Youth to present mental health research
CARMEL >> A team of six high school students will join an impressive gathering of leading mental health experts to discuss the youth mental health crisis when the AIM Scientific Symposium returns April 29.
The students will represent the AIM Ideas Lab, a virtual research project for high school students in Monterey County that trains youth to conduct their own mental health research. The Ideas Lab team of 90 students surveyed their peers and came up with recommendations for the best treatments and practices for young people experiencing mental health problems.
AIM is a Carmel-based organization that funds cutting-edge research on mental health disorders in youth. The organization was founded in 2014 by Susan Stilwell. Chief Executive Officer Lori Butterworth joined the organization after seeing firsthand the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on young people.
“These kids, they've grown up in a time that is laced with fear,” Butterworth said. “In these really formative developmental times, everything got disrupted and that does a lot neurologically to the brain.”
The first AIM Scientific Symposium was held in 2019 and brought doctors and researchers from around the world to Carmel to discuss the best treatments for youth struggling with mental health disorders.
Butterworth is an avid lover of learning and research and calls herself a “forever student.” But she found herself wondering who the real experts of mental health are.
“If we have a participatory value in including youth in identifying these issues and finding the solutions, why are they not on the stage too?” she asked. “Let's put them on the stage as experts.”
This year's symposium, “Care in Crisis,” will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sunset Center in Carmel and is available for the public to attend remotely or in person. The all-day gathering will bring leading experts, parents and students together to address the latest research and recommendations.
Youth Ideas Lab representatives Citalli Nava, a senior from North Salinas High School; Emilie Fernandez, a sophomore from Everett Alverez 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 present their findings at 3 p.m.
A panel of parents trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid will follow at 4 p.m. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Ellison will moderate the panel discussion, which will dive into various strategies of care for children amid a national shortage of therapists.
The symposium will kick off with a keynote from Dr. Thomas R. Insel, the former director of the National Institute for Mental Health and the “Mental Health Czar of California.”
Dr. Insel's keynote the “State of the State” will discuss youth mental health in California and feature some findings from his latest book about failures in the United States mental health care system.
Guest speakers will present from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will include:
• “ADHD Treatment, Sex Differences, and Stigma” from Dr. Stephen Hinshaw of UC Berkeley.
• “Suicide Prevention” from Dr. Shashank Joshi of Stanford University and Director of
School Mental Health at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
• “New Discoveries and Treatments for Anorexia Nervosa” from Dr. Walter Kaye of UCSD.
• “Parenting the Anxious Child: A ScienceBased Approach” from Dr. John Piacentini of UCLA.
The event will conclude with a wine and cheese reception, hosted by the Carmel Sunset Rotary Club and an art exhibit featuring young artists' expressions of mental health challenges.
While students from the Ideas Lab will be able to present their research and findings on the mental health crisis, the AIM design challenge allows youth from around the world to be included in the conversation and express their experiences with mental health through art.
Butterworth calls the symposium a “convergence of the minds and hearts.” She believes that when faced with a crisis, a community needs to come together to look at the issue from a variety of perspectives.
“The event itself will illustrate that there's not one solution,” Butterworth explained. “It has to be looked at from multiple perspectives. It's really a convergence of different thinking.”
Tickets for the symposium are $25 and free for students. Tickets and more information about the event can be found at https://www.eventbrite. com/e/aim-scientific-symposium-care-in-the-crisistickets-303149246557.