This episode features a conversation with Dr. Ken Ginsburg and Dr. Jillian Baker from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Ken is a physician in the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Founder and Director of Programs at the Center for Parent and Teen Communication (CPTC) at CHOP. Jill is a public health expert and Executive Director of the CPTC. CPTC develops and disseminates a range of tools and resources for parents, family members, caregivers, and adolescents, on a range of issues central to strengthening family relationships. These relationships remain core to healthy adolescent development, despite common perceptions of teens pulling away from their parents and other adults in favor of their peers.

Ken, Jill and Jason talk about the origins of the Center, the scope of its work, which involves resources and tools for both adults and teens and aspects of research, policy and advocacy, how the current mental health crisis among adolescents is shaping some of the Center’s work, the broad range of issues the Center covers, including racism, reframing adolescence, and the importance of character development in our young people, and some of the future ambitions of the Center and the field.
 
Additional Readings and Resources

• Center for Parent and Teen Communication
  • Growth and Development
  • Communication Strategies
  • Building Character
  • Health & Prevention
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Drexel University Community Health and Prevention Department
• Office of the U.S. Surgeon General
• American Society of Pediatrics
• “Identity Development for Teens of Color,” by CPTC faculty affiliate, Joanna Lee Williams