CORRECTION BY SOURCE: Kathryn Goetzke, CEO and Chief Hope Officer at The Shine Hope Company, is Set to Keynote the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Annual Conference in Chicago this Saturday to Address Violence and Mental Health by Teaching Hope

This corrects and replaces the headline in the release that was published earlier today.

CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / June 28, 2024 / The Shine Hope Company (TSHC) - The Shine Hope Company is thrilled to announce that Kathryn Goetzke, Chief Hope Officer and CEO, will deliver a transformative keynote address at the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) 2024 Conference. This pivotal event, showcasing cutting-edge strategies in hope science, will take place on June 29, 2024, at 8 AM at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Following the keynote, Goetzke will host a book signing session at 12:00PM in the School Health booth.

Goetzke's keynote, "Activating Hope to Foster Student Mental and Physical Health, Safety, Connection, and Performance," will draw from over a decade of pioneering research in hope science. Attendees will gain actionable solutions for enhancing hope among adults, children, and adolescents - crucial for mental health prevention, violence reduction, and addiction intervention. Studies indicate that individuals with higher levels of hope had significantly better outcomes during COVID-19, underscoring hope's vital role in overcoming adversity.

Photo from the Hopeful Minds Program: A teacher and students collaborate on sunflower artwork, creating a classroom definition of hope and sharing what strengthens their hope.

This week the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country. Hopelessness is a significant predictor of risk behaviors in youth, such as violence, weapon-carrying on school property, self-harm, unprotected sex, bullying, and partner violence. Researchers have found that a history of violent behavior is the only consistent predictor of gun violence. Notably, over 40% of adolescents and 57% of teen girls in the United States report persistent hopelessness. Evidence suggests that programs targeting hopelessness can reduce violent behaviors; thus, teaching hope to all is crucial.

We urge lawmakers, leaders, and community members to start thinking about proactive, upstream approaches, and we aim to bring this message to the school nurses. Hopelessness is a normal experience of life, how we react to it predicts if we use violence, addictive substances, or self-harm to manage it, or find healthier alternatives. Yet we can not expect any of it to stop unless we get to the root cause, so ensuring all know what hopelessness is, and how to proactively manage it and get to hope is critical to solving this national public health crisis.

Students filling out Workbooks from the Hopeful Minds Program.

The Shine Hope Company stands at the forefront of integrating hope science into comprehensive mental health and violence prevention strategies. Innovative hope programs for youth, available through the partnership with School Health, offer evidence-based skills to increase hope, thereby enhancing well-being and resilience among students as well as those delivering the programming.

Susan Rogers, Chief People Officer at School Health Corporation, shares: "We as a company are committed to hope science and have activated all of our employees. All our employees know what hopelessness is, how to Shine Hope, and how to access resources when struggling with challenges. We want the same for school nurses and the children around the world. Violence and mental health disorders must be addressed upstream, as waiting until times of crisis to address these pressing societal issues is reactionary and expensive, so we are grateful to help activate this work."

From Left to Right: Rob Rogers, President of School Health Corporation, Susan Rogers, the Chief People Officer of School Health Corporation, and Kathryn Goetzke, the CEO and Chief Hope Officer of The Shine Hope Company.

Among nurses, the risk of death by suicide is twice that of the general population, with female nurses 70% more likely to die by suicide, and nearly 64% reporting feelings of depression due to the pandemic. The CDC's survey of nearly 8,000 school nurses revealed that 45% experienced symptoms of at least one adverse mental health condition in the two weeks preceding the survey in March 2022. Increasing hope is linked to numerous positive outcomes, such as reduced turnover and increased job satisfaction for nurses. For students, those benefits include improved academic retention, higher grades, greater engagement, and a reduced risk of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and risky behaviors.

Kathryn Goetzke, UN Representative for the World Federation of Mental Health, founder of iFred, and CEO/Chief Hope Officer of The Shine Hope Company, highlighted the need for early intervention: "We are waiting way too long to address critical issues such as suicide, violence, and addiction, we need to legislate prevention programming and fix at the root cause. This includes a comprehensive, whole-society approach to normalizing hopelessness and teaching evidence-based skills to increase hope. We know those higher in hope did better during COVID-19 as they increased their Stress Skills and Happiness Habits, set new goals through Inspired Actions, kept connected to others cultivating their Nourishing Networks, and Eliminated Challenges by focusing on what they could control. I'm proud to be keynoting this critical talk in my hometown of Chicago, where I am encouraging city leaders to join the Hopeful Cities movement, and empower school nurses at this conference to write their own Shine Hope Story and see themselves as the heroes they were leading our children through a very challenging time. I'm excited for them to then bring that wisdom back to our children with evidence-based programming, as our youth so desperately need these skills and Dr. Murthy's recent statement only reinforces our knowledge that the root cause must be addressed."

Event Details:

NASN Conference Dates: June 28 - July 1, 2024

Keynote Address: June 29, 2024, at 8 AM
Book Signing: June 29, 2024, at 12 PM at the School Health booth
Venue: Hyatt Regency Chicago
For registration and more information: http://www.nasn.org/NASN2024

Consider joining us at the conference, or bringing our programming to your school, city, community, college, or workplace today. Hope is measurable, and teachable. It's time for collective action.

About School Health:

School Health is a national, full-service provider of health supplies and services to professionals in educational settings from pre-school to college. For over 60 years, they have been advocates for the health and safety of students, staff, and their communities. School Health serves their customers by providing products and solutions that will help students stay healthy and succeed inside and outside the classroom. Visit www.schoolhealth.com to learn more.

About NASN:

The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) is a nonprofit specialty nursing organization, organized in 1968 and incorporated in 1977, representing school nurses exclusively. NASN has 19,000 members and 50 affiliates, including the District of Columbia and overseas. The mission of NASN is to optimize student health and learning by advancing the practice of school nursing. Visit www.nasn.org to learn more.

About The Shine Hope Company:

The Shine Hope Company empowers individuals by teaching scientifically informed and evidence-based methods to cultivate hope through workplace activations, public health campaigns, educational resources, courses, training, keynotes, and consulting. Kathryn Goetzke, CEO and Chief Hope Officer, is host of The Hope Matrix™ Podcast and through that avenue and coursework ensures all know how to write My Shine Hope Story™. The Shine Hope Company manages all youth, college, and city programming for Shine Hope™, Hopeful Minds^®, Hopeful Cities^®, and Hopeful Mindsets^®, and supports the work of iFred to deliver activations to vulnerable populations and low and middle income countries. Visit www.theshinehopecompany.com to find out more.

Media Contact:

For media inquiries, please contact:
Veronica O'Brien
[email protected]

SOURCE: The Shine Hope Company