141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

290211
Improving student mental health in California: Best practices and initial outcomes

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 4:30 PM - 4:50 PM

Ann M. Collentine, MPPA , California Mental Health Services Authority, CalMHSA, Rancho Cordova, CA
Every day, faculty and campus staff encounter students exhibiting signs of emotional or mental distress, but are often unequipped to recognize them or respond appropriately. The Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health: A National Action Agenda (2000) states that approximately nine million children in the United States have serious emotional problems at any given time. Yet, according to a study by Kataoka, Zhang, and Wells (2002), only one in five of these children are receiving appropriate treatment. $60 million dollars was allocated by the voter-approved Mental Health Services Act (MHSA; formerly Proposition 63) to implement a wide range of programs and policies aimed at training faculty, students, and campus staff from pre-Kindergarten through to the university systems to create campus environments that are supportive, responsive to student and family needs, and well-informed about mental health issues. Programs include training in symptom recognition for teachers, parents and community partners, a social marketing campaign, peer-to-peer support, cross-system collaboration, enhanced distress and depression screening, and policy reform. Programs are well into implementation, and initial outcomes from the independent evaluation will be discussed.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the best practices and initial outcomes of California's student mental health initiative programs

Keywords: Mental Health, Mental Health System

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: With over 20 years of administrative experience, 17 of those working in California’s mental health system, I hold an MPPA from California State University, Sacramento, a Secondary Education Teaching Credential from California State University, San Francisco, and a BA in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.