Join Douglas Walker in another AASSA Connect Workshop: Common Mental Health Challenges in Adolescents.
Workshop Dates:
March 3, 2021 (asynchronous)
March 11, 2021 @ 11:30 am- 1:00 pm ET
Audience: K-12 Educators, Counselors & Psychologists
Discounted Rates for AASSA Members! Register Now!
Series Overview:
Worldwide 10-20% of children and adolescents experience mental disorders. Half of all mental illnesses begin by the age of 14 and three-quarters by the mid-20s. Common adolescent conditions that make up these significant statistics include depression, anxiety, suicidal thinking, eating disorders, addiction and trauma. If untreated, these conditions severely influence children’s development, their educational attainments and their potential to live fulfilling and productive lives. Children with mental disorders face major challenges with stigma, isolation and discrimination. This workshop will focus on the most common conditions seen across international school communities, providing an overview on the identification, treatment and school-based management of depression, anxiety, suicidal thinking, non-suicidal self-injury and trauma.
Dr. Douglas Walker| Workshop Facilitator
Dr. Douglas Walker, Chief Programs Director, Mercy Family Center Dr. Walker has worked with the international school community for fourteen of his last twenty-three years of practice as a clinical psychologist. He received his doctorate from the University of North Texas where he participated in the emerging field of Psychoneuroimmunology, studying the impact of stress upon the human immune system. In response to Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Walker created Project Fleur-de-lis, New Orleans’s largest school-based mental health program devote to students struggling emotionally and academically in the years following the storm and destruction. Dr. Walker has served as technical advisor to the US State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools and Guyana’s Ministry of Health to assist in the dissemination of trauma focused, evidence – based practices. Over the past decade, he has held a close relationship with the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA), functioning as a technical advisor and trainer for the implementation of trauma-informed treatment, crisis response and programming. With the support of AISA, Dr. Walker worked alongside other child protection experts to create the Child Protection Handbook, now in its second edition. In 2016, Dr. Walker completed a Fulbright Specialist Scholarship in Fukushima City, Japan where he conducted lectures in disaster mental health, and collaborative research into peer-to-peer support post 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami and level 7 meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. He functions as an Affiliated Consultant for the Council of International Schools (CIS), is a member of the International Task Force on Child Protection and contributes to the efforts of The Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) as a member of their Rapid Response Team.
