Travis County Commissioners Court
May 4, 2010,
Item 6
>> number 6 is approve resolution recognizing the month of may, 2010, as mental health month, and may 6, 2010, as children's mental health airness day in travis county. Good morning. Am i supposed to have a present clamation for this one?
>> i think so. Did we only have two today?
>> do you have our proclamation?
>> i have a copy.
>> always have a backup.
>> thank you. I blame ms. Flemming sense i was out of town. It says, whereas community mental health is essential to overall well being for all, whereas we live in a community where one in five of our children of all faces, ethnicity and religious background is affected by mental illness, whereas we some the community coming together to help children and adults lead full and productive lives positively impacting our community, whereas we acknowledge that more must be done to help the estimated two-thirds of children and youth living with mental illness who do not yet have the support they need to succeed, whereas we dedicated the month of, each year we dedicate the month each year to bring our neighbors, friends and family members together to live more about what good, to learn more about what good mental health needs, whereas we recognize may 6, 2010 as children's mental health awareness day, and see it as an opportunity to raise awareness about children's mental health, reduce stigma and celebrate resiliency, and whereas travis county health and human services and veterans service continues to support the development and implementation of the travis county system of care to ensure children youth and families have access to the services and supports that build upon their strengths and best meet their needs, now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the travis county commissioners court do here by proclaim the month of may as mental health month and may 6, 2010, as children's mental health awareness day in travis county, and call upon the citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses and schools in travis county to recommit our community to increasing awareness and understanding of mental health and the need for appropriate and accessible services for all people who have mental illness. And i move approval.
>> second.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> good morning. I think we will quickly introduce ourselves. I'm christy keane with the children's partne nership travis county health and human services. On my right.
>> i'm executive director at the austin child guidance center and currently serving at cochair of the child youth and mental health planning partnership which is one of the can issue area groups. We have some 40 plus members and one of the sponsors of the children's mental health awareness day.
>> okay.
>> go ahead.
>> deborah price, community partners for children, with travis county.
>> sonya heart man, program coordinator for community partners for children at travis county juvenile proprobation.
>> children manager for office of children service.
>> i'm parent liaison.
>> the minemicrophone on the end will snap right off. Those standing can introduce themselves.
>> i'm with the children's partnership and also at travis county health and human services and children services division.
>> jim layerman with health and human services.
>> judy wedge, lie and son with travis county health and human services.
>> monica lei, parent liaison.
>> sherry flemming, executive manager for hss.
>> welcome one and all.
>> today we will be passing you some information sheets about the national children's mental health awareness day, and it will be this thursday, may 6. And it's at the lucy reid pre-k demonstration school. As don indicated, the child and youth mental health planning partnership, in clap ration with the south texas art therapy association, as well as all these sponsors on the bottom of the flier i'm about to hand you, have been working collaboratively in our community to promote awareness of children's mental health issues. This year's focus is on early childhood. Those children 0-8 prenatal, up to the age 8. That is where we are focusing our event at the lucy reid demonstration prek school. It's a wonderful school. It's just a dynamic atmosphere filled with lots of learning. Our event this year will focus on art activities as well as other hands on activities for children and their parents. We will be focusing on teaching parents to read to their children. So we're going to be giving away books in english and spanish that we have acquired through private donors. And we will be having lots of positive parenting interactions for our young children and their families.
>> i would like to say that when we speak of children, we think of really three domains. We talk about the physical health and then their cognition, learning, academic component, and then the third is the social emotional. And that is what child and mental health awareness day is about, to talk to parents about that important domain and working with kids to get them to appropriately express their emotions. One way is through art. So we are pleased to be able to offer this event to the community. Again, to make parents more aware of the social emotional aspects of their child's development.
>> great.
>> this is one of those areas that we can't seem to ever do enough but it's certainly important. Lo and behold the proclamation has just been delivered. Ms. Flemming has returned to good status with the commissioners court.
>> i would just close by just saying that of course the travis county commissioners court continues to be very supportive of this area, providing a tremendous amount of resources to ensure that we continue to have a system of care for our children in our community. We know that one size does not fit all in this particular area. So it is very, very important that you have the flexibility that you have in providing us the resources to have services at every part of the continuum so that we can be responsive to the families in our communities. So thank you for your continued support and thank you to all of these wonderful partners and travis county employees who make all of our time and investments for families worthwhile.
>> thanks so much for all you are doing and so much for focusing on emotional expression through art on the 6th. I think that is so importantment we see that being cut in budget cries inside school districts and youth facilities for children who perhaps are not most appropriately placed in public school at this point. I want to applaud you all for that coming from a high school for the performing and visual arts where there are a lot of kids who had emotional issues. Thanks a lot.
>> thank you.
>> .
>> i should mention also, christy reminded me about the art show that we have going on at the capitol yesterday. We had a proclamation read and we had a number of students, pictures and painting selecting to display there. We are reaching out to the state also as well as the local community in trying to inform the public.
>> thanks so much.
>> mr. Referseed.
>> thank you, sir. Ronnie refer seed. I just want be to, one of the proud first graduating class of the dallas arts magnet high school i'm really in favor of what you are doing. And as a son of a mental health professional, my mother, from decades ago, i know it's important. So thank you for what you are doing.
>> appreciate it.
>> all in favor. That passes by unanimous vote.
>> can we get a picture with everyone, please.
>> all right.. . . . .
>> .
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 1:50 PM
