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Category: Assessment & screening

Untangling ADHD and Anxiety as Comorbidities
Untangling ADHD and Anxiety as Comorbidities

June 25, 2024

“ADHD and anxiety presenting together is very common in children and adolescents. But it can be difficult to discern which is the primary condition and which to treat first,” explains Kari Overstreet, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, PMHS, a pediatric nurse practitioner focused on child psychiatry and a Patient-Centered Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care (PPP) faculty

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How Autism May Present at Different Ages
How Autism May Present at Different Ages

April 26, 2024

“No two kids with autism spectrum disorder are identical. The presentation often depends on the degree of severity and the age of the child,” explains Ruth E.K. Stein, MD, a Professor of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore.  Now recognized as a spectrum disorder, autism may be diagnosed

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Diagnosing Seasonal Affective Disorder
Diagnosing Seasonal Affective Disorder

March 26, 2024

  “Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more than just the winter blues,” explains Maureen Montgomery, MD, a pediatrician based in Buffalo, NY. “It’s a subtype of clinical depression that has very specific characteristics.”  As the name suggests, SAD is a seasonal and cyclical type of depression. In most cases, SAD occurs during the fall and

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Racism as trauma: A pediatric mental health perspective
Racism as trauma: A pediatric mental health perspective

February 15, 2024

After learning about the alarming rise in suicide rates among Black children and adolescents, Brittainy Erby, MD, set out to understand the impact of racial trauma and how to improve pediatric patient care.

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Managing challenging behaviors in children
Managing challenging behaviors in children

December 14, 2023

“There is a lot of research on programs to help parents manage their children’s behavior. It is not complex for clinicians to learn key evidence-based principles and share them with parents, even in brief office visits,” explains Elena Man, MD, a board-certified pediatrician and faculty member at The REACH Institute. We asked Dr. Man to

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Responding to the Alarming Rise of Depression in Adolescent Girls
Responding to the Alarming Rise of Depression in Adolescent Girls

May 18, 2023

Gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by adolescent girls and the proactive steps clinicians can take to support them.

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Assessing and treating substance abuse
Assessing and treating substance abuse

January 24, 2023

“The risk of substance use starts at about age 10,” said Sam Chang, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist on the REACH faculty. “Prevention has to start before that. By the time kids reach adolescence, the horse has left the barn.”

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Is it ADHD? Or something else?
Is it ADHD? Or something else?

December 14, 2022

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common behavioral health disorders, affecting approximately 9% of all children and adolescents. About 75% of pediatric patients with ADHD have comorbid mental health conditions, ranging from oppositional-defiant disorder to anxiety and mood disorders. What is a busy clinician to do? How do you discern whether a child who is, say, having difficulty focusing at school and at home has ADHD, anxiety, both, or something else?

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When and how to send kids to the emergency room
When and how to send kids to the emergency room

November 15, 2022

“The first thing I would say to any clinician is that it’s never wrong to send a child to the emergency room,” said Amy Dryer, MD, pediatrician and REACH faculty member. Having spent 10 years in a hospital emergency department, Dr. Dryer is intimately familiar with the criteria ER physicians use to decide to admit psychiatric patients: a medical condition, suicidal ideation with a lethal plan, homicidal ideation, or active psychosis. However, she emphasized that your decision to refer to the ER doesn’t hinge on whether the patient is likely to be admitted. “If what they’re telling you makes you uncomfortable,” she said, “go ahead and refer them.”

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August 7, 2026

Helping children with mental health concerns can be complex, but you don't have to navigate it alone. REACHing Solutions is The REACH Institute's podcast for pediatric clinicians, featuring practical conversations, expert insights, and real-world strategies to…

August 3, 2026

A look inside recent REACH trainings, where clinicians and health care systems are learning together, building practical skills, and strengthening their ability to support children and families.

July 29, 2026

Join thousands of clinicians who have strengthened their confidence and expanded their skills through REACH's evidence-based mental health trainings.

July 28, 2026

What’s one of the most important clinical skills for improving child mental health care? According to REACH founder Peter S. Jensen, MD, it’s measurement-based care. By combining standardized rating scales with clinical judgment and meaningful conversations…

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