The symposium, titled “Promoting Positive Mental Health for Children: Pulling the Pieces Together,” will take place Friday, Dec. 7, 2007, at the UAW National Training Center, 2211 East Jefferson, Detroit. Parents, students, nurses, educators, mental health professionals and anyone who works with children are encouraged to attend.

Linda Thompson Adams, dean of the School of Nursing and co-author of the soon-to-be-published book, “Losing Control: Loving and Parenting a Black Child with Bipolar Disorder,” said, “The symposium will explore several factors that come to bear when families try to find mental health resources for their children. We will discuss support for school-based mental health programs, environmental factors in child development, why health care professionals need to work with schools, public policy, financing and, importantly, the cost of not acting versus early intervention.”

The symposium will feature child psychologists, public health officials, mental health professionals, school administrators and parents speaking on the implications of missed diagnoses or misdiagnoses of emotional disorders in children. The cost of $45 for the day-long symposium includes continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon refreshments. The fee for students with student identification numbers is $25.

Keynoting the symposium is Dr. James Garbarino, nationally renowned child psychologist, author and Loyola University–Chicago professor. He wrote the seminal book, “Lost Boys,” which focuses on environmental reasons for violence in boys and teens, tracing factors from birth to adolescence. His research also focuses on social ecological issues of child development including range child maltreatment, childhood aggression and juvenile delinquency.

Other presenters include Deborah Klein-Walker, president of the American Public Health Association; Cassandra Joubert, co-author of “Losing Control” with Thompson Adams; Maryland’s State Attorney Pat Jessamay; and a panel of health care and education experts.