Widening Our Lane: How Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists Can Embrace the Full Spectrum of Mental Health.

The majority of a psychiatrist's training and clinical attention is devoted to mental illness rather than mental health. This article suggests a broader understanding and application of mental well-being that can benefit both those already struggling with mental health challenges and those trying to stay well. Recommendations for being a well-being-oriented psychiatrist include increasing one's knowledge about well-being and health promotion and adjusting one's practice to incorporate these principles.

Reaching "The Other Half": Teacher Referral Increases Inclusivity in Intervention Research for Neurodivergent School-Age Children.

Objective: Researchers employed two recruitment strategies in a school-based comparative effectiveness trial for students with a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism. This study assessed the: 1) effectiveness of school-based referrals for identifying students meeting diagnostic criteria and 2) impact of eliminating requirements for existing diagnoses on recruitment, sample characteristics, and intervention response.

Method: Autistic students and students with ADHD in schools serving underresourced communities were recruited for an executive functioning (EF) intervention trial over 2 years.

Linking Primary Care to Community-Based Mental Health Resources via Family Navigation and Phone-Based Care Coordination.

Family navigation (FN) and phone-based care coordination may improve linkages from primary care to community-based mental health referrals, but research on their differential impact is limited. This mixed-methods study compared FN and phone-based care coordination in connecting families to mental health services from primary care. Families of children (56.

Editorial: Cash Transfers to Families Living in Poverty: Can Benefits for Children Extend to the Next Generation?

Childhood poverty is the most widespread and important modifiable risk factor for the development of a range of health outcomes, including childhood-onset mental health problems. In the United States, 30 million children are growing up impoverished, which ranks among the highest per capita rates of child poverty among high-income countries. As a nation, the United States does less to support its poor children and their families than any other wealthy country, despite scientific evidence that growing up in poverty significantly increases lifetime risk of physical and mental health problems, reduces likelihood of academic and vocational success, and leads to poorer social outcomes for children.

"It was Just Good to Have an Outlet for Other Parents to Talk to": Feasibility and Acceptability of Integrating Mental Health and Wellness Services into Predominantly Black Early Childhood Education Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Racial disparities in mental health care access and quality are associated with higher levels of unmet need for Black parents and families, a population disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrating services within early childhood education centers may increase mental health care access for Black families with young children. The current study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived impact of an integrated program offering mental health care for parents, children, and dyads during the pandemic.

Leveraging the Expertise of the Community: A Case for Expansion of a Peer Workforce in Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health.

The rise in child and adolescent mental health concerns has led to the need for an expanded workforce to meet the needs of our nation's families. Peer paraprofessionals (PPs) have proven to be impactful in the areas of adult mental health (MH) and substance use disorders, and for persons with chronic medical conditions. PPs can contribute to addressing child, adolescent, and family MH needs by being deployed in community settings and providing both emotional and tangible support to families and children.

DC Mental Health Access in Pediatrics: Evaluating a Child Psychiatry Access Program in Washington, DC.

Introduction: Child psychiatry access programs (CPAPs) provide primary care providers (PCPs) with assistance in mental health diagnosis, management, and resource navigation.

Method: Data collected from DC Mental Health Access in Pediatrics (MAP) included PCPs and patient demographics, clinical encounter information, and provider satisfaction.

Results: DC MAP consult volume increased 349.

The Family is the Patient: Promoting Early Childhood Mental Health in Pediatric Care.

Advances in developmental psychology, child psychiatry, and allied disciplines have pointed to events and experiences in the early years as the origin of many adult mental health challenges. Yet, children's mental health services still largely lack a developmental or prevention-focused orientation, with most referrals to mental health professionals occurring late, once problems are well established. An early childhood mental health system rooted in the principles of life-course health development would take a very different approach to designing, testing, and implementing prevention and intervention strategies directed toward early child mental health.

Advancing Antiracism in Community-Based Research Practices in Early Childhood and Family Mental Health.

Structural racism-the ways that institutional policies, practices, and other norms operate to create and sustain race-based inequities-has historically been foundational to the operations of academic medical centers and research institutions. Since its inception, academic medicine has depended on the exploitation of vulnerable communities to achieve medical, educational, and research goals. Research practices have long ignored or taken advantage of the individuals purportedly benefiting from the research, a dynamic most manifestly true for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in the United States.

Editorial: Learning From the Pandemic: "Building Back Better" Through Research on Risk and Resilience With Diverse Populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for over 2 million deaths and unprecedented disruption in the daily lives of people in communities worldwide. Efforts to slow viral transmission including quarantine and school closures have introduced profound changes in children's lives. Decreased opportunities for social interaction and physical activity, reduced instruction time impacting academic progress, changing nutritional habits and soaring rates of hunger, and increasing digital media use are just several of the myriad ways in which young people's lives have been altered.

Editorial: Sharpening Our Focus on Early Adversity, Development, and Resilience Through Cross-National Research.

The impacts of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study continue to reverberate across medicine, influencing clinical practice, research, and public policy, prompting reexamination of the original ACEs research, and generating a range of new research questions that are critical for understanding health and development across the lifespan. Within child and adolescent psychiatry, this explosion of interest in childhood trauma and its consequences is generating rich new areas of inquiry: how does adversity become biologically embedded in brain structure and functioning? What familial, environmental, and genetic factors influence resilience and risk? How should we update and adapt the original ACEs framework to account for cultural, ethnic, and geographic differences across populations with various exposures during childhood and distinct ways of experiencing and understanding these exposures? What positive experiences during childhood might have equally profound lifelong health impacts? In this issue of the Journal, Salhi et al. present findings from a large cross-national survey of parents of young children to examine their hypotheses that particular household exposures, physical discipline, and lack of cognitive stimulation represent adverse experiences associated with specific developmental outcomes in young children.

Where Do We Go from Here? Additional Opportunities to Address Well-Being in Child Psychiatry Clinical Practice and Advocacy for Children and Families.

Child psychiatrists should play an active role in helping parents and children to develop healthy media use habits and can introduce uses of technology including mobile applications and telepsychiatry to enhance clinical care. Strength-based approaches in clinical assessment and treatment build patient and family engagement and enhance outcomes in child psychiatry. Focusing on supporting youths' strengths and enhancing emotional and behavioral well-being are critical strategies for child psychiatrists working in consultation with schools and other community settings, and in advocating for optimal environments for children and families.

Applying Mindfulness-Based Practices in Child Psychiatry.

Mindfulness-based interventions for adults, children, and families have grown considerably, and burgeoning evidence supports use of these approaches for a range of clinical presentations, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and addiction. Research into the mechanisms of mindfulness suggests improvements in key brain-based functions including attentional control and emotional regulation. Mindfulness may be relevant for improving emotional and behavioral symptoms in children and families presenting for psychiatric care and also may be an important universal strategy to promote brain health.

Parental Psychiatric Symptoms and Children's Outcomes: Toward Understanding and Responding to Intergenerational Risk in Child Psychiatry.

Family history of psychiatric illness is a core feature of any competent clinical history taken in a child and adolescent psychiatry clinical setting, and this history is often limited to reviewing caregivers' reports of diagnosed or suspected mental disorders in biological parents and relatives across several generations. Less commonly included is a detailed inquiry into parents' and caregivers' current mental health, including psychiatric symptoms at the time that their child is presenting for evaluation. Recent evidence is a strong reminder that parental mental illness is an important adversity that critically affects lifelong mental well-being in offspring, and that maternal depression in particular is an established factor influencing offspring mental health.

Mental Health Screening Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative in Pediatric Primary Care.

Background: In the United States, up to 20% of children experience a mental health (MH) disorder in a given year, many of whom remain untreated. Routine screening during annual well visits is 1 strategy providers can use to identify concerns early and facilitate appropriate intervention. However, many barriers exist to the effective implementation of such screening.

Using Effective Public Private Collaboration to Advance Integrated Care.

Integrated mental health services within health care settings have many benefits; however, several key barriers pose challenges to fully implemented and coordinated care. Collaborative, multistakeholder efforts, such as health networks, have the potential to overcome prevalent obstacles and to accelerate the dissemination of innovative clinical strategies. In addition to engaging clinical experts, efforts should also include the perspectives of families and communities, a grounding in data and evaluation, and a focus on policy and advocacy.

Parent Reports of Mental Health Concerns and Functional Impairment on Routine Screening With the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Objective: This study used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to describe the prevalence of parent-reported mental health (MH) concerns in youth presenting for primary care appointments and to examine relationships between children's MH issues and functional impairment. We hypothesized that increased MH symptomology would be associated with increased impairment and family burden.

Methods: Parents of 4- to 17-year-old children were approached at routine visits in 13 primary care sites.

Does major depressive disorder in parents predict specific fears and phobias in offspring?

Evidence suggests a relationship between parental depression and phobias in offspring as well as links between childhood fears and risk for major depression. This study examines the relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders in parents and specific fears and phobias in offspring. Three hundred and eighteen children of parents with lifetime MDD, anxiety disorder, MDD+anxiety disorder, or neither were psychiatrically assessed via parent interview.