Conversations With Kidspeace

The calendar – and thermometer – might say it’s still summer, but kids and parents know that “Back to School” days are almost upon us.  In the latest episode of the award-winning Conversations with KidsPeace podcast series, we talk with a clinician at KidsPeace’s school-based mental clinic program to find out what issues kids are talking about, and how parents can help them navigate the anxieties and fears that can come with heading back into the classroom.Listen to the podcast here, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

In the latest issue of KidsPeace’s Healing Magazine, pediatrician and podcast host Dr. Lia Gaggino explains why she feels attention to mental health concerns is vital in her profession’s efforts to care for our youth.  Dr. Gaggino also discusses this issue on the latest episode of the award-winning podcast series Conversations with KidsPeace.

The power of music: an unexpected ingredient in KidsPeace’s efforts to help kids de-escalate from crisis.  On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, music therapists Nicholas Clark and Danny Joseph showcase their talent and discuss how they integrate music into the interdisciplinary treatment team approach to care at KidsPeace Children’s Hospital.

April is Autism Awareness Month, and on the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast host Bob Martin sat down with Rob Harvey, director of KidsPeace’s Intensive Behavioral Health Services group, to talk about what’s new in programming to aid kids with autism -- and how gender differences may be playing a role in what seems to be a rise in the number of cases diagnosed as autism.  Plus, Rob -- a talented musician in his own right -- offers his recommendation for those seeking new listening choices!

For the last ten years, families with kids in crisis have been able to turn for guidance to KidsPeace’s clinics in Pennsylvania, through an innovative program that provides free walk-in assessments of their child.  The sessions offer the chance to develop a safety plan and pathway to care for the youth, often when the family feels it has exhausted all other options.  The sessions also help divert from local hospital emergency rooms cases that can be best addressed in other parts of the medical system.On the latest episode of the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, community programs manager Breannah Allen explains what is done -- and NOT done -- during the assessments, and what sort of advice families receive during the sessions.  

Smartphones are a marvel of modern technology, and there’s no doubt they’ve become an almost essential part of their owners’ lives.  But there are downsides to having such a powerful tool for attracting and keeping your attention in your pocket -- and that goes for kids even more than adults. In the latest installment of the “Conversations with KidsPeace,” KidsPeace’s Jason Haller talks about the pitfalls of smartphone use, and suggests some ways parents and families can keep their kids -- and themselves --protected against negative consequences while taking full advantage of the technology’s “marvelous” capabilities.

Regular visits to the dentist are a rite of passage for young people in our society - but among youth in residential treatment programs it’s not uncommon to find kids who haven’t had proper dental care before in their lives.   For the latest edition of the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, host Bob Martin sat down with Dr. Andrea DiPaul, the dentist for clients in KidsPeace’s programming at the Orchard Hills Campus in Pennsylvania.  They discussed how her experience growing up helps her relate to the kids she sees -- and how their reaction to sitting in the dentist’s chair might surprise you.

At KidsPeace our services for children in need of mental and behavioral health services are called “trauma-informed care” --   a recognition of the role traumatic experiences play in shaping a child’s mental and emotional state. But new research into the impact of trauma is pointing towards another fascinating connection - between trauma and a child’s physical and even genetic development. Dr. Ansley Schulte, pediatric medical director of KidsPeace’s Pennsylvania Residential program, talks with host Bob Martin on the implication of this research on the latest edition of the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast.

One aspect of KidsPeace’s approach to caring for kids in its hospital and residential treatment setting is the use of “interdisciplinary teams” – groups of professionals representing areas of expertise working with clients and families on individualized treatment plans.  In the latest “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast, host Bob Martin talks with KidsPeace Hospital’s director of social services, Laura Haas, about the impact this approach can have on meeting the needs of kids in crisis.

How does a mental health provider incorporate technological innovations to serve its clients, but in a responsible and sustainable way?  At KidsPeace, a pilot project involving the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the therapeutic setting may present an answer to that question.   On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, host Bob Martin talks with Jamie Chubb, director of Pennsylvania residential clinical services, about the VR project – and with her guidance takes the relaxation program for a test ride for podcast viewers.  He then welcomes Kaitlin Stefanski, chair of KidsPeace’s Innovative Interventions Committee, for a discussion about how that group is working to enable KidsPeace to harness innovations like VR in its role as a leader in the mental healthcare field.

June marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Hope Center for Youth and Family Crisis’s behavioral health urgent care service in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.   On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, host Bob Martin talks with Executive Director Tammy Margeson and Customer Relations Liaison Michele Chassner about the lessons learned in the past year - and the possibility that the Hope Center model could be duplicated in North Carolina and beyond.

May is National Foster Care Month, and on the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast host Bob Martin talks with three KidsPeace associates in the foster care field - about the state of fostering post-pandemic, how mentoring is becoming an important aspect of foster care, and what concerns are expressed by those considering becoming foster families. (They also agree on the oddest question a potential foster parent has asked!)

On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, KidsPeace teachers from Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maine reflect on the role education plays in KidsPeace’s treatment programming.

In addition to providing kids in crisis therapeutic help, KidsPeace also offers opportunities for real-world training to medical professionals beginning their careers in mental healthcare.  In 2024 KidsPeace serves as a clinical rotation site for physicians in Lehigh Valley Health Network’s new fellowship program in child and adolescent psychiatry. On the latest edition of our podcast series Conversations with KidsPeace, Dr. Joseph Venditto - the first fellowship participant to complete a rotation here – talked about his experience, why he chose the specialty of child and adole

April is Autism Awareness Month, and on the latest Conversations podcast Rob Harvey, Director of Intensive Behavioral Health Services, offers his perspectives on the state of autism programming in the post-pandemic period, how the continuum of autism services KidsPeace provides is addressing a rapidly growing demand, and how new research is challenging the view of autism as primarily an issue for male children.

What is a “toxic friendship?”  How can I tell if a friendship is toxic … and if it is, what can I do about it?  These are questions addressed in a new “learning” section of KidsPeace’s therapeutic support service TeenCentral.com.   TeenCentral’s Madelyn Almonte discusses the concept of toxic friendships and ways to help teens recognize and deal with them, on the latest edition of the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast.  

As program manager for KidsPeace Foster Care in Kingston, NY, Jennifer Udvardi-Morris works to connect kids in need with foster families and other services.  But she’s also taken on a different task – lobbying legislators in her state to address the needs of those working in the child welfare field. In the latest installment of the “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast, Jennifer talks with host Bob Martin on the critical issues facing those who work in the field, and her outreach on those subjects with lawmakers in the Empire State.   In December, Jennifer wrote a guest column for the Times-Union newspaper in New York’s state capital of Albany. You can read her column here. https://fostercare.com/turnover-in-child-welfare-workforce-is-hurting-vulnerable-children/ 

The sixth season of the “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast kicks off with KidsPeace President and CEO Mike Slack discussing highlights of 2023 and what challenges he expects the organization and the mental healthcare field will face in the new year.  

According to a recent study, children with autism are more than twice as likely to enter foster care than those without that diagnosis.  In one county in Pennsylvania, KidsPeace is launching an effort to meld its expertise in foster care with its understanding of the needs of kids with autism. On the latest episode of the “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast, host Bob Martin talks with Heather Einsig, a family resource specialist in the KidsPeace Foster Care office near Reading, PA, about the “Autism Focused Foster Care” program – why it’s needed, and what challenges it faces in recruiting and training foster families to care for this population.

The reigning Miss Pennsylvania, Alysa Bainbridge, recently toured KidsPeace’s Orchard Hills Campus facilities, and sat down for an interview about her advocacy for greater awareness of mental health concerns, especially in children. You can learn how her social issue focus has its beginnings in her own family’s experience, on the latest “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast.