STAY Tuned: Supporting Transition-Age Youth with mental health conditions

Today's episode might be a longer one but we promise it's worth it! Join us and Dr. Michelle Mullen CRC, CPRP, as we discuss her work on preventing disability and keeping young adults out of a system that breaks them. She explains why the language used to describe the mental health of young adults is so key and what can be done to change the narrative of self-blame. We also get into her thoughts on what the future of mental health care should look like for young adults and how we can work towards it.

Left alone at a baseball field in a thunderstorm with no way to get home, 17-year-old Joan Sullivan found that her life had changed forever. Joan would later be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), stemming from the tangled web family often weaves. As young adults, many are left to overcome the traumas they were dealt growing up, leaving them confused and powerless as they transition to adulthood. In this episode, Joan shares her story about how she was able to find her power again.

While Emily and Mei are not taking a leave of absence from work or school right now, it's still important to discuss, should you ever feel that taking a leave is the right option for you in order to prioritize your mental health. How does one go about sharing their mental health conditions with their supervisor? What's it like coming back from taking a leave? How might you address your leave of absence with colleagues? They have brought on Ali Gold, the State-Wide Youth/Young Adult Peer Coordinator to help answer these questions. Later, she shares some of her own lived experiences from her mental health journey and how that has led her to her recent experiences with electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment method.

Hello hello! Emily and Mei are back this week with a special episode of STAY Tuned. In this episode, Emily and Mei wanted to let you guys get to know us a little bit better. They keep it real and discuss their struggles in creating healthy routines in a life where screens dominate one's whole day and later get into the lonely reality of post-grad life. How does one make friends outside of work and school? They would love to know.  Later on, they get a little meta and discuss some of their thoughts on what it's like making this podcast and the challenges of using social media for their job.  

Today's episode features iSPARC's very own Emma Narkewicz, a research coordinator here at the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research. Emma begins by walking us through her work on Pre-employment Transition Services in Massachusetts. Later we dive into what it's like being a young adult with mental health conditions entering the workforce and sustaining a career. Let's talk navigating mental health as a young professional, living wages, and what we wish we had known going into college! 

Hello! We are back with a new episode. Today's podcast episode features Nana Yaa Marfo, PhD, a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow here at iSPARC. Dr. Marfo provides outpatient clinical care and conducts mental health services research. Her past experiences working on weight-related studies informed our chat today. We discuss unrealistic body expectations promoted by social media, food insecurity on college campuses, the impact of weight stigma on young adult mental health, and how the social determinants of health play a role in weight stigma. 

Wow! We covered a lot in this episode. Join in on our conversation with Antonia Barba, as she guides us through her expertise in trauma-informed, affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth. We touch on how clinicians can work with unwilling caregivers to accept gender and sexual identity, the intersectionalities of LGBTQ+ youth, advocacy work, and even dive into the systemic issues within our healthcare system. 

In this episode, we interview Michelle Munson, PhD who is a professor at NYU's Silver School of Social Work. Dr. Munson walks us through her innovative research, collaborating with youth to fully understand what implementation strategies and tools will best meet their unique needs and desires.  

In this episode, we interview Vanessa Klodnick, PhD, on her work in youth and young adult services engagement and speak with her about her vast experience in participatory action research in transition-age youth mental health services. 

In this episode, we interview Dr. Maryann Davis, an internationally renowned expert in youth and young adult mental and behavioral health services on her journey into developing the field of transition-age youth mental health services research.