Teen Mental Health Grant The Library has received a 2500 dollar grant through the Outagamie Waupaca Library System for the purchase of books and videos on teen mental health issues. The grant is part of a concerted effort by library systems and their member libraries to identify and address the unmet library needs of young people, aged seventeen or under who suffer from social, physical, educational and/or economic limitations. With this grant the Appleton Library and the Outagamie Waupaca Library System become part of a statewide effort to provide services to the caregivers and members of the special population of young adults suffering with mental illness.

Trends indicate that young adults with untreated mental health problems are at greater risk than the general population for dropping out of school, committing crimes, abusing drugs and attempting or committing suicide. Of all the afflictions of youth, emotional and behavioral disorders are probably the least well understood. Lack of understanding of these disorders among the general public as well as parents and others have resulted in the majority of adolescents with mental illness going undetected and untreated often with tragic results.

Reference librarians and staff members at the local chapter of the National Alliance For the Mentally Ill worked together to identify resources that would provide factual information to help parents and young adults identify problem behaviors and which would encourage parents and teens to seek early intervention. It is hoped that the development of this core collection of materials on adolescent mental illness, will also promote understanding and work to eliminate the stigma attached to mental illness.

The Library's Reference and Information Services staff is creating a bibliography of the books and videos which will be available at our library and to libraries in the Outagamie Waupaca Library System. In addition, NAMI Outagamie will distribute the bibliography to 180 mental health providers in the Fox Valley. We anticipate that local mental health care providers will refer their clients to the library for these materials; that concerned parents will have a place to easily access information on their adolescent and that young adults will use the collection for their personal needs.