Mayo Clinic to Issue New Mental Health Warning Signs for Youth

WHAT:

Mayo Clinic researchers — in partnership with numerous national mental health advocacy organizations — are issuing new simple-to-understand tools to help identify youth who may have mental health disorders.

After surveying more than 6,000 parents and children about mental health services in the United States during the past decade, researchers created a mental health disorder tool kit, “Action Signs”, to help easily identify symptoms for youth who may be experiencing mental disorders. Click here for a copy.

WHO:

-- Peter Jensen, M.D., Mayo Clinic — primary investigator of the findings, Action Signs

-- Gary Blau, Ph.D., Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — Child, Adolescent and Family Branch

-- Lisa Hunter Romanelli, Ph.D., executive director of the Resource for Advancing Children's Health (REACH) Institute

-- Darcy Gruttadaro, J.D., director of the Child & Adolescent Action Center at National Alliance on Mental Health Illness

-- Representatives from the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Academy of Pediatrics

WHEN:

Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 - at 9:45 a.m. EDT, call 1-800-705-4155 (toll-free) to get access to the conference. At 10 a.m., each speaker will be introduced and have a brief opportunity to discuss the new mental health Action Signs tool kit. A facilitator will moderate a Q-and-A with news reporters.

WHERE:

For those who plan to attend the conference in person, the site is the National Alliance on Mental Illness Headquarters, 3803 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203.

NOTE:

Please RSVP if you plan to attend or call in. The findings and epidemiology that led to the toolkit are published in the journal Pediatrics on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011.