Sandy Sites, Ed.S Ed Morris, Ph.D Jim Koller, Ph.D Resiliency in School Settings

Goals Today Overview of mental health to set the context for the Mental Health Leadership Academy focus on resilience Examine the broad perspective of resilience and consider models of resilience Review findings on resiliency and protective factors to provide a basic foundation for understanding how they impact students, schools, and communities. Challenge to apply resiliency principles within our schools

Mental Health Mental Health is not just the absence of mental illness but the individual’s state of psychological well-being and ability to adapt, accommodate, and be resilient to life’s everyday demands.

Facts 1.20% of youth have a diagnosable mental illness each year – Depression19.9% – Anxiety22% – PTSD12.5% 2.50% of all lifetime problems of mental illness begin by age 14 3.Basic structure of personality established by age % of people with a severe mental illness report childhood physical/sexual abuse 5.489% increase in adolescence gambling (UD, 2007)

Facts (continued) 6.52% of teachers leave the teaching profession within 5 years of graduating (Herrington, 2008) 7.Sandwich parents (MIH, 2007) 8.Adolescent depression is now a national concern (CDC,2008) 9.Cyberbullying 10. Choking game

Sources of Stress by Childhood N=1586 Doing well in school44%31% Financial Difficulties28%17% Getting into a good College29%1% Worry a lot20%3% APA 2010 Children Perception of self Parents Perception of Children

Suicide 20% of children experience mental health concerns during their school years. Students with mental health concerns represent a large segment of school dropouts. 11 th leading cause of death in the U.S. (3 rd leading cause of death for youth). Approximately 4,600 youth dies each year from suicide. Someone commits suicide every 16.2 minutes in the U.S. Someone attempts suicide every 39 seconds.