The Worrisome Trends: The 2009 Institute of Medicine Report reveals data showing that one-half of America’s children will have a mental-health disorder by age 18. Medicaid data show mental health treatments are the largest cost for children, and rising in cost at a billion dollars a year. A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that 40.4 million children out of 75 million received at least on prescription for psychotropic medications in 2009. The implications of this epidemic paint poor future of the country economically, socially, and even from a perspective of national defense.
The Scientific and Practical Hope: The same IOM report highlighted one universal strategy that could be used as a practical, proven early preventive strategy that also has treatment effects. SAMHSA funded successful real-world replication of the strategy in more than 20 sites in the US. A major mental-health journal cited the strategy as the next big thing for a public-health approach to the prevention of psychiatric disorders. The embedded daily environmental approach also improves all academic outcomes, while reducing teacher stress. The Surgeon General cited the same strategy for substance abuse prevention. Now, with nearly ten thousand teachers previously trained, the core results from the original studies at Johns Hopkins have now been replicated in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Estonia.
The Practical Strategy: This webinar how the PAX Good Behavior Game is being successfully deployed as a highly-cost effective strategy to prevent, intervene and even treat pediatric psychiatric disorders while embedded in normal, everyday routines in schools. This is happening with the involvement of state agencies, health-care systems, community and advocacy groups, and researchers. The strategy has a 60-to-1 rate of return, and can start small so that the strategy can be woven into a new way of doing business for children’s mental, emotional, and behavioral health.
The webinar includes short video segments from mental health leaders involved, as actual users and beneficiaries. The goal of the webinar is to provide a practical path for mental health directors and providers for bringing this cost effective strategy to their communities.
Lead Presenter: Dennis D. Embry, Ph.D.
President/senior scientist
PAXIS Institute; and
Board of Directors, National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health;
Scientific Advisor, Children’s Mental Health Network