National Children’s Mental Health Awareness
The first floor hallway of the Harris County Juvenile Justice Center was turned into an art gallery on Thursday, May 7th. The artists were local children and teenagers who submitted drawings or paintings symbolizing “What Mental Health Means to Me.”
The art display was part of a celebration of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day” which will be commemorated throughout the month of May. Harris County Systems of Hope organized the art display, which is a program that is transforming mental health care for youth.
“Systems of Hope has been a blessing,” said Melvin Christophe during a program held on the outdoor pavilion of the Juvenile Justice Center.
Christophe’s 10-year-old son was incarcerated after a violent incident due to the child’s undiagnosed mental health problem.
“He was right there (at the Juvenile Justice Center) for six months and I cried right where you are standing. Nobody could understand that my son had a mental problem; it took Systems of Hope to step into help me and my two boys,” said Christophe.
Systems of Hope is in the fourth year of a six-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Systems of Hope provides comprehensive mental health services to youth who for various reasons, haven’t been successful in other programs. So far 239 youth have been served. The results are encouraging, according to statistics from the Systems of Hope Principal Investigator, George Ford.
“At intake, 61 percent of youth had either been expelled, suspended or both from school in the prior six months, after six months in the program, the rate dropped to 28.6 percent,” said Ford.
Ford also announced the American Leadership Forum has named Systems of Hope as one of the community’s answers in “What Works” as a component in “Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline.”
The event was also an opportunity to highlight a new collaboration between Systems of Hope and Harris County Juvenile Probation. Judge John Phillips recently created a Juvenile Mental Health Court docket, which is one of few Juvenile Mental Health Courts in the country.
“Through our partnership with Systems of Hope, we are now providing very specialized treatment for select kids whose mental health conditions we believe have directly caused their involvement with the juvenile justice systems, so this is an opportunity we have not had before and we are really very proud of it,” said Judge Phillips.
Systems of Hope has staff available in English and Spanish and is encouraging anyone who suspects a child in their care may have a mental health problem to contact the organization by calling 713.795. HOPE or log onto www.systemsofhope.org.
Popularity: 5% [?]
