Former NBC News Correspondent Cynthia McFadden did the honors as the event’s master of ceremonies. Pastor Cathy Gilliard, Rabbi David Gelfand, and Bishop Edmund Whalen delivered blessings.

Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute, welcomed a packed room of children’s mental health experts, policy leaders, and advocates to celebrate the opening and discuss the ongoing global youth mental health crisis. Dr. Koplewicz described the new headquarters as the result of exponential growth in the 15-year-old organization’s clinical work, global reach, and innovative approaches to improving children’s mental health.

“While this new home doubles our footprint in Manhattan, our Center of Excellence goes well beyond this one space,” Dr. Koplewicz said. “We have research satellites in Harlem and Staten Island, clinical offices in California, and now training sites in Greece, Brazil, and South Africa. Our colleagues are leaders in clinical care, education, and open science who are making an impact locally, nationally, and now globally. We’re reaching families across the world.”

Dr. Ashwin Vasan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, also spoke, noting the crisis in children’s mental health, and the importance of early intervention for children with mental health struggles. “I’m here because this is part of our public health approach to intervene early, to wrap our arms around our kids with love and with support and with services, so that we can prevent a lifetime of suffering, a lifetime of pain and a lifetime of need.”

And he praised the Child Mind Institute for being “a great partner to the city of New York, working with over 600 schools, reaching nearly 225,000 kids and getting over 7,000 kids into early screening and diagnosis through the Healthy Brain Network.”

The new Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, a five-story “building within a building,” was designed by architect Lee Skolnick, of Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership, to be welcoming for the children and families the organization serves, and dynamic for staff. The building will accommodate continued growth and improved opportunities for collaboration and innovation, helping the Child Mind Institute continue to rise to the challenge of the current crisis in children’s mental health.   

Thanks to an expert Art Committee, the building is home to spectacular donated artwork that provides a vibrant welcome to families and inspires staff. Artists participating in this program include Michelle Samour, Adam Sultan, Kenny Scharf, Sol LeWitt Foundation, April Gornick, Eliot Greenwald, Michele Simonetti, Sally Gall, Michal Rovner, Alice Aycock, KAWS, Vaughn Spann, Dustin Yellin, Willie Cole, Bryan Hunt, and Pat Steir.  

The new Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health brings together the organization’s care, education, and science programs, which include more than 130 clinical staff, 114 researchers, and 40 working in professional training and parent education.

As a leader in innovative partnerships in children’s mental health, the Child Mind Institute is collaborating with many states, private foundations, and governments around the world where there is a severe shortage of mental health expertise and infrastructure to support children. The new center will serve as a base for convening mental health experts from around the world —  it will also house the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health — and promote innovation and creativity in pursuit of solutions to the global child and adolescent mental health crisis.   

As Dr. Koplewicz sums up, “At the Child Mind Institute, our reach is global, but our impact remains deeply personal.”

Watch Dr. Koplewicz’s full speech here: https://youtu.be/qkrQftVgaPo

The post Child Mind Institute Opens the Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Photos from the ceremony can be viewed here.

New York, NY – The Child Mind Institute, the leading independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders, held a ribbon cutting ceremony today celebrating the opening of the organization’s Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.  Children’s mental health experts, policy leaders, and advocates gathered in the new 82,000-square-foot headquarters to celebrate the opening and discuss the ongoing global youth mental health crisis as well as innovative approaches to solutions. Pastor Cathy Gilliard, Rabbi David Gelfand, and Bishop Edmund Whalen delivered blessings. Former NBC News Correspondent Cynthia McFadden served as the event’s master of ceremonies.

“Unfortunately our kids are not okay and they’re struggling more than ever. We still have one in five children and teenagers who have a mental health disorder,” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “The good news is that America is recognizing that the most common disorders of childhood and adolescents are not diabetes, asthma or cancer, but mental health disorders.” 

“We’ve made mental health care too hard to access for too long, which is why I’m very glad to be here,” said Ashwin Vasan, MD, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “Not only are we making mental health care more accessible through Child Mind, but Child Mind has been a great partner to the city of New York and many places throughout the country and in the world.” 

Bob Moon, deputy commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health, attended the event and delivered a Special Citation on behalf of Governor Kathy Hochul for the organization’s commitment to the wellness of young people. 

The new Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health brings together the organization’s care, education, and science programs, which include more than 130 clinical staff, 114 researchers, and 40 staff working in professional training and parent education.
The new center will serve as a base for convening mental health experts from around the world and will house the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.  

​​The new Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, a five-story “building within a building,” was designed by architect Lee Skolnick, of Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership, to be welcoming for all children and families. The building, which doubles the 15-year-old organization’s footprint, will accommodate growth and improved opportunities for collaboration and innovation, helping the Child Mind Institute continue to rise to the challenge of the current crisis in children’s mental health. 

The building features donated artwork from renowned artists, including: Michelle Samour, Adam Sultan, Kenny Scharf, Sol LeWitt Foundation, April Gornick, Eliot Greenwald, Michele Simonetti, Sally Gall, Michal Rovner, Alice Aycock, KAWS, Vaughn Spann, Dustin Yellin, Willie Cole, Bryan Hunt and Pat Steir.

The Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health is located in New York City at 215 East 50th Street, which is within The Durst Organization’s 825 Third Avenue tower. 825 Third Avenue recently underwent a $150 million renovation emphasizing performance, tenant comfort, modern aesthetics, amenities, and sustainability.

Photos from the ceremony can be viewed here.

ABOUT THE CHILD MIND INSTITUTE 

We are the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing open science initiatives and tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.

Visit Child Mind Institute on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

ABOUT SKOLNICK ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN PARTNERSHIP

Based in New York City and the Hamptons, SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership is an award-winning, multidisciplinary design studio specializing in architecture, exhibit design, interpretation, master planning, and communication design. The firm’s mission is to unearth the compelling story behind every project to enrich the lives of their clients and communities. SKOLNICK believes that the ideal architectural experience tells a story, taking a person on a journey, expressing ideas, eliciting emotions, and revealing knowledge. Founded in 1980, SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership has been at the nexus of contemporary thinking about how we live, where we live, and ways to create play, home, and work environments that speak to the creative, functional, and aspirational needs of their clients. In addition to their broad list of award-winning residential projects, cultural and corporate projects, SKOLNICK has crafted healthcare facilities including the following: Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, New York City, the transformative Pirogov Children’s Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, the Ezra Abraham to Life Foundation Activity Room at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City and the Autism Spectrum Disorder Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Learn more at www.skolnick.com.

For inquiries – mail@skolnick.com

The post The Child Mind Institute Unveils the Center of Excellence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, New Headquarters in New York City appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Throughout the month, we heard from world-class athletes who shared how they maintain their mental health fitness routines. NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns talked about how he stays mentally strong on and off the basketball court. Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles of the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team gave the mental health advice she wishes she could have learned when she was a young athlete. And Sarah Adam of Team USA’s wheelchair rugby squad discussed how she manages stress, stays positive, and prioritizes rest to perform her best.

On our Mental Health Fitness page, you’ll find more athletes’ video messages. Plus, check out our tip sheets on how to help kids learn skills to take care of their emotional well-being. Because everyone can use practice building their own mental health fitness routine.

The post Mental Health Fitness: A Recap of Our Mental Health Awareness Month Campaign appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

UFC Champion Ronda Rousey shares her personal mental fitness tips to combat negativity and anxiety! Discover how Ronda uses creative writing, journaling, and even diet (going vegan!) to stay mentally sharp and focused. Learn how to break the cycle of worry, overcome negative self-image, and develop healthy eating habits.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Ronda Rousey is a pioneering mixed martial artist (MMA) and professional wrestler, widely recognized for her dominance in the UFC and mainstream appeal. She was the first woman to sign with the UFC and became their inaugural Women’s Bantamweight Champion. Rousey’s success in MMA helped pave the way for women’s fighting in the sport. After her MMA career, Rousey transitioned to professional wrestling in WWE, achieving further championship success.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Ronda Rousey: My Mental Fitness Routine! Beat Anxiety & Negativity appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Influencer and former college basketball player, Carson Roney shares her top tips for mental health! See how she prioritizes exercise and staying organized to conquer stress and feel accomplished. Discover the importance of movement, to-do lists, and checking things off the list for a mental boost.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Carson Roney is a former college basketball forward and dedicated champion for gender equality in sports.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Carson Roney’s Top Tips for Mental Health: Workouts & Staying Organized appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin shares her secrets to mental fitness for athletes! This May (Mental Health Awareness Month), Missy emphasizes the importance of a strong support system and keeping a confidence journal to combat self-doubt, especially during high-pressure competitions.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Missy Franklin is an American swimming sensation and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She rose to fame at the 2012 London Olympics, winning four gold medals as a teenager. Known for her versatility and powerful strokes, Franklin holds the world record in the 200-meter backstroke. Beyond the pool, Missy is an advocate for mental health awareness, stressing the importance of a strong support system and positive self-belief.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Missy Franklin Share’s Mental Fitness Tips: Support Systems & Self-Care Journaling appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, Toni teams up with the Child Mind Institute to show how staying mentally strong is key to success on the track (and off!). Discover how Toni uses calming walks and connecting with loved ones to stay focused and anxiety-free on race day.  

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Toni Breidinger is a rising star in stock car racing, competing full-time in the ARCA Menards Series and part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. She’s not only making waves for her speed on the track, but also for being the first Arab-American female driver in any NASCAR national series.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post How Toni Breidinger Beats Race-Day Anxiety appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Emotions can be volatile. They can prompt us to do or say things that are harmful, hurtful, or just plain regrettable — so we do our best to manage, or regulate, them. Self-regulation looks like taking a deep breath and saying, “Please put your Legos away after you finish playing, so I don’t step on one” instead of scooping up every Lego in your house and chucking them out the window.

As adults, we practice self-regulation all the time in interactions with our co-workers, friends, and partners. It’s not always easy, but we know that it’s more effective and productive to talk about what’s upsetting us rather than to just react.

But self-regulation is not innate; it’s a set of skills everyone must learn. Developmentally, kids are like cars with faulty brakes, born with the capacity to experience every shade of emotion but none of the tools to regulate them.

Co-regulation is a mutual act, an exchange of calm that occurs between two people. But when it comes to adults (who have acquired the cognitive tools to manage their emotions) and children, co-regulation also means helping a child learn how to regulate their own emotions by showing empathy and modeling calmness. Co-regulation does not mean pretending to exist in a state of calm all the time or never getting angry. It means actively managing your own emotions to help kids learn to manage theirs.

Co-regulation is both something you actively do as well as a biological process — it happens in your body. Research shows that we can directly influence certain processes in one another, such as the production of a stress hormone called cortisol. The distress of others — say, a wailing child — can cause us to feel similar distress. And when we remain calm, we can influence the production of hormones in others to help them calm down too.

Co-regulation has recently become a buzzword in parenting circles, but LaKisha Hoffman, MSW, first encountered the concept as an assistant school principal in Richmond, California. “Students would come to me and be like, ‘Oh, my teacher did this.’ Then the teacher would also come to me and be like, ‘Oh, the student did this and this,’” she recalls.

Teachers seemed to find that kids’ behaviors set off their own emotions in ways that were difficult to control. “Some teachers were triggered by students getting up and walking around,” Hoffman says. “Some were triggered by students who were talking out of turn. Some were triggered by students who were challenging them.”

Hoffman, who is now the senior director of School and Community Programs at the Child Mind Institute, could empathize with teachers’ frustrations.  But she also recognized that, as adults, teachers had a greater responsibility to be aware of their own triggers so they could support and engage with students even when they acted out.

For adults — parents, caretakers, or teachers — co-regulation begins with self-regulation. Everyone is shaped by their own personal experiences. “We’re all human,” Hoffman says. “Different things set us off as adults. How do we recognize those things? How do we cope, soothe ourselves in those moments? That’s the first step.”

Hoffman, a former college basketball player, coaches several youth teams. She recognizes that one of her triggers is when a child bounces a ball while she’s talking. It’s a small thing, but Hoffman knows from experience that it bothers her. “But I can’t just be like, ‘STOP bouncing the basketball,’” she says. “I can’t interact with them like that. I have to be calm in that moment and say, ‘Hey, what’s happening now? Are you supposed to be bouncing the ball?’ I have to build a culture for them to understand why they shouldn’t do that.”

Humans have evolved stress responses to help us respond to danger, but those responses can be triggered by stress even when it isn’t life-threatening. Perhaps you’ve heard the term fight-or-flight? Other stress responses include freeze and the lesser-known fawn (appeasing someone to avoid conflict). Say your child throws a tantrum in the grocery store because you took their iPad away. So, you give it back to avoid a scene. This is a fawn response. Fawn responses are also common among people who have experienced trauma, such as abuse.

Is your instinct to yell when your child upsets you (fight)? Instead, do you tend to walk away (flight) or are their reactions sometimes so overwhelming that you get mentally “stuck” and shut down (freeze)? Stress responses can become ingrained. But when you can recognize why you react to something that upsets you a certain way, you can find better ways to cope.

The phrase “take a deep breath” is a cliché for fighting stress. But decades of research show that deep breathing has profound effects on the regions of the brain that govern emotion and cognition. We tend to breathe too fast (hyperventilate) when we panic, so techniques to slow breathing can help us calm down. Even a few deep breaths can kick-start the process. Some specific techniques include belly breathing, box breathing, and butterfly breathing — a particularly good exercise to do with kids.

Of course, you can always just gulp in more air, but the purpose of deep breathing is really self-awareness. When we step outside of ourselves and acknowledge that yes, we are in fact quite angry, we are taking the first step toward controlling the anger — or whatever emotion we’re feeling.

When adults can identify their own triggers and stress responses, they are better equipped to recognize them in kids.

Emotional dysregulation can look different depending on the person and situation. For a lot of kids, particularly young kids, dysregulation might look like screaming, stomping feet, or pounding fists on the floor. But consider fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Dysregulation can also look like withdrawing, overcompliance with adults, or an inability to say “no.”

And dysregulation can escalate. “If I get worked up and kids are looking at me, then they all get worked up,” says Hoffman. “Then we’ve just got a whole bunch of worked up people. How do we problem solve in that moment?”

The goal of co-regulation is to reverse course, to de-escalate intensifying stress.

Not all co-regulation is conscious. Our bodies and brains can respond to others without us even realizing it. That said, there are actions we can take to cue the process. Much like the way deep breathing sends a message to your brain to calm down, there are things you can do to send a similar message to another person’s body.

Whether you’re a teacher or a caregiver, it’s important to teach kids strategies for calming down, like deep breathing exercises, before you need to reach for them in a crisis. When our emotions are out of whack, we can’t easily focus on or process new information because our brains are too busy dealing with the stress.

Let’s say a child is having a meltdown. They’re collapsed in a puddle on the floor, hiccup-sobbing and struggling to catch their breath. The first thing you need to do is take stock of your own physical reaction — Is your heart beating faster? Do you feel your face getting hot? — and take a few deep breaths. Relax your body, then:

• Get on their level. When a child feels overwhelmed, it’s tough to help them calm down when you’re towering over them. If you can, get close to eye level and look them in the eyes. Research shows that eye contact fosters trust and connectedness. Eye contact can help kids feel safe. But it’s also important to note that some kids with autism can be hypersensitive to direct eye contact. so it’s best to take your cues from the individual child.

• Name their emotion. For example: “It looks like you’re really upset, right now.” Labeling a child’s emotion lets kids know explicitly that you can see what they might be feeling. You’re validating the emotion here, not the behavior — it’s okay to feel bad. Labeling also teaches them to notice and name their own emotions, which for very young kids is not intuitive.
• Change your tone. Be sure to keep your tone calm, and don’t raise your voice. Trying your best to sound relaxed can be a powerful disruptor when a child is upset because we tend to imitate the behaviors we see in others. This “mirroring” happens subconsciously, as a product of mirror neurons in the brain. And there is growing evidence that suggests mirror neurons play an important role in how we learn and express empathy.

• Give them a hug or a squeeze. When children are extremely dysregulated, they might be sensitive or even averse to touch. But if a child is consenting to touch, it is a potent tool in the co-regulation toolkit. Touching another person can boost their oxytocin levels. Oxytocin, sometimes called the “love hormone,” makes us feel good. It also perpetuates its own release, meaning that a hug or a hand squeeze can have a positive effect that outlasts the action itself.
• Guide them in a calming exercise. If there is a calming or breathing exercise that the child is familiar with — maybe you learned it together, maybe they learned it in school — suggest you do it together. Don’t be deterred if they say no. Say you’d like to do the exercise because it helps you calm down (it’s helpful, especially with very young kids, to reinforce what these exercises are actually for) and start doing it yourself. They may just watch you; they may join in. In the end, either outcome is valuable.

We are imperfect beings. We won’t always offer the best or most mindful response when we’re upset but making the effort to be aware of our own emotions and behaviors sets a powerful example for kids. Whatever your specific process, the most important takeaway of co-regulation is that kids absorb what they see you do — and it may be easier for them to calm down if you show them how to do it. As Hoffman says, “The best way to teach is to model.”

The post What Is Co-Regulation? appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Special Olympics athlete Chelsea Davis shares her mental health fitness routine! Discover how Chelsea uses walking, breathing exercises, music, and creative outlets like art and crafting to stay calm and focused before competitions. Chelsea also shares her experience coaching swimming, volleyball, and basketball for Special Olympics Indiana.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Chelsea Davis: Mental Fitness for Special Olympics Athletes appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, Los Angeles Clippers’ Terance Mann gets real about mental health! In this inspiring message, Mann shares his own struggles with mental clarity and comparing himself to others. He emphasizes the importance of treating your mind like your body and seeking guidance from mentors.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Terance Mann is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post NBA Star Terance Mann Opens Up About Mental Health appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, NBA legend Baron Davis shares how routine, positive affirmations, and following your passion helps build a strong mental foundation. Baron emphasizes the importance of setting goals and aligning them with your core values.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Baron Davis is an American former professional basketball player who is a studio analyst for the NBA on TNT.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Baron Davis on Mental Health Fitness: Routine & Positive Affirmations appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil —  The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute and International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) announced the inaugural cohort of the SNF Global Center Clinical Fellows at the IACAPAP 26th World Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  

In April, the fellows — a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and an occupational therapist, all from Maputo, Mozambique — started their specialized training in child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) at the Universidade Federal de Río Grande do Sul and its affiliate Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The gap between CAMH needs and available care is substantial in low- and middle-income countries. At the same time, the number of programs providing specialized accredited training for clinicians in these countries remains limited.  At present in Mozambique, there is only one child psychiatrist for 16 million children.

“Children who have mental health disorders are stigmatized,” says Carmen Catherine Tomás Rungo Nhandamo, a clinical fellow. “In Mozambique, children with mental health issues are isolated without proper care because they don’t know what to do with them. By the time I get back to Mozambique, I will be able to help improve the health of children in my country.”

The Clinical Fellowship program is an innovative two-year program that includes education and practical training in clinical and academic aspects of child and adolescent mental health, and global mental health and leadership, tailored to the fellow’s professional background. Fellows are being supported by clinical coordinators and supervisors, in both Mozambique and Brazil, who will provide advice and support for their professional development. During the second year, fellows will provide CAMH clinical services, build local capacity, and disseminate their expertise in Mozambique in collaboration with public health care systems.

The Clinical Fellowship program was made possible by partnerships between the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute with IACAPAP, the Mozambique Ministry of Health (MISAU) and their business partner the Mozambique Institute for Health Education and Research (MIHER), and the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) and their business partner FundMed.

“The SNF Global Center Clinical Fellows Program is providing our clinicians with invaluable training and exposure to the latest evidence-based trainings in child and adolescent mental health.  Our partnership with SNF Global Center will contribute to our mission to build a robust national healthcare system that leads to positive health outcomes for the children and adolescents of Mozambique,” said Dr. Wilza Fumo, Director of the Department of Mental Health, MISAU.

The Clinical Fellowship program forms part of one of the six core initiatives of the SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute, which harnesses the Child Mind Institute’s commitment to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders. The SNF Global Center was established with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) through its Global Health Initiative (GHI).

The SNF Global Center formally announced the inaugural cohort of fellows during the SNF Global Center second Expert Gathering, “Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Brazil’s Youth through Local and Global Perspectives and Partnerships,” produced in partnership with IACAPAP and Instituto de Educação para Políticas de Saúde (IEPS). The event brought together distinguished panels of speakers from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, MISAU, the World Health Organization, Plan International Brasil, IEPS, the Child Mind Institute, and Shamiri Institute, amongst others. Youth Representatives from Rio de Janeiro, ages 14-17, also participated in session planning and shared their perspectives. The discussions highlighted the importance of local and global cooperation in addressing youth mental health challenges; strategies for improving access to mental health services for children and adolescents in Brazil and farther afield; the role of research, policy, and advocacy in promoting youth mental health; and the goals of the SNF Global Center for championing progress in this critical field. 

The application cycle for the second cohort of fellows from Mozambique will open in the summer of 2024. More information on Global Fellowships at the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute can be found here.

About the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute

The SNF Global Center brings together the Child Mind Institute’s expertise as a leading

independent nonprofit in children’s mental health and SNF’s deep commitment to supporting collaborative projects to improve access to quality health care worldwide. The center is building partnerships to drive advances in under-researched areas of children’s and adolescents’ mental health and expand access to culturally appropriate trainings, resources, and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. SNF’s founding support is part of its ongoing Global Health Initiative (GHI).

About the Child Mind Institute

(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Learn more at childmind.org.

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

The post The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute and International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) Announces Inaugural Cohort of Clinical Fellows at IACAPAP World Congress appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, Special Olympics athlete, Brooke Ferguson shares how important mental health fitness is and how she stays mentally fit. Hear how eating healthy, exercise, and talking to friends helps her feel less stressed. Above all else, she wants kids to know that they should seek help if they’re struggling with mental health.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Brooke Ferguson is a Special Olympics athlete from Lincoln City, Oregon. She plays several sports to stay active and to support her mental health: volleyball, basketball, and bocce ball. She is also a Special Olympics Athlete Leader and recently completed her Health Messenger training, to be a health leader in her community.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Special Olympics Athlete Brooke Ferguson Shares About Mental Fitness appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, Tunde shares her personal tips for mental fitness, including the power of quieting your mind, talking to a trusted friend, and the importance of self-care.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Tunde Oyeneyin, New York Times Bestselling Author, Peloton Instructor, Nike Athlete and Motivational Speaker. Tunde Oyeneyin, has quickly become a household name, developing a global audience who have been moved by her mission to inspire and create great change. Tunde brings a positive energy to fitness through her mission to inspire and motivate.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Tunde Oyeneyin’s Mental Fitness Tips: Quiet Time, Talking It Out & YOU! appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Watch the Recording

On Friday May 10th, the Child Mind Institute convened Setting the Stage: The Next Frontier of Mental Health Research Depends on Ecological Data, the first panel in our webinar series on Technology and Youth Mental Health. The initiative aims to build consensus among researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders on how to use tech to improve mental health outcomes for children and adolescents — and how to prevent negative effects.

This first webinar tackled a fundamental building block of this effort: research. Do we have the data we need to measure technology’s effect on mental health? Do we know what questions we want to answer? What issues — privacy, infrastructure, access — stand in the way of success?

The panel was moderated by Michelle Freund, PhD, Director of Strategic Data Initiatives at the Child Mind Institute. Panelists included Michael P. Milham, MD, PhD, Chief Science Officer at the Child Mind Institute; Kathleen Merikangas, PhD, Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Co-Chair of the Child Mind Institute Scientific Research Council; Satra Ghosh, PhD, Director of the Open Data in Neuroscience Initiative at MIT; Gaya Dowling, PhD, Director of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Project at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); and Linda Charmaraman, PhD, Director of the Youth, Media, & Wellbeing Lab at Wellesley College.

The panelists dug into the promise of new methods for the collection of real-world or “ecological data.” These technologies include wearable sensors to measure environmental conditions, passive collection of smartphone activity, and voice recording for analysis. Unlike traditional (and subjective) questionnaires, Dr. Milham said, “sensor-based data collection provides objective, precise and less intrusive insights” into how young people’s interactions with technology, their peers, and the environment affect mental health.

The group also spoke about the promises (and hurdles) of utilizing existing large datasets, like electronic medical records (EMRs). EMRs are “not only helping to standardize the data being collected,” Dr. Milham said, “but also making it possible to carry out large scale studies…following youth over time and seeing the impact” of exposures and interventions. Dr. Ghosh agreed, with a caveat: “Many of these systems were designed for billing purposes to start with and later adapted and adopted for collecting different kinds of data that serves that individual.” That means that they can be difficult to work with and lack standard data.

Dr. Merikangas cautioned that the sheer wealth of data available is not only unwieldy, it can distort scientific inquiry. When so much data is available, it tempts researchers to simply ask questions that can be answered by the existing data—rather than asking important questions and then gathering data to answer them. “Right now, we have this huge environment of data where people are trying to nest hypotheses onto it,” she said.

Dr. Dowling raised a complementary issue: who isn’t included in these large datasets? “There is a health equity portion of all of this,” she said. “When we’re looking at ways to collect this type of data, we need to make sure that we’re collecting data from everyone. Often, data collection can be biased, based on what kind of information we have access to. Electronic health records are a good example. Not everybody has a primary care physician that they see every year.” And therefore, not everyone is equally represented in EMRs. The ethics of large-scale digital mental health research will be addressed in a future webinar.

The panelists touched the surface of another critical question that will be addressed in future webinars: privacy. Dr. Charmaraman is excited about the possibility of a great expansion in research methods. “There’s more bandwidth and feasibility to collect and share qualitative and mixed methods data,” she said, “and really get to the content and context” of youth experience. However “there’s all these issues of data — privacy and data scrubbing and how to protect people’s confidentiality.”  This could be a great rallying point for collaboration in the field. “I’d love to see more infrastructure being built on this issue,” she said.

If we can build consensus and action around these challenges, then the rewards could be great. Dr. Milham summarized the outlook: “Real world data collection promises to refine our strategies for intervention, enhance the accuracy of our assessments and ultimately improve the outcomes for young people navigating the complexity of today’s digital world.”

Questions from the audience touched on the wide range of topics at the intersection of public health, technology, and mental health research, and highlighted the need for conversations like this. They included queries about bridging the gap between biochemical and brain-imaging-based understanding of youth mental health and the behavioral data that can be captured via sensors and digital data. You can read a list of audience questions and answers compiled from panelists that didn’t make it into the webinar.

Want to learn more about the Child Mind Institute’s work at the intersection of technology and mental health?

• This page summarizes the upcoming webinars.

• This position statement from Dr. Milham and Child Mind Institute Founder and President Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, describes our policy initiative on tech and youth mental health.

• This piece from Dr. Milham in Tech Policy Press addresses current controversies in digital mental health.

The Child Mind Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donate and support work like the Technology and Youth Mental Health Series.

The post Can Technology Improve Understanding of Youth Mental Health? appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, Olympic fencer, Nick Itkin shares how he used to struggle with staying focused in class. Hear how physical activity and fencing helped him reduce anxiety, improve his confidence, and stay focused in competitions.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Nick Itkin, a 24-year-old American foil fencer, has quickly become a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Nick’s impressive list of achievements includes two NCAA championships, a gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games, and individual silver and bronze medals at the World Championships. Notably, Itkin’s 2023 World Championship silver makes him the first U.S. man to win back-to-back individual World Championship medals.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Olympic Fencer Nick Itkin: How Exercise Can Help You Focus appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, sports analyst and former football player, Emmanuel Acho shares his top mental health tip: log off! Take a break from the constant comparison and negativity on social media. Emmanuel emphasizes the importance of surrounding yourself with supportive people who uplift you and speaks on the power of positive affirmations.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Emmanuel Acho, is an American sports analyst and former professional football player who is an analyst for Fox Sports 1.  

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Emmanuel Acho’s Mental Health Awareness Message: Log Off, Find Support! appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, World Champion figure skater, Amber Glenn explains what mental health fitness is and why it’s important for young athletes. Amber shares her personal story of overcoming mental health challenges and offers tips like taking walks, listening to music, and breathing exercises.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Amber Glenn is an American figure skater and 2024 US Figure Skating Champion, where she made history as the first openly LGBTQ-woman to win the title. She is also a two-time ISU Grand Prix bronze medalist and the sixth American woman to cleanly land a triple axel.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Amber Glenn’s Mental Fitness Routine appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, Team USA BMX Cyclist, Nick Bruce joins the Child Mind Institute to discuss how he stays mentally fit. Nick shares how exercise can boost your mood and opens up about his personal journey with therapy.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Nick Bruce, an American Freestyle BMX cyclist from Youngstown, Ohio, rose to fame for pioneering tricks like the flair tailwhip to tailwhip back (flair windshield wiper) and the 360 double tailwhip to downside tailwhip. After reigniting his passion for BMX in college, he turned pro, competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and became a proud member of the USA Cycling National Team. Now, he seeks to contend in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post BMX Cyclist, Nick Bruce, Discusses Mental Health Fitness appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

New York, NY – The Child Mind Institute, the leading independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders, hosted its 2024 Spring Luncheon on Wednesday, May 15. Held during Mental Health Awareness Month, the event featured a thought-provoking discussion between Jennifer Wallace, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Never Enough: When Achievement Pressure Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It, and Matthew M. Cruger, PhD, Clinical Director at the Child Mind Institute. The discussion was moderated by actress, comedian, author, and host of “The Parent Test,” Ali Wentworth. 

The event brought together a wide variety of distinguished individuals dedicated to helping equip children and families experiencing mental health and learning disorders with the proper resources and support. Attendees included Tamron Hall, Jeannie Gaffigan, Grace Bastidas, Erika Janes and more. 

“I think every child in the United States should have mental health fitness the same way we now do physical fitness.” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “Today anybody in their 30’s and 40’s knows that they need to exercise. And I frankly think that every child needs these skills at least once a year.”

The Child Mind Institute discussion revolved around the toxicity of achievement culture and new framework and advice to fight against it:

On social media, Jennifer Wallace shared, “What I have seen in the research is that social media is an accelerant and a magnifier of issues that a child might be having in real life… As a parent, you can be concerned that they may not be using social media in ways that are helpful to them. But if you have a child who is genuinely doing well, who is sleeping, who’s doing well in school, who’s involved in extracurricular activities, who’s going outside, who has deep friendships, who has the tools to cope with the inevitable envy that comes up, then I think as parents instead of getting furious, we should get curious, and we should take as much interest in their online worlds as we do on what’s going on at the party on Friday night.”

“I think we need to think very logically about when we spend time with our kids, what are we trying to achieve in those moments? You have to really focus on what their needs are. And I also think to be explicit about what we hold as our expectations and to be really clear about what we expect,” said Dr. Matthew Cruger. 

The luncheon raised over $350,000, which will support the Child Mind Institute’s crucial work to change the lives of children with mental health and learning disorders in the United States and around the world. 

The luncheon was co-chaired by Jennifer Harris, Christine Mack, Lisa and Guy Metcalfe, Debra G. Perelman, Jil Schaps, and Sara Weiner, PhD, and the host committee included Ellen Cohen, Desiree Gruber, Lauren Karp, Tammy Levine, Eileen Riano and Jessica Shell. 

Photos from the luncheon can be found here. 

This special event is part of the Child Mind Institute’s programming during Mental Health Awareness Month. The Child Mind Institute recently launched a powerful mental health awareness campaign “Mental Health Fitness.” The campaign aims to show kids what some of the greatest athletes in the country do to prioritize their own mental health to be mentally fit, acknowledging the importance of prioritizing mental as well as physical well-being in preparation for the biggest sports competitions in the world. In a series of personal videos and interviews, athletes share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and provide pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill-building techniques. One crucial message: Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. Participants in this year’s campaign include Karl-Anthony Towns, Brandi Chastain, Sarah Adam, Jordan Chiles, Brooke Ferguson, Missy Franklin, Gus Kenworthy, Amber Glenn, Baron Davis, Hunter and Tara Woodhall, Steve Young, Emmanuel Acho, and more. Videos will debut across the Child Mind Institute’s social platforms, and on ChildMind.org, throughout the month.

About the Child Mind Institute 

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need to thrive. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Together, we truly can transform children’s lives. Please learn more about the Child Mind Institute’s impact here.

Visit Child Mind Institute on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

The post Child Mind Institute 2024 Spring Luncheon “Avoiding Burnout: How Parents and Children Can Overcome Toxic Achievement Culture” appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, Brandi Chastain teams up with the Child Mind Institute to share her personal story and tips for mental well-being.

As a parent and former athlete, Brandi emphasizes the importance of:

• Mindfulness and communication for strong family support
• Meditation and nature for clearing your head and reducing stress
• Positive visualization for peak performance and confidence

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

A legend in women’s soccer, Brandi Chastain is a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion (1991,1999) and two-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2004). Nicknamed “Brandi Chastain” for her iconic post-victory jersey celebration in 1999, she remains a household name for her on-field dominance as a defender and midfielder, scoring 30 goals in her 192 appearances for the U.S. national team from 1988 to 2004.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Brandi Chastain: A Conversation About Mental Health Fitness appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, wheelchair basketball gold medalist, Brian Bell reveals the mental health training techniques that have helped him win gold medals. Brain explains how meditation and visualization help him perform his best.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Brian Bell is a Team USA’🇸 Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, this 6’1″ athlete (height) boasts an impressive career. Bell’s journey began after a childhood accident, but his determination led him to wheelchair basketball. Now, a veteran with two Paralympic golds (2016, 2020) and a key rebounder, he’s confirmed for Paris 2024, aiming to add another gold to his collection.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Paralympic Gold Medalist Brian Bell Shares Mental Health Training Tips appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, long-distance runner and 2024 Olympic qualifier, Conner Mantz reveals his daily routine for staying mentally fit. He describes how setting daily objectives, practicing gratitude, and self-improvement can lead to a happier you. Conner reminds you to focus on small victories and build on them.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Conner Mantz, a long-distance runner specializing in marathons, rose to national prominence after winning the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. A Brigham Young University graduate and former NCAA champion in cross country, Mantz boasts a decorated career that includes representing the U.S. at the World Cross Country Championships and multiple national championship victories on the road.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Conner Mantz’s Habits for Staying Mentally Fit as a Runner appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, Team USA long distance-runner, Fiona O’Keeffe gives her tips to staying mentally strong while running. Fiona explains how sleep, family/friends, nature, and limiting social media has helped her mental well-being. “It’s okay to struggle with your mental health, but you don’t need to struggle alone,” says Fiona.

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Fiona O’Keeffe, a rising star in American distance running, burst onto the marathon scene in 2024 with a victory at the U.S. Olympic Trials, securing her spot on Team USA at the Paris Olympics. Previously a standout at Stanford University, O’Keeffe garnered accolades as a six-time All-American and Pac-12 champion in cross country.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post 5 Mental Health Tips from Distance-Runner Fiona O’Keeffe appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, New Orleans Saints tight end, Juwan Johnson, shares his personal story of overcoming learning disabilities and mental health struggles. Juwan reminds kids that even successful athletes struggle with mental health and that you are not alone! 

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Juwan Johnson is an American National Football League (NFL) player for the New Orleans Saints. Johnson played football for Penn State University, before joining the Saints’ active roster in 2020. He is married to Chanen Johnson, with whom he shares a Tik Tok account with 3.2 million followers.  

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post “You Are Not Alone” Says NFL Star Juwan Johnson appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, Olympic gymnast, Jordan Chiles, shares mental health advice she wishes she knew as a young athlete. Hear her strategies for building a support system, advocating for your mental health, and using your inner voice as loud as you can. 

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Jordan Chiles is an American gymnast, Olympic silver medalist, a member of the United States women’s national gymnastics team. In 2020, she won a silver medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, later winning a gold medal and two silver medals in the 2022 World Championships. Outside of her career in gymnastics, Jordan loves playing the clarinet and saxophone, as well as drawing, painting, and spending time with her family.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post Gymnast Jordan Chiles Gives Mental Health Advice appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Too often, the computing resources that power AI systems are out of reach for researchers, public organizations, and small businesses, giving large tech companies the upper hand when it comes to the development of AI. The Empire AI consortium will create and launch a state-of-the-art computing center on the University at Buffalo’s campus for use by New York’s leading institutions.

On her visit, Governor Hochul toured the evaluation center and met with study participants and their families, as well as Healthy Brain Network staff. She also met with Child Mind Institute Chief Science Officer, Michael Milham, MD, PhD, and Child Mind Institute President, Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, about partnering to advance AI in mental health research and clinical care. When asked how Empire AI could support science and research efforts at the Child Mind Institute, like the Healthy Brain Network, Dr. Milham said:

The post Governor Kathy Hochul Visits Healthy Brain Network Harlem Facility appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

From schoolwork to connecting with friends, kids use screens for all kinds of things — so it’s not realistic to forbid them altogether. But there are good reasons to be aware of how much time your child is spending on their devices. It’s also important to consider what content they’re looking at and how they’re engaging with it.

Many apps and television shows say they’re educational for children. But they’re not a good substitute for real life. It’s important for kids to spend lots of time socializing, moving around, and learning how to interact with the world around them. Our Media Guidelines for Kids of All Ages provides some age-appropriate tips to help you ensure that your child maintains a healthy level of screen time.

The best way for kids to learn how to safely interact with media is for parents to do it with them. Just like reading a book together, kids learn more when you talk through what’s happening together.

Download Safe and Positive Screen Time Tip Sheet

The best apps and programs for kids are interactive and encourage healthy habits like mindfulness, movement, paced breathing, and coping strategies. To help parents with this process, we partnered with Google Play to curate a list of Teacher Approved apps reviewed by our clinicians. These apps support children’s mental health and well-being— like learning how to calm down when they’re feeling angry or other big emotions — and help them practice basic academic skills in a safe and entertaining way.

View the Full App Collection

The post Safe Screen Time & Apps for Kids’ Well Being appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, freeskiing medalist, Gus Kenworthy, explains how he takes care of his mental well-being just like his physical training. Gus stresses the importance of importance of self-care, mindfulness, positive affirmations, and that “it’s okay to ask for help!” 

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Gus Kenworthy is a British-American Olympic silver medalist, freestyle skier, actor, model and mental health advocate. In 2014, Kenworthy won a silver medal for Team USA at the inaugural slopestyle of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. At the 2018 Olympics, Kenworthy made history by becoming the first openly gay man (alongside Adam Rippon) to compete for the U.S. in a Winter Olympics. He has worked with multiple nonprofits including the Trevor Project, Happy Hippie Foundation and The Humane Society International. Kenworthy currently resides in Los Angeles with his dog Birdie.  

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post “It’s Okay to ask for Help!” Olympic Freeskier Gus Kenworthy appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Children are affected by many different forms of anxiety, from separation anxiety to OCD, but the treatment options are basically the same for all of them. The most effective treatment for each child depends on factors that include:

• How severe the anxiety is
• How willing and able the child is to participate in therapy
• What options are available (and doable) for the family

For children with mild-to-moderate anxiety, the first-line treatment recommended by most experts is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), in which the child gradually learns how to tolerate anxiety rather than avoid it, and the anxiety fades over time. CBT is not a quick fix, but kids learn skills that they will be able to use whenever they might need them.

In cases that are more severe, where children are in acute distress and the anxiety is preventing them from everyday functioning — going to school, spending time with friends, participating in activities — the recommendation is usually a combination of CBT plus medication. The medication reduces the child’s anxiety enough to enable them to participate in therapy that provides a longer-term solution.

Medication alone can be the most effective treatment when families don’t have access to therapy or are not able to support kids through the process, which involves a role for parents and can take several months.

While there are many different kinds of anxiety, they all involve intense, sometimes paralyzing, fear as well as physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, trembling, and sweating. These treatment approaches are ways to reduce those symptoms.

The most common (and most comprehensively tested) form of therapy for anxiety is a specialized kind of cognitive behavioral therapy called exposure and response prevention (ERP). In ERP, often called exposure therapy, children are “exposed” to the things that trigger their anxiety in small steps and in a safe setting, supported by a therapist. They are taught skills to cope with the discomfort of anxiety without avoiding the thing that triggers it.

To start, the child and the therapist make a list of the child’s triggers and rank them on a scale of 1 to 10. Next, the child is exposed to their fear in its mildest possible form. (For instance, if a child is terrified of dogs, it might be a picture of a dog or simply the written word “dog.”) The therapist supports the child until the anxiety fades. Children learn that if they tolerate the discomfort rather than avoiding it, the anxiety will diminish.   

As the child begins to tolerate the anxiety produced by each trigger, and the anxiety fades, they are ready to take on another trigger that’s higher on their list. (That might include seeing a dog from a distance, then gradually closer up, then actually touching a dog.) At home, parents are enlisted to encourage kids to tolerate the things that make them anxious, rather than avoiding them, and express confidence that they can handle the discomfort until it fades.

Treatment usually takes up to 12 sessions, which may be done weekly or daily, in an intensive program designed to get faster results.

In a more recent form of therapy for kids with anxiety, the therapist works only with the parents, not the children themselves. It’s called Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE).

SPACE is based on the understanding that anxious children rely on their parents to accommodate their anxiety by helping them avoid the things they fear. (This could mean crossing the street to avoid a dog, or sitting with a child who is afraid to fall asleep alone). Parents are trained to reduce their accommodations to the child’s fears in small steps,  and to express confidence in their child’s ability to handle uncomfortable feelings. As the parental accommodations are gradually withdrawn, the child learns to tolerate anxiety and the anxiety fades. The more kids practice coping with anxiety, the better they get at it, and their confidence grows that they can handle it without their parents coming to the rescue.

Studies have shown SPACE to be as effective as direct therapy with children and particularly beneficial for younger kids, whose parents tend to do the most accommodating. But if a child is also depressed, engaging in self-harm, or suicidal, it’s not recommended that parents begin reducing accommodations until the depression has been treated.

There are several types of medication that can help with symptoms of anxiety, and they work in different ways. Some are taken every day, while others are taken occasionally to reduce anxiety in specific stressful situations. The medication names can sometimes be confusing because they were originally developed to treat a different condition and later found to be effective for anxiety.

The first choice in medications for kids with anxiety are antidepressants called SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). SSRIs were developed to treat depression, but they have also been shown to be the most effective medication for reducing symptoms of depression, with relatively few troubling side effects. It takes 2-4 weeks before SSRIs begin to be effective, and they continue to become more effective over the first 8 to 12 weeks. 

But SSRIs don’t work for all children, so there are a number of alternatives. Here are the basics on the different kinds of medications used to treat anxiety:

SSRIs, including such medications as Zoloft, Prozac, and Paxil, are most often prescribed for anxiety. They work by increasing the amount of serotonin, the most important chemical in the brain that regulates mood.

SNRIs, such as Effexor XR and Cymbalta, are another type of antidepressant also used for treating anxiety. They work by increasing the level of two neurotransmitters in the brain —serotonin and norepinephrine. The SNRIs are less frequently prescribed for childhood anxiety because they have a slightly higher rate of side effects. They also take several weeks to begin to work.

These medications, such as Ativan and Klonopin, are used for acute anxiety relief but are generally recommended only for short-term use due to the risk of dependency. Benzodiazepines reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as racing heart and sweating[MS1] . 

Medications like Abilify, Risperdal, and Seroqual, which were developed to reduce the symptoms of psychosis, can also help with intense, persistent anxiety and the obsessive thoughts that plague kids with OCD. Sometimes they are paired with an antidepressant. But they should be used carefully, because they can have serious side effects like weight gain and hormonal and metabolic changes that can be harmful.

Buspirone, which is often sold as BuSpar, works by activating a certain type of receptor in the brain to affect the balance of neurotransmitters. Buspirone is not as effective in curbing anxiety as benzodiazepines, but it has significantly fewer side effects and a lower potential for dependence or abuse.

The medications called alpha agonists — clonidine and guanfacine — were originally developed to treat high blood pressure in adults. But they were also found to reduce symptoms of anxiety by acting on the sympathetic nervous system, which regulates the body’s fight-or-flight response. Clonidine is sold as Catapres and Kapvay, and guanfacine goes by Tenex and Intuniv.

Drugs like Benadryl are primarily used to reduce allergic reactions by blocking the receptors for chemicals called histamines in the central nervous system. But they also block some serotonin receptors, which increases serotonin levels and creates a sedative effect. Some clinicians recommend them to reduce anxiety in children for short periods of time.

The post What Is the Best Treatment for Anxiety in Children? appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

For Mental Health Awareness month, Team USA’s Sarah Adam shares how she manages stress, stays positive, and prioritizes rest to perform her best. Sarah offers advice for young athletes facing mental health challenges and reminds them to seek support. 

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Sarah Adam is a member of the USA Wheelchair Rugby team and a gold medalist. She first discovered the sport as a volunteer during occupational therapy school, later earning a spot on the national team in 2022. In 2023, she became the first woman to win a gold medal with the team during the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She is currently a professor of occupational therapy at St. Louis University in Missouri and when she’s not on the court, she enjoys hosting game nights with family and friends. 

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post How Team USA Paralympian Sarah Adam Stays Mentally Fit appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

New York, NY – To mark Mental Health Awareness Month, the Child Mind Institute, the nation’s leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health, is launching a powerful new mental health fitness campaign featuring athletes — from Olympic & Paralympic champions and contenders, to professional league players and athletes from the Special Olympics. The campaign aims to show kids what the greatest athletes do to prioritize their own mental health to be mentally fit. 

These are some of the remarkable athletes sharing how they are working to be mentally fit in preparation for the biggest sports competitions in the world:

• Paralympic rugby player Sarah Adam (first woman on the U.S. Paralympic wheelchair rugby team) 
• Wheelchair basketball champion Brian Bell (2x Paralympic gold medalist and qualified for Paris 2024) 
• BMX freestyler Nick Bruce (2020 Olympian)
• Soccer legend Brandi Chastain (World Cup and Olympic champion)
• Gymnast Jordan Chiles (Olympic silver medalist) 
• Former NBA player Baron Davis (former New York Knicks player)
• Special Olympics athlete Brooke Ferguson (volleyball, basketball, bocce ball)
• Swimmer Missy Franklin (4x Olympic gold medalist)
• Figure skater Amber Glenn (U.S. national champion) 
• Fencer Nick Itkin (Olympic medalist and qualified for Paris 2024)
• NFL player Juwan Johnson (New Orleans Saints)
• Freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy (Olympic silver medalist)
• Marathon runner Conner Mantz (Qualified for Paris 2024)
• Marathon runner Fiona O’Keefee (Qualified for Paris 2024)
• NBA player Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves) 
• Surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb (Qualified for Paris 2024)
• Married couple runner Hunter Woodhall (2x Paraolympian) and long jumper Tara Woodhall (2020 Olympian) 
• NFL legend Steve Young (former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers)

Mental health fitness is the combination of core wellness skills (physical activity, diet, and sleep) with core mental health skills (understanding and expressing feelings, tolerating distress, and mindfulness). Research shows that physical activity allows children to have a better outlook on life by building confidence, managing anxiety and depression, and increasing self-esteem and cognitive skills. Helping kids build mental health skills is as important as making sure they are physically fit.

“We know that foundational mental health skills are going to help kids be great in their everyday life,” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “By sharing messages from athletes, our campaign aims to empower children across the country to prioritize mental health fitness alongside physical fitness. The Child Mind Institute is honored to share these empowering messages and to cheer on these athletes as they compete at the highest levels.”

Videos will debut across the Child Mind Institute’s social platforms, and on ChildMind.org, throughout the month of May.

The Child Mind Institute helps families practice mental health fitness with two powerful video series: Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids, for children from pre-K through grade 12, and Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids, for parents and other caregivers. Visit childmind.org for more resources and tools to help the whole family.

Since 2017, the Child Mind Institute’s annual mental health awareness campaigns have featured notable individuals including Emma Stone, Bill Hader, Margot Robbie, P!nk, Octavia Spencer, Andrew Garfield, Reese Witherspoon, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Zoe Saldana, Antoni Porowski, Bebe Rexha, Gabrielle Union, Jameela Jamil, Jonah Hill, Julianne Hough, Kevin Love, Lena Dunham, Gabby Sidibe, Mark Ronson, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Phelps, Misty Copeland, Sarah Silverman, Zoey Deutch, Kristen Bell, Emma Chamberlain, Tan France, and more. 

About the Child Mind Institute

(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Learn more at childmind.org.

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

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For Mental Health Awareness month, NBA All-Star, Karl-Anthony Towns, shares how he stays mentally strong on and off the basketball court. See how he prioritizes self-care, leans on his support system, and strengthens his mental health just like he trains his body. 

World-class athletes join us in the #MentalHealthFitness campaign to acknowledge the importance of prioritizing mental health as well as physical wellbeing. In personal videos, they share how they’ve been able to face their own mental health challenges and offer pointers on how to combine fitness with core mental health skill building to maintain your #MentalHealthFitness.  

For more inspiring videos on how world-class athletes stay mentally fit, check out this year’s Mental Health Fitness campaign.

Karl-Anthony Towns is a Dominican-American National Basketball Association (NBA) player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He previously played for the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team before being drafted by the Timberwolves in 2015, earning the NBA Rookie of the Year award. He has partnered with multiple charities throughout his career, including the Salvation Army, Minnesota House of Charity Food Centre and the KAT Team Foundation.

Asking for support when you need it is a key part of maintaining your #MentalHealthFitness. These resources can help:

• How Can We Help Kids With Self-Regulation?
• ADHD and Exercise
• Sports for Kids With Learning and Emotional Challenges

The post NBA Star Karl-Anthony Towns Gets Real About Mental Health Fitness appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

The Child Mind Institute, the nation’s leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health, and Madhappy, a clothing brand for a community of optimists, have partnered to created a special collection in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month that aims to elevate the national conversation on youth mental health and empower and equip young people with accessible tools, information, and support. 

The arts are critical to a child’s development, academic success, and self-expression. To celebrate our partnership, we asked children across our communities to create artwork in response to a simple prompt: “Draw What Makes You Happy.” We are honored to showcase these talented young artists through the pieces in our collection.

Madhappy will donate 100% of the net proceeds from the sales of these items to the Child Mind Institute, supporting our efforts to transform the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders.

To shop the collection please visit Madhappy.com.

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San Francisco, CA – More than a dozen celebrities from the Bay Area sports world showed up to raise funds for youth mental health at the SoFi | Child Mind Institute Golf Invitational on April 29, 2024, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. The athletes—including Marcus Allen, Harris Barton, Brandi Chastain, Chili Davis, Ozzie Smith, Chris Mullin, Ronnie Lott and Dave Stewart—spent a day on the links to support the Child Mind Institute’s mission to transform the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. 

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a prominent supporter of California youth mental health programs, led a lively discussion with Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy, who is recognized as one of the best all-around park skiers of all time and a mental health advocate. 

Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, president of the Child Mind Institute, gave opening remarks highlighting the unprecedented, critical need for equitable access to mental health care for youth. “There’s been a crisis in children’s mental health that has been going on for decades, and unfortunately it’s getting worse. Our kids are not okay,” said Dr. Koplewicz. “COVID’s only silver lining is the fact that we now talk about children’s mental health. Still, the devastation that the pandemic took on our kids’ education and their mental health is going to take quite some time to recover from.”  

“California has made an unprecedented investment in youth behavioral health,” said  Siebel Newsom. “Last month, with the Child Mind Institute, we released Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids, an evidence-based tool, to ensure every child gets supported and no parent feels alone as we tackle this crisis head-on.” 

Siebel Newsom and Kenworthy discussed the stigmas that can be associated with mental health, especially for professional athletes. “Historically, as an athlete, I feel like it’s been ‘taboo’ to talk about mental health,” said Kenworthy. “There’s an old adage that says when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and people somehow equate mental toughness and mental health as opposites.” 

“When you communicate openly about mental health, it’s such a relief,” said Kenworthy, who identifies as gay. “For me, when I was in the closet I carried such a weight on my shoulders for years. When I came out, it allowed me to perform at a different level because I was living as my true authentic self.” He also said because he spent years needing help and not asking for it, parents should have more conversations with their kids to “help them understand we are all flawed as humans, they are not alone in their struggles and fears, they can open up judgment-free, and if they need professional help, they can get it.”

The evening’s live auction included hot-ticket items such as VIP experience packages with the Los Angeles Rams and the Rolling Stones at the SoFi Stadium owner’s suite, a Chase Center basketball game suite experience courtesy of SoFi, handmade jewelry from RUCHI New York, and golf packages at the Nanea Golf Club in Hawaii and the Olympic Club in San Francisco.  

SoFi was the event’s title sponsor. Additional sponsors included Macy’s, TPG,  Qualia, Clear Golf, Drops of Dough, EBoost, RUCHI New York, Fore All, Moretz Marketing and Supergoop. Tracy Toyota was the hole-in-one sponsor. 

“Children’s mental health shouldn’t be a luxury, but for far too long financial barriers, social stigma, and information access have kept families from getting the help they deserve,” said SoFi CEO, Anthony Noto. “SoFi is proud to partner with the Child Mind Institute as part of our efforts to empower families with education and resources that foster a brighter future.”

The SoFi | Child Mind Institute Golf Invitational event committee included Jane Burgess, Stacy Denman, Jake Leschly, Ronnie Lott, Kristin Noto, and Linnea Roberts.

About the Child Mind Institute 

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Our clinical centers are located in New York, NY and San Mateo, CA. 

About SoFi 

SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) is a member-centric, one-stop shop for digital financial services on a mission to help people achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. The company’s full suite of financial products and services helps its more than 8.1 million SoFi members borrow, save, spend, invest, and protect their money better by giving them fast access to the tools they need to get their money right, all in one app. SoFi also equips members with the resources they need to get ahead – like career advisors, Credentialed Financial Planners), exclusive experiences and events, and a thriving community – on their path to financial independence.

SoFi innovates across three business segments: Lending, Financial Services – which includes SoFi Checking and Savings, SoFi Invest, SoFi Credit Card, SoFi Protect, and SoFi Insights – and Technology Platform, which offers the only end-to-end vertically integrated financial technology stack. SoFi Bank, N.A., an affiliate of SoFi, is a nationally chartered bank, regulated by the OCC and FDIC and SoFi is a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve. The company is also the naming rights partner of SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams. For more information, visit SoFi.com or download our iOS and Android apps.

The post The Child Mind Institute and SoFi Address Youth Mental Health Crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area By Raising $545,000 at Golf Invitational appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

Puberty involves big changes and new challenges for any child. But for kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it can be especially difficult to navigate.

Changes in the body can be disturbing to autistic teenagers, who tend to have a hard time handling change in general. Navigating more complex social norms can be confusing, making kids feel isolated and putting them at risk for depression. And turbulent emotions can lead to challenging or harmful behaviors.

“Providing information and support is crucial to help these kids get through puberty without it being really overwhelming and scary,” notes Margaret Dyson, PhD, a psychologist in the Autism Center at the Child Mind Institute. “And we don’t want them to be vulnerable to being taken advantage of by others.”

Dr. Dyson’s first advice to parents and other caregivers is to start a conversation with their child about puberty well before it happens. “It’s easier if you can do it proactively,” she says. Making a plan ahead of time will allow you to think through what information you’re going to share, and give you plenty of time for the repetition kids on the spectrum may need to get comfortable with it.

Children usually enter puberty between the ages of 8 and 14 — but for some, it may begin earlier. Dr. Dyson notes that girls often begin menstruating 12 to 18 months after they start developing breasts.

Children on the autism spectrum may need extra support to reduce anxiety around changes in their bodies and the new physical sensations that come with them, Dr. Dyson says.

For instance, girls should know what happens when you get your period and how to manage menstrual bleeding before it happens. But they may also need help understanding that cramps and other body aches are a normal part of the experience, too.

That said, extreme menstrual pain and/or bleeding could indicate a condition that requires treatment. Dr. Dyson suggests using pain charts to help girls indicate what’s going on in their body — i.e., on a scale of 1 to 10 — if they’re not able to verbalize what they’re feeling.

Dr. Dyson recommends showing girls how to use a pad, tampon, or menstrual cup and encouraging them to pick out their own supplies at the store. Making a visual schedule of how often a product needs to be changed can help them anticipate how often they will need to pay attention to menstrual care, and how they might fit it into their routine.

For boys, Dr. Dyson advises explaining what getting an erection and ejaculation are before the first time they’re likely to happen, as well as clarifying that nocturnal emissions or “wet dreams” are not urinating in bed. Not understanding these functions can make them feel out of control of their bodies.

Some kids who have both autism and epilepsy experience an uptick in seizure activity at puberty.

During adolescence, kids will begin to experience sexual urges and need to understand what they are feeling. Regardless of whether or not the teen is likely to become sexually active, experts say they should be informed about sex and reproduction. And by talking to them about it proactively, you have the chance to discuss your family’s values and cultivate a safe space for your child to ask questions.

Dr. Dyson suggests beginning conversations about sexuality by asking the child what they already know and building on it. She also advises using correct language for body parts and functions, rather than euphemisms. Answering questions simply, directly, and in a positive tone will help encourage your child to continue to come to you when they have questions.

Explaining the process of sexual maturity can be done with the aid of visual resources and social stories, she adds, emphasizing that this is a natural part of becoming an adult.

Anticipating that kids will be experiencing sexual urges leads to the need for a conversation about the difference between what Dr. Dyson calls public and private behaviors.

For instance, experts recommend teaching kids that masturbation is a natural behavior — there’s nothing wrong with it — but that it should be done in private. “You don’t want to be shaming the young person,” notes Dr. Dyson, “but just making that distinction clear for them.”

Visual resources can be helpful to make these concepts more concrete. For example, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center offers a Healthy Bodies Toolkit that includes visuals. One of them uses concentric circles to designate different kinds of relationships, from strangers on the outside ring to romantic partners at the center. Each ring indicates the kinds of behaviors that are appropriate for that relationship — for example, it’s okay to smile and say hello to strangers, but kissing should be reserved for romantic partners.

Feeling attracted to someone can be confusing to kids on the spectrum, as is knowing when to share or act on their feelings. Dr. Dyson suggests emphasizing that feeling attracted to someone is normal and healthy. But it’s important to clarify that sexual or romantic attraction is something we want to keep private except in appropriate situations, and when we have reason to think the other person welcomes the attention. Kids also need to learn what is appropriate or inappropriate touch, and the basics of consent — as she puts it, “recognizing private areas of other people’s bodies as well as your own, and the need to ask for permission prior to moving into that more private zone with someone.”

Vanderbilt suggests covering some of these topics:

• Why do people have sex?
• How do you know when you are ready for sex?
• What are sexual feelings?
• Where are appropriate places to have sex?
• What are the different ways to have sex?
• What is pornography?
• What is consent?
• How do you identify consent?

Gender and sexual preferences are related issues that autistic kids will need to navigate, for themselves and in interacting with their peers. Of course, teens who might be sexually active need to understand how to protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

For kids on the spectrum, understanding the nuances of interacting in the more sexualized context of adolescence can be very challenging, as it often includes indirect signaling and body language. “We talk to kids about what are those signs that someone may be interested in you,” Dr. Dyson notes, “and then what are those signs that maybe they’re not as interested, or they’re not feeling comfortable in an interaction.”

Some, especially girls, find it difficult to understand why their more sexually mature friends are showing increased interest in their peers, or engaging with them in a different way, like flirtation or hugs or kissing. “That can sometimes be challenging for a more neurodivergent individual to understand,” notes Dr. Dyson.

During adolescence, kids become increasingly focused on their friends. Those on the spectrum may need extra support figuring out who to make friends with and how to go about it. Talking to kids about what makes a good friend can help them avoid being taken advantage of by kids who don’t have their best interests at heart, Dr. Dyson says.

“It’s important to have a conversation with your teen about what are those qualities that we’re looking for in a good friend,” she explains. “For instance, you want them to be trustworthy and caring. You likely want to have some shared interests with them. You obviously want to have a reciprocal relationship, so it’s not just you doing all the work.”

Around puberty, autistic kids tend to become more aware of their social challenges and have a harder time fitting in. Some may find themselves the target of bullying. This increasing awareness of being different, and feeling isolated, can be very painful, making kids on the spectrum more prone to anxiety, depression, and disordered eating. For some, their confusion and discomfort might present in challenging behaviors.

An increase in self-injury, changes in appetite or sleep patterns, frequent complaints of headaches and stomach aches, or an abrupt loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy can all be signs of depression that warrant professional support.

For some kids on the spectrum, hormonal changes and emotional turbulence can bring about more challenging or aggressive behavior. And with kids growing to be as big or even bigger than their parents, Dr. Dyson suggests planning ahead for how to handle it. This could entail identifying triggers for potentially dangerous behaviors and strategies for preventing them. For some kids, medications like Abilify or Risperdal are prescribed around the age of puberty to help manage behaviors that could be harmful to themselves or others.

Dr. Dyson suggests making sure you’re working with a therapist or another mental health provider to get support and have a good safety plan in place for your child, including those who are prone to wandering, or elopement, or who might have outbursts in public.

Since interest in social media often intensifies in adolescence, another concern for keeping autistic teenagers safe is monitoring appropriate behavior online. Experts stress having clear rules that kids can learn and be able to access quickly when making social media decisions.

Some of those rules, the Vanderbilt toolkit suggests, might include:

• Do not share your address or certain personal information on the internet.
• If you post pictures, make sure they are pictures that you would be okay with anyone seeing, including children and your family.
• Remember that even a conversation that seems private via messaging can be copied and shared with others.

But kids on the autism spectrum may need more support to avoid being taken advantage of online or targeted by cyberbullies. Dr. Dyson notes that they may be less quick to recognize that people are not always who they seem online, and that people who appear friendly may not have their best interests at heart.

Experts urge thinking carefully about when kids are ready to handle social media. Common Sense Media offers a host of resources to help parents understand various social media platforms and help keep kids’ exposure to them as healthy as possible. Kids on the autism spectrum are not alone in being at risk, but social challenges may make them particularly vulnerable to bad actors — or just insensitive peers — online.

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New York, NY – The Child Mind Institute announced today that it has appointed Pamela Redmon as Chief Marketing Officer. The nation’s leading children’s mental health non-profit will welcome Redmon to the organization this month. Redmon joins the Child Mind Institute in the new position on its leadership team as the organization continues to build on its strategic plan to drive innovative solutions that will transform the landscape of children’s mental health care, making evidence-based practices more accessible at scale.

Redmon joins with over two decades of agency and industry experience, which she will use to increase our brand awareness and lead the strategic vision in marketing and communications. She will work closely with Chief Development Officer Demetrios Kadenas to grow digital fundraising and small donor programs and develop partnerships with for-profit institutions.

She previously served as the senior vice president/chief communications and marketing officer at the national anti-hunger nonprofit Share Our Strength, where she led the organization’s first rebranding in its 40-year history. Additionally, she enhanced the strategic direction of their fundraising campaign, No Kid Hungry, by incorporating strength-based messaging and asset-framing to negate stereotypes and stigma related to families living with hunger and poverty.

During her prior tenure as the senior director of strategy at the Partnership for a Healthier America, the nonprofit supporting Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, Redmon expanded the organization’s approach to childhood obesity prevention. She has also directed national public health marketing and communications campaigns for federal government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and a variety of state health departments and private sector organizations.

“We are thrilled that Pamela is joining our leadership team as the Child Mind Institute continues to grow our brand both nationally and internationally,” said Child Mind Institute Founding President and Medical Director Harold S. Koplewicz, MD. “Pamela brings an extensive background supporting the work of nonprofits andI look forward to collaborating with her as we work to tackle the youth mental health crisis.”

“The Child Mind Institute has an impactful record and a powerful brand,” said Redmon. “I am honored by the opportunity to work with an incredible staff and community of supporters to scale and extend that impact, find new audiences, and sustain the work of the Child Mind Institute far into the future.”

About the Child Mind Institute

(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Learn more at childmind.org.

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

The post The Child Mind Institute Announces Pamela Redmon as Chief Marketing Officer appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

By Harold S. Koplewicz, MD
President of the Child Mind Institute

Michael P. Milham, MD, PhD
Vice President and Director of Research

As part of our mission to transform children’s lives, the Child Mind Institute relentlessly pursues solutions to one of the defining public health crises of our time: a youth mental health epidemic, coupled with a substance abuse epidemic, that results in a staggering loss of life and degradation in quality of life for our young people.

Our kids are not okay.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among teenagers globally nearly doubled. The suicide rate among 10- to 24-year-olds in the United States increased by 60% between 2007 and 2018. And in 2023, twice as many teens went to the ER for self-harm and suicidality as did in 2017.

This dire situation for our children certainly has many contributing factors, including the pandemic, widening inequality, availability of opiate drugs, the climate crisis, and a broken health care system. But one concern has captured the attention of researchers, parents, and policymakers: the ubiquity of technology in young people’s lives. This generation has grown up alongside mobile phones and social media. It is vital for them: as a social connector, a tool for education and entertainment, and even an access point for mental healthcare. It is also a channel for harmful content, conduct, or contact (such as bullying or harassment). And tech addiction (or what researchers call problematic internet use, or PIU) has been associated with family dysfunction, worse mental health symptoms, and substance use.

At the Child Mind Institute, we believe that countering the youth mental health epidemic requires a research revolution – and that this revolution requires us to embrace the same tech our digitally native youth rely on. Today, research on youth mental health relies on a combination of data collected in laboratory settings and through survey data. But increasingly, we understand mental health symptoms in youth to be variable across timeframes – hours, days, months. Even a child with severe depression may seem fine at some points in the day, while some disorders, like bipolar disorder, are incredibly seasonal. The “snapshot” in time provided by a survey, a pediatrician screener, or a time-limited clinical trial risks missing the overarching clinical picture. When it comes to understanding the mental health impact of technology, these snapshots are not detailed or continuous enough to disentangle the role of technology from other determinants of mental health, or to validate the effectiveness of proposed interventions, such as modifying specific features on social media platforms. Perhaps most significantly, laboratory and survey data alone will not allow us to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of emerging digital therapeutics, which may hold the key to expanding access to care for young people.

There is a solution. In addition to laboratory and survey data, we need to study young people’s behavior and interactions as they go about their daily lives – what researchers call an “ecological” approach – by leveraging social media, smartphones, and games. And to do this, we must clear a handful of significant hurdles, including technology and data gaps, unclear policy guidelines, and not least of all the proprietary hold technology companies have over critical sources of data.

The Child Mind Institute has been a leader in the collaborative generation, sharing and use of large, open data sets to accelerate research into youth mental health. We are also now investing in building technology-based interventions to transform clinical care. These efforts put us on the front-lines of using technology to tackle this mental health crisis. As we look ahead to this paradigm shift to ecological youth mental health research, we see the need for collaborative leadership to set the technological and policy stage for a new era.

Over the course of this year, we are engaging with a group of deeply experienced researchers, advocates, and tech thinkers to elevate awareness of the need for ecological research into youth mental health risk factors and symptoms. We will work with these experts to identify the barriers to performing this type of research, explore what it will take to overcome them, and clearly articulate the reasons we need to do so. Enabling researchers to study ecological data will allow us to validate the effectiveness of proposed technology interventions in preventing youth mental illness, as well as clinically validate the use of digital therapeutics in treating youth mental illness.

Working with our colleagues, we have surfaced five key questions that we suggest will guide progress in the field for researchers, policymakers, and industry alike:

We will be hosting a series of events this year delving into these questions, and we hope to bring our wider community along this journey with us. These questions cannot be answered without a broad cross-section of expertise, including that of researchers, technologists, clinicians, policymakers, as well as young people and their families whose lived experience must inform this work. Our hope is that these events bring this cross-section of expertise together in dialogue to identify specific challenges in advancing ecological research on youth mental health and begin to scope out possible solutions. If you’d like to hear about and be able to join us for these events, please register using the link below.

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San Mateo, CA – In 2022, the Child Mind Institute partnered with the State of California to launch Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids, a series of free videos that teach kids important mental health skills. Building upon the success of that program, California is launching another powerful free video series — Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids — in partnership with the Child Mind Institute. This comprehensive series is designed to equip caregivers with invaluable, evidence-based strategies for nurturing resilient and thriving children. Each video is accompanied by learning guides and additional resources, with careful consideration of programs adapted for diverse populations. It is available for free on childmind.org/positiveparenting in English and Spanish.

The Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids series helps provide parents and caregivers with the support they need to face today’s parenting challenges. The videos cover 20 topics that focus on a wide range of situations, like how to promote good behavior in children, how to talk about alcohol and drugs with your teen, and why it’s important that caregivers make sure to take care of themselves. The topics were identified by a team of more than 40 experts from the Child Mind Institute, Harvard University, the University of California, and other leading institutions. Content was informed with the help of survey data collected from a Child Mind Institute and IPSOS survey of 1,000 California parents. The survey found that 85 percent of California parents and caregivers agree they would benefit from resources to support their child/teen when they show signs of stress or anxiety.

The videos feature an incredibly diverse group of individuals, including 150 parents, caregivers and children. The Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids topics cover four broad themes, including:

• Self-Care and Parent-Child Relationships
• Healthy Child and Adolescent Growth
• Big Changes and Challenges
• Family and Community Stressors

Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids, funded as part of California’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), builds upon the innovative partnership between the Child Mind Institute and the State of California to address the ongoing youth mental health crisis. The inaugural campaign, Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids, provided educators and caregivers in California and beyond with a mental health skill video resource library. The series has reached more than two million children since launching in January 2022. Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids focuses on providing resources for caregivers to better care for the mental health fitness of the children in their lives.

“We are proud to expand our work with the State of California. The debut of the Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids video series marks a significant milestone for us in addressing the youth mental health crisis,” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, founding president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “We are confident these innovative tools will serve families and caregivers as instruments for positive change, offering a renewed sense of optimism and prioritizing the mental health of our nation’s children and adolescents.”

Nationwide, rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm are climbing. Between 2019 and 2021, about one-third of California teens experienced serious psychological distress, with a 20 percent increase in adolescent suicides. Meanwhile, the nationwide mental health provider shortage is causing longer wait times for appointments to community-based mental health providers. Availability is particularly limited among the uninsured, people of color, people with low incomes, and people with disabilities.

The project was launched as part of DHCS’ CalHOPE program. Visit the Positive Parenting, Thriving Kids digital content hub at https://childmind.org/positiveparenting/ for more information and to access the full library of resources. For more resources for California parents and caregivers, visit CalHOPE.org

About the Child Mind Institute

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The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Learn more at childmind.org.

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

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By Caroline Miller
Editorial Director, Child Mind Institute

The sexualization of teen and preteen girls has been a growing source of alarm. That concern has been supercharged by the fact that social media seems to amplify the pressure on girls to look —as they would put it — hot!

When we see 10-year-olds modeling in provocative poses, we blame platforms like Instagram and TikTok for exploiting them to make money. So, it’s particularly disturbing when it’s parents themselves who are encouraging and monetizing sexual images of their children.

The recent New York Times exposé on mom-controlled Instagram accounts documents the dark side of these child influencers, highlighting their vulnerability and exposure to sexual predators and pedophiles.

But the story throws a spotlight on the larger issue of how destructive this trend is to the mental health of young girls.

Exploitation is a harsh word for trying to turn your 12-year-old into a star. “But kids and teenagers don’t have the executive functioning skills to understand the implications of what they’re doing,” notes Emma Woodward, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute. “They can’t legally give consent for what their parents are posting about them. And I do think they’re being exploited by their own parents.”

Dr. Woodward worries about the parent-and-child relationships as these girls get older and understand who was seeing these pictures. Some parents describe ongoing efforts to purge followers who are inappropriate, and Instagram may be falling short on enforcing their safety guidelines. But some moms admit that they need and want the followers in the interest of jump-starting a child’s modeling career or getting freebies from clothing brands.

These girls are learning from their parents that it’s fine to ignore degrading comments and harassment when they’re on the web – that they can’t hurt you.  “But we know that what happens on the internet doesn’t stay on the internet,” says Dr. Woodward, “and many kids are victims of sex trafficking or sexual harassment because of it.”

For Jessica Janze, PhD, a psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, one of the big concerns is that it’s a parent’s role to teach kids about the kind of boundaries that will keep them safe, and these parents are willfully circumventing boundaries set up on Instagram for that purpose.

“It’s the responsibility of parents to educate children on how to keep their own bodies safe and have clear boundaries,” explains Dr. Janze, “If parents are not teaching that and modeling that, I don’t know how kids are going to learn. And then I can only see that leading to further sexualized behavior and lack of boundaries for these kids into later adolescence and life.”

Using these accounts to raise money is an added concern, notes Dr. Janze, as girls, or any child for that matter, can easily come to feel that they owe subscribers more intimacy. “It’s damaging for children to be taught that their bodies are not their own,” she adds, “or that ignoring boundaries is fine if it’s going to help pay for your college education.”

Brands that are using these kids as advertising vehicles should take a long look at the impact of what they’re doing, but the first line of defense for these children should be their parents.

Teaching girls that being “hot” on the internet is a shortcut to success is the opposite of the kind of message that builds solid self-esteem. “It’s the antithesis of how we try to raise young people,” says Dr. Woodward, “to move the spotlight away from their physical appearance to their strengths and their efforts and their personality.”

This kind of message is harmful to other kids as well. It undermines the parents who actually try to protect their kids by keeping them off of social media until they are old enough to handle it. Kids are seeing their peers blowing up on social media and getting discounts from their favorite brands, and they’re understandably tempted to join in.

So, we applaud the Times for pulling back the curtain on this trend, and we hope it will encourage more protective measures for underage kids on social media platforms. But we also hope that it will make some of these well-meaning families have second thoughts about placing their children in harm’s way online to turn them into influencers.

Read the Full New York Times Article

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Hair-pulling, skin-picking, and nail-biting can start out as harmless habits. But when kids can’t stop doing them, even when they’re hurting or embarrassing themselves, these habits can become a serious problem. Experts call them body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs). And there is evidence that the best way to treat these behaviors is an approach called comprehensive behavioral treatment, or ComB.

ComB is an approach that draws from several different kinds of therapies and is tailored to each individual.

Think of body-focused repetitive behaviors as self-grooming behaviors that have gotten out of control. And attempts to stop or cut back have been unsuccessful. BFRBs include:

• Trichotillomania (hair-pulling)
• Excoriation (skin picking)
• Onychotillomania (nail biting)
• Trichotemnomania (compulsive hair cutting)
• Trichophagia (hair eating),
• Dermatophagia (skin biting)

Kids who engage in these behaviors often describe them as uncontrollable. They find that doing them brings a sense of relief or helps them calm down, which is part of why they can be hard to stop. BFRBs can emerge at any age but tend to pop up in early adolescence or the teen years.

There are plenty of people who bite their nails or pick at their skin once in a while, but typically these behaviors are bad habits — not disorders. If a child has tried to stop a behavior multiple times and can’t, and if they are harming their bodies, causing distress, or impairing daily functions, then it’s time to pursue treatment.

“It’s only a disorder if it has bad effects,” explains William Benson, PsyD, director of the Tourette’s and Trichotillomania Service at the Child Mind Institute. “If it’s causing patches of baldness, scars on your skin, you’re getting infections in your nails, or your nails are really down to the bone.”

Often kids who engage in BFRBs end up feeling ashamed by their behavior and resulting appearance. They may get bullied because of bald spots, scabs, or scars.

The go-to treatment for BFRBs has traditionally been a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called habit reversal training (HRT), which was developed in the 1970s.

HRT starts with awareness training. Patients are encouraged to focus on the targeted behaviors — when and where they happen, what tends to precede them, and what makes them worse. The second phase is developing a competing response, or an alternative action that prevents you from doing the thing you’re trying to stop doing. “The idea is that you do something that is physically incompatible with that behavior while you’re also resisting doing the behavior,” says Dr. Benson. For example, you can’t bite your nails if you are sitting on your hands. And you can’t pull your hair if you’re squeezing a stress ball.

But while HRT helps some people with BFRBs, it doesn’t always produce consistent results on its own. ComB was developed beginning in the 1990s to incorporate other strategies to address things that are triggering these behavior. Research on the long-term efficacy of ComB for treating BFRBs is promising.

ComB is a personalized treatment that uses a combination of different approaches, depending on what the patient needs and what works best for them. The patient and therapist collaborate to identify the target behaviors, when and why they happen, and what strategies to try.

This treatment relies on a partnership between the patient and the therapist. And it needs to start with a child who is motivated to make a change. “Just because the parents want the child to change doesn’t mean the kid is ready,” says Jerry Bubrick, PhD, director of the Intensive Pediatric OCD Program and a senior psychologist at the Child Mind Institute. “Motivation and compliance are our two biggest predictors of success.”

Assessment and functional analysis

Drawing from HRT, ComB begins with an analysis of the problem behaviors to better understand when they are happening and what is driving them. Are there particular feelings, times of day, or environments that seem to trigger the urge to pull or pick? Does the action soothe stress or anxiety?

“It’s kind of looking at a current overview of everything that’s happening, and then trying to figure out where we can make changes so that you’re more effective in your coping skills,” explains Dr. Bubrick. “Perhaps you need different coping skills. Perhaps we need to sharpen the ones you have.” The therapist will work with the child and their family to monitor the behaviors and raise awareness about these details.

Expecting anyone — but kids in particular — to self-monitor and gather data regarding their BFRBs is challenging, but the emergence of wearable technology is promising. A device similar to a smart watch detects specific arm movements, vibrates when the arm raises, and tracks information regarding where, when, and how long BFRBs are happening. This can inform the treatment plan.  

Create and implement a treatment plan

The therapist and patient will then work together to explore which specific strategies may be helpful. They may decide to focus on one treatment or borrow strategies from multiple approaches to develop an individualized plan that they will continue to revisit and modify as needed.

“In the beginning, it’s what I consider to be damage control,” says Dr. Bubrick. “We may not be able to stop it all together, but is there a way to slow it down?” Once the behavior is less intense, work can begin to extinguish it.

For example, if a child is mindlessly skin-picking or hair-pulling, they may draw from HRT practices to come up with a competing response like wrapping their fingertips in bandages or wearing gloves. This would make it much harder to pick or pull without noticing. If the action is in response to a sensory craving, then they can find an alternative but similarly satisfying action like playing with clay or snacking on crunchy foods. And if stress exacerbates the BFRB, then relaxation and mindfulness strategies might be a productive place to start.

Strategies from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are commonly part of ComB. DBT helps kids manage difficult feelings without self-destructive behaviors. ACT focuses on accepting uncomfortable emotions and committing to goals rather than allowing upsets to trigger unwanted behaviors.

Modify the plan as necessary

Once a treatment plan is mapped out, the therapist and child continue to revisit and tweak it as needed. If the treatment is successful and the urges are reduced, then they can slowly decrease the intensity of the interventions.

Sometimes kids have a hard time going through with treatment because the BFRB is helping them deal with an underlying problem, Dr. Benson notes. In these cases, it’s necessary to back up and address the underlying or coexisting conditions that might be driving the BFRB. For example, according to one study ,79% of people with trichotillomania have at least one other mental health diagnosis such as anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, or ADHD. Once other conditions are better under control, then ComB may prove to be more effective.

Medication hasn’t proven to be the helpful in reducing BFRBs, he adds, though it may helpful for reducing symptoms of other disorders that are contributing to the behavior.

Families play an important role when children are engaged in ComB. They can offer valuable insights and observations to the clinician to inform treatment. But it’s also important for parents to examine their interactions with their child and determine whether they are helping or exacerbating the BFRBs.

For example, drawing a lot of attention to a child’s hair pulling or nail biting may be well meaning, but can increase anxiety. “I ask parents to come in first to learn how to change the way they’re talking to and relating to kids, and how they’re addressing things, and to learn some skills before we ask the kid to come in for treatment,” says Dr. Bubrick. He finds that in cases where parents initiate treatment it’s helpful for them to be able to show their child that they’ve put in work too.

Once the child starts treatment, parents can also be coached to focus on positive reinforcement rather than nagging about the behaviors they are trying to extinguish. “So, when a parent sees a child using the skills or using the toolkit,” says Dr. Bubricik, they’re able to praise that really powerfully.”

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By Harold S. Koplewicz, MD
President of the Child Mind Institute

At the start of Black History Month, I like to honor the many contributions Black Americans have made to the field of child and adolescent mental health by featuring Mental Health America’s list of Black Pioneers in Mental Health. Please take a moment to read about the following outstanding individuals, whose work has led us toward a mental health landscape that effectively serves far more children and families.

• Harriette Pipes McAdoo, PhD, an expert in educational psychology and child development, was one of the first researchers to challenge prevalent, harmful racial stereotypes about Black families. She also created and edited the influential anthology Black Families, which highlighted the diversity of experience and strengths of Black family life. Dr. Pipes McAdoo was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the White House Conference on Families.
• Herman George Canady, PhD, a well-known clinical and social psychologist, was the first to study how the race of a test proctor can create bias in an IQ test. His work helped provide the framework for creating testing environments where Black students could succeed. He was also an active member of the American Teachers Association in the 1930s and beyond, and fought for more spots and training for Black psychologists at universities.
• Beverly Greene, PhD, ABPP, is an educator, clinical psychologist, and pioneer of intersectional psychology. She has significantly furthered our view of how different parts of a person’s identity shape their mental health and experiences. Dr. Greene won the highly prestigious American Psychological Association 2023 Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology, among many other awards, and has been the author or co-editor of over 100 publications.

Inspired by these mental health trailblazers, we must ask ourselves what we can do to aid their work and carry it into the future, because all children and families deserve to receive the support they need to thrive.

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When a child has a learning disability, parents are typically their first advocates, working with schools to get the services that their kids need to thrive. A child with an LD may have difficulty in learning primary skills such as reading, writing or math. They often need extra support, explicit teaching of skills, and school accommodations to succeed.

But because learning disabilities are so often invisible, and parents aren’t always around to speak up for them, it’s also especially important that kids with LDs learn how to advocate for themselves. Students who struggle with LDs are just as intelligent as other kids, but can be mistaken for lazy or defiant when they struggle to do things that come easily to other students. Being outspoken can help prevent or clear up any confusion.

Self-advocacy is the ability to speak up for yourself to get what you need to succeed. In the context of kids with learning disabilities, it means being able to explain their LDs — how they learn differently than other kids, and what their strengths and weaknesses as learners are. And it means being able to assert themselves in an appropriate way – usually to adults – about what supports they need and why.

“Self-advocacy is a skill that’s part of self-determination, which is the idea that you are in charge and in control of your own life,” explains Taina Coleman, MA, MEd, an educational specialist in the Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute.

This can look like a student reminding a teacher that because they have dyslexia they are entitled to extra time on a test, or asking if they can type rather than take notes by hand, since dysgraphia makes that difficult for them. A student with dyscalculia, the math learning disability, might ask to use a calculator. It can also mean being comfortable asking for help more generally or starting a conversation about their struggles. The idea is to empower students to feel confident, rather than ashamed, about what they need.

Before you can advocate for yourself, you need to have a clear understanding of what you are advocating for. “It’s always a good thing to know more about yourself, even the hard stuff,” says Coleman.

Some parents find it uncomfortable to tell their child about their diagnosis, but hiding the information doesn’t shield them. They know they are struggling and having a hard time doing things that other kids find easy. It’s very important for them to understand why that is. When kids get that everyone has strengths and challenges, and that learning disabilities have nothing to do with intelligence, it can be both a relief and a confidence boost.

Coleman has found that even early elementary students are able to have this conversation, and it should include what they’re good at, as well as what they’re struggling with. “No matter the age, my goal is always to develop a strong sense of strength,” she explains. Not to say that everything is a strength, but to use that as a starting point to discuss the student’s goals, learning styles, challenges, and accommodation needs.

Some kids may need more help than others understanding their learning profile. Learning about how you learn, what experts call metacognition, is an important part of the process. It’s all key to developing a growth mindset, which is based on the understanding that intelligence and ability are not fixed but rather based on effort, experience, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. 

Once kids know what they need, it’s time to give them a sense of what they are entitled to. Coleman says that kids in fifth grade and up are especially ready for these conversations because they are so justice-oriented and interested in what is fair. But even younger kids can and should have a basic understanding of what tools are available.

Emphasize that it’s not cheating to get the support you need. Accommodations are a legal right; students with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

To help drive home the point, Coleman likes to use the example of glasses. Glasses are an accommodation that help people who have vision challenges level the playing field. No one would say that wearing glasses gives someone an unfair advantage. It’s the same thing for kids with learning challenges.

All kids will benefit from a general understanding of what tools are at their disposal, and how they can use them. Tools might include access to a learning center, one-on-one interventions, untimed testing, audiobooks, the ability to record lectures, noise-cancelling headphones, and more. Kids can learn about what specific resources are available to them and where they can go for help. If they have an IEP or 504 plan, let them know what accommodations are outlined and what their rights as a student are.

Learning how to communicate needs and rights is where self-advocacy gets put into practice. Students need to know who to go to and how to effectively and respectfully get their point across.

Kids may feel shame or stigma when it comes to calling attention to their learning differences, or may just be nervous about speaking up to adults. Scripts, practice, and role playing in a safe space can be helpful.

“I practice with students,” says Coleman. “How can we articulate this in an email? How do we persuade if we have to persuade? Because unfortunately there may be educators and adults who don’t think they need what they need. We practice every possible response. Usually the scary responses don’t happen, but the kids still need to practice it.”

Self-advocacy can take place outside the classroom as well, so it’s worth covering a range of scenarios – from summer camp to social situations – in which kids may need to speak up for themselves. Often it can be as simple as saying “Hey, I have a learning disability that makes this tricky for me.” They don’t need to divulge more details than are necessary but can let friends or counselors know what might makes things easier for them, whether that’s making plans by text rather than phone calls or learning the rules to a new game ahead of time.

While a lot of self-advocacy takes place at school, it starts at home. Parents and caretakers can model what it looks like, both for themselves and their children. And they can reinforce the message that it’s important to stick up for yourself to access the tools you need to succeed. This can look like a parent telling a story about requesting an accommodation for themselves at work, commenting on a relevant storyline in a book or movie, or standing up for their kid at school and fighting for what they need.

 “One of the best things I can do to support a child with a learning disability is to support their family to be advocates,” says Coleman. “So if the kid is working on self-advocacy skills, the parent is also working and the learning is happening simultaneously.”

Self-advocacy isn’t a skill that is taught once and that’s it. “It takes time and it’s not linear,” Coleman explains. “So with my little kiddos they get there and then they hit a new developmental stage in their teens and we do it all again. Sometimes the teaching and work happens many times as the kid grows and changes.”

Like so many things, it’s a process, and what self-advocacy looks like for a six-year- old will be different for a tween, teen, or adult. For little kids, learning when to verbalize that something is hard and knowing when to ask for help can be enough. Older kids, meanwhile, can play a bigger role in determining and expressing what they need. When kids feel understood, they’re more likely to feel encouraged to succeed.

Besides learning to stick up for themselves, once kids get comfortable with self-advocacy, it often lead to advocacy more broadly. “Kiddos turn into leaders,” observes Coleman. “They look around and stand up for others, they share their knowledge of the tools, they want to talk to school officials about making things better.”

When kids understand that everyone is different and each student has their own individual challenges and needs, it can be empowering on both a personal and a societal level. It has the potential to create more inclusive spaces in which kids stand up for – rather than bullying – one another.

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You probably remember all too well the heartache of a teen breakup — especially a person you dated for a while and maybe even thought was going to be “the one.” But when your own teen is going through a similar experience, it doesn’t mean words of wisdom automatically come to you. “It was rough for a couple of weeks,” one friend, whose daughter ‘s boyfriend broke up with her by text, told me. “While I could relate to how she felt losing someone who was important to her, I never had to do it under social media scrutiny.”

For sure, the digital age makes teen breakups more traumatic and dramatic. “Teen couples are often in touch with one another all day through text and Facetime,” says Lisa Damour, PhD, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. “Some even do homework with Facetime open. The teens in my care who have romantic relationships are much more in contact with their partners than I am with my spouse. So, when those relationships go away, there’s the pain of the loss and there’s also an enormous hole left in that young person’s day.”

With social media, news of the breakup also travels fast in friend circles. “My son’s friends were texting him less than an hour after his girlfriend broke up with him because she posted about it on Snapchat!” said another mom friend. “He didn’t even have time to process it before his texts started blowing up.”

Social media pressure, more free time, and the fact that teens feel everything more deeply — highs and lows — conspire to make a breakup the not-so-perfect storm. “The emotional intensity during adolescence is higher than other stages of life,” notes Dave Anderson, PhD, senior clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute.

 “We can’t prevent emotional distress in our kids, nor can we make it go away as quickly as we want to, but there are some things we can absolutely do and say to help,” says Dr. Damour.

Shock, sadness, anger — your teen is feeling all kinds of intense emotions in the early days of a breakup. Even if they initiated the split or it was a mutual decision, they may still be having a tough time. “As parents we can fall into the trap of trying to help put it in perspective and rush in with stories about our own breakups,” says Dr. Anderson. “But that’s an instinct that we should try to quiet at least for a little while.”

Lead with empathy. Try to resist asking your teen for more details than they want to share, says Dr. Anderson. Instead, give them options, saying something like, “I know this must be incredibly hard for you. If you want to talk about it, great. If you just want someone to be around you when you’re doing your homework or watching TV, I’m also here.” If your teen responds that “I’m fine” but you can clearly see that they’re not, give it a day and follow up with, “Honey, I want you to know, I’m worried about you, and I want you to know that I’m here for support.”

Welcome their friends. Encourage your teen to invite a couple of pals over for a movie night and supply the ice cream. In fact, their friends might have already suggested it. “I’m moved by how naturally and creatively friends help one another,” says Dr. Damour. “The support of friends (and the comfort of ice cream) is more than just a happy distraction. It helps your teen realize that people still want to hang out with them.”

Keep your opinion about the ex to yourself. Perhaps you never thought they were right for each other and are happy that the relationship ended. Or you may have considered the ex a “bonus kid” and will miss having them around. Either way, this isn’t the time to share your feelings with your teen. You can vent to a partner, friend, or therapist.

But speak up about the friend zone. If your teen tells you that they’re going to try to be friends with their ex, gently discourage it at least in the short term. “It’s very hard to go straight from romance to friendship,” says Dr. Damour. “There are still a lot of tender feelings and it’s easy to get hurt.” Instead, she suggests saying something like, “You may be friends down the line, but it’s hard to move such intense feelings right into the friendship.”

Alert their therapist. If your teen is already being treated for depression, anxiety, or another mental health challenge, fill in their therapist so they have another trusted adult to talk to about what happened and help them get over the hump.

After a few days in a funk, it’s time to ease back into routines. Here’s how to help your teen get in the swing of things again:

Tell them they’re not alone. Teen still hunkered down in their room with the door closed? Empathize with what they’ve been through — but also help them look to the future. Dr. Anderson suggests starting out with, “I’m really sorry to watch what you’re going through. I’ve been through it, everybody I know has been through it, and you’re not alone in this.” At this point, you might want to share a breakup story from when you were their age. Then work how to move forward into the conversation. You might say, “I’m not asking for you to be better or recovered or over this person. But there’s a balance between feeling your feelings and getting back to your routines, which will help you feel better.”

Help them reflect. Chances are, some things have made your teen feel better over the last few days and some have made them feel worse, says Dr. Damour. Guide your teen to tease out what’s helped and what hasn’t — and to be totally honest with themselves. “Lots of teens will say, ‘It’s good for me to still be following my ex on social media because it helps me feel still connected,’” says Dr. Anderson. Ask your teen “How does it help?” if they see their ex out having fun with friends. If they’re not willing to sever social media ties entirely, suggest that they temporarily mute them, so their ex’s posts don’t pop up in their feed. On the flip side, urge them to lean more into strategies that have been helpful, whether it’s cuddling with the dog, baking, watching beloved reruns, or going for a run.

Keep them busy. While routines are important, distractions are valuable too. Offer to take them somewhere fun. Opt for hands-on places (like an escape room, bowling, or pottery class) rather than passive options where it’s easy to zone out. Of course, avoid places that may remind your teen of their ex.

Watch for overanalyzing. Sure, it’s a good sign overall if your teen talks about the breakup with their besties. But hashing it out with various friend groups over and over again for days may make things worse. If you notice that happening, it’s even more important to provide one of the distractions above. You can also enforce your regular screen-time rules.

Seek professional support. It’s normal and even healthy to be upset by a breakup. But there are a few red flags that parents should keep in mind. “If your teen is being terrible to themselves and others after a few days, they may need professional support to develop coping mechanisms,” says Dr. Damour. Dr. Anderson adds that it takes most teens about two weeks to start feeling the breakup less acutely and be on their way to returning to normal. If you don’t see signs of that, set up an appointment with a mental health professional. Breakups can be a trigger for a teen’s depressive episode.

Embrace the silver lining. Although it’s difficult to watch your teen be so upset and not be able to “fix” it, “keep in mind that for teens, there’s tremendous value in well-handled psychological distress,” says Dr. Damour. “It shows them that they have the ability to handle painful emotions and find a way through.” She adds that the experience will also foster empathy: “When one of their dear friends gets their heart broken, someone who has been there will be able to offer far better support than a teen who hasn’t walked in those shoes.”

The post How to Help Your Teen Through a Breakup appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

EMDR — short for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing — has become a go-to technique for treating trauma in adults. And it’s being used to help children, too.

EMDR is a surprising therapy that involves prompting the patient to briefly recall a traumatic experience that’s continuing to disturb them while moving their eyes from side to side or being tapped on alternating sides of the body. The desired result is that the memory becomes less overwhelming.

EMDR is relatively new form of psychotherapy, developed by Francine Shapiro in 1989. And while it’s not entirely clear how it works, it has already amassed quite a bit of support among mental health professionals. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs included EMDR as one of its top three recommended treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s also been found to be effective in children who’ve had upsetting experiences and are struggling to recover from them.

In addition to PTSD, EMDR is being used to treat anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance use disorders, among other things.

“It’s quite effective for what I refer to oftentimes as emotional splinters,” says William M. Zangwill, PhD, an EMDR expert who trains clinicians in the practice. “If you’ve ever had a splinter, then you know it can cause quite a bit of pain, even when it’s touched gently or accidentally. It’s similar with emotional pain. So what we’re trying to do with EMDR is to gently take the splinter out so that the person can heal.”

EMDR is a type of psychotherapy in which, under the guidance of a specially trained clinician, patients recount memories of a traumatic event while engaging in physical stimulation on alternate sides of the body.

Shapiro developed EMDR using rapid eye movement as the stimulation, in which the therapist directs the patient to quickly move their eyes from side to side. Other stimulations can also be used, such as alternately tapping the patient’s legs or shoulders, specialized lights that flash in a programmed, alternate sequence, or handheld devices that alternately vibrate.

“Alternate stimulation, or what’s called bilateral stimulation, is one of the key components of EMDR,” Dr. Zangwill says. “It helps keep the mind focused on the present.”

Dr. Zangwill says he lets his patients choose which kind of stimulation to use but generally recommends tapping for his pediatric patients, because it’s simple and can be performed by the patient’s parents. That’s helpful so they can use the tapping technique at home as needed between sessions. And older children and adolescents can even do it themselves.

While more than two dozen clinical trials have led researchers to conclude that EMDR is effective, it remains unclear exactly how the therapy works. Researchers believe it has something to do with where and how traumatic memories are stored in the brain as compared with other memories.

Normal memories are processed as they are stored, linked to a network of other memories that puts them in context and locates them in the past. In a traumatic experience, this process may be disrupted. When these unprocessed memories are recalled, the disturbing feelings, thoughts and sensations connected with them can be experienced again.

For people with PTSD, memories of trauma are overwhelming because they are experienced as if they’re happening in the present. The goal of EMDR is to reconsolidate the memory, to overwrite the earlier version, as something remembered, as opposed to something being relived, and in a less overwhelming form.

“So the theory is that what you’re doing by tapping is you’re distracting the brain’s ability to focus, which means it can’t build the memory back up as strongly, and therefore, over time, the person feels less pain,” Dr. Zangwill says.

EMDR is most effective in children when used to treat a singular, well-defined trauma.

“It works best on patients who have been through a specific trauma that has a clear beginning and an end,” Dr. Zangwill says. “For instance, an automobile accident, a loss of a parent or relative, a breakup, a serious illness, but something that had a beginning and an end, especially when it’s a sudden kind of event.”

It can be used with kids of all ages. Dr. Zangwill says he has seen it used effectively with children as young as 2 years old.

“You can simplify EMDR, adjust it, to meet the child where they are cognitively and developmentally,” Dr. Zangwill says. “But in general, the younger the child, the more specific the event should be if EMDR is going to be of help.”

EMDR can be used to treat older kids and teens with trauma situations that stretched over a longer period of time or when they cognitively understand a threat is gone but can’t seem to get past the negative emotions.

“This other area where it’s good is when people understand something perhaps intellectually but are stuck emotionally,” Dr. Zangwill says. “For example, let’s say they witnessed their mother being abused and now the abuser is in jail. Intellectually, they know that person can’t come and hurt them, but they can’t get past the fear. When there’s a discrepancy between what you know and what you feel, 99.8 percent of the time your feelings win out. What EMDR does — in ways we’re not sure about — is connect what we know to what we feel better than anything I’ve ever used.”

EMDR, Dr. Zangwill says, can have truly impressive results. But it’s not a quick fix. “Sometimes parents have the impression that all we do is tap their child and everything will be fixed,” he explains. “That’s not the case.”

And sometimes, EMDR doesn’t work for a child or a particular situation at all. There’s no guarantee. The good news is that you’ll know in a relatively short time — usually after about two sessions, according to Dr. Zangwill — whether or not EMDR is a good fit.

And while it’s possible to find guidelines from professional organizations as to what an EMDR session will look like and how many sessions it will take to overcome a trauma — six to 12, according to this guideline from the American Psychological Association — Dr. Zangwill says it all really depends on the situation and the patient.

“It’s hard to give specifics, because every situation is different,” he says. “Some kids can sit for a 90-minute session, for example, whereas younger patients may only tolerate 15 minutes at a time.”

Some children may require more guidance and emotional handholding through the process whereas other kids may be able to talk about the trauma unprompted.

In any event, Dr. Zangwill stresses the importance of getting the whole family involved. In fact, when treating children, Dr. Zangwill says he will meet with as many family members as possible prior to beginning EMDR so he can gain a fuller picture of what’s going on with the child, which he says is crucial to the success of the treatment.

“In my experience, when there are systemic issues present, the only way EMDR — or any kind of therapy — will be effective is when the whole family is involved,” Dr. Zangwill says.

That’s because therapy can’t address problems in a vacuum. Oftentimes, Dr. Zangwill says, the trauma that brought a parent to seek therapy for their child isn’t the only challenge that needs to be addressed or even the root of the problem.

“You have to remember that when children have been through painful stuff, it happens within the context of a family — before, during and after,” Dr. Zangwill says. “So sometimes it’s not even really about the traumatic thing that happened but the fact that they didn’t feel supported by their family afterward or that the family never talked about it.”

Getting the entire family involved helps guard against “garage syndrome,” an expression he uses for parents who expect to be able drop their child off for therapy and pick them up all fixed, as you would when you take your car to the mechanic.

Another reason Dr. Zangwill insists parents are involved throughout is so they understand how EMDR works and why their child might seem more upset than usual at first. EMDR can trigger upsetting feelings in kids as they work through their traumatic memories.

“The analogy I use when I’m teaching and training people is that when your foot’s been asleep, and it starts to awaken, it hurts,” Dr. Zangwill says. “When you do deeper work, that increases awareness. Initially you can feel more pain, but then it subsides.”

Negative feelings triggered by EMDR typically get progressively better with each session, he adds.

Seeking EMDR from an experienced practitioner is important, especially when considering someone who works with children, Dr. Zangwill says. “An experienced clinician will know how far to take a session, how much handholding needs to be done and when to get out of the way so patients can make realizations and come up with their own answers.”

An experienced therapist will be able to minimize negative feelings that arise from EMDR, he adds, and will also advise parents how to support patients in the event they have difficulty between sessions.

To locate a therapist who practices EMDR, visit the EMDR International Association’s provider directory.

The post EMDR Therapy for Childhood Trauma appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

San Mateo, CA – Child Mind Institute is expanding its Youth Mental Health Academy (YMHA), a program designed to educate teens about the different fields of mental health work, by bringing it to the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego. The organization also plans to build on the program’s success in the Los Angeles area, where it first launched in the summer of 2023. 

The Youth Mental Health Academy is a paid 14-month program for high school students ages 16+ who come from structurally marginalized communities. The program’s goal is to increase representation in the mental health field amongst those groups who have historically lacked access to mental health care services — including young people of color, LGBTQIA+ youth, and those who have experienced foster care, the juvenile justice system, homelessness, or poverty. It also aims to cultivate a future generation of mental health care workers who more closely align with those groups. 

The YMHA offers opportunities for students to get paid for participating in project-based learning and internships in the summer. The program also provides mentors and college planning workshops throughout the school year. Through the combination of these activities, it aims to inspire and cultivate a group of young people who will, as they mature, consider pursuing mental health careers in psychology, school counseling, social work, research, and other mental health-related fields. 

Junior and senior high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego area, and Los Angeles area are encouraged to apply now to be accepted into the 2024-25 program, with all applications due by March 15, 2024. 

HOW IT WORKS 

The YMHA offers each participating student the opportunity to:

• receive up to a $2,000 stipend for completing project-based learning throughout the entire program 
• acquire career skills and knowledge about how the overall mental health care field works
• build their resume toward future careers 
• develop professional networks
• work on a capstone project with a group of their peers during the program’s first year
• work side-by-side as an intern during the program’s second year 
• be inspired to pursue a career in a mental health-related field

The in-person, project-based learning portion of the program will take place from June 24, 2024, through July 22, 2024. Participants will also complete an internship in a mental health-related field during the summer of 2025. During project-based learning and ongoing programming during the 2024–25 school year, students will receive mentorship and support from experienced professionals.

“Our first summer of the Youth Mental Health Academy in the Los Angeles area was extremely well-received, with hundreds of youth participating in our instructor-led workshops,” said Ivette Sanchez, associate program director for Child Mind Institute’s Youth Mental Health Academy. “We knew we had really started something special during our first capstone event when we saw the incredible response that the YMHA presentations had on the 400 friends and family who gathered.”

YMHA ALSO SEEKS YOUNG ADULT MENTORS  

The Youth Mental Health Academy also seeks undergraduate college students, graduate students, and early career professionals to serve as mentors in the program. Those interested can find out more about mentorship here. 

NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH BRING CHANGE TO MIND

To reach more students interested in mental health career paths, Child Mind Institute is partnering with San Francisco-based Bring Change to Mind (BC2M), a national non-profit operating mental health-focused peer-led clubs in high schools across California. The partnership enables BC2M club members to find out more about the YMHA. And those already in the YMHA can learn more about joining or starting a BC2M club at their school. 

Child Mind Institute will support the expansion of Bring Change to Mind by opening 21 new clubs in Southern California, as well as sponsor various student events and workshops throughout the year. The non-profit launched its evidence-based club model nine years ago and now operates in 42 states with more than 100,000 students having participated. 

“With the ongoing youth mental health crisis, these programs are something that structurally marginalized communities are wholly embracing,” adds Sanchez. “The first round of feedback we got from our YMHA students in the Los Angeles area last summer ranged from ‘I really like being able to talk with people who are passionate about psychology like I am,’ to ‘I feel like I made some really good friends here and made really personal connections with the teachers, especially, which I didn’t expect.”

About the Child Mind Institute

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The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Learn more at childmind.org.

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

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Pediatrician Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez and Dr. David Anderson, from the Child Mind Institute, discuss the practice of parents picking up their kids before bedtime instead of having them spend the night at a friend’s house.

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New York, NY – Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, founding president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute, the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health, shared the following statement in response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2024 State of the State address and proposed legislative agenda:

“We applaud Governor Hochul’s commitment to the defining public health challenge of the next generation – the youth mental health crisis. Elevating mental health in New York state’s 2024 priorities sets the stage for the Hochul administration and the state legislature to support critical mental health tools for children and adolescents, such as educational initiatives to promote safe social media use, access to evidence-based care and resources in schools, and increased funding for brain science research.

“Our research shows that one-third of children reported ‘negative’ online experiences in the last year and 70% of those children reported repeated incidents. In addition to equipping youth with age-appropriate tools to navigate the internet, we need technological safeguards and policy proposals – based on research – that aim to reduce the risk of social media and internet use harming kids.

“We agree with Gov. Hochul that all students should have access to mental health resources. We must look to innovative approaches that focus on scaling the number of mental health providers and educators trained in evidenced-based practices and promote collaborative relationships with school partners to build sustainable access for students throughout the state.

“Missing from her remarks was a call for increased investment in research to advance the field of child and adolescent mental health and strengthen our understanding of the developing brain. One of the greatest barriers to reliably improving mental health interventions is the fact that diagnosis and treatment are subjective. Identifying objective, measurable brain-and behavior-based biomarkers is critical to guide successful care plans. Additional investment is needed into science-based digital tools that connect kids, families, and mental health professionals, or otherwise leverage technology and social media for good.

“We look forward to seeing resources dedicated to mental health support for children across the state of New York in the Executive Budget next week, and the Child Mind Institute stands ready to work with the Hochul administration to advance these priorities.”

About the Child Mind Institute

(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.

Learn more at childmind.org.

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The U.S. Surgeon General, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all declared a crisis in children’s mental health.

As the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children with mental health and learning disorders, the Child Mind Institute has never been needed more urgently. We’ve been rising to meet this challenge by: 

• Caring for more children in our clinical centers 
• Launching major new educational campaigns to increase knowledge and fight stigma 
• Expanding our School and Community Programs team to train more educators 
• Increasing our Science and Engineering team’s efforts to improve our understanding of the brain and develop the digital tools that will democratize care 

And we’re launching the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute to catalyze a worldwide focus on improving children’s mental wellbeing. 

These initiatives are crucial to increasing our capacity to advance the clinical care, resources and research we provide for children and their families. 

But the benefits of our upcoming move go beyond the amount of space to the quality of the environment we’re creating: 

• The new address remains in Midtown Manhattan and is closer and more convenient to public transportation. 
• Our clinical specialties will occupy distinct “neighborhoods” within the office, each with their own waiting areas. 
• We will have a dedicated entry, with private elevators and internal stairs between the upper floors. 
• We’re building a vibrant and warm environment, including donated artwork from major artists and spaces for contemplation, inspiration, and positive energy.  
• We plan to open a private outdoor space off the first floor where, on nicer days, caregivers can get a breath of fresh air while their kids are seen inside. 

We’re thrilled to begin this next phase of the Child Mind Institute’s history, one where we make even faster progress toward a world where every child receives the care they need to thrive.

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Autism is a developmental disorder that impacts how a child learns to communicate and interact with the world. According to recent data, the average age for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is about 5 or 6, even though it can be diagnosed in children as young as 12 months. That might sound quite young, but autism is an early-onset disorder that is lifelong. An early diagnosis allows kids to get the support they need during the critical period of development that occurs before a child turns 5.

Dr. Cynthia Martin, a psychologist and the senior director of the Autism Center at the Child Mind Institute says that there can be signs of autism in babies as young as six months old. “That’s not going to be the case for all kids,” she says. “But in general, for the majority of kids, symptoms associated with ASD are going to be present somewhere between six months and three years.” 

But those signs of autism in infants and toddlers can be easy to miss — unless you know what you’re looking for. 

At any age, symptoms of autism are grouped into two main categories: social-communication challenges and restrictive, repetitive behaviors (RRBs). Even in very young children, Dr. Martin says, we can see the absence of typical social-communication skills and the presence of atypical behaviors, or RRBs. Autism shares a number of traits with other disorders, which is why it is frequently misdiagnosed, or diagnosed late. But children with ASD display traits from both categories — like Charlie, who received an autism diagnosis just after he turned three.  

When Charlie’s mom, Jamé, brought him in for his two-year check-up, his pediatrician said Charlie had a speech delay and recommended speech therapy. 

“I was a little surprised, but it wasn’t a bad surprise,” Jamé says. “At that point, he wasn’t quite pointing and gesturing, or even making sounds and intonations. But it wasn’t something that as parents we worried about, really. I guess because neither of us have had kids before.” 

Jamé and her partner may be first-time parents, but they weren’t alone in how they thought about their child’s development. “So often parents don’t know about social communication milestones,” Dr. Martin says. These milestones are subtle, but the skills they demonstrate are the building blocks of communication and language.  

Children with autism develop these prelinguistic, social communication skills at a delayed and inconsistent rate compared to their typically developing peers.  

For instance, infants with ASD may struggle to distinguish the faces of their caregivers from strangers or avoid eye contact — two of the earliest indicators of a social communication deficit. But a wealth of research suggests that a limited use of gesture, as one study put it, is one of the most “robust” signs of autism in infants and very young children.  

Gestures are closely tied to the development of speech and language. Before learning to speak, children typically learn to communicate using gestures to express their thoughts and desires.  

“We should see about 16 gestures or ways of communicating non-verbally to another person by 16 months,” Dr. Martin says. 

So, what are some things parents should be looking for? 

• Pointing: Babies with autism tend to point less than typically developing children — either with an open palm or an index finger, a slightly more advanced skill. One reason a child points at an object is to say, “I want that.” This is called imperative pointing. Instead of pointing, some children with ASD will use an adult’s hand as a tool to communicate to what they want; this is called hand-leading.  

• Showing and Giving: Another reason a child points to an object is to say, “Look at that.” This is called declarative pointing, and it facilitates a very important skill called joint attention. Look at that dog! look at the airplane in the sky! When a child initiates joint attention, they are beginning to understand that communication is an act of sharing. Children with autism can be very interested in objects, but don’t tend to show objects to others. Along the same lines, they might less frequently give objects to others. 

• Gesture + Speech Combinations: Toddlers who have acquired some language skills might begin using word-gesture combinations, like saying the word “more” and pointing to a cup of juice. This is called supplemental gesture, and it is a particularly challenging skill for kids with ASD. 

RRBs are patterns of behavior that occur in greater frequency among autistic people than the general population. RRBs can include hand flapping, spinning, or holding a particular body posture. They can also include the idiosyncratic way a child plays with their toys, a fixation on one particular interest, and sensory processing issues. 

In children with autism, RRBs are intense and narrowly focused behaviors that shape the way they interact with the world. As Dr. Martin puts it, “What is the child missing out on because they are focusing on something more intensely than those around them, rather than what the others in the environment are focusing on?” 

Jamé knew that Charlie liked to stack and arrange his toys, and that he liked the squishy feeling of potting soil in his hands. But when he entered preschool, his patterns of behavior became more pronounced, making it difficult for him to adjust. “His teachers were like, ‘He will not wear his shoes,’” Jamé recalled. “If they had circle time, he would kind of be walking around the room doing something else.” Charlie also struggled to transition from one activity to the next — a common challenge for kids with autism triggered by various factors, including RRBs.

“For some kids, RRBs present at the same time as social communication deficits. For other kids there’s a pretty big lag, which for a younger child means six to 12 months later,” Dr. Martin says.  

“The challenge is that some repetitive behaviors are very common in young kids because their nervous systems are still developing,” she adds. “They can get what’s called motor overflow, where there is some excitement, and you see some brief posturing or some hand flapping.” 

But for young children with ASD, repetitive behaviors persist and present as a pattern.

Some of these patterns can emerge as early as a child’s first year.  

• Unusual interaction with objects: Very young children with autism might show more interest in objects than people or display what is called a “non-functional use of objects” — for example, holding a toy in their hand instead of playing with it. Another sign, says Dr. Martin, is when a child examines an object in an unusual way. “Maybe they’re bringing things up really closely to their eyes or looking at them from the side of their eyes,” she says.  

• Intense Interests: Some toddlers with autism begin to develop unusually intense and specific interests. Perhaps they fixate numbers, letters, shapes, or water. “But the way they show they are interested in water is not just wanting to play at the splash pad, they also want to see the water in the toilet bowl flush,” Dr. Martin explains. “Or they want to see the water in the washing machine, or when they hear the water faucet go on in the bathroom or the kitchen, they go running towards it.” 

• Strong responses to sensory stimuli: Some RRBs are in response to sensory stimuli. Charlie doesn’t like to wear shoes, Jamé theorizes, because shoes make it harder for him to run and climb. “He’s pretty much moving from the moment he gets up until he takes a nap,” Jamé says. Charlie’s compulsion to move is a sensory-seeking behavior, as is his love for squishing potting soil in his hands. But other children with autism, even those that seek sensory stimuli, also exhibit sensory-avoidant behaviors. They might cover their ears, avoid certain foods or have an aversion to certain textures or tags in clothing. 

Jamé had some reservations about pursuing an autism diagnosis for Charlie at such a young age. His needs and behaviors, while unusual to others, seemed only human. But the early intervention and diagnosis has given Charlie access to a needed network of support. “He’s a little kid, but he’s a super clever kid and I am super proud of him,” Jamé says. “I just want him to get whatever he needs to help him be more independent when I’m not with him.” 

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We think of learning disabilities as affecting kids in school, but challenges in skills like reading, writing, math, and language affect all aspects of life, not just academic performance. We are using them all the time — reading street signs, counting change, playing games, and following conversations with friends.

Struggling with skills that appear to come easily to others, inside the classroom or out, can take an emotional toll starting at an early age. Research shows that children with learning disorders are at higher risk for developing depression. This risk increases as children enter their teenage years.

“Kids spend the majority of their waking hours in school,” says Laura Phillips, PhD, a neuropsychologist and the senior director of the Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute. “When you spend eight hours a day engaged in something that’s challenging for you it has a very significant impact on your self-concept — meaning your idea about who you are as a person — and your ability to feel successful.”

Depression can manifest in different ways:

• Appearing sad or irritable
• Trouble sleeping
• Losing interest in things you once enjoyed 
• Being tired all the time
• Gaining or losing a lot of weight

But at its root are feelings of hopelessness and low self-worth. Studies show that for kids with learning disorders, the school environment can contribute to and breed these feelings.

A child with an undiagnosed learning disability is particularly at risk for depression because they don’t understand why they struggle with things that others don’t. Frustration and failure create a sense that something must be wrong with them. A diagnosis can be reassuring and offer them the support they need — but success will still be a struggle. When it comes to a child’s emotions, an LD diagnosis is not a magic bullet.

​​“It doesn’t always feel better right away,” notes Helene Omansky, LCSW, a senior social worker at the Child Mind Institute. “It will get better, but newly diagnosed kids need time to adjust to their support system, and to develop confidence in skills that they may have lacked.”

If you think your child might be depressed, consult a medical professional for help — but know there are ways parents and teachers can offer support, too.

The requirements of school change as you get older, and there’s one shift that can be particularly tough for kids, especially those with reading and language deficits. “From kindergarten through second grade, you’re learning how to read,” Dr. Phillips explains. “By third grade, the emphasis shifts to reading to learn.”

In other words, reading becomes incorporated into every class. Kids who struggled in language arts classes but prided themselves on their math skills are suddenly confronted with math word problems. “And then they lose that confidence in the thing that might’ve been maintaining their sense of self and self-esteem,” Dr. Phillips explains.

This change is the first of many. Kids will continue to wrestle with their challenges in unexpected ways, and this can be discouraging.

“The impact of a learning disorder becomes more widespread as you move through school,” Dr. Phillips says.

It’s important for parents to understand the depth of frustration a child may be feeling and acknowledge it, says Omansky. We’re naturally inclined to dispel negativity with encouragement — “You’re so smart!” — but this can make a child feel isolated and unheard. If a child is saying they feel dumb because they can’t figure out how to solve a word problem, Omansky says, “It’s okay to validate that by saying something like, ‘I can see how frustrating this is for you.’”

Around 8 or 9 years old, kids become less self-focused and begin to understand themselves in the context of — and in comparison, to — their peers. Where before school was merely frustrating, now kids may wonder why certain things appear to come easily to others. They may feel like they’re working twice as hard as those around them, and understandably, they may think this is unfair.

Kids also become more self-conscious at this age and might feel like their deficits are on display. This can look like a kid who doesn’t want to raise their hand in class, but it can also look like a kid who plays by themselves at recess. When a child can’t solve a math problem or gets called out for not finishing an assignment, it’s easy for them to go from “I feel dumb” to “Nobody is going to like me,” Omansky notes.

Kids with learning challenges can also struggle with social skills, such as following the thread of a conversation or finding the right words to respond. They sometimes fumble social cues, and given enough negative feedback, might avoid socializing altogether.

Some kids draw attention away from their challenges by acting out. Being perceived as funny or rebellious might even bolster your self-esteem. But avoiding your challenges doesn’t make you feel any better about them, it just makes you more determined to hide them.

Rates of learning disorders are not significantly different among genders, but boys are more likely to be diagnosed because of their tendency to be disruptive in class — an obvious red flag. Girls, meanwhile, tend to withdraw, making identification harder.

“Girls are much more likely to quietly sit in the back of the class and try to sink into the ground,” Dr. Phillips says.

This translates to girls not receiving a learning disorder diagnosis or being diagnosed late. When LDs are overlooked, a child’s anxiety or depression can be the first recognized signs that they need help. “They might become highly anxious or more academically demoralized,” says Dr Phillips. “So, it might be the anxiety or depression that first brings them to clinical attention.”

It’s important for adults to empathize with this experience, too. “Well-intended parents and teachers don’t want to put a spotlight on a kid unnecessarily, but they may not be asking the right questions that would allow for further intervention or exploration,” says Omansky. When a child is anxious, unmotivated, or depressed, the adults in their lives should investigate if they might be struggling, she adds. “Kids don’t always have the skillset to know how to self-advocate and say, ‘I don’t understand.’”

Depression can actually impact cognitive functions, making learning challenges more acute.

Research shows that depression can:

• Slow information processing
• Slow memory consolidation, or how your brain transforms the things you learn into long-term memories
• Make it harder to pay attention and concentrate
• Interfere with sleep, which can also be bad for your brain

It’s a vicious cycle — learning challenges contributing to depression, contributing to more challenges — but there are ways to interrupt it.

How a child relates to their school environment can also affect how they learn and how they see themselves. This is a particularly important factor for Black children and other children of color, especially if they attend predominantly white schools. “If there’s a difference in skin color between kids and their teachers, they might enter the classroom with a different level of anxious arousal that they have to overcome in order to be fully engaged,” Dr. Phillips says.

If the school environment already makes you anxious, you’re more likely to shut down if learning is also a challenge. You might even develop a fear of going to school at all. Teachers should be aware that kids don’t experience school in a vacuum. They should understand the racial, cultural, demographic factors that impact kids, so kids feel safe enough to learn and ask for help if they need it.

Schools are beginning to embrace emotional supports for children with learning disorders. When kids feel defeated by their challenges, and resist learning because it makes them feel bad about themselves, academic support alone is not enough.

Increasingly, schools are using  social and emotional learning (SEL) techniques to help kids develop an awareness of the emotions that drive their behaviors — whether they are acting out, trying to disappear, or simply avoiding the tasks that are most difficult for them.

Kids can be taught strategies to manage big emotions around learning. Take kids with math learning disorders, who become anxious when asked to solve math problems. They tend to engage in negative self-talk — “I’m so bad at math. I’m going to fail this math test. I’m so stupid, I’m not going to get into college.”

The negative self-talk interferes with problem solving. “It taxes your working memory to the point where you can’t effectively problem solve,” explains Dr. Phillips. “So, you do poorly and then you see yourself as a bad math student.”

But kids can interrupt the cycle with a simple trick: saying the steps of the math problem as they do them. “If you’re verbally working through the steps, you can’t engage in negative self-talk and so you can’t tax the working memory system,” she adds.  “It’s very effective.”

The ability to embrace this kind of creative problem-solving is the secret weapon of having a learning disorder — but when a child shows signs of depression, it’s important to seek professional treatment. Understanding that emotional challenges and learning challenges are intertwined can help parents get kids the support they need.

The post Learning Disabilities and Depression appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

The Symptom Checker gives you a list of behaviors and traits and invites you to mark the ones you are seeing in your child. If they correspond with the symptoms and behaviors associated with autism, it will let you know. If your answers to the quiz suggest another disorder, you’ll see that too.

The Symptom Checker was developed in partnership with expert clinicians and is aligned with the Child Mind Institute’s rigorous editorial standards.

Only a mental health professional can diagnose autism. But if you’re looking for an online autism test, our Symptom Checker can help you know if the behaviors you notice in your child could be signs of autism, or something else. You’ll also find links to articles where you can learn more, and help you prepare for a conversation with a mental health professional who can diagnose your child.

To identify signs of autism at different ages, from babies and toddlers to teenagers, try using our free Symptom Checker.

Autism is called a spectrum disorder because autistic kids may have a wide range of symptoms, cognitive abilities, language skills, and behaviors. They range from nonverbal to highly verbal. But there are some symptoms of autism these children share.

Symptoms of autism are grouped into two main categories: social-communication challenges and restrictive, repetitive behaviors (RRBs). RRBs are repetitive body movements or modes of behavior that “restrict” the way a person interacts with the world.

Children on the autism spectrum display traits from both categories from an early age, including babies and toddlers. Signs can be seen in babies as young as 1 year old, and signs of autism often appear in children who are 2, 3, or 4 years old.

• Failure to respond to their own name
• Disinterest in giving, sharing, or showing objects of interest
• Aversion to displays of affection
• Doesn’t use gestures to communicate 
• Preference for solitary play
• Hasn’t spoken a word by 18 months  
• Cannot say two-word phrases by 2 years old 

• Difficulty carrying on a reciprocal or back-and-forth conversation
• Lack of eye contact
• Difficulty using body language and reading it in others
• Difficulty recognizing others’ emotions, responding appropriately to different social situations, and understanding social relationships
• Aversion to displays of affection
• Preference for solitary play

• Repeats the same action over and over again 
• Focuses on small details and nothing else 
• Lines, sorts, or organizes toys or objects instead of playing with them
• Gets fixated on specific topics or objects 
• Becomes upset by minor changes in daily routine
• Has unusual sensory sensitivities

Kids with autism who do not have cognitive impairment are sometimes described as having high functioning autism. They may be highly verbal, do well in school, in college and in the workplace, and they may be exceptionally bright or talented. But kids with high-functioning autism may struggle with social-communication challenges that make it hard for them to function socially. They may have trouble handling changes in routine, and be extremely sensitive to sensory stimulation such as bright lights or loud noises. They are also sometimes called “neurodivergent,” because their brains work differently from typically developing or “neurotypical” people.

Profound autism is a term for kids on the other end of the autism spectrum. They are cognitively impaired, with an IQ of under 60, and are non-verbal. They are severely disabled, and will require life-long support with the tasks of daily living.

Children as young as 12 months old can show signs of autism, and the signs become more clear as they get older. Some experts consider a diagnosis by a professional reliable by the time a child is 2. But many children are are diagnosed later, as toddlers, elementary school children, or teenagers.

An autism evaluation usually start with a screening questionnaire. If the questionnaire indicates that a child might have autism, then it’s time for a more in-depth evaluation, which will include a set of autism tests in which the clinician watches how the child plays, behaves, and communicates.

A full evaluation should also include interviews with parents, teachers, and other adults who know the child. Structured cognitive tests should be part of the evaluation as well, to show how the child thinks and suggest what kinds of support at school would be helpful.

Read more about autism testing here.

A pediatrician might give the first screener, but the full evaluation should be done by someone specially trained in diagnosing autism. That is because symptoms can be hard to interpret, especially in toddlers. For instance, in a baby or toddler, not making eye contact can be a symptom of autism, but it can also be caused by shyness.

The post Autism Test for Kids and Teens appeared first on Child Mind Institute.