M-DCPS’ TYPICAL OR TROUBLED?® MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM RECEIVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) will receive national recognition next week for successfully implementing the mental health program, Typical or Troubled?®. The event - hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – will take place in Washington, D.C. to coincide with the tenth annual National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day 2015.
 
The Typical or Troubled?® Program is part of the District’s campaign to heighten awareness of early warning signs of mental health issues in adolescents and promote early identification and intervention in these cases. The program trains counseling professionals, school administrators, faculty members and support staff on early recognition, intervention, and treatment of mental disorders in school-based settings.

District-wide implementation of the Typical or Troubled?® Program was instituted in January 2013, following Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s announcement of the partnership between American Psychiatric Foundation and M-DCPS.

“This national recognition is a testament to our district’s serious approach to the challenge of mental illness in our youth,” said Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho. “Through the Typical or Troubled?® program, our workforce has united to help students focus on the teen years, when so many mental disorders first emerge, and to make life better for students and their families.”

Typical or Troubled?® sessions have been conducted in all senior high schools within Miami-Dade County with faculty and non-instructional support staff. The District has expanded the Typical or Troubled?® Program to include Parent Education sessions, which begin this month, and a Peer-to-Peer component that will be launched in the Fall.

The national event titled Strengthening Communities by Integrating Care, will take place on Thursday, May 7, at the Lansburgh Theater in Washington, D.C. 

SAMHSA is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency that leads public health efforts to advance behavioral health.  Other sponsoring organizations of the event include the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychiatric Foundation, The Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters Initiative, and The Jed Foundation.

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