FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19, 2011

NEW YORK – The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University is offering its free evidence-based resources for mental health screening programs in schools and communities online for the first time since TeenScreen was launched nearly 10 years ago. Currently, there are more than 2,000 TeenScreen sites in 46 states nationwide, including seven sites in California.

Making the materials available online will make it easier for schools to access the latest version of these newly updated resources and will also enable more schools to participate in the program.

“More than 580,000 young people in California suffer from serious mental illness with significant impairment,” said Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA). “Adolescents throughout our state could greatly benefit from mental health checkups that identify teens at-risk. And by identifying and helping those in need, we can help improve the health and wellbeing of our local communities.”

High schools in Marin County began TeenScreen mental health screenings in the spring of 2008, after two students at in the Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD), Gavin Front and Jessica Heiges, persuaded the school board to implement the program. “There had been two suicides at our school district in 2007,” explained Gavin, now a college junior. “We knew that depression awareness, peer-to-peer education, was simply not enough. This mental health screening program not only identifies teens at-risk, but also points them to sources of help and hope.” Gavin, who experienced depression as a freshman in high school, is an active campus leader in student mental health, majoring in neuroscience at Amherst College.

Jessica, now a sophomore majoring in neuropsychology at Bates College, added that TeenScreen also acts as a powerful force against stigma. “It starts an important discussion about what is illness and what is normal teen behavior. Even students who do not go through a screening, talk with their friends who do about depression, about death by suicide. They recognize when to ask for help.”

Esme Gordon, a family therapist and TeenScreen coordinator at the Family Service Agency of Marin County pointed out that research shows that nearly half of all mental disorders start by age 14. “This very effective program allows us to reach these at-risk students and offer them and their families appropriate support. Despite cuts in education funding, the TUHSD last year increased TeenScreen’s presence to include all their schools.”

The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University is a non-profit health initiative and national policy center devoted to increasing youth access to regular mental health checkups. It is affiliated with Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

To learn more about the Schools and Communities Program and download new materials, please visit: http://www.TeenScreen.org/programs/schools-communities.

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To arrange an interview with Gavin Front, Jessica Heiges, Esme Gordon or TeenScreen program leadership, please contact: Farrell Fitch at (781) 431-6166 or fitchfa@childpsych.columbia.edu.