Public/Private Institutions Collaborate to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Minnesota’s Deaf Youth

Nov. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- Experiencing adolescence is tough enough.  But imagine being a kid seeking help for depression, anxiety or anger issues and your therapist doesn’t speak your language.  Much of how you’re feeling ends up lost in translation and no one on the hearing treatment team really “gets” you.  That’s what it’s like for many deaf youth in Minnesota – and across the nation.  

For this reason, Volunteers of America-Minnesota’s Mental Health Clinics and the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD) have collaborated to offer DHH IMPACT, a unique program which specifically addresses the needs of deaf, hard of hearing and deaf/blind youth ages 10 to 17 who are struggling with severe emotional and/or behavioral issues such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, anger, aggression, poor family or peer relations, and defiant behaviors.  The intensive day program offers individual, family, and group therapy in combination with the education programming on the MSAD campus in Faribault in an environment which is both culturally and linguistically accessible where the primary form of communication is American Sign Language (ASL).

A public open house celebrating the DHH IMPACT program is scheduled for Wednesday, November 17 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at MSAD’s Pollard Hall.
 
--WHAT: DHH IMPACT Open House—The public is invited to learn about DHH IMPACT, a unique program which combines academics and intensive mental health treatment for deaf youth who have emotional and/or behavioral problems.  

--WHO:  The event will be hosted by staff from the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD) and Volunteers of America-Minnesota Mental Health Clinics.

--WHEN:  Wednesday, November 17, 2010 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., a brief presentation will begin at 3:30 p.m.

--WHERE: Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, Pollard Hall, 615 Olof Hanson Drive, Faribault, MN 55021

Volunteers of America-Minnesota
Volunteers of America-Minnesota is a nonprofit organization founded in 1896 which offers a wide variety of services to more than 28,000 children, adolescents and their families, students, older adults, persons with disabilities and special needs, and ex-offenders each year.  It is one of the oldest, largest and most comprehensive human service organizations in the state and has more than 60 programs, 900 employees and 8,000 volunteers.  Volunteers of America has a rich history of developing innovative, quality programs to meet emerging social issues and prides itself on sponsoring programs which are able to articulate explicitly the outcomes achieved in its program participants' lives.  For more information about Volunteers of America-Minnesota, visit www.voamn.org, or call (952) 945-4000.

Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf
Founded in 1893 and located in Faribault, the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD) in collaboration with students, families and school districts creates a comprehensive, learning and signing community in a residential environment. MSAD prepares deaf and hard of hearing students to reach their fullest potential by promoting communicative, intellectual, social, physical, and emotional development in every aspect of its programs.  For more information, please visit: http://www.msad.state.mn.us.