1. Prepare and implement a wellness council with clear referral procedures.
2. Help schools integrate curriculum on resilience, symptom recognition, and communication, and then share the content through workshops with parents and community program leaders.
3. Support teen leadership and open communication with adults.
4. Evaluate outcomes.

Childrens Hospital Boston and McLean Hospital originally developed the universal preventive intervention curriculum; you may download An Adolescent Mental Health & Wellness Curriculum: A Starter Kit For Schools without charge by clicking its image (to the right). 

Children's Hospital		McLean Hospital

Clinical and research studies are increasingly examining prevention programming as an important step toward addressing adolescent depression. Prevention is defined as a process of increasing awareness, resilience and coping skills. The goal is to promote early recognition and intervention in order to prevent crises from occurring. Preventing Depression: A Toolkit For Schools is a manual that follows a prevention philosophy and provides examples for staff training, student activities (grades 7-12), and referral procedures. View details at Print or Order Manuals.

Educator workshops that specifically address adolescent depression (including understanding how it differs from adult depression, highlighting early symptoms, and how to help students at-risk), are offered for school staff. The Preventing Depression: A Toolkit for Schools manual is also presented during these workshops, along with recommendations for best practices and possible adaptations to meet individual school needs.

Additional workshops are also being offered to other key adults in adolescent's lives, including parents, clergy,  coaches and scout leaders. Workshops with scheduled follow-up discussion meetings are currently being provided for Parents and for the Community Program Leaders supporting teens.  View details at Workshops. Feel free to contact us regarding the tools and potential content of these workshops for your community.

Resource information is also offered through this website. Parents may download information on keeping healthy kids healthy along with suggested actions when a child is diagnosed with symptoms of depression. View details at Parent Resources.

The information below verifies the importance of preventing depression:

• beyond age 5, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide (NIH Pub.01-4586)
• half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14 (NIMH National Comorbidity Survey Replication June, 2005)
• untreated mental disorder can lead to a more severe, more difficult to treat illness (ibid)
• 80% of adolescent suicides are completed by boys (Report on Mental Health, Surgeon General)
• most individuals who complete suicide have a mood disorder, defined as major depression / bipolar / dysthymia / adjustment disorder with depression (ibid; also National Strategy for Suicide Prevention)