Stanford Medical Center Announces $100,000 Planning Grant For Community Response To Teen Depression And Suicide

Main Category: Depression
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Mental Health
Article Date: 18 Jun 2009 - 8:00 PDT

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Enhancing the response to teen depression and suicide is the focus of a new planning grant announced on June 12 by the Stanford Medical Center. The $100,000 grant, funded by Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital & Clinics, will support collaboration among Palo Alto-area providers of health care resources for teens.

"Our community has a wealth of expertise and resources in child and adolescent mental health, but no mechanism for a coordinated, timely response to teens in crisis," said Frances Wren, MD. Wren, a pediatric psychiatrist who directs the Child and Adolescent Depression Clinic at Packard Children's, is partnering with local medical and mental health colleagues to develop a coalition to enhance the health-care response to teen depression.

"There is great interest, from all groups treating our community's youth, in finding ways to work together promptly and effectively to respond to teens in crisis," Wren said. "This grant will help provide the resources we need for essential collaboration and planning with all community stakeholders. We hope the new coalition will make a difference in the lives of teens and families."

"This is exactly the kind of community need our medical center should respond to," said Christopher Dawes, CEO of Packard Children's, speaking on behalf of Packard Children's, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

At a meeting last week at Packard Children's, pediatricians and a panel from the local mental health community identified several key goals for the new coalition. Participants discussed collaboration between primary care and mental health services for teen depression and suicide prevention, pooling of expertise and resources, tackling misconceptions and other barriers to mental health treatment.

In addition, the coalition hopes to develop a crisis-management protocol for the healthcare response to the community emergency of adolescent suicide, partnering with local families, schools, emergency services, primary care and mental health facilities.

"Ninety percent of people who die by suicide are suffering a psychiatric illness such as depression," Wren said. "Fortunately, effective treatments are available for depression and other mental health problems. Our goal is to increase our community's ability to get these treatments to the young people who need them."

Source
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Stanford Hospital & Clinics
About Stanford University School of Medicine