Manayunk Symposium Seeks To Tackle Mental Health Crisis
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A key presenter at a five-day symposium in Manayunk says we are in the midst of an epidemic of social problems triggered by mental health issues.
Henrietta Hadley of Philadelphia-based Promises Worldwide says a mental health crisis is a growing threat to individuals and families.
"It's that serious to the point where we're looking at our suicide rates, they're going up. We're looking at the stress rates just in our communities. We're finding that a large percentage of our households single parents. A lot of our mothers that are raising these children they're not even getting enough sleep."
Hadley says the goal of the symposium is to gather mental health professionals, first responders, teachers and the community at large, for a dialogue on the roles each play in dealing with the crisis.
Hadley says help is available. But identifying those who need it and getting them into treatment is the challenge.