Interview with UT

I was recenlty interviewed by a grad student with the University of Texas for a study they are workin on.
The gentelman's name is Adrian Castillo and he was nice enough to send me a copy of the results of our short, but intense conversation. (grin)

See the results below:


Target Population Adolescents with mental illness
Group Members Jaclyn Bedsole, Adrian Carrillo, Cassie Howell, Robert McFerren


Name of Person Interviewed:
Deborah Rose

Position of Person Interviewed:
Director of Education Development

Name of Agency or Community Event:
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Visions for Tomorrow

Interviewer(s): Adrian Carrillo Date:2/26/08


NEEDS (including causes and consequences of problems identified)

What are the main needs of adolescents with mental illness?
Proper treatment and quality treatment that treats the whole person – physically, emotionally and mentally.
Education is key for both the families and the professionals, including school employees, that work with children.

What are the main causes of mental illness?
There is not one cause, there are many causes. It could be part of a chemical imbalance, genetics or environmental factors, or a combination of all three.

What are the main problems faced by adolescents with mental illnesses and their families?
Being able to recognize mental illness in the adolescent is one of the main problems. Many families don’t understand why adolescent is behaving different and mental illness develops untreated.
Misdiagnosis
Many people do not get help because they are scared of the stigma that’s is created with mental illness
Once the child has been stabilized, helping them with progressive social skills is often overlooked, adding to the burden of the illness.

RESOURCES (resources in Austin: names of agencies and information on how accessible they are)

What services in Austin are available to help adolescents facing the problem of mental illness­­­­­­­­­? How accessible are services?
NorthStar-available to juvenile teens
Limited services that provide quality treatment
Limited to none services that are available to low-income families
Middle income families have even fewer services than low income families as their private insurance does not have parity coverage for mental illness and often times, their income is too high to qualify for state or federal services.

What is being done in or around the Austin community to address the needs of children with mental illness ?
NAMI- Great Minds Think Alike- provides teens 13-18 yrs. Education and Teaching program







INTERVENTIONS NEEDED (ideas on possible solutions to the problems)

What do you think needs to be done at an individual level to address the needs of children with mental illness­­­­­­­­­?
Individuals and professionals need to address Empathy not sympathy
Help people help themselves- true empathy. This come with extended therapy such as CBT, and social skills training and behavior modification.
We make up society and if you help one person a day, that is 30 people a month and 356 people a year. Sometimes, a kind word is all that is needed by someone that you encounter.

What do you think needs to be done at a community/society level to address the needs of children with mental illness?
Create more education programs in schools, build more community centers and play areas
Continue to promote awareness through organizations: NAMI, Mental Health Association, VFT, community schools. Centers should offer training classes, living skills classes and offer teachings that help individuals become successful and independent – job interview skills, how to balance a checkbook and plan a budget, how to shop on a budget and so on.