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Search Adolescent Wellness site
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About Adolescent Wellness, Inc.
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Adolescent Wellness, a non-profit 501c3 organization, was founded to simplify prevention of depression and suicide in adolescents.
A primary activity is creating awareness of prevention resources from McLean Hospital and Childrens Hospital which are available to every school with any grade 7-12, including universal preventive intervention curricula.
Another activity is piloting programs for duplication by others. Workshops with follow-up meetings for parents, community program leaders and educators are being piloted.
The newest work is in teen leadership programming on resilience and referral through supportive key adults.
Prevention is not analogous to inoculation, where a one-time course or quiz prevents depression and prompts for earliest treatment. Rather, it is developing resilience incrementally each year by activities appropriate to a person's emotional maturity. In school, a 7th grade activity might include discussing the graph of a mood continuum from sad to depressed while a freshman activity might include role-playing. At home, resilience is enhanced through increasing social competence, sense of purpose, creative problem solving and autonomy. (Autonomy is defined here as decision-making that is free of inappropriate anxiety.) |
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About the logo-
Pacific Nortwest coast totem poles include
the halibut to symbolize
Life Protector, Strength and Stability. | |
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Adolescent Wellness distributes manuals on preventing depression for use by any school. The manuals suggest:
o referral procedures for all staff
o clear objectives with staff development activities
o a selection of health curriculum activities
o outcomes evaluation
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Adolescent Wellness distributes parent guides and schedules workshops for key adults to support teen leadership programming. We schedule workshops for Educators, Parents, and Community Program Leaders including pastors, coaches and scout leaders. |
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| Comprehensive workshops using the manual Preventing Depression: A Toolkit For Schools are hosted by Northeastern University's School Health Institute. Localized workshops are hosted, including with:
o Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action
o Massachusetts School Psychologists Association
o Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston
o The Roxbury Latin School
o educational collaboratives (EDCO, CASE, LABB, etc.)
o school districts (Concord, East Longmeadow, etc.)
o state and national organizations | |
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The toolkit manual helps school leaders overcome barriers to action such as:
o conflicting advice
o concern over creating problems
o time constraints
o uncontrolled content
o budget constraints
o insufficient health resources
To overcome conflicting advice, the depression prevention curriculum was conceived through collaboration by the premier institutions for research and treatment in New England, Children's Hospital Boston and McLean Hospital.
As to creating problems, earlier action prevents or minimizes depression.
Time constraints are severe in every school so goals and objectives are clearly defined to allow integration with existing health programs or potentially, dual use lesson plans.
Schools desiring controlled content, including independent or religious schools, can define the prevention goals and the lesson plans.
Regarding budget constraints, all material is suitable for use by existing staff. Materials and training are affordable. Online versions of the paper surveys are offered to eliminate paper and to minimize time to distribute, collect and tabulate.
Recognizing that health resources are scarce, a 'tool kit' for use by the existing staff was created. For example, the Class Emotional Safety Assessment tool helps school staff identify an appropriate curriculum level; each curriculum module is provided in three levels to match the class emotional safety level identified. Assessment questionnaires for staff, parents and students are provided to identify the school needs. To create a School Resources List, questions are provided for the school to answer before teaching the curriculum. Over time, prevention and earlier management of depression will help reduce the gap between the availability and the demand for health resources.
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The IRS has determined that Adolescent Wellness is a 501c3 tax-exempt public charity. Individuals giving to Adolescent Wellness may deduct contributions when itemizing on the tax return. The IRS Letter of Determination may be viewed and printed by clicking on the phrase to the right. |
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IRS Letter of Determination to Adolescent Wellness |
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| Partial funding for the materials came from the Sidney A. Swensrud Foundation and from individual donors. We are also grateful to the Center For Mental Health Service (SAMHSA/HHS) for providing this website. |
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