Adolescents
Adolescence is a time when the body and mind are changing rapidly. Some adolescents are particularly at-risk for mental health conditions because of having mild symptoms of those conditions, difficulties at home or at school, economic or social stress, or a family history of mental health issues. We are conducting several research studies to assess whether introducing adolescents to resilience-enhancing skills might be protective for them.
In one of our research programs, described below, adolescents who have mild symptoms of mental health conditions are invited to learn these skills. Their parents also participate in the program.
The Living in Families with Emotions (LIFE) Program
This is an 8-week workshop for at-risk middle school students and their caregivers. The goal of the workshop is to teach skills shown to increase psychological resilience by enhancing stress management, mindfulness, and emotion regulation abilities. This program also includes meetings with parents/caregivers which help them learn how to best support their children in using these skills. This workshop can help adolescents learn strategies for dealing with daily stress, as well as manage other challenges that are often experienced during adolescence.
Currently, we are now offering a free training program for community members who work closely with adolescents. In this training, we teach people how to lead a LIFE workshop. This training is offered to anyone who works with adolescents, including teachers, librarians, coaches, after-school staff, and anyone else who spends time with middle-school aged kids. This training consists of 10-12 hours of live teaching, which includes experiental exercises, role-playing, and group discussions, as well as weekly supervision and all of the materials needed to facilitate the workshop. Please see here for more information. If you or your organization are interested in receiving this training, please contact Katherine Dokholyan (kdokholyan@mgh.harvard.edu)
LIFE Team
Daphne Holt, MD., PhD.
Psychiatrist
Anne Burke, PhD.
Psychologist
Lauren Utter, PsyD.
Psychologist
Corrine Cather, PhD.
Psychologist
Randi Schuster, PhD.
Psychologist
Jacci Clauss, MD., PhD.
Child Psychiatrist
Bianka Charity-Parker, PhD.
Child Psychologist
Nicole DeTore, PhD.
Psychologist
Drew Coman, PhD.
Child Psychologist
Victoria Hesler, PhD.
Child Psychologist
Emily Klein, PhD.
Psychologist
Cheryl Yunn Shee Foo, PhD.
Psychologist
Ylira Pimentel-Diaz, LICSW
Social Worker
Tunde Aideyan, MS.
Doctoral Practicum Student
Katherine Dokholyan, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator
If you would like to learn more about our work with the LIFE program, you can watch a presentation (see video below) given by Dr. Holt at the 11th Annual Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Research Centers of Excellence Conference:
“Flattening the curve: What will it take to prevent mental health conditions in youth?”
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