A longtime Indiana organizational consultant, Thomas Stoughton has been instrumental in a number of statewide initiatives, including the creation of a virtual charter school that met the needs of diverse students. Thomas Stoughton also served on the board of the Center for Successful Parenting in Indiana, which has a mission of disseminating research on the impact of media violence on America’s youth.
A Psychiatric Times article on the topic brought focus to the distorted reality engendered by contemporary media, with increasingly graphic portrayals of violence making people feel that crime is surrounding them and that they need protection. In the case of individuals with mental health challenges, violent video game addiction may be an underpinning factor in reinforcing fears and engendering rage. As an American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement describes it, media violence has been shown to contribute to desensitization to violence and aggressive behavior. This statement is backed up by research such as a study from Iowa State University’s Center for the Study of Violence tracking brain functioning changes that occur with significant exposure to violent, fast-paced video games. The common finding across studies of high-risk juvenile offenders worldwide was that violent antisocial behavior and psychopathy were strongly correlated with exposure to such games.
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Thomas Stoughton has more than three decades of experience in business consulting and leading numerous nonprofit projects in the education sector. Dedicated to improving safety and anti-violence initiatives in schools, Thomas Stoughton played a role in the development of the Indiana Department of Education’s Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy, now called the School Building Physical Security and Safety program.
The program increases safety protocols for educational institutions throughout the state by providing educators and faculty with ongoing, certified training in addition to resources for school security, emergency preparedness, and intervention and prevention planning. Participants learn from a team of school-safety specialists, who also assist in the development and implementation of these strategies. Moreover, the program outlines best practices to create safe educational environments. There are three levels of training: basic, advanced, and regional. In order to attend the advanced and regional sessions, participants must first complete basic training. The multi-day courses begin every fall with two days of instruction in Indianapolis in addition to an online component with materials and assignments that must be finished before the final day of training in the following spring. For more information about the School Building Physical Security and Safety program and training levels, visit www.doe.in.gov/safety. Indiana business consultant Thomas Stoughton has contributed to the development of several educational safety initiatives throughout his career, including the Indiana Virtual School. Outside his professional and charitable pursuits, Thomas Stoughton maintains an interest in efforts for addiction recovery assistance. The complexity of addiction means that treatment effectiveness can vary widely from person to person, meaning that each person needs an individually tailored strategy. That said, most professionals and researchers agree that recovery typically involves five primary stages: - Precontemplation. Most people at this stage are disinterested in seeking treatment and not particularly receptive to change. Their contact with recovery professionals is likely the result of pressure from someone in their lives or legal troubles. Attempts to rationalize substance use and feelings of hopelessness are also common. - Contemplation. This is the point where a person with an addiction acknowledges the disease and its consequences. Treatment professionals contend that admitting there is a problem is the first step to recovery, making this an essential part of seeking help. Although people at this stage might start planning for change, many spend months in this stage before taking action. - Preparation. At this stage, an individual with an addiction commits to overcoming it and begins preparations for treatment. This may involve taking a pledge of abstinence, examining available resources for recovery, joining a rehabilitation program, or any combination of these. While the individual may still feel some ambivalence about the decision, he or she is likely to proceed. - Action. This is when modifications to behaviors and surroundings that facilitate substance use occur, which for many people includes time at an accredited rehabilitation facility. The longest of these five stages, it also requires the most effort for establishing a foundation for sobriety moving forward in life. - Maintenance. Commencing after the action stage, maintenance involves actively practicing sobriety and avoiding habits and decisions that can lead to relapse. This requires perseverance and can be a challenging step for many people who recover from addiction, especially for those who return home to situations that originally prompted their substance use. Thomas Stoughton leverages more than three decades of experience to his role as an Indiana business consultant. His clients have included major businesses and nonprofit organizations across Indiana. Thomas Stoughton was additionally instrumental in creating the Center for Successful Parenting, designed to provide information on the harmful effects of media violence.
Notable research carried out on behalf of the center includes that by a research team associated with the Indiana University School of Medicine. As presented at a 2011 meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, the researchers found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the brains of young adult males showed that long-term engagement with violent video games is associated with changes in emotional and neurological functioning. Indiana University has conducted multiple ongoing studies of the effects of violence in media. This particular study was the first to demonstrate a direct relationship between participation in playing a violent video game and measurable deficits in the brain. The test subject group consisted of more than two dozen healthy young men in their late teens and 20s. None of them had had previous significant encounters with violent video games. After half the group spent a week playing a shooter-style video game at home, the fMRI scans of their brains showed impairment in the regions responsible for executive-level functioning, cognitive plasticity, emotional self-control, and focused attention. This was in marked contrast to not only the control group, but also the test group after they had refrained from playing the game. Indiana-based consultant Thomas Stoughton has worked with learning institutions, businesses, and public sector entities in the course of his 30-year career. An active member of his Indiana community, Thomas Stoughton helped found the Heartland Film Festival. In 2018, Heartland Film incorporated a new event that focuses solely on short films from around the world. Known as Indy Shorts, this festival will celebrate its second annual event at Newfields, in Indianapolis, from July 25 to 28, 2019. Indy Shorts highlights films across seven categories, including Student Film and Animated Short. In identifying finalists and official selections, the festival selection committee evaluates each film for both artistic merit and ability to transcend mere entertainment. Members of this committee include filmmakers from Indiana and beyond. Audiences at Indy Shorts also have the opportunity to name winners for Audience Choice Awards in four categories. Overall, one film in each category takes home a cash prize. Those in the Documentary and Narrative categories also enter into consideration for Academy Awards for Short Films. Interested filmmakers can submit their short films for consideration if they meet several criteria. Among other requirements, films must not exceed a run time of 40 minutes, and filmmakers must provide subtitles for films in languages other than English. |
AuthorThomas Stoughton - Former President of BCI in Indianapolis, Indiana. Archives
May 2019
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