Children's Mental Disorders - Campaign for Mental Health Reform Hosts Hill Briefings

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 09 May 2005 - 11:00 PDT

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Navigating the rhetoric around children's mental health has become almost impossible in today's climate. From misrepresentation of research to distortions of policy proposals, the truth about children's mental health is not always easy to find. The reality is that two-thirds of the children who need mental health services do not get them, leading to school failure, substance abuse, involvement with the juvenile justice system and suicide.

Join the Campaign for Mental Health Reform on May 11 for Senate and House Briefings on "Promoting Resilience and Mental Health: The Need for Early Intervention in Children and Adolescents." Leading policymakers, health experts and family members will set the record straight on the scientific basis for early intervention and the cost of failing to provide needed treatment. The Senate briefing is being jointly sponsored by Senators Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). The Campaign is coordinating the House briefing with Representatives Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), co-chairs of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus.

What: House & Senate Briefings

Promoting Resilience and Mental Health: The Need for Early Intervention for Children and Adolescents

When: May 11, 2005

Where: 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. 902 Hart Senate Office Building 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 345 Cannon House Office Building

Who: Senate Briefing

-- Cynthia Wainscott, Campaign for Mental Health Reform and Board Chair, National Mental Health Association

-- Kenneth Duckworth, M.D. , Medical Director, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Asst. Professor, Harvard University Medical School

-- Larke Nahme Huang, Ph.D. , Commissioner, President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and Managing Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research

-- Megan Matthews, student, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

-- Morton Sherman, Ed.D. , Superintendent of Schools, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

House Briefing

-- Cynthia Wainscott, Campaign for Mental Health Reform and Board Chair, National Mental Health Association

-- Kenneth Duckworth, M.D. , Medical Director, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Asst. Professor, Harvard University Medical School

-- Larke Nahme Huang, Ph.D. , Commissioner, President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and Managing Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research

-- Rosa Maria Gil, D.S.W. , Founder & President, Comunilife, Inc., and past President of the Association of Hispanic Mental Health Professionals

-- Marley Prunty-Lara, student, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN

-- Morton Sherman, Ed.D. , Superintendent of Schools, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

The Campaign for Mental Health Reform is a national partnership of organizations representing millions of people with mental and emotional disorders, their families, service providers, administrators and other concerned Americans. For more information, please visit http://www.mhreform.org.

Campaign for Mental Health Reform

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry * American Psychiatric Association * American Psychological Association *CHADD - Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder *Consumer Organizing and Networking Technical Assistance Center (CONTAC) * Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) * Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCMH) * Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law * National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) * National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors (NACBHD) * National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)* National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH) * National Empowerment Center (NEC) * National Mental Health Association (NMHA)* National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse * Suicide Prevention Action Network USA (SPANUSA) * United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA)

Steering Committee

-- Robert Bernstein, Ph.D., Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
-- Robert W. Glover, Ph.D., National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
-- Michael Faenza, MSSW, National Mental Health Association
-- Michael Fitzpatrick, MSW, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
National Mental Health Association

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