National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day
National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day (Awareness Day) is a day for SAMHSA and the initiatives and communities it supports to promote positive youth development, resilience, recovery, and the transformation of mental health services delivery for children and youth with serious mental health needs and their families. Awareness Day raises awareness of effective programs for children's mental health needs, demonstrates how children's mental health initiatives promote positive youth development, recovery and resilience, and shows how children with mental health needs thrive in their communities. Awareness Day will be held on Thursday, May 8th, 2008. The theme for this year's national event is Thriving in the Community, with a special emphasis on high school youth who receive the services they need are more likely to have positive outcomes such as better grades and higher rates of education and less likely to have negative outcomes such as involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
This year the National Event, "Still I Rise": A Celebration of Resiliency through the Performing Arts will feature:
- Performances By Youth
- A scheduled appearance by the National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Ambassador Howie Mandel
- Presentation of SAMHSA Data
- A live satellite feed to the San Francisco System of Care Site
- Launch of "Dare to Dream: America" Initiative
As Awareness Day expands, so does our program sponsorship. This year there is an overwhelming amount of organizations, associations and entities who want to lend their support to Awareness Day. Special thanks to all of them.
Awareness Day on the Local Level
System of Care and other SAMHSA grantees across the country host a variety of Awareness Day events. To help you plan your program's local activities, the Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign developed the National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Planning Notebook available in both English and Spanish under the Materials and Spanish Materials sections of this site. It is a technical assistance tool that contains tips, resources, and ideas to help you shape your National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day activities. We encourage you to customize these materials to meet the needs of your program and audiences.
Because of file size issues, we recommend that you download the notebook one section at a time. Several of the notebook's components can be downloaded individually, including partner fact sheets (Section 5) and directories (Section 6).
In addition to the resources found on this website, the following conference calls and webinars have been scheduled to help your community plan and promote their events.
- Wednesday, April 16, 3:00 pm EST Review of Data Release and Media Materials Embargoed
- Tuesday, June 24, 3:00 pm EST Awareness Day Highlights webinar
Only 3 Weeks until National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day 2008! What should you do?
By now many of the major tasks of your planning have been accomplished. You are well on the way to a successful Awareness Day. Now is a good time to contact your speakers.
- Finalize materials for the event
- Contact speakers and go over their role with them. Assist them with any help they need in preparing.
- If you are seeking media develop a media advisory.
- Contact speakers to discuss their presentations and see if they need additional information to support.
- Compile a list of media outlets that may be interested in covering your event
Only 2 Weeks until National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day 2008! What should you do?
By now many of the major tasks of your planning have been accomplished. You are well on the way to a successful Awareness Day. Now is a good time to really focus on media.
- Send out your media advisory.
- Start calling reporters to interest them in the event
- Make a list of materials to be taken to the location and begin packing them
- Make staff assignments (including registration staff, note taker, audiovisual coordinator, and speaker greeter) and explain duties to all staff
- Provide your caterers with a head count
Only 1 Weeks until National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day 2008! What should you do?
By now many of the major tasks of your planning have been accomplished. You are well on the way to a successful Awareness Day. Now is a good time to tie up all your loose ends.
- Finalize the agenda and have it printed
- Verify details with venue; confirm audiovisual needs; send venue your room layout and special instructions
- Continue to call reporters to encourage attendance
- Touch base with Speakers to make sure that they have the correct date and location of the event, as well as the time they are expected to speak. Give speakers the name of a contact person who will greet them upon arrival
- Assemble materials for distribution to participants; send them to venue
- Print name tags if applicable
- Draft a press release and describing the event for release on May 8.
It is important to keep in mind that Awareness Day activities will vary across sites to fit the individual needs of your community. For the most comprehensive information on planning an Awareness Day Activity please consult the National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Planning Notebook. The Planning Notebook can be downloaded in both English and Spanish from this website.
After National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day: What should you do?
Congratulations on a successful Awareness Day. Now is a good time to follow up with the event and start thinking about next year.
- Conduct wrap-up meeting with event committee
- Prepare written summary and evaluation of event.
- Complete event binders and records
- Review invoices and send payment.
- Contact organizations that attended the event to discuss potential collaboration
- Send thank-you cards and notes of appreciation to committee members, volunteers, presenters sponsors, staff members, and others involved with the event.
- Start planning for Awareness Day 2009!
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