Illusian Founder Office’s Post

Many thanks to Marissa Plescia for this MedCity News piece about funding in youth mental health. I want this industry to win not just for myself or BeMe Health, but for all the young people watching, especially my two teenage daughters. I want the youth behavioral health space to show this generation what it means to be audacious and successful, to change the mental health landscape and prove that we as an industry can conquer anything. And when those wins didn't come, and they question: Should we play it safe? Should we temper our drive to disrupt? We will model resilience. Life is about getting knocked down, dusting yourself off, and rising again imperfectly. Innovating in youth mental health can lead to new understandings, new ways of being, and new solutions to old problems. With a stronger foundation in mental health funding, we can help this generation rebuild themselves by discovering a deeper understanding of themselves and a more authentic way to lead. And, if we are lucky, they can find an entirely different way to be. #bettertogether #pediatricmentalhealth #withteensinmind Solome Tibebu Rock Health InStride Health Mona Potter, MD Hafeezah Muhammad Backpack Healthcare Adriana Krasniansky Chirag Shah Blackbird Health Behavioral Health Tech Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, MPH Equip Kristina Saffran Erin Parks, Ph.D. Expressable Pivotal Ventures Define Ventures PENNER FAMILY FOUNDATION Hopelab Margaret Laws Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation https://lnkd.in/e4azEfPa

In the next two posts of my campaign series we are going to be talking 🗣️ about mental health! First up will be 6LACK 💡 As part of a broader initiative to de-stigmatize conversations about mental health within BIPOC and hip-hop communities, I had the opportunity to work with Grammy-nominated artist 6LACK. The goal was to position him as a leading Black male figure advocating for mental health awareness while also providing tangible support to vulnerable young adults. 💪🏼 The main challenge was finding an impactful way to reach vulnerable young adults, particularly BIPOC students who had aged out of foster care and needed mental health resources. We needed to ensure that the partnership felt authentic to 6LACK’s brand while effectively reaching and supporting this underserved group. 🧠 I developed and executed several key programs that positioned 6LACK at the forefront of this conversation. I organized his participation in Google Talks’ Mental Health Awareness Month Series titled "Freedom Through Mental Health & Music." Additionally, for World Mental Health Day, I spearheaded a large campaign in collaboration with BetterHelp and Mental Health America Los Angeles (MHALA). This campaign included a PSA I produced featuring 6LACK as an ambassador for mental health and resulted in the donation of six months of free therapy to 50 BIPOC participants in MHALA’s TAY Youth Program—targeting young adults aged 18-25 who had aged out of foster care. 🫱🏼🫲🏾 These initiatives significantly raised awareness about mental health within the hip-hop and BIPOC communities. The partnership not only positioned 6LACK as a key advocate for de-stigmatizing mental health but also provided much-needed therapy resources to at-risk youth. The campaign strengthened 6LACK’s reputation as a champion for mental health and expanding the conversation around mental well-being in underserved communities. https://lnkd.in/gAwMp-SA

Come join our therapeutic and community-building event for autistic individuals aged 5 through 13 years old and their families at Riv's Hub in Toms River New Jersey.  At Spectrum Tech Trade School, Village and Training Center, we pride ourselves on providing trauma-informed care to autistic individuals. Drum circles can be incredibly beneficial for trauma-informed care, offering a range of therapeutic effects such as.   Emotional Regulation: Drumming can help individuals manage dysregulated stress responses and process traumatic memories. The rhythmic nature of drumming supports emotional control and healthy social relationships. Community and Connection: Participating in a drum circle fosters a sense of belonging and community. This can be particularly healing for trauma survivors who may feel isolated. The act of creating music together promotes feelings of openness, togetherness, and connectedness.  Stress Reduction: Drumming has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety levels.  Physical Benefits: The physical act of drumming can improve joint mobility, posture, and motor skills, and also provide a form of physical exercise that is both meditative and energizing.  Self-Expression and Empowerment: Drumming allows individuals to express themselves in a non-speaking way, which can be particularly powerful for those who have experienced trauma.  Cognitive and Emotional Benefits: Drumming can enhance cognitive functions and emotional well-being. It has been used effectively in various therapeutic settings, including with those suffering from PTSD and individuals with mood disorders. This is a half-hour timed event and space is limited. Please arrive on time. Tickets are required for participants only, caregivers are free. https://lnkd.in/eD8XYSCi

Seth Kaplan has the best articulation of what Ramesh Balakrishnan and I are trying to solve with Honeycomb. So many of our current issues –– polarization, youth mental health, isolation, even domestic terrorism –– trace back to how fragile and underdeveloped our local communities are. I believe we need to focus our rebuilding community efforts on parents with kids in preschool through elementary school. It's one of the most powerful stages of community "forming and norming" in the arc of a human's life. It sets up the relationships and social ties that dictate the healthiness of the rest of the parents' lives (into old age), and it's when children learn how to create social and community bonds via exposure and observation of their parents. We can improve outcomes for two generations over a short 8 year window. That's why we focus on this stage at Honeycomb, and are so eager to find connector parents, PTAs and school admins who understand that rebuilding community bonds via the school social structure is absolutely fundamental to better outcomes for children –– and our nation. In this stressful election year, please join us in turning the tide on a generations-long slide into social poverty. We *can* do this!

Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch argue that the loss of #community is one of three factors behind the deterioration in youth mental health, along with the decline of play and the emergence of phone-mediated childhood. But in this article, I argue that it’s actually the dominant factor since it is upstream from the other two. The rapid spread of smartphones in the early 2010s triggered the dramatic uptick in mental distress among youth, but this happened especially in places where the social system supporting them was already hollowed out. As Rausch writes, kids who live in well-rooted “real-world communities … spending more time engaging in their local community – attending religious services, working, spending more time with trusted adults, and spending more time with their friends in person” – are less likely to experience the harms of the phone-based childhood. Where community is strong, the impact has been softened. In this post, I argue that kids need real-world community to thrive and that the weakening (and even breakdown) of #neighborhood communities across many countries explains many of the problems facing youth today—from screen addiction and the decline in #mentalhealth to rising drug addiction and growing #loneliness. Thank you to Jon and Zauch for publishing this. #anxiousgeneration Placemaking Education Cormac Russell Danya Pastuszek Sarah Strimmenos Dawn Martz Dan Baisden Tracy Hadden Loh David Edwards Tim Soerens Tim Tompkins Shawn Duncan Jennifer Prophete Adam Barlow-Thompson https://lnkd.in/efZbgVdp

Kaplan's specification for community (which he opposes to a 'sense of community'): * A web of overlapping, affect-laden associations and relationships that crisscross and reinforce each other; * A set of shared values, norms, and goals—a common culture that unifies and constrains; * A common identity, ideally based on a common history and narrative and recognition of mutual interdependence; * Shared rituals that celebrate the group, its past, and future; * High levels of trust; * High levels of commitment, with limited options for (or high costs to) exit; Recognition of and respect for common authority figures who guide the group’s decision-making; * Keystone actors and institutions that bridge and bond different members together; * A diverse range of skills and personalities that can contribute complementary things of value (e.g., money, time, expertise) to the group; * Role models who exhibit the cultural behaviors that the group should ideally replicate or at least aspire to; * Exhibiting a high degree of inclusiveness by actively seeking to encompass every member who shares the same identity or location; * Capacity to strongly encourage through moral suasion certain norms of conduct and, if necessary, sanction misconduct.

Children's Mental Health Week 2024 will take place from 5–11 February 2024. This year's theme is 'My Voice Matters'. This week is run by children's mental health charity Place2Be My Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express themselves. The Lancaster Model is proud to support this initiative, which aligns so well with our vision that every child or young person has the opportunity to have their health needs assessed and to ask for information, help, and support when they need it- to have a voice and be listened to. Having been developed over many years, being evidence and research-based, The Lancaster Model (TLM) offers an online Health Needs Assessment Tool (questionnaire) provided by our trusted technology Partner Aire Innovate, that enables children, young people, and their families the opportunity to have their health and well-being assessed and reviewed by their local Specialist Community Health Nurses and health teams. The anonymised public health data gathered via the Portal shows how important it is to understand the wider perspective as early as possible. Currently, it is showing that for children at school entry age ( 4-5yrs), Borderline and Abnormal Emotional Health difficulties has increased by 9% over the last 7 years. In 2017/18 the total school entry children ( where the area uses TLM) who had difficulties was 10% but the current school year so far shows this at 19% The stats for Year 6 children ( 10-11 yrs) have increased by 8% over the last 7 years with the current year showing a rate of 30% so far. There is also a noticeable trend for Mid Teen young people in 2023/24 for those who are answering the Question "Do you usually look forward to your day ahead?" the highest numbers answering "NO" identifying as Non-binary or other ( not identifying as male or female). To be able to identify a potential problem ahead before that child "gets into the fire" is crucial to the long-term outcomes for that individual.#prevention

StrongMinds, a DRK Foundation portfolio organization, treats women and adolescents with depression in low-income, sub-Saharan African communities. Leveraging group interpersonal therapy, StrongMinds has provided treatment to over 600,000 individuals, with 80% of their patients remaining depression-free six months after therapy. Because of their proven impact, StrongMinds is expanding to the United States and recently launched in New Jersey to address the growing youth mental health crisis. Catalyzed by a grant from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, StrongMinds America is providing mental health screenings, workshops, presentations, and resources to youth in under-resourced communities to help them identify signs and symptoms of mental health concerns. So far, in 2024, StrongMinds America has connected 500 youth in New Jersey to mental health support. Their long-term goal is to fundamentally increase access to mental health services in all 50 states.  “This grant from Horizon has enabled StrongMinds America to challenge stigma and misconceptions about mental health that keep people from reengaging with services they need. Our goal has always been to remove barriers to care in communities we serve, and this funding is crucial in achieving this goal,” says Sean Mayberry, founder and CEO of StrongMinds, about their recent support. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/esMnCEm3

Are contemporary, smaller families and neighborhoods a problem here? Seth Kaplan, do you find the replacement of the four- and five-child families of the '60s and '70s with contemporary one- and two-child families a challenge to finding enough "community" to fill the void left by eliminating phones and social media? Being a Boomer, when I was a kid, I had a ready-made community just outside my door. The average family size was pretty much mine: I had four siblings who were constant playmates (for good and ill, since we didn't always get along, but that doesn't matter, to your point about voluntary communities); in our neighborhood no longer than a quarter-mile in length, there were 11 other houses with similar size families. I had almost 50 kids ranging in age from 1 to 17 to play with (or babysit). We didn't have to do the 8 Front Door Challenge or go out of our way to create a "neighborly block" — it happened organically without a lot of conscious intention. But with the growing influence of classical liberal concepts and the introduction of accessible, safe contraception in the '60s and '70s, the consequent decline in fertility has not only reduced household family size, but virtually eliminated whole neighborhoods of playmates. Yes, we might be able to identify existing communities and move to them — as you did — but are there enough to go around? Public school systems recognize that they will have fewer schools in the next couple of decades — shouldn't a similar decline in other types of communities occur? Doesn't that represent a huge challenge to replacing a phone-based culture with a free-play culture?

Howdy Partner! It’s that time of year when we reach out to partner agencies and create new partnerships? Our motivation for this, is so AkindaCo can extend the reach of our group work programs. During June, July, and August, we are able to gift several art therapy group programs to partner organisations. We have several locked in already; however, we would love to hear from organizations that would be keen to know more about hosting one of our no-cost group programs on-site. Our practice has several key areas of focus, which include child, adolescent and adult mental health, psycho-social disabilities, and suicidal distress. Ideally, we would prefer any art therapy group program that we facilitate to fall within one of these areas. However, within that, we have lots of scope for flexibility, and have the capability to devise a bespoke program for the right partner organisation - so, for example, this could be a 12-week art therapy group program to support adolescents who are homeschooled, unschooled or school cant with the goal of generating social connection, or it could be a group to support new parents adjusting to parenthood and seeking understanding regarding new roles. Basically, if you have the seed of an idea, we can work with you to shape the group in the direction that fits your organization. Sound interesting – let us know below.