Mental Health Awareness Project

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS PROJECT OUTLINE

This is a project where you are required to research a specific mental health disorder, gather reliable health information and resources, and present your findings to the rest of the class.  Using your gathered data, you will need to come prepared to each class, ready to work on this project.

You will be completing questions based on ONE of the following roles: PATIENT, MEDICAL EXPERT, and FAMILY/LOVED ONES.  These questions will be the basis for the poster you are going to create.  You are also expected to create 2 Inquiry Questions for each section.  The answers from your questions and research should be organized into categories for your poster, to make it easier to read.  Your answer need to be in YOUR OWN WORDS, and you need to have CITATIONS TO SHOW WHERE YOU GOT YOUR INFORMATION FROM.

POSTER PROJECT CRITERIA

CONTENT/ACCURACY	DESIGN	EFFECTIVENESS
The poster includes at minimum, the following types of information: - Title -Clearly identified mental health disorder topic - Common symptoms - Possible causes - Treatments - Relevant statistics (U.S. or Canada only please) - Available local services and resources - Citation of all of the sources where you found the information	The poster has graphic elements such as: - Cohesive look (all of the parts of the poster work together to create a poster that looks as if it was made by a professional team) - Logical and easy to follow graphics and organized poster content - Creative use of visual elements (e.g., images, colours, shapes, sizing of letters, etc.)	The poster has the following qualities that attract people's attention, and make it easy to understand the content: - It is easy to read and identify different sections - The information is presented in clear writing and enhanced by design elements - Content and design of the poster are informative and respectful of the topic

ROLES:

Patient

As the patient, you are responsible for researching the symptoms associated with the mental illness.  How might you think, feel, and act?

Medical Expert

As the Medical Expert, you are responsible for researching current treatments for the mental illness and informing others about different mental health professionals.

Family Member/Loved Ones

As a family member of a person diagnosed with a mental illness, you are responsible for researching resources in the community to help with the mental illness.  Additionally, you are to research anything that relates to the community and stigma.

THE BIG QUESTION YOU NEED TO ANSWER

FROM THE PERSPECTIVE CHOSEN, HOW COULD FORMS OF HARRASSMENT LEAD TO MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS?

QUESTIONS FOR PATIENT:

1. What are some common symptoms that patients experience when affected by the specific mental health disorder your team has been assigned?

2. What are some known or possible causes of this disorder?

3. How many people in Canada are diagnosed with the disorder? What are some other relevant statistics that might be helpful for patients?

4. What are some reasons someone might not seek help for this mental disorder?

5. What other information do you think will help people better understand this mental health condition and seek appropriate help?

6. Write your two inquiry questions here:

QUESTIONS FOR FAMILY/LOVED ONES:

1. What are some signs of the mental health disorder that you can identify?

2. Are there any negative stereotypes about people affected by this mental illness? Please describe.

3. List at least three local mental health resources/services available for helping and supporting people affected with this mental disorder as well as their family members?

4. List at least three online resources with reliable information about this mental condition and explain why you consider them credible.

5. What other information do you think will help people better understand this mental health condition and seek appropriate help?

6. Write your two inquiry questions here:

QUESTIONS FOR MEDICAL EXPERTS:

1. What are some risk factors in mental illness? And how is the specific mental health disorder you researched diagnosed?

2. What are general methods used to treat this mental disorder?

3. Why is it important to identify and treat mental health disorders?

4. What are some medical science careers available in helping and researching mental health issues? (Hint: visit and explore LifeWorks web site at http://science.education.nih.gov/LifeWorks.nsf/alpha.htm)

5. What other information do you think will help people better understand this mental health condition and seek appropriate help?

6. Write your two inquiry questions here:

RESOURCES

- CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) at http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx

- Mental Health and Behavior on the MedlinePlus® by the National Library of Medicine at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mentalhealthandbehavior.html

- National Institute of Mental Health, Mental Health Topics at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/index.shtml

- National Alliance on Mental Illness at http://www.nami.org/Hometemplate.cfm

- Mental Health Services Locator at http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/databases/

- TeensHealth™ from Nemours Foundation at http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/

- Healthy Minds Canada at http://healthymindscanada.ca/resources/

- Canadian Mental Health Association at http://www.cmha.ca/mental-health/

- Mental Health First Aid Canada at http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca/EN/RESOURCES/Pages/default.aspx

LIST OF MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS

- Clinical Depression

- Major Depressive Disorder

- Post-Partum Depression

- Manic Depression (Bipolar)

- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

- Phobia

- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

- Panic Disorder

- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

- Social Anxiety Disorder

- Eating Disorder

- Multiple Personality Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder)

- Schizophrenia

- Anorexia Nervosa

- Bulimia Nervosa