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<p>HUGHESTOWN &#8212; Luzerne County Honorable William Amesbury has seen many people who suffer from a mental illness come through his courtroom.</p><p>Rather than waiting until that individual is sentenced, the county judge has decided to get to the problem when those people are still in school.</p><p>Amesbury was at the Pittston Area Primary Center on Oct. 9 during a teacher in-service day to lead a presentation to help faculty identify when a student is showing signs of a mental illness or learning disability, such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), autism, Asperger&#8217;s Syndrome and others.</p><p>&#8220;My thought here is I don&#8217;t want to scare parents,&#8221; said Amesbury. &#8220;But what I want to do is try to give an early identification, an intervention, reduce some of the symptoms and get treatment where treatment is needed.&#8221;</p><p>Although his career has seen him as both a lawyer and a judge, Amesbury also has a degree in secondary education with a minor in psychology and sociology from Lock Haven University. He earned his master&#8217;s degree from Marywood University in secondary education before earning his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.</p><p>Amesbury&#8217;s work in juvenile court is what made him decide to step in and begin educating on identifying mental health issues.</p><p>&#8220;You have kids with autism and Asperger&#8217;s symptoms and you also have kids with depression, anxiety and the possibility to develop bi-polar disorder,&#8221; said Amesbury. &#8220;They&#8217;re the kids I see and the kids who need to be identified early. My goal is to get into the pre-kindergarten on one end and come at it from the kids that are coming up before me which are ages 14 through 18. I find it challenging, stimulating, and we&#8217;re learning more about it.&#8221;</p><p>Dr. Gregory Michael, a psychologist at the Children&#8217;s Service Center in Wilkes-Barre, was also on hand to give a presentation. He spoke to the faculty about identifying certain behaviors with children and said the benefits of the presentation will not only help children, but faculty members as well.</p><p>&#8220;My goal is to increase awareness so they are better able to recognize some of the signs that are telling of the child who has some sort of mental health issue,&#8221; said Michael. &#8220;Whether it be ADHD, depression or reaction to a traumatic episode, those things can get caught early, so it&#8217;s not so far down the line where they are struggling in school, involved in juvenile injustice and their social adjustment is off because they&#8217;re doing these deviant things because they&#8217;re not thinking clearly.&#8221;</p><p>Also giving presentations were John Bubblo, professional development specialist; Dr. Erica Hoot, assistant professor at Nesbitt School of Pharmacy at Wilkes-University; Beth Ann Owens-Harris and Mary Olszewski, staff psychologists from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.</p><p>Olszewski said she has seen her fair share of children with metal health issues and what the schools have done to help them.</p><p>&#8220;The kids who have mental health issues definitely tend to lead to problems in the school setting,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Often times, we have to get them special education services because they&#8217;re not able to function well in the school. We want to provide more supports so that maybe they&#8217;re identified and then we can strengthen things with the families so they can better address the issues.&#8221;</p><p>With the faculty ready to learn, Pittston Area Primary Center Principal Arthur Savokinas called the presentation a great opportunity for his faculty, and himself, to learn.</p><p>&#8220;This is my third year as principal here, so I&#8217;m still learning,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s nice that I can see how I can get better with my job or work better with the court system, mental health system or Children and Youth to see how we can help our students succeed.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Honorable Judge Williams Amesbury, center, addresses the faculty and staff of the Pittston Area Primary Center in which he led a presentation on mental health issues with school students. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Amesbury-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Honorable Judge Williams Amesbury, center, addresses the faculty and staff of the Pittston Area Primary Center in which he led a presentation on mental health issues with school students. </caption0><photoCredit0>Jimmy Fisher | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Amesbury-2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Faculty and staff of the Pittston Area Primary Center listen to a presentation given by Dr. Gregory Michael about identifying mental health issues with students. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Amesbury-2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Faculty and staff of the Pittston Area Primary Center listen to a presentation given by Dr. Gregory Michael about identifying mental health issues with students. </caption1><photoCredit1>Jimmy Fisher | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jimmy Fisher</p><p>jfisher@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @SD_JimmyFisher</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County Judge William Amesbury leads presentation on youth mental health issues at Pittston Area Primary Center