What Looked Like Defiance Was Actually Grief: The Healing Power of Peer Support in Children’s Mental Health

• By: Susie Branagan, BSN, RN Susie Branagan Consulting
• July 29th, 2026
• children's mental health, emotional resilience, family peer support, grief and loss, pediatric behavioral health, peer support, school-based mental health, Summer 2026 Issue, trauma-informed care
• 417    0

Ten-year-old Marcus stopped talking after his father was incarcerated. At first, school staff assumed he was angry. Then they thought he was being oppositional. Over time, his silence became impossible to ignore. He stopped participating in class discussions. He isolated himself during lunch. He...

“Wrapping Around” Integrated Care

• By: Shelisa Foster, MA, LPC, NCC Amy Faus, MPH, CPH, CHES Jan Schlaier, EdD, FNP-BC Bergen’s Promise
• October 1st, 2019
• care coordination, chronic health management, family-centered care, integrated care, mental health support, pediatric behavioral health, wraparound model, youth wellness
• 2201    0

In 2014, Bergen’s Promise, Bergen County’s Care Management Organization within New Jersey’s Children’s System of Care (CSOC), took a bold step by agreeing to pilot a CSOC Behavioral Health Home; thus, establishing the first Pediatric Behavioral Health Home (BHH) in New Jersey and the first...