Dallas, TX
Nonprofit in Dallas offers free Youth Mental Health First Aid training for adults
NORTH TEXAS – Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region places trained staff on campuses to provide daily intervention to “at-risk” students and families.
Their impact extends beyond the classroom to reach not only students but also their families.
The purpose of the Youth Mental Health First Aid intervention training is to prepare teachers and parents on how to recognize and react if a child is having a mental health crisis.
We’re familiar with first aid skills to help people in emergencies, but how about first aid for those whose struggles may not be so visible?
Hillary Evans, a mom of three and graduate of youth mental health first aid training, says these are added skills to help everyone stay prepared, for every possible scenario.
“It’s important to keep an open dialogue and even through nonverbal communication being able to recognize you know some of the signs that could be a warning sign for mental health challenge that that youth may be facing,” Evans said.
Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region helps over 100 schools across 12 districts focus on “at-risk” students. Of the 10,000+ students they support, 61% meet one or more state criteria to be considered “at-risk” of dropping out of school. That’s 7% higher than the state rate.
“We say centered around keeping kids in schools. We are in schools to keep kids in schools,” Dr. Summer Rose, Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region’s Chief Clinical Officer said.
The course introduces common mental health challenges, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a 5-step action plan on how to intervene.
“This is a course that is designed to teach adults about the signs and symptoms of a youth mental health crisis, and then what to do when you find yourself in that situation,” Dr. Rose said.
The youth mental health first aid training covers topics including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, disruptive behavior, and eating disorders.
“Unfortunately, I think that our youth are experiencing mental health challenges at very young ages, and again this is attributed to the environmental factors from social media to academic social pressures,” Evans said.
The training provides a measured approach, not to diagnose a mental health illness, but to recognize and have a step-by-step action plan on how to intervene.
“I think sometimes we can get caught up in our emotions in a crisis, and this training provides a framework,” Evans said.
As a parent and an advocate for youth mental health, Hilary Evans says she needed to be able to know the warning signs.
“One in five youth experience a mental health challenge during their lifetime. So, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”
The next free training is in the fall — Wednesday, October 23rd, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The complete training is eight hours. Two of those hours consist of online pre-work that has to be completed before the in-person training. Registration is online at CISDallas.org.
Dallas, TX
Dallas Weather: Thunderstorms in the forecast for Friday & Mother’s Day
DALLAS – Thunderstorms will roll through parts of North Texas on Friday. Thankfully, none should be severe. Mother’s Day could be a different story.
Friday Forecast
According to FOX 4 Weather Meteorologist Berkeley Taylor, a cluster of thunderstorms will work their way east across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on Friday morning.
Everything is well below severe limits, just with lots of lightning!
Scattered showers and thunderstorms will move in and out through the day on Friday. Coverage is about 20%.
An isolated strong storm or two can’t be ruled out, but the overall threat is low.
Temperatures will be in the 50s and 60s for the morning, before climbing into the 80s by the afternoon.
Weekend Forecast
Saturday will look similar, with even lower coverage expected.
Sunday presents the best chance to find rain and storms – about 50% as a cold front moves through North Texas.
North Texas is under a Level 2 out of 5 risk for severe weather. The biggest concerns will be with wind and hail.
Timing-wise, the front looks to move through in the afternoon/evening.
7-Day Forecast
Once the front is south of North Texas on Mother’s Day, the rain should come to an end, and it will stay dry into next week.
Temperatures will start to warm into the upper 80s and low 90s by midweek next week.
The Source: The information in this story is from the FOX 4 Weather team and National Weather Service.
Dallas, TX
Dallas deck park set to reconnect Oak Cliff after decades of division
Dallas, TX
Cowboys’ Stephen Jones says what NFL won’t admit about the Micah Parsons trade
It hasn’t even been a year since the blockbuster Micah Parsons trade, but the Dallas Cowboys have officially and completely moved on.
Although in many ways, the 2025 season feels like it was wasted with how good the Cowboys’ offense was, the decision to trade Parsons to the Green Bay Packers was pretty simple in principle: Dallas did not believe one great player was worth four or five good players. And that is a sentiment that has been repeated to an almost political degree from the Cowboys’ brain trust.
Cowboys EVP and CEO Stephen Jones recently reiterated the Dallas’ internal pleasure over how the Parsons trade has played out, and he essentially said what everyone in the NFL refuses to say: The Cowboys might have actually made the right call.
Stephen Jones likes how Dallas Cowboys have reloaded the defense after Micah Parsons trade
Here’s what Jones had to say (via NFL.com) regarding his thoughts on the trade now that the pieces are pretty much all in place:
“We feel really good about it. Obviously, much respect for Micah and what he stands for and how he plays and the caliber of player he is, but at the same time we feel good about what we’ve added via that trade.
You look at a guy like Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark, they’re alpha players who not only are great players on the field, but they’re leaders in the meeting room. How they go about their business in the offseason, [they] just bring great leadership to this team. As we mentioned, we add a guy like Caleb Downs, who is obviously the same type of character…
I just feel very optimistic that we have the right pieces in place to go out there. Ultimately, the decision we made was that one player was not worth four or five good ones.”
There is really a lot going on with what Jones says right here that will perk up a lot of ears and eyebrows.
Of course, the general sentiment seems to be that the Cowboys are pleased with the way they’ve utilized the assets they got in that trade from the Packers. The acquisition of defensive lineman Quinnen Williams gives Dallas an absolute stud in the middle, but having Kenny Clark next to him is a really underrated piece as well.
The trade back in the first round of this year’s draft with Green Bay’s selection landed the Cowboys Malachi Lawrence, Devin Moore, and LT Overton. There’s still the matter of which pick will go to the Jets next year from the Williams trade, but it will be whichever of Dallas’ and Green Bay’s pick is higher.
You can also tell that the personal makeup of the players they’ve added was important for Dallas in this process, and while Jones stops short of taking a dig at Parsons in that regard, you can hear what he’s saying pretty loud and clear when he talks about guys being “alpha” players on the field as well as leaders in the meeting room. Message sent.
The thing nobody in the NFL really wants to admit is that the Cowboys did the right thing by trading Parsons when and how they did. And while you can debate whether they truly got great value, it’s hard to argue with the idea that one player is worth four or five, especially when that one player would be taking up the same slice of the pie as most quarterbacks around the NFL.
It’s not that you can’t make it work, but in Dallas’ context, they felt like that investment in Parsons was a signal that they were “one player away”, and it’s hard to argue with their self-awareness that they simply weren’t in that position a year ago.
Although the cost was moving on from a true superstar off the edge like Micah Parsons, it’s a trade that has helped Dallas reload a huge portion of their starting defense, including adding three quality players on the defensive front, maybe more.
Most people hated the Parsons trade just on principle. How can you trade a defensive superstar still with his prime years ahead of him? Doesn’t it send a bad message to other players who earn big-money contracts? Ultimately, the Cowboys drew a proverbial line in the sand, and that’s part of the business of the NFL.
They still have to hope that all of the new additions work out, but on paper, it’s hard to argue with what the Cowboys were able to assemble rather quickly because of this trade.
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