Mental Health and Mental Disorders of Children and Youth

This course is open to student learners in the health science areas including social work, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry. This course will present state-of-the-art knowledge and research of mental disorders of children and youth, as well as factors that promote mental health, and prevent mental disorders and substance related problems. Using a clinical case discussion format, this class will highlight mental health diagnoses, comorbidity, and team collaboration across health professions. Social determinants of health/mental health will be used as an organizing framework for discussing the impact of factors associated with health and mental health across diverse cultures, groups and populations. Classification systems of child and youth functioning and disorders will be presented, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5), Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood: DC: 0-5, and the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA). Students will be taught to critically understand both the strengths and limitations of these classification systems and how to use these systems in practice. Competencies related to teamwork and collaboration, values and ethics, and communication will be addressed.