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Digital Well-Being: Managing Screen Time and Promoting Healthy Tech Habits in Families
From setting morning alarms to random late-night scrolling, screens have become our irreplaceable companions in daily life. For work, education, or entertainment, devices take over our routines. Recent Average Screen Time statistics by Exploding Topics show that the average person spends...
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The Mental Health Crisis Among Kids Is Growing—Can Tech Help?
I’ve always been a believer that big challenges can be solved with creative ideas that leverage the best that people and technology have to offer, and this time, I can’t think of a more critical challenge to address than safeguarding the mental health of our children. Our world is evolving at...
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Preventing Youth Suicide: Intervention Strategies and Community Resources
The national suicide rate among adolescent youth has risen significantly over the years, surpassing other causes of youth fatalities. Suicide during childhood and adolescence is ranked as the second leading cause of death among these age groups. A 2022 study found that suicide was the...
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Leveraging Technology to Enhance Mental Health Services for Children and Families
Technology-driven approaches to mental health care have transformed the way services are delivered, making support more accessible and tailored to individual needs. Children and families can particularly benefit from this movement because digital tools enable novel pathways to the implementation of...
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The Kids Are Not Alright: How Seismic Changes in the Childhood Experience Have Undermined the Health of a Generation
Our nation’s youth are in crisis. Such a sweeping characterization of an entire demographic would ordinarily border on hyperbole, but as Robert F. Kennedy proclaimed when he announced his candidacy for the Presidency nearly 60 years ago, “These are not ordinary times.” In October 2021, the...
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AI Screening for Opioid Use Disorder Associated With Fewer Hospital Readmissions
NIH-supported clinical trial shows AI tools are as effective as healthcare providers in generating referrals to addiction specialists. An artificial intelligence (AI)-driven screening tool, developed by a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research team, successfully identified...
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Maintaining Work-Life Balance as a Therapist
Behavioral health professionals often juggle the weight of their client’s emotional needs alongside their own struggles. This burden can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, and declining well-being. Therapists are not immune to personal challenges; balancing work with life’s demands is a...
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Beyond Moral Panic: The Untold Stories of Harm Reduction and Care on Social Media
When the topic of social media inevitably arises in my conversations about youth suicide with clinicians, policymakers, researchers, parents, and other concerned adults, it is often framed as exacerbating. There is a widespread understanding among older generations that social media is worsening...
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10 Behavioral Health Trends for 2025
I hope everyone had a wonderful start to 2025…I am excited about continuing this ongoing dialogue, through my blog Behavioral Health: Matters, on critically important trends in the behavioral health sector. Here are my thoughts on the 10 areas of focus that we should be thinking about and...
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Advancing Suicide Prevention: The Role of Technology and AI in Mental Health Care
Suicide rates in the U.S. have reached alarming levels, with 13.2 million adults experiencing serious suicidal thoughts annually, 3.8 million making a plan, and 1.6 million attempting suicide. These statistics reflect a public health emergency that demands urgent attention. Yet, access to quality...
