Palm Beach (FL) Post (3/24, Isger) reported, “In January, President Barack Obama proposed a goal of reaching 750,000 young people to identify mental illness early. The plan includes $15 million to train teachers and other adults and to detect mental illness and another $40 million to schools and other agencies to connect those families with help, but doesn’t detail how.” The Post added, “School settings would have the broadest reach, said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, who participated in the meetings that led to Obama’s proposal.” Dr. Appelbaum explained, “Many kids don’t come in regularly to doctor or primary care physicians sometimes because their families can’t afford it or because they’re healthy.”
Scully Expresses APA’s Support For Senate Student Mental Health Bill.Psychiatric News (3/23) reported, “US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has introduced a bill to provide support for teachers to learn about the key warning signs of mental health problems in students as well as the impact that mental health conditions can have on a student’s ability to learn and behave in the classroom. The Helping Educators Support All Students Act would create a four-year discretionary grant for state education agencies to provide training for teachers and other school staff in recognizing mental health issues.” In a letter [pdf] to Sen. Klobuchar, American Psychiatric Association “medical director and CEO James H. Scully Jr., MD, expressed APA’s support for the bill, saying the initiative ‘paves the way for highly successful and evidence-based training initiatives…to empower more of these professionals with the knowledge of mental illness, the ability to detect warning signs, and the ability to take appropriate action in linking adolescents to the services they need.'”
Related Links:
— “How would mental-health screening for kids at school work?, ” Sonja Isger, The Palm Beach Post, March 24, 2013.