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 40 sites in Oklahoma.

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 54,000 young people in Oklahoma suffer from serious mental illness with significant impairment,” said Mike Brose, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa. “Adolescents throughout our state could greatly benefit from mental health checkups that identify teens at-risk before they become disabled or die by suicide.”

The Mental Health Association in Tulsa has been coordinating TeenScreen Mental Health Checkups at schools and community-based sites since 1999. Chris Siemens, the Association’s Youth Outreach Services Director, 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.”

“It is not unusual for TeenScreen to identify youth in serious distress who were able to cover their symptoms from teachers and parents,” Ms. Siemens continued. “When this happens, parents are notified immediately and offered referrals to mental health professionals.”

Mr. Brose explained that his agency conducts mental health screenings at an average of six high schools each year. “We have a great demand for this program from both high schools and Native American Tribes,” he said. “TeenScreen is one of the most effective suicide prevention programs available. We wish it were used throughout Oklahoma.”

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/life 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 Oklahoma, suicide is the second leading cause of death among 11-21 year-olds (according to the CDC, WISQARS Database). In a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, Oklahoma high school students reported in 2009 that within the previous 12-month period, nearly one in three felt sad and hopeless enough over a two-week period to halt usual activity, nearly one in seven had thought seriously about suicide, and more than 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 new materials, please visit: http://www.TeenScreen.org/programs/schools-communities.

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To arrange an interview with Mike Brose or Chris Siemens or TeenScreen program leadership, please contact: Farrell Fitch at (781) 431-6166 or fitchfa@childpsych.columbia.edu.