Native and Western Science philosophies. I'm looking forward to great things from Stone Child graduates in the future, and to my next visit to this beautiful corner of Montana.