How to Bring the Village to the Children

Welcome to the second edition of Thrive Dispatches, a newsletter from Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities at Georgetown University.

This edition will cover

Do you have a story that you’d like to tell? Is there a person or organization doing something incredible that you think others should know about? Let us know in this brief survey , and our resident storyteller , Kat Chow  might reach out to you.

– Thrive Dispatches Team

Earlier this month, I attended the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry  in Seattle with some of Thrive Center’s amazing faculty, who were also there to present on their work. The energy and enthusiasm at the conference was wonderful. I was heartened by the passion, commitment, and excitement shared by clinicians and researchers in the field, which seems stronger than at any time in my career. 

The Academy’s president, Dr. Tami Benton , led with an initiative that she calls “Bringing the Village to the Children,” a nod to an adage with which many of us are familiar: “It takes a village to raise a child…”  In her speech, which you can read online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , Dr. Benton recalled how the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced how much we rely on our communities — and others — to ensure mental health for children. 

“Without schools, families, foster families for youth in child welfare systems, and a continuum of resources and providers for mental health care, we were unable to provide needed care. We learned that we must be partners with the systems caring for children in order for them to benefit from our treatments. We learned that we cannot stand outside of these systems,” Dr. Benton said. “We must lean in, collaborate, and lead. We must become integral to the villages in which our children are growing.”

Dr. Benton’s initiative focuses on undoing the tremendous siloing of therapeutic, educational, and supportive interventions that are intended to support children and their families — but that often result instead in overwhelming, confusing, and under-serving the people they are designed to help. Dr. Benton laid out a vision of child mental health services as a unifying force that can provide strengths-based, cross-systems, multi-disciplinary care that enhances the long-term thriving of children and adolescents with mental health needs. 

This vision is deeply consistent with our values and work at the Thrive Center, and can be extended to also include individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The life course focus of our work at Thrive, and our commitment to partnering deeply with communities, further illuminates how this sort of systems transformation can occur.  When we contribute to the design and implementation of family-centric, strengths-based, community-led systems of care, we are part of a “re-villaging” effort that has the potential to sustainably improve mental and health well-being on a local level. 

Innovation Hub @Thrive: Now Accepting Applications

If this sounds like you, then consider applying to be a fellow with The Innovation Hub @ Thrive . The program is now accepting applications for its three-month fellowship. 


Innovators will join Thrive Center’s growing community and will gain in-depth access to experts from Thrive Center and its network. (Read more about how the fellowship works .)


Innovators who are from underrepresented or under-resourced backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. This fellowship is free to participate in; it does not require equity or investment. Selected innovators are expected to commit four hours a week of the head of their organization’s time to this fellowship. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. For more information about how to apply, please visit Thrive Center Innovation Hub

AACAP Presentations

Faculty from Georgetown University and Thrive Center presented at the 2024 American Academy of Children and Adolescent Psychiatry. The presentations from Dr. Emily Aron , Dr. Sean D. Pustilnik , Dr. Jessica Ouyang , Dr. Olivia Hamrah , Dr. Elizabeth Chawla , Dr. Amalia Londoño Tobón , and Dr. Matthew Biel  included:

• Screening with Meaning: Evidence-Based Screening Practices Across Settings for Equity, Engagement, and Innovation (Emily Aron, MD). Journal citation

• The Integrated Care User Guide: Starting and Sustaining a Successful and Equitable Practice for the Busy Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist (Sean D. Pustilnik, MD  and Jessica Ouyang, MD). Link to session

• Treatment of Preschoolers: Where Evidence Meets Practice (Emily Aron, MD). Journal citation

• Working Across Systems: Collaborating with Middle and High Schools to Support Students Experiencing Psychosis (Olivia Hamrah, MD). Journal citation

• Promoting First Relationships and Beyond: What Infant Mental Health Can Teach All Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists About Patient Care and Education (Emily Aron, MD). Link to session

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Role in Transforming Mental Health Training for Pediatric Residents (Elizabeth Chawla, MD). Link to session

• Navigating the Path to Success: A Guide to School Support and the Transition to College for Adolescents and Transition Age Youth with Early Psychosis (Olivia Hamrah, MD). Journal citation

• Critical Conversations on Diversity: Should DEI Die? (Amalia Londoño Tobón, MD). Link to session

• Revolutionizing Psychiatric Education and Care: Cutting-Edge Approaches to Infant and Perinatal Mental Health Integration (Amalia Londoño Tobón, MD). Journal citation

• Building Strong Foundations: Novel Approaches Integrating Attachment, Partners, and DEI in Perinatal Intensive Outpatient Programs (Amalia Londoño Tobón, MD). Journal citation

• Community-Led Research Partnerships for Child Mental Health (Matthew Biel, MD, MSc). Link to session

Thrive Center Research Instructor Lisa Knight Shares Her Story And Work

Lisa Knight , a research instructor at Thrive Center and GU, was highlighted in the National Training & Technical Assistance Center’s (NTTAC) newsletter  for an animated video , podcast episode  and blog post  in which she shares her personal journey of advocating for her son who was diagnosed with ADHD, her experiences navigating the educational system, and her expertise in issues around preschool suspensions and racial bias.

Send us an email: thrivecenter@georgetown.edu

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