Fusion Education Group Tackles Adolescent and Teen Mental Health with Free Webinar Focused on Destigmatizing Therapy

"In the last six months, medical, government, education and professional organizations have sounded alarms that we have a mental health crisis with our children," said Peter Ruppert, Chief Executive Officer of Fusion Education Group (FEG). "At Fusion, we remain uniquely steadfast in our commitment to focus on children's academic AND social and emotional needs. We hope that by offering families these free resources we can get kids the help they need."

The free webinar, "Mental Health 101 – Reducing the Stigma Around Therapy" will happen March 23, 2022, webinar at 1:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada). Tom Thelen and Dr. Kirleen Neely, co-authors of: "Mental Health 101 For Teens: The Practical Guide to Mental Health, Self-Esteem, & Emotional Intelligence" will bring their academic, clinical, and personal parenting experience and share the challenges and secrets to raising more resilient kids and teenagers. Attendees can register here and can expect to learn:

• How to identify two core aspects of mental health and wellbeing
• How to apply three tools for reducing the stigma around therapy and counseling
• How to support your mental health journey with "The Boat Metaphor"
• How to download a free PDF resource: 7 Tools for Reducing Anxiety

Thelen is a mental health speaker for schools and has spoken on the topic and bullying at more than 800 schools and conferences. He is the CEO of Reset Schools, a nonprofit in Cocoa, Florida.

Dr. Neely is a licensed Professional Counselor and the owner of Neely Counseling Center, a private practice in San Antonio, Texas.

"COVID brought mental health front and center for families and school systems. We must remember that schools are only as strong as the families behind them, so it needs to be a partnership," said Thelen. "Dr. Neely and I have families and kids of our own, so we are very excited to bring this webinar to parents and educators alike. Mental wellbeing is a set of skills we can all improve on."

During the 60-minute webinar, Dr. Neely and Thelen will speak for about 20 minutes about mental health, including anti-bullying, and will spend the remainder of time responding to attendees' questions and concerns.

"Parents have been tried and tested these last couple of years," Dr. Neely said. "Tom and I saw it, we lived it and we breathed it. That is why we wrote about it. We were fortunate to marry our parenting perspectives with our professional experiences, and we are hopeful that our pearls of wisdom will be useful to parents who can then better help their kids with their social and emotional needs."

In the last six months, a multitude of national sirens have sounded heightened concerns about children's social and emotional health, including:

• In February, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that before the pandemic began, about 21% of teens experienced a major depressive episode and 9% of children and adolescents experienced anxiety.
• Emergency department visits for children with mental health emergencies rose by 24 percent for children ages 5-11 and 31 percent for children ages 12-17 between March and October of 2020, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
• That same AAP study found a more than 50 percent increase in suspected suicide attempt emergency department visits among girls ages 12-17 in early 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019.
• The AAP declared a national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health because of the study's alarming findings.
• In December 2021, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., laid out an advisory to call attention to the widespread mental health challenges among youths and issued expansive actions to protect them. The advisory reported that mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorders were reported in about 20% of children ages 3-17 years, and many are not receiving adequate treatment.
• High school students surveyed by ACT last spring found that 51% reported problems that either negatively affected their academic performance or delayed progress toward graduation, which included bullying (41%), cyberbullying (38%), and discrimination (31%).

"This is a teachable moment for all of us, and an opportunity bring greater attention to our children's mental health," Ruppert said. "We are grateful to Dr. Neely and Mr. Thelen for their commitment to reducing the stigma around mental health, and I am confident families will be, too.

About Fusion Education Group:
Fusion Education Group provides accredited personalized education for middle and high school students at its more than 80 campuses in 18 states and the District of Columbia, that include: Fusion Academy, with 67 campuses that offer one-to-one instruction; Futures Academy, which offers one-to-one, small group instruction and online learning at 15 California campuses; Barnstable Academy, which offers traditional college-prep in a small school setting in New Jersey; and Fusion Global Academy, which offers one-to-one personalized education through a completely virtual campus that currently serves students in 45 states and 18 countries. More information about FEG's national events can be found here.

SOURCE Fusion Education Group