Conversations with KidsPeace

At KidsPeace our services for children in need of mental and behavioral health services are called “trauma-informed care” --   a recognition of the role traumatic experiences play in shaping a child’s mental and emotional state.

But new research into the impact of trauma is pointing towards another fascinating connection - between trauma and a child’s physical and even genetic development.

Dr. Ansley Schulte, pediatric medical director of KidsPeace’s Pennsylvania Residential program, talks with host Bob Martin on the implication of this research on the latest edition of the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast.

One aspect of KidsPeace’s approach to caring for kids in its hospital and residential treatment setting is the use of “interdisciplinary teams” – groups of professionals representing areas of expertise working with clients and families on individualized treatment plans. 

In the latest “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast, host Bob Martin talks with KidsPeace Hospital’s director of social services, Laura Haas, about the impact this approach can have on meeting the needs of kids in crisis.

How does a mental health provider incorporate technological innovations to serve its clients, but in a responsible and sustainable way?  At KidsPeace, a pilot project involving the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the therapeutic setting may present an answer to that question.  

On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, host Bob Martin talks with Jamie Chubb, director of Pennsylvania residential clinical services, about the VR project – and with her guidance takes the relaxation program for a test ride for podcast viewers.  He then welcomes Kaitlin Stefanski, chair of KidsPeace’s Innovative Interventions Committee, for a discussion about how that group is working to enable KidsPeace to harness innovations like VR in its role as a leader in the mental healthcare field.

June marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Hope Center for Youth and Family Crisis’s behavioral health urgent care service in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.  

On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, host Bob Martin talks with Executive Director Tammy Margeson and Customer Relations Liaison Michele Chassner about the lessons learned in the past year - and the possibility that the Hope Center model could be duplicated in North Carolina and beyond.

May is National Foster Care Month, and on the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast host Bob Martin talks with three KidsPeace associates in the foster care field - about the state of fostering post-pandemic, how mentoring is becoming an important aspect of foster care, and what concerns are expressed by those considering becoming foster families.

(They also agree on the oddest question a potential foster parent has asked!)

On the latest Conversations with KidsPeace podcast, KidsPeace teachers from Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maine reflect on the role education plays in KidsPeace’s treatment programming.

In addition to providing kids in crisis therapeutic help, KidsPeace also offers opportunities for real-world training to medical professionals beginning their careers in mental healthcare.  In 2024 KidsPeace serves as a clinical rotation site for physicians in Lehigh Valley Health Network’s new fellowship program in child and adolescent psychiatry.

On the latest edition of our podcast series Conversations with KidsPeace, Dr. Joseph Venditto - the first fellowship participant to complete a rotation here – talked about his experience, why he chose the specialty of child and adole

April is Autism Awareness Month, and on the latest Conversations podcast Rob Harvey, Director of Intensive Behavioral Health Services, offers his perspectives on the state of autism programming in the post-pandemic period, how the continuum of autism services KidsPeace provides is addressing a rapidly growing demand, and how new research is challenging the view of autism as primarily an issue for male children.

What is a “toxic friendship?”  How can I tell if a friendship is toxic … and if it is, what can I do about it?  These are questions addressed in a new “learning” section of KidsPeace’s therapeutic support service TeenCentral.com.  

TeenCentral’s Madelyn Almonte discusses the concept of toxic friendships and ways to help teens recognize and deal with them, on the latest edition of the Conversations with KidsPeace podcast.  

As program manager for KidsPeace Foster Care in Kingston, NY, Jennifer Udvardi-Morris works to connect kids in need with foster families and other services.  But she’s also taken on a different task – lobbying legislators in her state to address the needs of those working in the child welfare field.

In the latest installment of the “Conversations with KidsPeace” podcast, Jennifer talks with host Bob Martin on the critical issues facing those who work in the field, and her outreach on those subjects with lawmakers in the Empire State.  

In December, Jennifer wrote a guest column for the Times-Union newspaper in New York’s state capital of Albany. You can read her column here.

https://fostercare.com/turnover-in-child-welfare-workforce-is-hurting-vulnerable-children/