Wellify Teen has partnered with Heads Up Checkup to provide a free screening to help parents better understand what may be going on with their teen’s mental health. Immediate, self- scoring results show levels and areas of concern that can be shared with a mental health professional to streamline assessment.

If your teen were medically ill, for example showing "red flags" or symptoms of strep throat, you would likely take him to the doctor for a professional assessment and testing via a throat culture, which could negate or confirm the potential diagnosis. If the result was positive, the doctor would know how to correctly treat your teen to help make him well, such as with antibiotics.

Many psychological symptoms have consequences as devastating as medical ailments, yet mental illness in teens is grossly undiagnosed for various reasons (see Assessment & Diagnosis section). For serious mental illness, typically teens don't receive a thorough diagnosis until they're in residential treatment or hospitalized. With half of all lifetime cases of serious mental illnesses starting at age 14 (16.5 on average), screening is an important step in early intervention that can interrupt the course of some mental illnesses and may, in many cases, lessen long-term disability and improve outcomes.

If the screening results in positive "red flags" for one or more mental health conditions, share the results with a mental health provider or pediatrician as soon as possible for further evaluation. Use these results to advocate correct treatment for your teen. Too often, parent opinions and observations are not accounted for by health care professionals, which can lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. These results should alert practitioners of high potential of conditions and help you advocate for performing a true diagnosis (see Assessment and Diagnosis section), especially in the case of serious mental illness.

Heads Up Checkup is a comprehensive mental health and behavioral risk screening that can be completed in 10 minutes or less by the parent. The digitally-delivered tool screens for over 20 common mental health disorders and identifies risk of suicide and dangerous behavior.

The “smart technology” behind Heads Up Checkup triggers additional questions to responses outside of normal limits to provide unique results that can be shared with any party if you choose to, such as your teen’s pediatrician, mental health provider, or school counselor. Professional-level reports with responses aggregated into diagnostic codes are available for licensed healthcare professionals to streamline diagnostic considerations. A HIPAA-compliant portal is provided for you to view results.

Heads Up Checkup triages results to provide immediate notification of a mental health or dangerous behavior crisis situation.

No, this screen is not meant to be a diagnosis. Only a trained professional, such as a doctor or mental health provider, can make this determination.

The results of this screening can help identify behavioral health issues that may be affecting your teen, but is not a diagnosis. It is important to understand that even if the results indicate significant concerns, it doesn’t necessarily mean your teen has a disorder. Only a mental health professional can confirm a diagnosis.