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Webinar Archive 2010
Young Children & Antipsychotic Medications, December
Trends in the Prescription of Antipsychotic Medications to Young Children
Prescriptions for antipsychotic medications to young children have doubled in the past 10 years. With recent data showing that less than half had received a mental health assessment, there is growing concern among researchers and clinicians that many children may be misdiagnosed and overtreated.
TeenScreen Scientific Advisor Mark Olfson, MD, MPH, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and one of the nation’s foremost experts on the issue, highlights the latest research on the controversy, the risks of overmedication to young children and adolescents, and the confluence of factors that have produced these trends.
He proposes alternative strategies that could help ensure that the behavioral and mental health needs of children and adolescents continue to be met as effectively and safely as possible.
Click here to listen and view the webinar. 
Pediatricians & Teen Mental Health, November
On the Front Line: How Pediatricians Can Improve Teen Mental Health
The pediatric practice is the trusted medical home for children, teenagers and their families, and pediatricians are uniquely situated to confront the challenges of identifying and caring for children and teens with mental health problems. But, what do pediatricians need to meet these challenges? How can they prepare themselves and their practices to provide effective mental health care?
On November 30, 2010, Jane Meschan Foy, MD, FAAP, the Chairperson of the AAP Task Force on Mental Health; Leslie McGuire, MSW, Deputy Executive Director of the TeenScreen National Center; and John H. Genrich, MD, FAAP, Physician Advisor, TeenScreen National Center and Pediatrician, Cherry Creek Pediatrics, Denver, discussed pediatricians’ pivotal roles in improving their patients’ mental health care and offered practical tools and resources to assist in the mental health care of teens in their practices.
Materials and Resources from Webinar:
- Click here to view and listen to the entire recorded webinar presentation
- Download the slides presented during the webinar
- Mental Health Practice Readiness Inventory
- Evidence-based Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Interventions
- Primary Care Referral and Feedback Form
- Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
- Sample Screening Questionnaire Kit
- Office or Outpatient Codes & Consultation Codes
Objectives of the presentation were to:
- Discuss the unique opportunities and challenges primary care pediatricians face in identifying and addressing the mental health problems of children and teens;
- Describe core skills requisite to providing pediatric mental health care;
- Describe the collaborative relationships and practice preparations that contribute to a strong infrastructure for pediatric mental health care; and
- Access practical tools and resources applicable to the mental health care of teens in their practice.
Speaker Bios
Jane Meschan Foy, MD, FAAP
Dr. Foy is professor of pediatrics and coordinator of the Integrated Primary Care Mental Health (MH) Program for the Northwest Area Health Education Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. From 1999-2003 she chaired the Task Force on MH for the North Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), helping to negotiate Medicaid policies that pay primary care physicians for the MH care they provide and facilitate their access to MH specialists. She has since been part of multiple North Carolina initiatives to integrate MH care into primary care settings. From 2004-2010 she chaired the AAP Task Force on Mental Health.
Leslie McGuire, MSW
Leslie McGuire is the Deputy Executive Director of the TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University. Leslie began her career at Columbia in 1998 as the coordinator of a school-based screening initiative in the New York City school system. Since that time, Leslie has spearheaded the National Center’s national programs in primary care, school, and community-based settings, which now span over 1,300 sites and strive to make mental health checkups accessible to all American teens.
John Genrich, MD, FAAP
Dr. Genrich is TeenScreen’s physician advisor and a pediatrician at Cherry Creek Pediatrics in Denver, Colorado. In his role at TeenScreen, Dr. Genrich liaises with primary care providers across the U.S. to offer guidance on screening adolescents for mental health problems during routine primary care checkups. He has partnered with Kaiser Permanente – Southern Colorado, ValueOptions, and the TeenScreen National Center to work toward the expansion of mental health checkups in his group’s practice, other parts of Colorado, and throughout the United States.
Webinar: Health Reform & Insurance Parity, June
What Do Health Care Reform and Insurance Parity Mean for Consumers and Families?
On June 8, 2010, the Director of Federal Legislative Advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Andrew Sperling, discussed the key aspects of health care reform, mental health parity, and what lies ahead on the road to implementation.
Webinar: School-based Suicide Screening, March
Service Use by At-Risk Youth after School-based Suicide Screening
Materials from March 26 Webinar:
- Recorded Webinar Presentation
- Recorded Question & Answer Session Only
- Dr. Gould’s Slide Presentation
Dr. Gould is a well-known researcher on the epidemiology of youth suicide and the evaluation of youth suicide prevention interventions. Dr. Gould presented the results of a recent evaluation study she conducted involving 1,729 high school students, ages 13 to 19, who received a mental health checkup using evidence-based screening questionnaires in six New York State high schools. More than 13 percent of teens in the study were found to be at-risk for suicide. Dr. Gould and her research colleagues concluded that school-based mental health assessments showed significant success in identifying adolescents at-risk for suicidal behavior and these assessments facilitated high rates of follow-up to treatment. Seven out of ten at-risk teens identified in the study followed through on referral recommendations within one year. Two-thirds of the at-risk teens were not previously accessing mental health services. Dr. Gould also discussed the need for increased access to screening, better coordinated referral services, and more family and community-based education about mental illness and suicide risk. Dr. Gould’s study was published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Webinar: Mental Health Screenings in Primary Care, February
Offering Mental Health Checkups in Primary Care
TeenScreen Physician Advisor, John Genrich, M.D., presented a webinar for medical professionals on the process of administering a mental health checkup in an adolescent health care setting. Dr. Genrich provided background on the problems of mental illness and suicide in adolescents and the TeenScreen National Center and shared practical tips on offering and scoring screening questionnaires, follow-up and evaluation.
