June 2, 2019, Decatur (IL) Herald-Review: Teachers receiving youth mental health training https://herald-review.com/news/state-and-regional/teachers-receiving-youth-mental-health-training/article_32d76444-2c85-55f0-91e8-bdbe1b29b53b.html ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — McHenry County will train educators on how to identify and assist youths experiencing mental health issues. The county mental health board is collaborating with 17 school districts in August to bring Youth Mental Health First Aid training to instructors and teach them crisis intervention, the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported . "It gives you an opportunity for early intervention," said Kristin Schmidt, assistant director of special education for Crystal Lake Elementary District 47, one of school districts receiving teacher training. "This will provide them a lens of empathy. They can apply it to how they choose to interact with students in their classroom or change expectations for classroom behaviors; modify workload for students with high anxiety." The Illinois Association for Behavioral Health has used the nationally known training model to educate instructors, school personnel, parents, and neighbors on how to help teenagers dealing with mental health problems. But the five-day training in August will be primarily for middle and high school administrators, special education staff, social workers and psychologists. It will be provided by expert national trainers and enabled by the Crystal Lake chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness …. One in five children, ages 13 to 18 years, has experienced a serious mental disorder in their lives, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Scott Block, executive director of the McHenry County Mental Health Board, said McHenry County's evaluation of child and adolescent mental health and psychiatric needs in 2017 underscored a mounting issue and need for improved access to services. "With the pressures of today's society, both in the educational (and) social environment in which children are using many different social media platforms. There have been anecdotal increases in anxiety, depression, body image issues, and bullying-related concerns, all of which have exacerbated mental health-related issues within our youth," Block said. "Our response was to increase and bolster some of our community-based services." In January, the mental health board approved up to $40,000 in subsidies to allocate to the Youth Mental Health First Aid training after a new state mandate required school boards to adopt and implement rules addressing mental health concerns.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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