Magellan Health Services Sponsors 2008 Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 07 May 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Magellan Health Services, Inc., the nation's leading manager of behavioral health and substance abuse benefits, is helping draw attention to children's mental health issues as a national sponsor of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, being held this week, May 4-10, by the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (National Federation). The sponsorship enables the National Federation, on a larger scale than ever before, to develop educational materials and resources to promote its message that children's mental health matters.

At least one in five children and adolescents have a mental health disorder such as depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, conduct or eating disorders, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. One in ten of those children have a serious emotional disturbance that severely disrupts functioning in the home, at school or in the community.

"Serious emotional and mental health disorders in children and youth are real - and treatable," said Russell C. Petrella, Ph.D., president of Magellan's behavioral health division. "Magellan's national sponsorship of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week is an example of our commitment to helping children and families achieve good health and well-being through the principles of recovery and resiliency."

"As a result of Magellan's sponsorship, we have been able to communicate our message much more broadly than ever before that children and youth with mental health challenges and their families deserve access to family-driven, youth-guided and culturally appropriate services and supports," said Sandra Spencer, executive director of the National Federation. "We are honored to have Magellan behind us in helping to reduce mental health stigma and therefore helping children and their families get access to the care they need."

Magellan's sponsorship supports the following activities:

- Promotion of green ribbons symbolizing children's mental health: The ribbons serve to raise public awareness about the topic and show support for children with serious emotional disorders and their families. Due in large part to Magellan's sponsorship, 106,550 ribbons have been distributed this year versus just 15,000 in 2007.

- Information distribution: The sponsorship allowed the National Federation to create and distribute resource materials to National Federation chapters across the country for use during the week. The materials include tip sheets about children's mental health issues, instructions and information on how to host local events, a checklist of event to-do's and more.

- Poster contest: Magellan's sponsorship includes $500 in prize money for the Children's Mental Health Awareness Week annual poster contest. Children from around the country are encouraged to submit drawings and the winning entry will appear on the 2009 event poster, which will be unveiled at the National Federation's annual meeting in November 2008. Details about the contest will soon be available at www.ChildrensMentalHealthAwarenessWeek.org.

- Web-based training series: The five-part series comprises three trainings focused on family-driven care and two covering youth-guided care. Directed at mental health providers, National Federation statewide organizations, chapters and other family organizations, and Magellan care management center employees, the trainings will take place later this year.

"In addition to our national sponsorship, a number of Magellan employees - parents, family members and consumers - from our sites across the country are serving as advocates to educate the community about how they can access mental health services and supports and connect with resources such as Magellan," said Petrella. "Our care management centers also are sponsoring a variety of children's mental health-related events at the local level." Some examples of Magellan's local involvement include:

- Magellan Health Services of Arizona: Sponsor of two concerts by singer/songwriter Lindsay Rush, a young mental health advocate who writes and sings about her own experience with mental illness. Magellan employees also are extensively promoting and participating in other local activities related to children's mental health.

- Iowa Care Management Center: Major sponsor of the Iowa Federation of Families' statewide conference on children's mental health issues, with Magellan employee Patricia Hunt, director of child & family resiliency services, serving as a keynote speaker and conducting a workshop on building resiliency.

- Nebraska Care Management Center: Sponsor of 5,000 green ribbons for distribution prior to a "Pony Express" motorcycle ride across Nebraska, an awareness-raising event that Magellan employees also helped plan. The riders will deliver letters from children and families regarding their experiences with mental health challenges to Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman.

- Tennessee Care Management Center: Sponsorship with Tennessee Voices for Children's Annual Children's Mental Health Awareness Week celebration at the Nashville Grassmere Zoo.

The National Federation's Children's Mental Health Awareness Week is observed the first full week of May each year as part of Mental Health Month. For information and resources relating to children's mental health, visit http://www.MagellanHealth.com/Member.

Magellan's partnership with the National Federation is among six partnerships the company has formed this year with a variety of national behavioral health advocacy organizations, including the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) and the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA).

About Magellan

Headquartered in Avon, Conn., Magellan Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:MGLN) is a leading specialty health care management organization. Its customers include health plans, corporations and government agencies.

http://www.MagellanHealth.com