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Illinois Office of Mental Health

Metro C & A Network

Teen Advisory CouncilPresentation To

President’s New Freedom Commission

September 11, 2002

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2000 Adolescent Consumer

Satisfaction Survey

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Survey Development• Developed by Teen Advisory Council • Sought to learn whether other

adolescents felt services were helpful • Distributed to 21 community mental

health agencies in Metro Chicago area• 30% response rate• 63 respondents

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Q: Sometimes I want to talk to my counselor and I can’t reach him or her

25.8 % Strongly Agree/Agree 74.2 % Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

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Q: I am confident that my counselor knows

what to do to help me and my family

95.2% Strongly Agree/Agree

4.8% Disagree/Strongly Disagree

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Q: I wish my counselor would give me more help with my problems

36.5 % Agree/ Strongly Agree

63.5 % Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

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Q: I believe my counselor respects me as a person

98.4% Agree/Strongly Agree 1.6 % Disagree/Strongly

Disagree

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Q: I feel that my parents are getting enough help in counseling

64.4% Agree/Strongly Agree 35.6 % Disagree/Strongly

Disagree

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Q: I think the things I’m working on in counseling are important to change

85.2% Agree/Strongly Agree

14.8 % Disagree/Strongly Disagree

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Q: Counseling has made things better in my family

89.9% Agree/Strongly Agree10.2 % Disagree/Strongly

Disagree

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Q: Counseling has helped me improve my relationships with peers my age

75.4% Agree /Strongly Agree

24.6% Disagree/Strongly Disagree

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Q: My counselor works together with important people in my life to help me

91.9% Agree/ Strongly Agree8.1% Disagree/Strongly

Disagree

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Q: My agency counselor and my school work together to help me

76.7 % Agree/Strongly Agree23.3% Disagree/Strongly

Agree

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Q: Medications have helped me

75% Agree/Strongly Agree25% Disagree/Strongly

Disagree

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Q: If I have been hospitalized, the hospitalization helped me or my family

67.9% Agree/Strongly Agree 32.2% Disagree/Strongly Disagree

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Q: I believe counseling is worthwhile

91.5% Agree/Strongly Agree

8.5% Disagree/Strongly Disagree

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Teen Advisory Council members thoughts on counseling and the mental health system

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“Real Life” Based Counseling

• “We need help dealing with real life problems in real situation instead of talking about feelings and abstract things in the counselor’s office .”

• “We need to talk about the things that seem like problems to us, not just the things that other people think are problems

• “We need help with making transitions into jobs, and real life, and with knowing how to talk to your peers when you’re an adult. “

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“Respite Services”• “Being able to get away from our parents

sometimes helps us keep control.”• “It was really helpful to me to have someone who

could “walk” with me into positive activities and help me learn how to behave and get along while I was there. Now I can do more positive things by myself.”

• “I don’t think the ‘professional’ counselor had enough respect for the relationship I had with my respite worker. The professional counselor ended the relationship I had with respite too fast, and I didn’t even have a chance to say good-bye.”

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Staff Turnover • “When your counselor leaves it’s a big bummer

and it’s harder to talk to the next person because you compare them to the first counselor and then worry that they will leave to.”

• “ I got comfortable with someone and then they left, then I didn’t really talk to anyone again.”

• “The counselor’s attitude plays a big part. If they have a bad attitude about their jobs we don’t want to talk to them.”

• “I had already talked to the first counselor about my worst problems. The new one tried to force really deep things out of me and I didn’t want her in my business. I have boundaries just like everyone else.

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Inclusion in Treatment Planning• All committee members reported that they were not

clear what their treatment plans were, even though they may have signed some papers saying they did.

• Adolescents wanted the psychiatrists working with them to “ask us if the medicine is working, not just our parents.”

• They felt that their confidentiality was often violated, “counselors talk to people behind your back, they should always ask us before they talk to someone.”

• “As adolescents and children we have been asked for very little feedback, and we question whether our perspectives are taken seriously. We should be taken seriously because some of us will be in this system (mental health) for our whole lives.”

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2002 Teen Survey Mental Health and

Violence

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2002 Teen Survey Mental Health and Violence• Teen Advisory Council members wrote

and submitted grant application to Illinois Violence Prevention Authority.

• Council was award $5000 grant• Survey is the first of three activities

designed to learn more about how teens receiving mental health services experience violence and how it affects them.

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Some Survey Results:

• Q: Have you ever been a victim of violent or aggressive behavior at school?

48% said YES, of those 56% are males & 44% are female

• Q: Have you ever been the victim of violent behavior at home by someone in your family?

51% said YES, of those 40% are male & 60% are female

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• Do you get teased or picked on because of your emotional/behavioral problems?

25% said Yes, of those 60% are male & 40 % female

• Does music/movies/video games influence you to behave more aggressively or violently?

7 % said Yes, of those 70% are males & 30 % female

• Are you aware of how your violent behavior affects victims feelings?

Yes - 74% , No - 26%,

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• How do you think being a victim of violence affects your emotional /behavioral problems?

Causes them 20%Makes them a lot worse 27%Makes them a little worse 30%No influence 23%

• If you have been a victim of violent behavior have you ever told your counselor about being the victim of violence?

YES = 60% NO = 40%

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THE END !