different city departments under four mayors. he understands the chinese community problems and is ready to offer his assistance. this pilot program is one of the examples. we are proud and honored to be one of the supporters of this program and to sponsor this pilot program has per midi and agent for stockton street merchants. again, thank you very much there, and all your supporters. thank you. >> thanks so much, everyone. first of all, this is the year of the dragon. i am sorry that i almost forgot.

but can you imagine what is going to happen during the year of 2012? we have a historic mayor. first chinese-american. the best mayor in the whole world in my opinion, but now, he got elected by the people of the city as the first asian elected mayor. should we all give our wonderful mayor a 22-year experience in city government a big round of applause? [applause] as i said many times during the several events that i was involved, you can see the history continue to be made by our great mayor in the next four years, eight years, and beyond, believe me. our mayor has already shown his

leadership ability to all of you. you know, what he has done -- i do not have to repeat what he has done. you have your own judgment, and he is a visionary mayor. he has done everything for us. not only chinese americans, but the city and every part that is involved. we're so grateful that the mayor, together with our president of the board of supervisors approved this program. we started talking about it maybe three weeks ago. can you imagine within the short time, three weeks, the department of public works, under the leadership of director -- in oneand last night, we had

a meeting from 6:00 to 8:00, and we completed a detailed plan of how we would do the celebration of the fair. this is something we have to give credit to all the department of public works under his leadership. [applause] and, of course, his assistant, the bureau chief, that he should get credit as well. in the way, thank you so much for your great effort. also, do not overlook the senior help supervisor, lisa o'malley. she has been spending a lot of time with us. i wonder she is here today. but thank you so much. also, the mta and the other

departments involved, the police departments, the captain. therefore, i will say this year will be a good year and thereafter as well, under our mayor ed lee. thank you. thank you. happy new year. [applause] >> ok, so i have been working with the department of public works for over 11 years. when i took this job, i work with mayor ed lee. someone who has mentored me, guided me, given the advice, and, frankly, been able to get to where i am is the next person i am going to introduce. they are partner in this, and have done a lot of work with dpw. i have had the opportunity to travel to other countries to see how public works and how cities are being kept clean and green. welcome. [applause] >> well, i am not very good at

clapping hands. i am very good at kicking behind, and to get things done. you know, the thing about mohammed and our mayor and our leadership in our city right now is that they are willing to listen. i have always advocated that the community comes together when that there is a good idea. when there is a bad idea, i am the first one -- i do not care who you are, i will object to it. this idea of displaying the sidewalk, as the mere mention, really started 11 years ago when he was in dpw. at that point, the city, you know, a member of the city attorney and everybody, said it was too cumbersome, too difficult, the liability was to prohibited. and i was so happy when this mayor cut through all that

bullshit and came up with this idea, you know, accepted this idea and expended it and work with different departments. it will be minimal cost. i said, again and again, when we -- one that is something we try and it encourages additional cost, the community should step forward to assume their responsibility. so they have they insurance policies, so it should not cost that much. and i call out, you know, tommy yand, david wong, and the other associations, and i said, let's all step forward to share the cost of that insurance policy. it would only cost a few hundred dollars for eight or nine days, so it will be a real meaningful community effort. and i hope this will continue to

last. the mayor taking the cue from previous mayor willie brown. he is a very forgiving person [laughter] under me, i will kick your butt before, you know, i get to work with you. but, mayor lee, giving us a new leadership, and we should all follow. thank you. [applause] >> a couple people i would like to thank. one of our main partners, recology, who is here. there will be picking up garbage on time in making sure that the area is restored back to normal everyday. the pilot itself runs from 9:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the evening. and so, during that time -- >> no. >> ok, at 10:00 until 6:00 this

and the merchants will be out there. between 9:00 and 10:00 is the preparation time. and between 6:00 and 7:00 this the cleanup time. we will be putting out some barricades along the parking strips. so those will all be within the sidewalk. nobody will be allowed on the street unless you are crossing the street at an intersection. ok, and the police have that information, and the sfmta also have that information because we have promised to allow the buses to run on time, and there will be nobody stopping or impeding the travel of the vehicle's speed up other people i would like to thank, our deputy director for engineering. he has been very helpful. the city administrator, naomi kelly, someone i have been working with for many years, and we're working closer now. and all the community groups from chinatown, i want to thank you all. it has been a great working

relationship, and another is a lot more work that we will do together. and we will be here cleaning up graffiti, making sure everything is clean. we will be watching the tunnels and the next few days, and we will be doing more work. i want to thank everyone for coming out today, and happy year of the dragon. thank you. [applause]

[music] hello, i am ivette torres, and welcome to another edition of the road to recovery. today we will be talking about prevention and early intervention for alcohol and drug disorders and mental health conditions. we will be talking about what's working and what's needed. joining us in our panel today are: frances harding, director, center for substance abuse prevention, substance abuse and mental health

services administration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, md; jane callahan, director, national community anti-drug coalition institute, community anti-drug coalitions of america, alexandria, va; jordan burnham, mental health advocate, active minds inc., washington, dc; dr. wendy greene, assistant director of trauma and critical care and program developer, screening, brief interventions and referral to treatment program, howard university hospital, washington, dc. fran, what is the definition of behavioral health, and how do we distinguish between prevention, early intervention, and treatment within that definition? the definition for behavioral health for samhsa is we are

taking the substance abuse and mental health prevention, intervention, and treatment programs, and we are encasing it within the disorder realm. so substance abuse, prevention, intervention, and treatment are exactly the same, same levels, and so is mental health. we are finding that mental health properties for prevention, especially, are very similar to the properties of substance abuse, and treatment is different in one respect, but the intervention to get people into treatment is very similar. it is similar, but there are differences between the treatment aspect of substance use disorders and mental illnesses, correct? yes, there are. we have different treatment centers for substance abuse. we often have centers for treatment. in mental health, mental health services are delivered by many different realms. we have medical homes that deliver services, we have

community centers that deliver services. you don't see traditional structures like in the substance abuse world for treatment. dr. greene, what is the magnitude of mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems in our society? if you look at the national averages of mental health disorders, they may vary by regions, but there... if you look at some of the underlying day-to-day anxieties, you can imagine that it can go upwards of 70 percent if you include a number of the less diagnosed or less appreciated disease processes. in our trauma population, we often see upwards of 60 to 70 percent of our patients may have some sort of mental health. we feel that the patient who actually has a traumatic event and has some sort of substance abuse associated with it, be it alcohol or some drugs, because they usually have a polysubstance abuse patient.

we often find that they aren't just drugging because they want to, but they are usually drugging to a problem. and that problem may be a mental disorder as their underlying problem, whether it be depression or otherwise. so the mixture of the two, trauma, depression, mental health, are very intertwined. fran, i am going back to you. is there a difference between the level in the statistics between mental health and addiction issues? yeah, around mental health we have approximately 9.8 million adults-and we classify that as 18 years and older-that have a severe mental illness. and we have approximately... our studies are showing us that approximately 2 million young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have also been diagnosed with a major depressive episode. compare that to a statistic for substance abuse for instance; 5,000 deaths occur in substance abuse with young people, ages

12 to 25, with underage drinking in particular. so there is a difference, as well as a difference in cost, which we can get into later. jordan, you have had, yourself, some experiences with the problems of mental illness and substance use disorders. correct? right. i think the two and two go hand-in-hand. i think that, myself, the first time i picked up a drink was when i was a freshman in high school. statistics show that ages 12 to 17, a young adult in that age, they are twice as likely to pick up their first drink or drug if they experience some type of depression within that year. i was diagnosed with depression in 10th grade. for me, i look at, you know, when i speak to high school and even college students, is that 7 out of 10 young adults who have a serious substance abuse problem also have a serious mental health issue that is occurring with that. so i think, again, they do go hand-in-hand.

it is quite high, isn't it? yes, that statistic. and how did you manifest the problem? were your parents aware of the difficulties that you might have been having? yes, i think my parents were very aware of the problem of me drinking, but one of the problems was that no one wanted to see what the root was of the problem of me drinking. everyone looked at me drinking and were saying, "well, that's why he's not doing that well in school." or, "that's why he's not feeling that great." but no one wanted to go to the x-factor and say, "this is why he is drinking; that is getting him to that point." and so when were you finally assessed? when did you start and when were you finally assessed? in 10th grade, when i was 16, that's when i had a very bad argument with my parents that led me to go see a therapist, which at that time, i didn't want to do. being a 16-year-old male student, i just felt as though i could keep all of my emotions on the inside. anything that i was going through i could drink it off. i could play sports and not worry about it.

so i definitely wasn't in favor of going to see a therapist. but during that time when i went to go seek therapy, one thing that i wasn't completely honest about was my drinking, which was something that hindered me along the way that led up to my suicide attempt. it seems that you were already engaged in a system that was going to provide you assistance when you attempted that suicide attempt. so, if you could talk a little bit about that progression? right. when i was diagnosed, being 16, i didn't know how to handle it, because depressed and depression are two words that are used over and over again in society. i didn't know what the difference was between being depressed and being diagnosed with depression. it was explained to me that, when someone is depressed they know why they are crying, why they can't get out of bed, why their appetite might be a little bit different. but with someone like me, with depression, i can wake up one day and have no idea why i am crying, why i feel like i don't want to get out of bed, why i feel unmotivated. and so it was a process in getting to learn my depression,

having to take medicine, knowing that it is not a cold; it doesn't go away after a couple of weeks, after you take medicine and see a therapist. it was a process, but something that i didn't follow through with. i fell into a lot of tricks that young adults do by taking my antidepressant for about a month, feeling great, and feeling, "well, i am cured from depression," and stop taking my medicine. and so you would stop taking them? exactly. and it was in that period that you attempted to commit suicide? yes. along with self-medicating, with drinking, and taking my antidepressant on and off, that is what led up to my suicide attempt, by going out of my nine-story bedroom window. well, we are glad you are here. thank you, glad to be here. and we are glad you got the appropriate help. so, jane, given all these sets of circumstances, what do parents, really, in terms of beginning to assess a young lady or a young man in their home, what do they need to know? how do they... what signs do they need to look for? that is a really good question, and i think all of the parents

who are out there viewing this program are wondering, "what can i do to increase the likelihood that my kids don't end up with problems that lead to suicide, depression, or substance use?" i think the most important thing, first of all, is to just be a really good parent and listen. and then, secondly, educate yourself and learn about these things, learn about community resources and work together with other parents, particularly in your schools and your communities, to make sure that all of your kids together are getting what they need to grow up to be healthy and avoid problem behaviors. and when things do surface, i think it is really important for parents not to necessarily blame themselves, but definitely proactively get the kind of support they need, both for themselves and their children, to increase the likelihood that little problems won't turn into great big problems. yes. and fran, what do we tell parents in those situations? i think we tell parents... both jane and jordan talked about the role of parents and how important in each of their stories that parents have.

they are the first line to see their young people changing their behaviors, as jane was saying, some of the signs that are out there. we need to tell parents and remind them, first and foremost, that addiction is a disease and it is not their fault. and it is not their young person's fault. they need to know that as well. and if they do what jane said, listen, watch their young people, be interactive with them, get to know their friends, they need to know the signs of what is a normal life for a young person. and when their child begins to act a little differently than they used to act 2 or 3 years ago, that should send some signals to go get help. jordan, your parents obviously saw signs in you. they may not have understood it, and that's okay. we are not asking everyone to be clinicians, but when you begin to see your young person changing their friends drastically, when they start to seclude themselves or

they just don't seem right, that's the time to take them to the pediatrician or a doctor or a therapist or whomever. the worst thing they could do is nothing. jordan? a lot of times what parents ask is, "how can i start that conversation with my child?" because it might feel awkward, it might feel wrong to have that conversation. and two tricks that i always give to parents is: one, everyone asks how you are doing. in our society we all say, "how are you doing?" to make that positive connection, to start a conversation, i tell parents ask your kids how they are feeling, and that can change the entire dialect of a conversation by just one word, "how are you feeling?" and the other thing is relate. i know my parents and i used to do this thing called highs and lows. at dinner we would talk about our highs for the day, what we loved, and then our lows, what was our down point for the day. and for me, that secured me, to know that i'm not just going through a bad day. my mom, my dad, they can have a bad day too. so always relate and try to start a conversation is a good tip for parents. when we come back we are going to be talking more about what

parents can do, what programs are available, and how everyone can really get engaged and get involved to prevent substance use disorders and mental illnesses in our young people. we will be right back. [music] it's really important from the evidence that we have that just doing prevention activities or services in one setting isn't enough. for example, a young person needs to hear the same thing from parents that they hear from their schools, that they hear from their health care provider, that they hear from their church. so these messages, and the activities, and the direction that a community is trying to go needs to support each other. it's important, whether it's changing norms,

about the way children view alcohol and substance use, or about they way they seek help, or are supported in seeking help. and that really takes everybody assisting those children and youth, and the families, altogether in the same way with the same messages. well, prevention-prepared community dovetails into a recovery-oriented system of care because, again, you're mobilizing the resources of the community to create a supportive environment, so you have strong schools, so you have parents interacting with the schools. in a recovery-oriented community, what you are trying to do is make sure that you have access to the agencies in the community. so, all of the agencies in the community are operating to support the individual in recovery. in a prevention-prepared community, all of the agencies in the community operate to support the children, the young adults in the community. you have got strong supervision in the prevention-prepared

community, so parents are actively involved, just as family is actively involved in a recovery-oriented system of care. it's not that the individual is by himself or herself; it isn't just their problem. the same thing with a prevention-prepared community; the community understands that, if a child does not have support, that child becomes the community's problem as well as the child having his or her own problems. i had no idea it was going to be so hard. i didn't know what to expect. you hear the stories, i never took any of it seriously until i found myself here. and i realized i was going to have to work hard for my recovery. if you or someone you know has a drug or alcohol problem you are not alone. call 1-800-662-help. recovery was the hardest job i've ever had and the most important. brought to you by the u.s. department of health and human services. [music]

it is very therapeutic to be able to go around the country to tell my story to young adults, to adults, therapists, psychiatrists, whoever may listen, because i feel that is something that i didn't have before. you know, struggling with my depression and my stress and anxiety, i felt like i didn't have a voice. so to be able to speak about what i do and speak about my story and where i came from, i think it is important because i know there are people listening that can relate to at least one or two parts of my story. and that is a great thing because four out of five americans are affected by mental health, and that shows that so many people are related to mental health in some type of or form of way. and i think that is why the conversation needs to be had, because the statistics out there show how many people are affected by it, how many people deal with it themselves, personally, and to have that conversation is really where the education starts, and that is what is most important.

fran, we started talking about what parents can do, but let's go back a little bit and let's talk about what happens if we really do not prevent these problems within the population of young adults and other populations that we really have to engage with. first and foremost, i think your viewers would be interested that it is predicted by 2020 behavioral health disorders- remember, that is substance abuse and mental health-will surpass all other chronic diseases as the major health problem for our country. that in itself grabs your attention. to break it down even further, approximately $250 billion is spent each year on the cost of mental and emotional and behavioral disorders. to add to that, over $500 billion is cost to our

society for addiction disorders; for instance, substance abuse and alcoholism. so those are huge costs, especially during today, during our current economics, that we can't afford to ignore. we have a saying in samhsa, which is, "behavioral health is essential to overall health." and that is our goal, is to help our country understand: by looking at and treating and preventing and intervening into behavioral health, substance abuse, and mental health issues, we will save our country a lot of money and a lot of health. and dr. greene, it really goes beyond the treatment of mental illnesses and alcohol and drug use disorders, correct? i mean, there are other complicating factors of individuals that have those problems that then develop or may already be in the dna of the person that has those problems