Fifteen percent of children are coping with mental or emotional problems. Parents and friends can help them. According to the National Mental Health Association, about 8.1 million children in the United States suffer from mental-emotional disturbances. This week, National Mental Health Awareness Week, reminds people of the problems facing our citizens, including 15 percent of our children. "T

Two students struggle to describe the feelings of depression and desperation that led them to take a near-fatal step. Children's Express talked with two kids who have been treated by Dr. Kathleen Miller. Both tried to commit suicide. Brian is 17. Wendy is 18. Brian's story "It was probably three years ago. I knew that I didn't feel good, but I really didn't know why. I knew that I needed to ge

Damien Center tries to make life pleasant for people with deadly disease. David Hudson has watched 227 people die of AIDS in the four years he's been at the Damien Center in Downtown Indianapolis. When he first started there as a social worker in 1988, the center had 28 clients. Now, four years later, there are more than 1,000 people, all of whom have been diagnosed as HIV positive. These are

Bogdon Uzelac and Marina Kovacevic come from different regions of Yugoslavia. Uzelac is Serbian and Kovacevic is Croatian. Both of them now live in Bloomington, Ind., and are affected by the war between Serbia and Croatia. Both have relatives and friends still living in these regions. Kovacevic is a visiting Fulbright professor of Serbo-Croatian languages, teaching at Indiana University. Uzela

14-year-old hemophiliac would like to eliminate ignorance about AIDS. Paul Conley is 14 years old. He likes to put together car models and listen to country music. His favorite school subject is working with and playing on computers. He follows football and baseball closely, though he can't play. The reason is that Paul was diagnosed as being HIV positive at age 10. Blood given to him during

Imagine going more than 9,000 miles to perform for dozens of people and having no one clap! That's what happened to the girls of Stage One Dance Academy in Greenwood, but they soon found out that the natives considered it rude to clap during a performance, and the girls became accustomed to the quiet audience. Stephanie Groves, 16; Hannah Hanlin, 17; Allison Acres, 13; Stephanie Keele, 12; an