Children's Issues

School Best Practices

Schools play a critical role in helping students diagnosed with mental illnesses reach their full academic and functional potential.  The academic performance and behavioral functioning of students significantly improves when their mental health needs are effectively addressed.  NAMI calls on schools to adopt the following ten best practices, download School Best Practices (pdf).

Reinvesting in the Community: A family guide to expanding home and community-based mental health services and supports

NAMI has released a publication titled, Reinvesting in the Community: A Family Guide to expanding Home and Community-Based Mental Services and Supports, to inform families about the importance of expanding the array of home and community-based services and supports available to children and youth with mental illness and their families.

To download a copy of the family guide, please visit NAMI’s Child and Adolescent Action Center website at www.nami.org/caac. Sections of the guide in Spanish are also available online.

Getting an Accurate Diagnosis for Your Child: 10 Steps for Families

Getting an accurate diagnosis for your child can be challenging.  Several factors contribute to this challenge, including the following:

• Symptoms – that often include extreme behaviors and dramatic changes in behavior and emotions – may change and develop over time.
• Children and adolescents undergo rapid developmental changes in their brains and bodies as they get older and symptoms can be difficult to understand in the context of these changes.
• Children may be unable to effectively describe their feelings or thoughts, making it hard to understand what is really going on with them.
• It is often difficult to access a qualified mental health professional to do a comprehensive evaluation because of the shortage of children’s mental health providers and some health care providers are reluctant to recognize mental illnesses in children and adolescents.

Getting an Accurate Diagnosis for Your Child: 10 Steps for Families (pdf)
For some children, having a diagnosis is scary and they may be resistant to accept it.  Others are relieved to know that what is happening to them is caused by an illness, that they are not alone, and that there are treatment options that can make them feel and do better.  It is important to find ways to use the strengths and interests of your child to help him or her cope with difficult symptoms. Benefits are often derived from aerobic exercise, martial arts, music, and art – whatever it takes to provide your child with a therapeutic outlet.   The diagnosis is one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Informational Resources

National Organizations and Information:

• NAMI National Child and Adolescent Action Center
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists
• National Institute of Mental Health
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
• National Eating Disorders Association

Utah Organizations:

• Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health
• Utah Family Resource Facilitator Project
• Utah Parent Center
• New Frontiers for Families

Informational Brochures:

• Reinvesting in the Community: A Family Guide to Expanding Home and Community-Based Mental Health Services and Supports
• Choosing the Right Treatment: What Families Need to Know About Evidence-Based Practices
• Crisis Intervention Team for Youth