Parents, teachers and community members can learn about detecting when a youth is dealing with depression or other mental illnesses.
Regional Office of Education 33 is offering the “More Than Sad” program to educators during the day Tuesday.
Then in the evening parents and community members are welcome to attend.
The workshops are through a partnership with the ROE, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Out of the Darkness.
The ROE receives funding from the 708 Board of Mental Health.
Jessica Donaldson, Behavioral Health Coordinator with the ROE says they wanted to use the funding to bridge the gap between the school district, parents and the community.
“It allows us to offer that training for educators during the day but also the same workshop and the same materials for parents at night. And it just helps if everyone has that same information so we can close that gap in services for youth.”
Chastity Smith with the Out of the Darkness Walk says they’ve been trying seven years to get the More Than Sad program into local schools.
Smith says that having educators and parents go through the same workshop helps to put school and home on the same page.
“A lot of times that’s where the disconnect is. What they’ve learned at school and what’s going on at home — we’re trying to bridge the gap here so we are all on the same page, all of these adults in these children’s lives.”
Through funds raised in their annual walk, they’ve brought it to several schools around the region.
She even found that 205 administrators had been using the program in training.
The session for parents will be Tuesday night from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Thomas Legacy Center on Seminary Street.
