Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

The reach of SAMHSA's Awareness Day messages continues to expand. Through mass media, messages have been delivered through "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Oprah," "The Martha Stewart Show," "Larry King Live," and "Hardball with Chris Matthews," as well as ABC News Radio, Huffington Post, Fox Business News, Psychology Today, and NEA Today.

In 2011, SAMHSA messages also were delivered through social marketing platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. In addition, a SAMHSA PSA produced by ABC 7/WJLA-TV in Washington, DC, is being distributed to SAMHSA-funded communities across the country.

Other outcomes of Awareness Day 2011 outreach include:

• More than 1,100 communities throughout the country marked the day with community events, youth rallies, social media campaigns, and activities with children to raise awareness about the importance of children's mental health;
• 107 collaborating organizations and Federal agencies/programs joined to observe Awareness Day, including: 21 Federal agencies/programs; 11 SAMHSA programs; and more than 75 national organizations, including nonprofits, corporations, and foundations; and
• More than 400 people, including practitioners in the fields of pediatrics and child psychiatry, as well as childcare providers, attended national events in Washington, DC, on May 3 to pay tribute to youth who had experience trauma and demonstrated resilience. Among them were U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy R. Gil Kerlikowske, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Bryan Samuels and actress and author Jamie Lee Curtis.