Program Assessment Essay
Program Assessment Essay
Introduction
In the United States, there are several human service agencies whose mandate is to launch programs that are of help to the citizens. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is one of the agencies that hold programs that are directed to a target population in the community. This agency mostly focuses those members of the public who are affected by drug and substance abuse and those individuals that have been affected by mental disorders either by birth or by being exposed through tough life experiences (Rubino, Esparza, & Chassiakos, 2018). SAMHSA has several programs to it, and the children’s mental health awareness program is one of them. This program takes place in many states around America and takes place ones a year. To commemorate the program, the agency in collaboration with the federal government and the department of health have set aside a day named children’s mental health awareness day.
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Program
Every program must have a target client or audience that it aims to serve and address with the different activities and initiatives that it holds. According to the children’s mental health awareness program, the main clients who are being served are the children youth and young adults that have mental disorders at their tender age. The program creates awareness to the general public about the existence of these children and the special care that they deserve (Schulte-Körne, 2016), by showing an overall concern and care towards the children youth and young adults with mental disabilities, it shows them that they are appreciated and this contributes heavily to their healthy development.
Many programs incorporate a referral process which is used to raise and bring a solution to the issues that come up during the program. For the children’s mental health awareness program a day is set aside where experts get to interact with the general public. With the interaction, people get to raise questions, and the experts give positive and professional answers. The questions are mostly open-ended where there are no restrictions as long as they revolve around the topic of mental health amongst children youth and young adults. The floor is also open for anyone who has a suggestion of how the lives of the children, youth and young adults with these conditions can be assisted to improve their lives.
Completion rate of a program refers to the total number of people that the program can reach and impact on as well as the total number of people involved in it. The figures are mostly approximated but are used to represent the completion rate. It is also used to calculate where a program was a success or a failure. According to Schulte-Körne, (2016), on the children’s mental health awareness program it is mostly a success. In 2018 more than 1,100 communities and 160 national collaborating organization as well as many families participated in the program. The completion rate of the program was and has been tremendous ever since it was initiated and has been able to reach many families with children, youth and young adults with mental conditions.
To assess the success of a program, the clients or target audience should be satisfied with whatever is an offered to them. With the children’s mental health awareness program clients are always satisfied, and these are both the children’s who have the mental conditions together with their caregivers or parents. Other concerned parties are also usually satisfied with this particular program on the mental health of children, youth and young adults. This has been proved by the positive feedback that they have been giving towards the program. The government through the department of health services has also been supportive and has encouraged the continuation of the program in the long run.
The effectiveness of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Program
This program aims to attend to and serve the children, youths and young adults who have been affected by mental conditions. Up until now the program has been effective and have been able to impact their lives positively. The community members have been taught on the different ways to live happily with the children. The program has also been able to send a message among the American citizens that these special needs among the children are just a condition that they can recover from with the right diagnostic measures (Rubino, Esparza, & Chassiakos, 2018). Additional the program has been able to give the affected children, youths and young adults the required psychological support and has achieved to show them that they are an important part of the community. Many of the affected become traumatic and by being provided with the right therapy by the program demonstrates the effectiveness it brings.
Conclusions
The vulnerable, marginalized and the populations with special needs have for a long time been neglected and have been lacking enough support from the concerned agencies. Children who have mental conditions are one of them who had been in the past looked down upon. With the coming of the children’s mental health awareness program their pleas and those of their parents and caregivers have been heard and have been addressed in the right manner. According to statistics, the program has been able to reach over half of the population of the children who have mental conditions. Within the next five years to come, the program aims to attend to all the children, youths and young adults who are suffering from the said conditions within the whole of the United States.
References
Rubino, L. G., Esparza, S. J., & Chassiakos, Y. (2018). New leadership for today’s health care professionals. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261175750_The_Culturally_Competent_Leader
Schulte-Körne, G. (2016). Mental health problems in a school setting in children and adolescents. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 113(11), 183.