InHealth Co-Hosts Summit on School Staff Development: Meeting the Challenges of Student Mental Health

"The summit grew out of national conference call meetings that were initiated as participants sought continual improvement of school professional development programming." said Sue McKenzie, Program Director with both NAHEC and InHealth WI. The summit attendees identified many critical competencies for teachers' including:

• Awareness of the continuum of mental health to mental illness and recognition of early warning signs of mental health concerns
• Communication skills that work for connecting with all students – especially troubled students
• Understanding of a multidisciplinary approach and such teams in place, to support/guide their work and offer needed services to the students
• Knowledge of personal and professional limits - when to ask for help with a troubled student
• Skills to build an environment of trust with parents and colleagues that fosters collaboration to improve academic performance, classroom behavior, and a sense of belonging for students

"Students with mental illnesses have the highest drop-out and failure rates of any disability group." said Darcy Gruttadaro, Director, Child & Adolescent Action Center, NAMI. "Today's classrooms are very different from even 10 years ago" said Nanci Schiman, Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation. "Teachers need the tools to understand and support a diverse range of student needs and challenges. As a mental health professional, I have seen the tremendous successes that come in academic settings where staff recognize and support students with mental illnesses and the staff receive the support they need to do this. At the same time, we have a moral responsibility to raise awareness, break through stigma and provide the necessary tools so that every child can succeed and reach their full potential."

Numerous national organizations represented at the summit include:

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• American Psychiatric Foundation
• American School Health Association
• National Association of School Psychologists
• Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
• Children and Adults with ADD/ADHD

A collaborative team from the summit has already begun crafting a plan to pilot a unique approach to training teachers that will provide real-time access to modeling of interventions. Stay tuned or call InHealth for more information!

This national planning meeting was made possible with financial support from co-sponsors, the Charles E. Kubly Foundation, Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin and Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Teens Take The Lead!
InHealth Debuts Peer Education and Mentoring Program

• Teens are often the first to know when a friend is struggling with mental health problems. They are an important resource in the fight to prevent the momentum of untreated illness
• Our community needs greater diversity in the mental health provider workforce to address mental health needs of our diverse population.

Working with a collaboration of adults and teens from UWM, Milwaukee AHEC, Children’s Health Education Center (CHEC), NAMI, MPS and others, InHealth has developed and is currently piloting a two session program on depression for teens in 8th-12th grades. The program is led by teen peer educators. The CHEC Teen Health Crew has taken the lead in piloting the program. The entire 45 member crew will be trained to lead the program this August 14th. The training will also include teen educators from other local organizations. The sessions include the video stories of teens that have experienced all forms of depression as well as activities that challenge stigma and allow for practical application of peer-to-peer support skills.

Coinciding with the curriculum development, the collaborative team has designed a mental health career mentoring process where UWM Master and Doctoral level students in psychology and social work will offer various mentoring connections for the peer leaders. The university students will co-lead the training of trainers in August.

What can you do to spread the word?

• Let us know of peer leadership/education organizations that may be interested in taking the lead in addressing teen-to-teen mental health support.
• There is room for a few more peer educators to take the August 14th training of trainers and future trainings will be scheduled.
• Tell middle and high schools in your area that the peer education program is available to 8th -12th grade classrooms this fall.

It’s Time! Teens Understanding Youth Depression – A new program on Peer education and Career Development in the Mental Health Fields

Two factors led to the development of the peer education program: 1-participants in the in-service have consistently requested use of the powerful youth stories to educate teens about depression related issues. And 2- the crucial need for mental health professional that represent underserved populations. The peer education program is designed to be taught by junior and senior high school students for middle and high school classes. The overall program structure includes mentoring of the peer-educators by students in mental health career programs from local colleges and universities. The goal of the mentoring component is to increase high school student’s entering mental health professions programs and to motivate the current students to continue in their career path.

It’s Time! Parents Addressing Teen Depression – A new program for parents seeking understanding and support for intervention.

School staff express concern and lack of resources to address parental denial and reluctance to seek professional diagnosis and treatment for their children’s mental health problems. The 20 minute DVD program is given to parents by school mental health professionals when they encounter such reluctance. The DVD is a collection of stories of parents who have faced the needs of their children, sought assistance and have experienced the benefits of effective mental health treatments.

For more information on either of these programs contact InHealth Wisconsin by phone at 262-238-9455 or email Sue McKenzie or Suzette Urbashich.

Sign Up for “It’s Time!” Depression Program Training

InHealth WI trains facilitators in schools, congregations, businesses, and community organizations to present “It’s Time!” to their membership. The 6 hour training can be scheduled at your facility or offsite, and includes all program materials (DVD, script, resources, etc.). The cost of $250 also includes on-site observation and support and evaluation. Individuals and organizations may sign up for training by contacting InHealth Program Director, Sue McKenzie, at 262-238-9455.