By Lori Butterworth
By now you’ve certainly heard the news. At least one in five US adolescents is suffering from a diagnosable mental illness. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for American teens. Anxiety, depression, and eating disorders surged among youth during the COVID19 pandemic. Leading children’s advocacy groups have declared a state of emergency, while US Surgeon General Vivek Murphy warns we all must do more to find solutions.
On Friday, April 29th, you’ll have the chance to learn about the most hopeful responses. The AIM Scientific Symposium: Care in the Crisis, will gather leading experts, parents and youth to tackle tough questions and forge solutions. The event may be attended remotely or in-person at the Sunset Center in Carmel, CA., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a reception, youth art display, and award ceremony to follow.
Delivering the morning keynote at 9 a.m. will be “California’s Mental Health Czar,” Thomas R. Insel, MD. Dr. Insel, a pioneering neuroscientist, led research into mental illness for 22 years as director of the National Institute for Mental Health, and has recently been advising Gov. Newsom on mental health issues. Dr. Insel will speak about the “State of the State” of youth mental health in California and share from his latest book: “Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health,” an indictment of failures in the US mental health care delivery system and worsening rates of mental illness, despite billions of dollars in federal investments.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can learn from leading global experts in youth mental health, including Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a global authority on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Hinshaw is the author of 13 books, most recently “Another Kind of Madness: A Journey through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness.” Dr. Hinshaw will tell us about the most recent breakthroughs in understanding ADHD.
Dr. John Piacentini, director of the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety, Tic Disorders Clinic and Center for Child Anxiety Resilience, Education, and Support (CARES), will share evidence-based tools for parents to distinguish normal vs. abnormal anxiety and understand anxiety-related disorders like OCD.
From UC San Diego, we’ll bring you Dr. Walter Kaye, a professor of psychiatry and founder and executive director of that university’s Eating Disorders Program. Dr. Kaye will talk about why anorexia nervosa now has the highest fatality rate of any psychiatric illness, and what scientists have been learning about new approaches to treat eating disorders.
Stanford University psychiatry professor Shashank Joshi, director of the university’s School Mental Health team, will share insights into trends in adolescent suicide prevention, including the status of direct mental health support for students and school staff, and offer opportunities for community-research collaborations.
Beginning at 2 p.m., the doctors will take questions from the audience, after which we’ll be delighted to present youth researchers participating in our AIM Ideas Lab.
Amid the mental health challenges plaguing their schools, some 90 youth signed on to the AIM Ideas Lab to be trained in research methodologies and conduct their own mental health research. The Ideas Lab teams created and distributed surveys to their peers to assess the situation from the youth perspective.
At 3 p.m., youth Ideas Lab representatives including Citlalli Nava, a senior from North Salinas High School, Emilie Fernandez, a sophomore from Everett Alvarez High School, Gia Panetta, a sophomore from Carmel High School, Marley Miller, a freshman from Salinas High School, Michael Julian, a senior from York High School, and Roxy Bennett, a senior from Monterey High School, will take the stage to share what they’ve discovered about what and whom young people need most when experiencing mental-health problems. These six representatives, speaking on behalf of their young constituents, will make recommendations for the next steps all of us can take to help youth struggling with mental health challenges.
At 4 p.m., Katherine Ellison, parent, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, and author of several books on mental health, will moderate a panel discussion among parents who have shared the frustrating and sometimes even terrifying experience of searching for emergency treatment for their children. These brave parent panelists, Jeff and Kathy Long, Jayne Smith and Martin Alonzo, have all been trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid, a program to empower parents and other caring adults to approach, listen, guide, encourage, and find help for youth. Audience members are invited to join the discussion.
Immediately following the parent discussion, join us for a wine and cheese reception hosted by the Carmel Sunset Rotary Club. At the 5 p.m. reception, young artists’ expressions of youth mental health challenges will be displayed. The youth will share their experiences designing the pieces and host conversations about their meaning. Prizes and awards will be presented by Dr. Deneen Guss, Monterey County Superintendent of Schools at 6 p.m.
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The AIM Scientific Symposium: Care in the Crisis, is part of AIM’s mission to bridge the gap between research and access to care for youth struggling with their mental health by finding and funding evidence-based treatments, empowering youth to discover their own mental health solutions, and training caring adults to create a safe holding place for troubled youth.
To register, visit: http://AIMymh.org/scientific-symposium
To sponsor this event, please email Breanna Wilson: breanna@AIMymh.org
The AIM Scientific Symposium: Care in the Crisis, is approved for 6 hours of Continuing Education by the APA through the Children’s Health Council (CHC).
- Psychologists: CHC is approved by APA to provide continuing education. CHC maintains responsibility for this program and its content
- For LCSWs and LMFTs, effective 7/1/17, the BBS[kE1] no longer has its own approved providers. Rather, the BBS will recognize CE classes offered by organizations approved by a few agencies, including APA.
- SLPs as required by the Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers Board (PDP[kE2] ).
The Sunset Center is accessible for people with disabilities. If you need special accommodations, please reach out to info@AIMymh.org or call 831-372-1600.
Moving Upstream: A Proactive Approach to Addressing Behaviors and Bullying
Krista Reuther is the Assistant Director of Ohana’s Community Health and Prevention Program. She received her Masters in Public Health and Social Work at UC Berkeley. She comes to this position after 14 years of clinical social work experience at Stanford Children’s Hospital in pediatric oncology, critical care, and bereavement. Her goal is to reduce the incidence of mental illness in children and adolescents in Monterey County.
Dr. Guss is a 35-year veteran educator with a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership. She served as a classroom teacher for 10 years, including two years as a teacher in a bilingual program in South Central Los Angeles. She has also served as a college professor, mentor teacher for new teachers, and a master teacher for teacher candidates completing their student teaching experience. She continues to be a strong advocate for the teaching profession.
Fellowship: Stanford University School of Medicine (1994) CA
Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D. is a consultant, author and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the supervising psychologist for the Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than seven hundred schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
is 15 years old and a sophomore at Marina High School in Marina, CA. Her academic interests include math, history, and psychology. She joined the AIM Ideas Lab in 2021 because she wanted to be a part of something that could have a great impact on her community. Marwa is interested in youth mental health because she has always been fascinated with the human mind and she wants to support those that are suffering who may feel like their challenges in life aren’t important enough or are too afraid to seek necessary help.
Giovanna Panetta is a 16 year old junior at Carmel High School. She has always been called to STEM subjects, specifically biology. The AIM Ideas Lab instantly attracted her attention as a research opportunity. Gia has always comprehended the importance of mental health. She knows that COVID only exacerbated previously existing problems, and that as a community we can try and find the root of those problems. Mental health is an integral part of life, and can impede a body’s ability to be healthy. She strongly believes that life is worth living, and she wants to help anyone that thinks otherwise.
Dr. Friedman completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology from University of California San Diego (UCSD). She went on to complete her masters and doctorate degrees (Ph.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/Chicago Medical School. Dr. Friedman completed her pre-doctoral internship at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, and her post-doctoral fellowship training at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Her clinical training and experience has been focused primarily on comprehensive assessment and effective treatments for anxiety, mood and related disorders. Dr. Friedman has extensive experience in providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for anxiety disorders (e.g. worry, OCD, social anxiety, phobias and PTSD), depression, adjustment disorders/life stress, insomnia and body-focused repetitive behaviors (e.g. Trichotillomania and skin picking). She has received training in evidence-based interventions for a variety of specific problems, including exposure with response prevention (ERP) for treatment of OCD, Prolonged Exposure (PE) for treatment of PTSD, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). Moreover, she has specialty training in the treatment of childhood anxiety and related disorders, such as ADHD, selective mutism, separation anxiety, PTSD, depression and specific phobias. In addition, Dr. Friedman has developed an expertise in research on Trichotillomania and body-focused repetitive behaviors, which has led to numerous local and national presentations. Dr. Friedman regularly attends local and national conferences, training seminars and workshops in order to stay informed on the most up to date treatments and apply state of the art science into her clinical practice.
Dr. Piacentini is a board-certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist and Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He directs the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Clinic and Tourette Association Center of Excellence which provide diagnostic evaluation and treatment (both therapy and medication) for youth with the above problems. He also directs the UCLA Center for Child Anxiety Resilence, Education, and Support (CARES; carescenter.ucla.edu) which provides education and programming to parents, teachers, and clinicians about anxiety prevention and management.
Citlalli Nava is 18 years old and a first year majoring in Psychology at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA. She is passionate about understanding how mental health affects how youth think, act, and feel. Citlalli joined the AIM Ideas Lab in 2021 after witnessing the increase in mental health challenges in teenagers and considering the mental health issues they are facing. Citlalli is interested in youth mental health because it is a real problem faced by her generation.
Clinical and community psychologist and health care innovator Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, is CEO of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. With more than 146,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students as members, APA promotes and disseminates psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve lives – a mission consistent with Evans’ life work.
