An important educational opportunity for parents, educators, counselors and others who work with children, adolescents and young adults will be held in Cartersville in October.
Willowbrooke at Tanner, which provides inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services for children, adolescents and adults through locations in Cartersville, Villa Rica and Carrollton, will host a free full-day seminar on Dangerous Youth Trends starting at 9 a.m. on Oct. 4 at the Cartersville Goodwill Career Center, located at 929 Joe Frank Harris Parkway.
Open to the public, including law enforcement personnel, parents and teachers, as well as professional counselors, social workers and marriage/family therapists, Dangerous Youth Trends will provide seminar attendees with important information that will help them identify and prevent harmful behaviors, including prescription and synthetic drug abuse, multimedia use and violent music trends.
The seminar will be led by Jesse Hambrick Jr., a sergeant with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Hambrick is in charge of community outreach, drug and gang prevention and is the acting supervisor for 14 school resource officers in Douglas County, as well as the Sheriff’s Office Juvenile/Gang Unit. His experience includes having been assigned to the Special Investigations Division for more than five years, as well as another five years assigned to the West Georgia Drug Task Force. During the past 10 years, Hambrick has conducted both large and small scale gang investigations, becoming well versed in gang-related activity locally and throughout the United States. He also is the coordinator of the M.A.C.E. program, a “scared straight” type of program, and Douglas County’s Meth Task Force. Both programs have been the focus of documentaries that have aired on A&E Television.
“Jesse Hambrick is a local expert who knows the regional dangers that our youth face, so I urge you to take advantage of this free opportunity to spend a day learning about ‘Dangerous Youth Trends,’” said Wayne Senfeld, Ed.S, LPC, senior vice president of business development and behavioral health for Tanner Health System. “Since Willowbrooke at Tanner expanded its outpatient partial hospitalization programs for adults, adolescents and children to Cartersville last October, we think it’s a great location for this event.”
Seating is limited, so registration is required. To register, visit www.WillowbrookeAtTanner.org and select “Dangerous Youth Trends.” Also, Willowbrooke at Tanner has been approved for six hours of continuing education units (CEUs) at the University of Georgia School of Social Work for this seminar. The CEUs will be provided at no cost to qualifying attendees. For CEU and certificate information, call Meagan Thompson at 770.456.3342.
Willowbrooke at Tanner is a division of Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica and a part of Carrollton-based Tanner Health System, providing inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services for children and adults. Willowbrooke at Tanner’s services include inpatient care at the service’s 52-bed inpatient facility in Villa Rica, which opened in 2009 as the first new inpatient behavioral health facility built in Georgia in at least 20 years, as well as a range of outpatient treatment options to provide a continuum of behavioral health for members of the communities Tanner serves.
Willowbrooke at Tanner also provides free, confidential mental health assessments through the emergency departments at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, Higgins General Hospital in Bremen, Piedmont Newnan Hospital and, since July, at Cartersville Medical Center. Assessments also are available by calling Willowbrooke at Tanner’s 24-hour help line at 770.836.9551. For more information, visit www.WillowbrookeAtTanner.org.