Next Steps in Promoting Early Childhood Mental Health: In Honor of Victoria S. Levin

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Abstract

Ensuring the mental health of very young children not only matters for their individual development but also for the good of society, as noted by both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Globally, children face many risk factors, including poverty, racism, environmental hazards, family conflict, and parental psychopathology. An estimated 16-18% of children aged 1 to 5 years have identified mental disorders (von Klitzing et al., 2015).

This roundtable, moderated by Alice S. Carter, will stimulate discussion and debate about future directions for developmental-clinical science, particularly in relation to early childhood mental health. The panelists are Denise Pintello, Daniel Shaw, Lauren Wakschlag, and Aisha Dickerson. It will honor Vicki Levin on the 10th anniversary of the Victoria S. Levin award. As Vicki was, the award is committed to using science to advance early childhood mental health. Along with her deep commitment to children starting life with a mentally healthy foundation, in her career at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Vicki aimed to demystify the federal funding process for early career scholars. She believed that their creative, innovative ideas were essential to advancing evidence-based progress in early childhood mental health practices and policies. This roundtable is intended to reach early career scholars world-wide and to stimulate and inspire their efforts through discussion and debate about appropriate next steps for generating knowledge that guides early risk identification and preventive efforts that protect the mental health of children and their families wherever they may be.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Moderator

• Alice S Carter, University of Massachusetts Boston

Panelists

• Denise Pintello, National Institute of Mental Health

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh

• Lauren S. Wakschlag, Northwestern University

• Aisha S. Dickerson, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health