New Implementation Materials for TeenScreen Schools and Communities Programs Available Online for First Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2011

NEW YORK – The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University is offering new training and development resources for its Schools and Communities Programs online for the first time.  Launched nearly 10 years ago, there are currently more than 2,000 TeenScreen sites in 46 states nationwide.  Putting the free, evidence-based Schools and Communities program materials online should make it even easier for new sites to be established.

This free online guide helps schools and youth-centered community settings establish mental health screening programs for adolescents in middle and high schools. The new web-based program is simple to navigate and use, integrated with lively and informative video tutorials, fully customizable, hands-on and engaging.

Adolescence is an ideal time for the identification of mental illness. Research from the National Institute of Mental Health shows that half of all mental disorders start by age 14. Early identification and intervention can significantly reduce the long-term effects of psychiatric illness.

“Many teens who have taken the TeenScreen questionnaire report that no one had asked them questions about their mental health,” said Laurie Flynn, executive director of TeenScreen. “TeenScreen does.”

“Through Teen Screen’s free, online training and implementation materials, more local schools and communities now have a readily accessible vehicle for organizing mental health providers, counselors and others to identify at-risk teens,” said Ms. Flynn.

Jennifer O’Hare, LISW, a guidance social worker and TeenScreen coordinator at West Davenport High School in Davenport, Iowa, compares the need for TeenScreen with that of the recent state-required screenings done by dental hygienists at her school. “There are teens that struggle with depression or anxiety silently, without the help they need,” she said. “This very effective program allows us to reach these students and to offer them and their parents appropriate support.”

“If you don’t ask, you’re not going to get an answer,” said a 15-year-old student who participated in a TeenScreen screening at an Illinois high school. Another student at a high school in Iowa echoed this comment: “I think it’s good that they’re asking questions like this to kids, because some kids won’t ask for help.”

“TeenScreen is about detecting mental disorders,” said Dr. Lloyd I. Sederer, medical director of the New York State Office of Mental Health. “It is about giving young people what they need before time works against them.”

Screening Adolescents Helps Significantly Reduce the Risks of Untreated Mental Illness

As with other physical illnesses, identifying mental illness in adolescence increases the likelihood that it will be identified in early, easier-to-treat stages. Left untreated, mental illness in adolescents and young adults 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. A major public health problem in the United States, suicide is the third leading cause of death among 10 to 24 year olds. Each year more than 500,000 teens make a suicide attempt serious enough to require medical attention.

The TeenScreen Schools and Communities Screening Process Emphasizes Confidentiality

TeenScreen Schools and Communities screening sites include schools, clinics, shelters and a variety of other youth-serving organizations and settings. TeenScreen Schools and Communities offers program development and free implementation materials, screening questionnaires, and technical assistance to communities that wish to implement their own screening programs using TeenScreen’s model.

TeenScreen requires that school administrators and teachers not be involved in the screening process to ensure confidentiality of results. All results from the evidence-based screening questionnaire are confidential, protected by federal laws: the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

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. The program was developed by Columbia University’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 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.

Media contact: Elizabeth Streich (212-265-3174; streich@childpsych.columbia.edu)