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For Immediate
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John Hammond
Office: 410-402-7517
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BALTIMORE, MD (May 4, 2009) --
Dr. Albert A. Zachik, director of
Children and Adolescent Services for the
Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene’s (DHMH) Mental Hygiene
Administration, today received the Alma
Troccoli Award, presented
For Excellence in
Advocating for the Mental Health Needs
of Young Children and their Families.
Dr. Zachik is the first to receive this
newly-designated award, which was
given to him after he presented the 12th
annual Taghi Modarressi Memorial Lecture
at the University of Maryland School of
Medicine.
“Al Zachik has been the visionary behind
the early childhood mental health system
of care in Maryland,” said Dr. David
Pruitt, Professor of Psychiatry and
Pediatrics at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine and medical director
of the Taghi Modaressi Center for Infant
Study at the university. “Dr. Zachik is
a tireless advocate and supporter of
children and their mental health needs.”
Over the past 10 years, Dr. Zachik has
worked with representatives from the
early childhood community including
families, advocates, providers, the
Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE),
the Maryland Department of Human
Resources, and other state and local
agencies, to stress the importance of
and put into place initiatives to help
ensure early identification of young
children with mental health needs.
Known as the Early Childhood Mental
Health Consultation Project, the focus
of this initiative is from the infant
stage of life to age five. As a part of
the effort, Maryland was one of three
states to implement a standardized,
base-line training to focus on promoting
social and emotional development in
young children. What began as a pilot
project conducted in collaboration with
MSDE to provide mental health
consultation to child care settings was
so successful that it has been broadened
to cover the entire state. Its focus is
on training anyone who might work with
young children such as head start staff,
teachers and child care workers. Its
success is demonstrated by a lower
number of children being expelled from
both childcare and school settings.
Toll Free 1-877-4MD-DHMH • TTY
for Disabled - Maryland Relay Service
1-800-735-2258
Web Site:
www.dhmh.state.md.us
“The idea is to identify mental health
needs at an early age and work to assess
and stabilize the situation,” Dr. Zachik
said. “You have to provide children
with good social and emotional
development skills.”
The effort also reaches out to
clinicians, where training is provided
to enhance their skills in identifying,
assessing and treating mental health
needs in young children.
“It is good preventative work,” Dr.
Zachik said. “You identify children’s
needs at an early stage and are
therefore able to intervene early and
hopefully prevent greater need later in
life.”
The Taghi Modarressi Memorial Lecture
honors a physician who joined the
faculty of the University of Maryland
School of Medicine’s Division of Child
Psychiatry in 1967. He was the founder
of the School of Medicine’s Center for
Infant Study (originally named The
Maryland Center for Child Study). His
passion for helping children was well
known and colleagues and friends were
drawn by his charisma and determination
to accomplish his mission.
The Alma Troccoli Award is named for the
long-time business administrator of the
Taghi Modarressi Center for Infant
Study. She worked along with Dr.
Modarressi for 25 years to build and
sustain the center so that it could
fulfill its mission to improve the
wellbeing of young children and their
families by providing quality mental
health services, training an early
childhood mental health workforce and
developing and implementing innovative
practices.
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