May 8 is Mental Health Youth Awareness Day

Depression is a common disabling disorder affecting more than 19 million Americans per year. Youth are at least twice as likely to experience a major depressive episode. According to the Charlotte Mental Health Association, approximately 28% of Charlotte teens are suffering from some form of depression. Of this amount alone, 13.1% of local teens attempted suicide last year. Charlotte, North Carolina is one of the cities currently participating in a NIMH national research study on teen depression. 

On Thursday, May 8, WTVI and the following community partners, National Alliance on Mental Illness, YMCA, MeckCares, Teen Health Connection and Active Youth will organize a half-day leadership summit to dialogue about ways and strategies to improve solutions to this growing crisis. The goals:

• engage the leaders of the community on how we can shape our future
• share dialogues with other community organizations with similar interests
• expand the learning network, resource and referral
• create executive sessions to continue on-going dialogue
• utilize other leadership to assist with decision making

Following the half-day event, community leaders and youth will gather for a Teen Summit designed to strengthen awareness of the problem around depression. The Teen summit will take place beginning at 5:30 with a pre-reception with service providers/vendors providing resource materials.

The town hall meeting scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm will kick off with a report of statistics from the 2007 CMS Youth Survey, and will include: a ten-minute skit presented by a local school drama club on “suicide and depression”; a video clip of the national broadcast; and an open mic session with a panel of experts and students. A post reception is scheduled at the conclusion of the evening to provide an opportunity for participants to talk with service providers.

The leadership team will use the project outcomes and the community reaction and feedback to help identify possible strategies that can be used to build possible solutions.

For more information on WTVI outreach activities contact:
Beverly Dorn-Steele
704-371-8840