On December 14, 2012, 28 people lost their lives in Newtown as a result of inadequately identified and treated mental health issues. Over the past year, lawmakers have passed groundbreaking legislation to improve safety and children's mental health at the policy, systems, and practice levels. School leaders have critically analyzed their crisis response and prevention efforts, including over one hundred educators being trained at UConn’s Neag School of Education in PREPaRE, a research-based crisis prevention and intervention curriculum offered by the National Association of School Psychologists. Thousands of Connecticut-based mental health clinicians have been trained to screen children for trauma and provide evidence-based treatment, resulting in 80% of those treated showing such dramatic reductions in symptoms that they no longer require treatment (Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, 2013).
As we approach the anniversary of this unthinkable tragedy, it serves as a reminder to each of us to re-examine mental health issues in our own life and in the lives of those around us (friends, relatives, colleagues, students). To assist in increasing awareness of symptoms of mental illness and available resources to treat those symptoms, faculty and students of the school psychology program at UConn offer the following resources:
General Resources on Mental Health
UConn and State Resources
For more information, contact: Lisa Sanetti, Faculty Advisor for the Student Association of School Psychology at lisa.sanetti@uconn.edu