NAMI
Parents and Teachers as Allies
Partnering with Schools to Improve the
Lives of Students with Mental Illnesses
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The Vital Need for Early
Identification of Mental Illnesses…
The overwhelming majority of children and
adolescents with mental illnesses fail to be
identified and linked with services.
There are often tragic and avoidable
consequences.
Many school professionals lack an
understanding of early onset mental
illnesses.
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The Role of Schools in Early
Identification …
NAMI recognized the tremendous value of
having parents and school professionals
working together as allies…
which led to the development of the Parents
and Teachers as Allies publication in 1999
(updated in 2008).
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Parents and Teachers as Allies…
The P&T as Allies publication covers the
following:
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Keys to early recognition and links to appropriate evaluation
and services (teachers are never asked to diagnose children or
to recommend medications or other forms of treatment);
Understanding family reactions to mental illnesses and
guidelines for helping families;
Navigating the referral process and linking to services as
allies;
Strengthening the alliance between parents and school
professionals and lists resources for both.
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The Success of the Publication …
NAMI leaders recognized the value in sharing
the publication with schools and began to
use it to better inform school professionals
about early onset mental illnesses.
Innovative NAMI leaders in a number of
states developed an in-service presentation
program based on the publication.
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President Bush’s NFC Recommends
Schools Play a Bigger Role …
Goal 4 of President Bush’s New Freedom
Commission Report on Mental Health,
issued in July 2003, calls for schools to play
a larger role in the early identification of
mental health treatment needs in children
and in linking them to appropriate services.
This is just what NAMI’s P&T as Allies
program targets.
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The Words of the NFC …
“The mission of public schools is to educate
all students. However, children with
serious emotional disturbances have the
highest rates of school failure. Fifty
percent of these students drop out of high
school, compared to 30% of all students
with disabilities. Schools are where
children spend most of each day …
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The Words of the NFC …
…While schools are primarily concerned with
education, mental health is essential to
learning as well as to social and emotional
development … Schools must be partners in
the mental health care of our children.”
(NFC Report, 2003)
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Why Schools …
Schools are in a unique and key position to
identify mental health concerns early and to
link students with appropriate services.
Strong school mental health programs can
help to address the needs of students, reduce
unnecessary suffering, and help to ensure
academic achievement.
Goal 4 of The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
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Research Supports Early
Identification
NIMH researchers found that half of all lifetime
cases of mental illness begin by age 14, and that
despite effective treatments, there are long delays
— sometimes decades — between first onset of
symptoms and when people seek and receive
treatment. Untreated mental illnesses can lead to a
more severe, more difficult to treat illness, and to
the development of co-occurring mental illnesses.
NIMH Funded Research, Released in June 2005.
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The Focus of NAMI’s
School In-Service Program
Helping schools to better understand the
early warning signs of mental health
treatment needs in students and how
best to intervene so that youth with
treatment needs are linked with
services.
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Outreach for the P&T as Allies
In-Service Program
• Many schools have not engaged in the MH
agenda yet and some resist it.
• It may not be a priority for schools.
• School professionals are stretched very thin.
• Many school-based MH professionals are
over-extended, working at multiple schools
with huge case loads and some fail to
understand early onset MI.
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Outreach to Schools …
• The key to success is to go in to schools knowing
the challenges that they face.
• We see this task as akin to cultural and social
anthropologists – we put ourselves in their shoes.
• This program is a beginning to help schools
understand the pressing need to recognize the
early warning signs of mental illnesses and to link
students with services.
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Outreach …
We know that there are many successful ways
to conduct outreach with schools.
An outreach strategy that works wonders in
one district may not work at all in another.
A thread of common importance – establish a
firm connection with the targeted school
and build a relationship of trust.
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Outreach …
Some basic suggestions:
• Start where you are most likely to succeed
(capitalize on early success, the ripple effect
and benefits of the grapevine).
• Find your strongest school-based allies.
• Find your strongest community allies (other
advocacy groups, the PTA, etc.).
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Outreach …
• The advantages and dangers of starting at
the top.
• Craft your message carefully -- what
matters most to this school?
• In our experience, school districts are
hungry for this information but it can be
difficult to make it a priority for them.
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The Evolution of P&T as A
The In-Service presentation follows the content of
the P&T as Allies publication, with the lived
experience representing a critical component.
The In-Service presentation was launched in Orange
County, FL (12th largest school district in the
country) and has been delivered in multiple sites
in states around the country.
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The Evolution of P&T as A
NAMI received a four-year foundation grant to
expand the early pilot program.
NAMI received additional foundation funding in
2010 to continue to expand the program into
new states and new sites within existing states.
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The Evolution of P&T as A
School professionals gave extremely high
ratings to the early pilot and subsequent
presentations.
School professionals often admit feeling ill
equipped to address the needs of these
students and how best to work with
families.
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Expansion of the Program
P&T as A targets public schools in urban,
suburban, rural, and culturally diverse
communities.
NAMI continues to focus on cultural
competence in the program.
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What Does the Program Look Like?
• Two-hour in-service education program.
• Most schools require school professionals to
have in-service training/education .
• The program includes a team of four
presenters: educator/family member,
facilitator/F2F teacher, parent of a child,
and an individual who experienced early
onset MI.
• P&T as A monograph is provided to all
participants.
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Content of the In-Service Program
Welcome and Introductions
Lead by: Educator/Family Member
Speaks from personal experience, warms up the
room, connects with the audience as a credible
education professional.
Focuses on stigma and different perspectives we
all have about MI.
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Content of the In-Service Program
Early Warning Signs of Mental Illness
Lead by: Facilitator/Family Member
Directs group to publication.
Reviews the early warning signs.
Reinforces that teachers are not diagnosticians
but can certainly recognize early warning signs
if they know what to look for.
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Content of the In-Service Program
Family Response: Predictable Stages of
Emotional Reactions Among Family
Members
Lead by: Parent/Family Member
Reviews stages from the publication (pg. 21-22).
Parent recounts their personal journey with their
child (infusing the lived experience).
Talks about where things are now and steps a
school took that were helpful.
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Content of the In-Service Program
Living with Mental Illnesses: A View from the
Inside
Lead by: Consumer
Consumer shares his/her experiences as a child living
with mental illness.
Focus is on the struggles, especially in school, teachers
that helped, what was harmful, what was needed and
how bad experiences can be turned around.
Professionals are interested in knowing how to properly
handle classroom circumstances that they have not been
trained to address.
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Content of the In-Service Program
Group Discussion
Lead by: Educator/Family Member
Everyone on the presenting team fields questions
from in-service participants.
Presenters are trained to know about the FAQ
(differentiating between bad behavior and early
warning signs, who do I refer a child to, isn’t
medicating a child controversial, how does all
this help with classroom management, etc.)
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Content of the In-Service Program
Closing
Lead by: Facilitator/Family Member
Thanks participants and those who arranged the
in-service training.
Evaluations for program completed (satisfaction
survey and pre- and post-test).
We have found that school professionals want
much more information (effective behavior
interventions, classroom based EBPs, etc.).
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The Continued Roll-out …
Family advocacy leaders participating in the
program are receiving ongoing technical
assistance from the NAMI national office.
This interaction between the field and NAMI
provides us with direct feedback on the program’s
effectiveness.
The evaluation component of the program allows us
to measure its ongoing success to help ensure
continuous program improvement.
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NAMI believes that …
… together families, school professionals and mental
health providers can make a tremendous
difference in the lives of children and families.
NAMI is pleased to see so many schools opening
their doors to family advocates working to raise
awareness about early onset mental illnesses.
We look forward to continuing to build our
partnerships and alliances with the school and
mental health advocacy and provider
communities.
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Wise Words ...
“ … be the change you want to see in the
world.
Ghandi
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Contact Information ...
NAMI Education, Training & Peer Support
Center
Dr. Teri Brister tbrister@nami.org
Carmen Argueta carmena@nami.org
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