Mental Health and Human Resilience

Recent work focusing on the importance of neuroscience as it relates to educational principles has brought into light significant organizational and systems-based problems that impact the application of these prinicples among high school and college age students. These challenges, coupled with the ever increasing time demands and financial needs of health care providers in the United States has created an environment where schools are not adequately equipped to address mental health concerns and providers are limited in the time and resources available to treat in the office. Subsequently, ever increasing numbers of school aged children are being prescribed medications to treat symptoms that may be an artifact of the structure of the school day and the structure of the health care systems in the United States.

This poster presentation seeks to present the argument of the need to address the aforementioned concerns, especially in light of the ever increasing mental health difficulties facing high school and college age children in the United States. It will also compare and contrast the systems in place in Canada and the United States to demonstrate strengths and weaknesses. Emphasis will be placed on diagnoses of ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression among high school and college aged students. This presentation will attempt to assimilite work from the Fulbright experience and subsequent related clinical experiences.