Kevin Rea, director of Mentor Research Institute, sits in his Bend home office Thursday afternoon. Rea handles development for StepOne for Parents, a teenage behavior screening program located on the Web at www.incrisis.org.

Desperate over her 16-year-old son's behavior a few months ago, Marianne Carlson frantically searched the Internet for help.

The Fairbanks, Alaska, resident came across a few articles written by Michael Conner, a psychologist from Bend. She called Conner for advice and he pointed her to an Internet mental health screening tool he developed to save parents time and money in their quest to help their children.

StepOne for Parents - which can be found at www.incrisis.org - is a free, online survey of more than 500 questions that asks parents to rate their teens' behavior on a variety of topics.

The computer program quickly processes the information and produces a 16- to 30-page report with recommendations about where to turn for further guidance, said Kevin Rea, director of Mentor Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that has taken over most of the development of StepOne from Conner.

The tool is not meant to provide diagnosis, but can give some parents direction in seeking help from professionals, Rea said. The tool may not be right for all parents, Carlson said, but can help those able to honestly answer questions about their children.

Conner has also written a book for purchase to go along with the online tool called "Crisis Intervention with Adolescents; A Parent Guide."

"For a parent there is a certain level of failure or guilt that comes when your child is sitting in jail or is out in a wilderness therapy program," Rea said. "This is a completely anonymous, private way (to get help). Nobody knows but you and you decide to share it or not."

Carlson said she was so impressed with StepOne that she wants to bring it to West Valley High School in Fairbanks, where she is the principal for about 1,300 students. She, Rea and Conner are working to develop a pilot program in her school to inform parents about the tool as a resource.

"I work with a lot of frightened, stressed parents," Carlson said. "I personally have experienced that level of duress. You are at the epitome of stress and overwhelmed about the level of information out there."

Carlson and her husband received differing opinions from their son's pediatrician and a mental health professional in their community. One said to send her son to residential therapy, while another said a less intensive program would probably suffice.

Her son had started failing his Advanced Placement classes, was caught smoking marijuana and was growing increasingly disrespectful at home, Carlson said. She and her husband took the survey about their son's behavior separately and were relieved to see they had answered the questions very much the same way.

"On the one hand, it confirms your fears," Carlson said. "It confirmed we were on the right track. We had to do something."

Joe Hayes, program manager at Cascade Youth and Family Center in Bend, said StepOne is a comprehensive tool that provides accurate information, but only if the questions are answered honestly and objectively. The tool was introduced to him by Rea a few weeks ago and Hayes had a staff member complete the screening using a teen client as a model to test its accuracy.

"It definitely could benefit responsible, concerned parents, looking for resources to help their troubled youth," Hayes said. "However, I am concerned if an irresponsible, manipulative parent would be using it as a tool to prove their point."

Cascade Youth and Family Center works with troubled teens and Hayes said he often deals with parents who would be unable to honestly complete the screening. In that case, he said, it may be better for a social worker to go through the screening with a parent so that at least one objective person was involved in its completion.

"I think it's a good tool," Hayes said. "We are still struggling with the best way to use it."

Carlson agreed that StepOne will not work for all parents. When she implements the pilot project using StepOne at her school, she said, those concerns will be taken into account.

StepOne was launched about a year ago, Rea said, and so far 2,000 parents have completed the online screening. Through Mentor Research Institute, Rea and Conner are working slowly to build relationships with mental health professionals and respect for the program.

"It's not ready to be turned on in a massive way, but it's ready to be tested in a major way," Rea said. "This has huge potential."

Already, Rea and Conner are working with Central Oregon radio stations to get out the word about StepOne for Parents. They are developing pilot projects in Washington and Alaska to increase education and awareness of the tool in other communities.

Eventually, Rea said the program could be adapted to be a tool for school counselors or volunteers at crisis lines, to better understand their clients' problems.

"It's available 24/7," Rea said. "When you're up in the middle of the night, pacing the floor, wondering where your kids are, now you can go online and do something."

Kayley Mendenhall can be reached at 541-383-075 or at kmendenhall@bendbulletin.com.

Contact Kevin Rea: 541 390-9848

For more information and photos go to:  www.InCrisis.Org/pr

Mentor Research Institute
818 NW 17th Ave. Suite 2
Portland, OR 97209-2327
503 227-2027
501 c 3 Non-Profit
Tax Id# 91-1777183
www.InCrisis.Org
www.MentorResearch.Org

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