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As parents we don’t like or want to see our children struggling. But worries, fears and anxieties are a natural part of life, and we have to understand that children go through these processes just like adults do. But as parents and caregivers, we should also be in tune with the degree, severity, frequency, and nature of our children’s fears and worries and know when a child might need some help.

DEI can take up valuable time, as well as emotional and mental resources. This is particularly true for graduate students and trainees, who are simultaneously juggling research, clinical training, and personal transitions. Here are FIVE ways to ensure the important work you do, is also working for you.

Fear is one of the six basic human emotions, with a clear evolutionary purpose: to help us respond to danger and survive. In Exposure Therapy, providers create a safe environment to intentionally “expose” their clients to objects, activities, or situations they fear.

The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

If your child has seen coverage of such an event, make sure you talk with them about what they think about it and how they think it impacts their life and the world around them.  

So definitely submit to present. You do have something to offer either as primarily a therapist or a researcher or both. Do not doubt, just submit and see what happens. Conference submissions are not weighted based on presenters in the review process, so you have just as good a chance at acceptance as more senior submitters if you have an interesting and well written proposal.

Happy Holidays! I wanted to end the year by taking a moment to reflect on my tenure as ADAA president - which was served entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the highlights of these two years has been all that we were able to accomplish together despite the chaos of the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been identified as a significant factor in the deterioration of mental health in children, but the long-term effects of COVID-19 on children's mental health has yet to be seen.

The current pandemic has unleashed unique stressors on our health care community. While many medical and mental health care workers have responded with resilience, our health care workforce is not immune to the trauma and suffering they face.