The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Oregon NAMI Oregon) is raising funds to launch Parents & Teachers as Allies. This program helps parents and school professionals better understand the early signs of mental illness in children and adolescents, and educates them about how best connect youth with services.
Half of all teenagers living with a mental illness drop out of high school. This is the highest drop-out rate of any disability group. In the state of Oregon, more than 110,000 youth live with a serious mental illness or emotional disorder. Early diagnosis and intervention is key to connecting youth with mental health services and ensuring them success in school and at home. This training provides schools with the tools needed to help identify mental health treatment needs.
Parents and Teachers as Allies improves the quality of students' lives by connecting schools, families, mental health treatment and support agencies. It helps families and school professionals learn how to intervene so that youth with mental health needs are connected with services. It is delivered by a trained team, including a facilitator, a parent, an individual living with mental illness, and an education professional.
The long-term goal of this program is to help students living with mental illness stay in school and lead productive lives. Students who stay in school are also more likely attend college, obtain higher-paying jobs and become involved in their communities. Early diagnosis and treatment also leads to decreased rates of youth suicide and hospitalization: suicide is the second leading cause of death for Oregonians aged 10 to 24.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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