FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 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. Launched nearly 10 years ago, there are currently more than 2,000 TeenScreen sites in 46 states nationwide, including 86 School and Community sites in Ohio, one of the first states to include TeenScreen as an element in outreach to at-risk youth.

Making the materials available online will make it easier for schools and community-based settings to access the latest version of these continually updated resources and to establish new screening sites for the adolescents they serve.

“More than 172, 570 young people ages 10 to 19 in Ohio suffer from serious mental illness with significant impairment,“ said Kay Rietz, assistant deputy director for the Office of Children, Families and Prevention. “Adolescents throughout our state could greatly benefit from mental health checkups that identify teens at-risk before they become disabled or die by suicide. TeenScreen is an important component in our state’s suicide prevention efforts.”

Joe Shorokey, clinical and program services director at the D & E Counseling Center in Youngstown, has been coordinating TeenScreen Mental Health Checkups for the last six years. He pointed out that research shows that nearly half of all mental disorders start by age 14. “This very effective program enables us to reach at-risk adolescents and offer them and their families appropriate support,” he said.

“We screened over 1200 teens throughout Mahoning County schools last year,“ he continued. “Of these adolescents, at least 10 percent of them screened positive for a mental disorder. We contacted their parents to offer referrals for further mental health evaluation of their children.”

Mr. Shorokey explained that as a community mental health agency, his center is able to provide a variety of free services to local schools, including mental health education and mental health checkups. “We have a great demand for TeenScreen. It is one of the most effective suicide prevention programs available and we wish it were used throughout Ohio.”

Screening Adolescents Helps Reduce the Risks of Untreated Mental Illness

As with other physical illnesses, screening for mental illness in adolescence increases the likelihood that it will be identified in early, easier-to-treat stages. Left untreated, mental illness in adolescents can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, violence, school failure, criminal involvement, and can derail social development. Approximately 50 percent of students age 14 and older that suffer from serious mental illness drop out of high school; this is the highest rate of any disability group. Many youth with unidentified and untreated mental illness end up in jails and prisons: 65 percent of boys and 75 percent of girls in juvenile detention suffer from mental illness. Most tragically, untreated mental illness is a significant risk factor for teen suicide, which is a major public health problem throughout the United States.

In Ohio, suicide is the second leading cause of death among 11 to 21 year olds (according to the CDC, WISQARS Database). In a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, Ohio high school students reported in 2007 that within the previous 12-month period, nearly one in four felt sad and hopeless enough to halt usual activity, more than one in ten had thought seriously about suicide, and one in ten had made a suicide plan.

The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University is a non-profit initiative and national policy center devoted to increasing youth access to regular mental health checkups. TeenScreen is listed in the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices and the Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention.

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

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To arrange an interview with Kay Rietz or Joe Shorokey or TeenScreen program leadership, please contact: Farrell Fitch at 781-431-6166 or fitchfa@childpsych.columbia.edu.