Mental Health Awareness in Education(MHAE)The Mental Health Association of Greater Chicago (MHAGC) is an independent, not-for-profit, volunteer association. We are an advocate for the social and emotional health of children and families, providing practical tools and educational training for the identification, prevention, and referral of mental health services. Our cornerstone program is the Mental Health Awareness in Education (MHAE) program. It offers a "10 days in 10 weeks" curriculum designed to educate health professionals, law enforcement officers, teachers, counselors, school staff, parents and students about 13 mental health disorders common in adolescents including suicide, depression, self-mutilation, anxiety and eating disorders. Since 2005, the MHAE program has been educating students, parents and teachers in Chicago communities. Last year we partnered with a number of Chicago schools (in neighborhoods including Pilsen, Belmont Cragin, Irving Park, and Amundsen), reaching over 1100 students, 200 teachers, and 250 parents. According to the 2003 report of the Illinois Children' Mental Health Task Force "nearly 70% of the children in the juvenile justice system have unmet mental health problems, many of which could have been prevented with appropriate intervention in the schools." The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey for Chicago students age 9th through 12th grade reported that: 13.4% had seriously attempted suicide in the past year 15.8% were obese 39.8% were in physical fights in the last year 12.3% did not go to school because they felt unsafe 30% felt sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 or more weeks (clinical depression) Topics covered in our MHAE class include:
As well as educating the students, our program encourages strong interchange between the teachers counseling department and parents. In tandem with MHAE, we provide classes for parents and teachers with facilitated discussion on the source of problems, how to resolve them, and how to effectively interact with adolescents age 6-18. Parents are taken through a step-by-step process on how to shift negative emotions to positive ones, and how to transform limiting beliefs to empowering ones. This "partnership" program works well to promote trust, honestly, school attitude, friendship and self-esteem. Parents will also build their own confidence as well as learn highly-effective coping techniques. Some of the topics covered in these classes include:
To learn more about this and/or our other programs, please contact Tiffany at 312.781.7780. The price of our classes are usually covered or reduced through grant money. In the event that grant money cannot be obtained, costs will need to be covered by the participating organization.
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Suicide Hotline
Youth Suicide Awareness in Chicago Schools
On June 26 2010, Governor Pat Quinn signed the Jason Flatt Act into law. Educators of grades 7-12 are now required to receive two hours of training in youth suicide awareness and prevention to be certified to teach in the state of Illinois.
We provide suicide awareness and prevention workshops for teachers (two CPDU's).
For more information please call 312-781-7780.
"Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all" -- Bill Clinton