March 9: Mental Health focus of professional learning for elementary teachers

Mental Health will be the focus of professional learning for elementary teachers with the Rainbow District School Board on Friday, March 9th, 2012. Dr. Umesh Jain, Associate Professor of Psychiatry with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Hospital for Sick Children, will deliver a keynote address at the Caruso Club at 9 am.

“Mental health problems can be a barrier to student success,” said Norm Blaseg, Director of Education for Rainbow District School Board. “As educators, we need to recognize the warning signs so we can reach out and help.”

The professional learning session will enable educators to develop “mental health literacy” as they learn about depression, anxiety, mood swings, attention deficits, eating disorders and other problems that may have an impact on children and youth. “Removing the stigma of mental illness and building awareness will go a long way towards ensuring that some of our most vulnerable students receive appropriate support,” said Director Blaseg.

Dr. Umesh Jain is a staff psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Child, Youth and Family Service). He is also the primary investigator on the CIHR grant – Inattention and Working Memory and the adolescent component in the YEARS study, a joint initiate and study on Adolescent ADHD between the Hospital for Sick Children and the CAMH. He attended medical school at Dalhousie University in Halifax and divided his psychiatry, and child psychiatry between Dalhousie and the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his PhD in Toronto in the Institute of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Jain is a nationally recognized scientist in the area of ADHD, impulsivity in children/adolescents and psychopharmacology with 154 peer-reviewed publications and over 200 presentations, papers and posters. Dr. Jain has been involved with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) as a member of their Scientific Board and Local Chairperson of their meetings in Toronto (1996 and 2005). He has also been involved with the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CACAP) as a member and chair of their scientific program (1996-1999) and on the National Executive since 2003. He began the Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance (CADDRA), an affiliation of all Canadian specialists practicing in the ADHD arena. He lives in Toronto with his four children and his wife, a pediatrician.

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Media Contact:

Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,

Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,

Rainbow District School Board, 705-674-3171, ext. 7217.