Talk will describe troubled children

The Columbia County Board of Commissioners Human Resources Department and the Medical College of Georgia Health System will team up Thursday to present a seminar, What Troubled Children Look Like.

The seminar will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Building A Auditorium of the Evans Government Complex on Ronald Reagan Drive.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Alex Mabe, a professor and licensed clinical psychologist of the MCG Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior.

Admission is free.

"Rather than have young people become behavioral inpatients, we have a program where we work with them and their parents and the community on an outpatient basis," said Deborah Humphrey, MCG's director of public relations. "We have an interest in promoting good behavioral health among young people, and we have an interest in doing so with them as outpatients."

Humphrey said parents are strongly advised to attend the seminar so they will be able to recognize the signs of a troubled child.

Depending on participation, Humphrey said, similar seminars could be held in conjunction with the county.

"This could be the start of something new," she said.