Post #6

Hey Lindsey,

For our last blog post I have included a rough draft of the survey questions that we would like to ask teens in the mall. The goal of the survey is to find out how teen depression and anxiety impacts teens and what education they have received so far in the high school setting.

Potential Survey Questions:

In order for us to better understand how teens in Utah are affected by depression and anxiety, please take a few minutes to answer the following questions:

1.     Have you ever received education in your school setting about depression or anxiety?

If yes, please describe the setting and information covered.

_____________________________________________________________

2.     Do you think that your school gives enough attention to mental health topics, such as depression or suicide?

3.  do you know anyone who has depression or anxiety? (circle one)

no                     family member                     friend                       acquaintance                  me

Other ____________________________________________________________

4.  Who would you talk to if you or someone you know was depressed?

_________________________________________________________________

5.  What would you prefer to see in your school?

1. In class lesson about mental illness
2. School assembly about mental illness
3. A movie about mental illness

4. really sexy people talking about mental illness

6.  What ideas do you have that might improve awareness for you and your friends on the topic of mental illness?

______________________________________________________________________________

(I think if we actually do a survey and we want kids to take time to do it we should probably make it as simple and short as possible while still getting some worthwhile information. I think Josh made a comment last time we met about perhaps just finding data from research that already exists. It would certainly be easier and maybe more relevant, then again, it could go the other way and be far less relevant.  Plus I think it would be a cool addition of diversity if we actually did our own survey.)

Post #5

Our recent efforts have been focused on information gathering. We have discussed the vitality of gathering data and are working on a questionnaire which will focus on high-school aged students. We hope to pose questions such as "do you know anyone who has dealt with anxiety or depression?" and "What would you do if you found out a friend had anxiety or depression?". We are still finalizing this questionnaire. As discussed, access to schools could be complicated so we're deciding upon the best means of implementation.

I was able to interview Jody Valantine, a high school counselor for Pineview High school in St. George, about the programs and curriculum implemented at her school. Mrs. Valantine says that her school implements a health and wellness curriculum with different subjects each year. This year's focus is Resiliency and they are using the "7 C's of resiliency". Last year the topic was Responsibility and there was focus on responsibility for self, others, family and community.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing programs at Pineview High School is the "Hope Squad". As explained by Mrs Valantine, the entire student body fills out a survey asking which of their peers they would feel most comfortable talking to if they were ever in trouble or in need, depressed, struggling etc. The students who receive the most votes from their peers are asked to join the "hope squad". If they agree, they participate in a training over the summer as well as small trainings throughout the year. During these trainings the "hope squad" learns how to recognize signs of mental health concerns including suicidal tendencies as well as how to help their peers and when/who to tell if the problem is serious enough. Apparently this program began in Provo school district in response to an instance of multiple suicides taking place within a short period of time.
 Mrs Valantine also informed me of a parent night that includes the entire school district and Southwest Mental Health, as a social services agency, provides a presentation on mental health awareness for the parents of high school students.
An LCSW from Southwest Mental Health is available at the high school for half a day on Tuesdays. In response to the question of what might be helpful to the school and the students she suggested that having an LCSW available more often would be one of the most beneficial changes she can think of. In her opinion as the school counselor, the kids would concur with this need. She maintains that the students who do not utilize these services would not be affected and really wouldn't notice a difference but those who do attend therapy would greatly benefit from increased availability of an LCSW.

We've done more research into NAMI and found that in addition to Parents and Teachers as Allies, there is a program called Ending the Silence. This is a free, 50-minute presentation lead by a team of professionally trained presenters which includes a young adult living in recovery of mental illness.
See the link below.
http://www.nami.org//template.cfm?section=NAMI_ENDING_THE_SILENCE

Josh is working on setting up a meeting with his NAMI contact, school based prevention specialist, Julie Schwartz. As many of our group as possible will be meeting together with her. Our group seems to be leaning more towards partnership with NAMI in hopes to make schools and educators more aware of the amazing resources that already exist within the area on which we want to focus.

We have agreed as a group to have a rough draft of our contextualizing the problem paper following the Thanksgiving break in order to bring together the different components and ensure maximum cohesion and finalize any additional details.
-jason

Post #2

Over the course of this week, each team member will individually be creating a list of questions and discussion points to address with teachers, educators, administrators, students and friends on the topic of education around teen depression and anxiety. We are also compiling lists of specific people we can contact in order to discuss these questions. Next week we will combine our lists of questions and contacts, assign tasks to each group member and begin making contact with these people. We really want to find out from the student and teacher population what they think would be most beneficial to them. This will give us more direction on where to focus our energy moving forward.  -Jason Utley

Elana McGaughy Post #1

Elana McGaughy: The general idea and purpose of our group is to look at teenage depression and anxiety within the high school setting and the current education that is given around these topics. We will begin by talking to high school teachers, educators and friends to find out what information is given, whether it was useful and what information is lacking. Many of our group members come from a residential background where clients are receiving the best care for such issues, but we would like to bring more education to the surrounding communities. In the future we would like to provide some sort of presentation looking at the statistics of anxiety and depression as well as what signs and symptoms to look for and how to help your friends.