Dr. Darold Treffert is a psychiatrist and the world’s leading expert on Savant Syndrome. He is the former director of Winnebago Mental Health Institute. These are his wishes for youth mental health in the state:

Kids in Crisis wishlist | Experts weigh in on how to improve children's mental health in Wisconsin

  1. Train family doctors in psychiatric care. The majority of psychiatric mental health care, including medication management for those children who require it, is actually done by family doctors and pediatricians rather than child psychiatrists, which are in such short supply. Providing psychiatric training to those family doctors and pediatricians would be one way to spread resources further and improve the quality of care. That can be done by TV or podcasts rather than conventions or meetings away from home and practice.  Even better is to have consultation on specific cases available by telephone or tele-medicine. Better still, is psychiatric care to more remote areas by tele-medicine with patient, family and doctor connected via TV. 
  2. Monitoring of violence in entertainment media. We need some sort of reasonable monitoring in movies and television for violence/sensationalism where there is no redeeming social value. Such constant portrayals, each more sensational and savage than the last, can lead to “feeling deafness” in us all but especially in growing, vulnerable, developing children. I realize that is not likely to happen, but the the unfettered portrayal of violence leads to other violence in many vulnerable children and adults. Then we are shocked when it happens in real life. Portrayals and models of no conscience lead to the absence of conscience.
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