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Implementing Breaking the Silence
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 Stigma is a major obstacle to people seeking and receiving
treatment. This is especially true for children and
adolescents with mental illness. However, in any given
year, less than 1 in 5 of these children receive needed treatment.
In addition, mental illness in adolescents is linked to suicide,
alcohol and drug use, and school violence. Yet mental illness is
the least understood topic in classrooms today. Often, school
personnel lack information on the importance of early
identification and treatment; when children and adolescents get
early treatment, recovery is accelerated and the brain is
protected from further harm related to the course of a mental
illness. With a better understanding of mental illness, we can
reduce the incidence of these problems.
In response to these needs, three veteran teachers from New
York, who are also mothers of children with serious mental
illness, conceived the idea of developing lesson plans to teach
students about serious mental illness. In 1991, along with
committee members from their local NAMI Affiliate, they
created lessons that grew out of their personal experience both
as parents and teachers, for use in schools with teachers and
counselors.
In the summer of 2006, NAMI Texas approached NAMI Austin
and the Austin Independent School Districts Director of Special
Education to collaborate on a grant proposal to bring Breaking
the Silence to all school counselors, special education staff, as
well as staff from Communities in Schools. When the grant
proposal was not funded, Catherine Weaver, President of NAMI
Austin, and the AISD stepped up to the plate, providing support
for the adage “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
As a result, in November, 2006, with funding from NAMI
Austin, Sondra Helweg and I, both members of NAMI Austin,
provided training to all middle and high school AISD counselors
in Breaking the Silence during a school in-service. Sondra is a
counselor at Bowie High School, AISD, as well as being a teacher
of the NAMI education programs, Family-To-Family, and Visions
for Tomorrow. She has also been honored as the Counselor of
the Year at Bowie High School. She brings passion and
commitment to her work, and also serves on the NAMI Austin’s
Education Committee.
Breaking the Silence was well received and counselors attending
engaged in enthusiastic dialogue on how to use this program in
their schools. They identified many creative ways to use these
materials with their students, and are excited about the
expected impact. The hope is that this training will continue
annually, establishing this education as an integral part of
AISD’s in-service training. |
| By Norma Bangs, Family Education Coordinator |
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| ©NAMI-SAT 2007 |
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