The REACH Institute founder Dr. Peter Jensen discusses his work training medical professionals in neurodiversity.

(28 mins) Peter S. Jensen, MD is the Board Chair and Founder of The REACH Institute. The Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that the most effective, scientifically proven mental health care reaches all children and families. They train primary care providers, therapists, and other professionals to diagnose and treat mental health issues.

While serving as the Associate Director of Child and Adolescent Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dr. Jensen saw a widening gap between scientific knowledge about mental health and the application of that knowledge to help children and teens. Science has made remarkable advances in understanding mental health problems and how to treat them. But healthcare professionals were not consistently or effectively using this knowledge to diagnose and treat common disorders. After leaving NIMH, Dr. Jensen went to Columbia University to serve as the founding director of the Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health. While there, he developed the core methods REACH uses today. The goal was to close the gap between science and practice. The central strategy was to bring together leading scientists, mental health experts and agencies, primary care providers, parents, and schools to identify the best scientific findings available to help children. Then Dr. Jensen led REACH to implement, disseminate, and evaluate these methods. He describes the process as “putting science to work.”

For more about REACH: https://thereachinstitute.org/

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