*** Media Advisory ***

At this week’s American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry annual meeting in New York City (Oct. 26 – 31), Laurie Flynn, executive director of the TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University will be joined by other leaders in the suicide prevention field, in a forum on three community-based strategies for suicide prevention.

Ms. Flynn will give a presentation on the TeenScreen National Center’s efforts to expand and improve the early detection of mental illness in youth nationwide by making mental health checkups a routine part of adolescent health care. To date, TeenScreen’s efforts have resulted in 1,325 screening sites in 45 states.

Ms. Flynn is available to comment on her presentation at the meeting, or other issues that relate to teen depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions that increase teen’s risk for suicide. Click here for her bio: http://www.teenscreen.org/about/our-leadership/laurie-flynn/.

Full details (including date, time and location) about the forum are listed below:
Clinical Perspectives 26 (open)
Community-Based Suicide Prevention: Opportunities and Challenges
Saturday, October 30, 2010: 8:30 AM-11:30 AM

In addition to Ms. Flynn, presenters include:
Allison Barlow, M.A., M.P.H., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Mary Cwik, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Novalene Goklish, Celebrating Life, Whiteriver, AZ
Madelyn S. Gould, Ph.D., Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Francene Larzelere-Hinton, B.A., Native American Research Centers for Health, Whiteriver, AZ
Lauren Tingey, M.P.H., M.S.W., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
John T. Walkup, M.D., Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY

Facts about Teen Suicide and TeenScreen’s Efforts to Combat this Major U.S. Public Health Problem

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 10-24 year olds, according to the CDC. Each year more than 500,000 teens make a suicide attempt serious enough to require medical attention. More adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 die by suicide than from cancer, heart disease, flu, diabetes and other diseases combined.

The single greatest risk factor for suicide is untreated, undiagnosed depression. More than 90 percent of suicide victims suffer from depression or other mental illness at the time of their death, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Most of these teens are not in treatment at the time of their deaths.

TeenScreen promotes screening with short, self-report, evidence-based questionnaires, as research has demonstrated this is the most effective way to get teens to admit to feelings of depression or other symptoms of mental illness that could benefit from intervention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Institute of Medicine, and 40 other leading health organizations have concluded that routine screening with a validated questionnaire can effectively identify youth who may be suffering from depression or another emotional health problem that could put them at an increased risk for suicide.

The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University is a non-profit public health initiative and national policy and resource center devoted to increasing youth access to regular mental health checkups. The TeenScreen National Center is affiliated with the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The National Center provides free tools for physicians and mental health professionals, and supports screening efforts nationwide through its TeenScreen Primary Care and TeenScreen Schools and Communities programs. www.teenscreen.org

For more information about TeenScreen’s Primary Care program, visit:

http://www.teenscreen.org/programs/primary-care/

For more information about the TeenScreen National Center, and/or to visit our virtual library for additional fact sheets about a range of policy issues and developments in adolescent mental health, visit: http://www.teenscreen.org/resources/.

For more information:
Elizabeth Streich
streich@childpsych.columbia.edu
212-265-3174