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Volume 5, Issue 5(Suppl) J Child Adolesc Behav, an open access journal
ISSN: 2375-4494 Child Psychology 2017
September 28-29, 2017
Page 20
conferenceseries.com
September 28-29, 2017 Berlin, Germany
23rd International Conference on
Adolescent Medicine &
Child Psychology
Anselme Sadiki, J Child Adolesc Behav 2017, 5:5(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2375-4494-C1-001
Changing the conversation about children and adolescent mental health and suicide prevention
Mental illness can be detected at an early age with appropriate diagnosis, but stigma, lack of access to care prevent any
successful intervention and recovery. The United States and many other countries in the world are experiencing an
unprecedented high suicide death rates associated with epidemic drug overdose and mental illnesses among children and
adolescent youths. The incidents of deaths involving any type of opioid overdose increased by more than 300 percent between
1999 and 2015; according to the Centres for Disease Control, more than 52,000 Americans have died of an overdose in 2015 of
which, 33,000 were related to opioids. That is one death every 10 minute. Adolescent children and people with mental health
disorders are at a greater risk of drug abuse than the general population. There needs to be an integrated approach to help
improve the outcomes for many of those experiencing both mental illnesses and substance abuse. There are many obstacles
to overcome to improve mental health care for children, chief among them, the stigma associated with psychiatric illness and
addiction. To change the conversation how we approach the mental illnesses and how we treat people with mental illnesses,
we first must remove the stigma we attach to mental illnesses. Stigma creates barriers to treatment for mental illnesses, and it
appears to be worse in rural areas than larger cities. Stigma leads to more suicides because people are embarrassed, ashamed,
or discouraged by cultural norms to ask for help. The goal of this presentation is be to encourage a dialogue and awareness on
how to deal with psychiatric illnesses and addiction – seeing the person and not the illness. Unless we change the conversation
and openly talk about mental illnesses as root causes of high rate of suicide we are witnessing, we will continue to see children,
adolescent, men and women, and elderly taking their own lives.
Biography
Anselme Sadiki is the Executive Director of Children’s Home Society of Idaho that operates the Warm Springs Counselling Centre in Boise, Idaho. The centre provides
mental and behavioural healthcare services to children. He holds his Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Social
work from Idaho State University. Prior to joining the Children’s Home, he has worked in various capacities with United Nations Development Programme for 12 years.
Anselme Sadiki
Children’s Home Society of Idaho, USA