Mental Health Speaker for Schools – Keith Deltano
Keith’s positive mental health assembly, “Break Out of the Box,” addresses depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, and other self-harming behaviors. Keith has OCD and bi polar disorder. He learned to manage his mental health challenges and was able to be a paratrooper, award winning classroom teacher, parent coach, academic competition team coach, internationally touring educational comedian, video curriculum creator, and most importantly: husband and father.
Keith Offers Teens Hope and a Model to Follow: Ask for Help, Build a Team, Learn Coping Skills.
“I have been in the mental health field for twenty-eight years in a variety of different roles. I have worked with several teams of psychologists, therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists and have NEVER EVER witnessed a mental health speaker diffuse the stigma that surrounds asking for help with the hope that you did.” – Keith Trott, Director, TBI/Mental Health Unit, CT Valley Hospital
Keith’s Presentation is a Serious Comedy Show That Acts Like a Net: It Pulls Out Hurting Kids
Cutting, anorexia, bulimia, anxiety disorders, depression, and suicide have reached epidemic proportions in our middle and high school populations. The isolation and loss of structure the pandemic caused has resulted in a dramatic increase in teen depression and anxiety as well as other mental health challenges. We need to do something about this.
Having Hope and Getting Help
Keith is not a doctor or licensed therapist. He is not a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. He has spent over three decades working on the front lines with at risk young people and is very good at teaching simple coping skills and prompting teens dealing with a mental illness to ask for help. Keith does not provide therapy during his presentations: he provides hope and prompts students to ask for help – which often gets them to therapy.
Hope Help Cope
Keith gives the students hope, encourages them to get help if they feel they may need it, and teaches them some simple coping strategies. He does not provide care above what he is qualified to do, he simply advises students to do the things that every psychiatrist or therapist encourages struggling teens to do: get enough sleep, have a regular wake up time, establish a schedule, don’t compare yourself to others, cutdown or eliminate social media, surround yourself with a support group, identify and avoid triggers, build resilience, don’t be alone when depressed/anxious or tempted to self-harm, and adjust goals if “stuck.”
He Will Say the Same Things a School Counselor Would Say – He Just Says it Different.
Hope For Your Students All Year Long!
Each school that uses Keith for a virtual mental health presentation will receive a one year subscription to Keith’s video streaming website, www.CharacterVideo.org. This site will allow teachers and administrators to stream positive uplifting video lessons at the classroom level or even school wide for one year. Think Netflix for your school.
Why Use Mental Health Speakers?
A mental health speaker that has worked with students on mental health related topics for years may be able to reach teens in a more relatable and impactful way. They have focused specifically on breaking through teen angst to implement change regarding these unique issues.
Will Keith’s Virtual Mental Health Assembly Hold Their Attention?
Mental Health Speaker for Middle School and High School and Your Demographics
Keith can customize his presentation to the middle and high school level. He can also adapt to a specific topic you would like to address by communicating with you before the presentations. He has performed in every state except Hawaii and can adjust to different cultures and demographics.
Keith Can Include an Anti Cyber Bullying Component
Because of the documented connection between cyberbullying and self-harming behaviors, Keith can include an anti cyberbullying message within his positive mental health presentations.
"Thank you for presenting to Bankbridge Regional School and speaking with our middle school and high school students. Our students have both behavioral and mental health issues and can be a difficult group to work with. The students loved and were inspired by your presentation, but most of all, appreciated your openness and honesty about the strategies you use to deal with your own mental illness”
Kenneth Kirkland
CADC. CMHS, Mental Health Specialist
Bankbridge Regional School
Sewell, NJ
“I would highly recommend Keith; I felt that as a parent I was very fortunate to have my 16 – year old hear this message.”
Tom Tracy
Superintendent, Kensal Schools
Kensal, NC
“Keith made me feel good about being different.”
Brian – Eighth Grade Student
John Adams Middle School
Corona, CA
“I was astounded by the attentiveness of our usually restless alternative school students. Your ability to combine humor while providing hope to those dealing with a mental health condition is incomparable and priceless.”
Martha Ann Oldham, Ph.D.
Licensed School Psychologist
Johnson County Schools
“You were a big hit with the students and staff. Your message was awesome and the video curriculum you provided will keep the positive momentum going!”
Chantel Black
Village Site Administrator
Eek, Alaska
There are things that need to be talked about but are uncomfortable to address. Keith believes we NEED to talk about these uncomfortable topics because we owe it to the students we serve. Sexting is one of those topics. At the high school level, and depending on demographics, at the seventh and eighth grade levels, Keith takes on sexting and sharing naked images. Keith has 
One and a half million high school students are hazed each year. Ninety one percent of all high school students belong to at least one group, club, or team, and half of them report being subjected to hazing activities. 
When Keith addressees athletic hazing, he gets the students to realize that the prevailing culture of "don't ask, don't tell" underlies the camaraderie of sports teams. He lets them know it is wrong to be a passive bystander when another person's health, dignity, and life are at stake. A good teammate will standup for members of their team if they need it. Keith lets bystanders know the power they have to prevent further hazing. Keith shows students that hazing has negative effects on both victims and participants and these effects create feelings of apathy, mistrust, or isolation rather than of bonding and respect. Hazing can destroy self-esteem, self-confidence, group unity/cohesion, friendships, and more. It can create stress and may induce or aggravate psychological illnesses including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety.
Keith encourages schools to make routes for witnesses to comfortably come forward clear. To facilitate communication and the reporting of illegal activities, schools may even want to create an anonymous tip line or suggestion box. Keith will show up for each assembly thirty minutes early. He will want to learn, in detail, what is happening at your school. If hazing is a problem, let him know and Keith will address it in a way that will empower bystanders to make a stand. Victims will also learn where to go to get help. Hazing is a form of bullying, and like so much of what Keith addresses, it is uncomfortable to talk about. But, in order to keep schools safe for learning, it must be addressed and the teens need to know how to respond when they are a victim or witness to it.
Using his customary high impact, in your face delivery, Keith’s drug awareness assembly will bring home the harsh realities of drug and alcohol use. Keith will use cutting edge serious comedy to make the above statistics real. Keith uses audience interaction and role playing to show that drug use isn’t sexy, it’s dangerous. Studies show that many teens believe the only risk of injury from drug and alcohol use occurs and when they get in a car. Keith shows that getting in a car driven by someone that is intoxicated or buzzed is not the only danger. He will have an audience volunteer get so “drunk” they “die” from alcohol poisoning. He brings the impact of alcohol poisoning home. You don’t have to die in a car wreck, you can just as easily die while your “sleeping it off” on your best friends couch. Keith also addresses the loss of cognitive function that can occur with drug and alcohol use.
Keith’s presentation is not a lecture, it is an impassioned presentation that uses comedy and role playing as an educational tool. As an award winning middle school teacher, Keith used comedy to keep his student’s attention and to help them memorized the concepts he was teaching. Students will laugh, and the laughter will help them learn how dangerous drug and alcohol use is to their goals and dreams.
Keith’s anti bullying and anti suicide assembly, “Break Out of The Box”, addresses both bullying and self harming behaviors in one session. This anti suicide assembly uses comedy to take on bullying as well as the self harming behaviors that can result from it. Keith deals with teen depression and the self destructive behaviors that may accompany it. Keith struggled with, and was victorious over, depression and self destructive behaviors in high school. 
