Wednesday, August 31, 2005

i guess i'll post it

i acutally wrote a post over the weekend? but didn't post it, i guess i shall post it anyway, make what you will of it, i'll be thinking more.

Sigh, guess i should give a quick update on how i am

I'm ok.
Practicum at Mental Health Association of Tulsa, Columbia TeenScreen Program has started. I'm pretty excited, only that right now it's admin stuff because the schools just started 2 weeks ago. Apart from the boring paperwork, the real part is screening kids for depression and suicidal tendencies.

I'm excited because it's something close to my heart. I personally can't imagine any 16 year old kid having a good enough reason to end their life, but i know it's possible. And yes, it's a little simplistic to treat every kid who screens positive like they have a mental sickness, but it's the first step to getting them help. 75% of Americans suffer from depression... chronic depression! It's a mental sickness yes, but i believe it could or could not be more than that.

right... anyway, gotta get back to work and to bed.
take care all..
=)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In 1997, Tulsa was the first city in the United States to implement the TeenScreen program
outside the New York area. By 2003, they were experiencing the highest number of teen
suicides ever, according to the Tulsa World Newspaper. Mike Brose,
executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, stated: "To the best of my
knowledge, this is the highest number of youth suicides we've ever had during the school
year -- a number we find very frightening."

Anonymous said...

For more info on TeenScreen, see here: TeenScreen