In addition to sharing valuable insights, Nancy’s conversational tone and ability to show vulnerability in her practice brings her listeners in, creates a space for empathy and learning, and inspires us to connect at a deeper level with more people. And, one hopes, we will all make a bigger impact because of that.

— Participant
School Mental Health Course

Dr. Rappaport is available to speak or conduct longer workshops upon request on topics including the following:

  • The Behavior Code: Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students
  • Resilience: Understanding and Teaching Challenging Children Without Burnout
  • Compassion, Burnout, and Empathic Fatigue: Building Resilience in Our Patients and Ourselves
  • “Is This Student Safe to Return?” A Comprehensive School Safety Assessment Approach
  • After a Suicide: Helping Children Heal
  • Teen Depression: What Parents, Schools, and Communities Can Do
  • Finding Our Way: Healing Our Traumatized Children
  • The Power of Reflection: The Role of Narrative in Medicine
  • Advocating for Patients and Educating about Suicide: Drawing from Personal and Clinical Experience

Upcoming Events

March 27, 2024

Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention

University of Chicago Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience Colloquium Presentation

Previous Events

March 08, 2024 9am

Keynote: The Behavior Code

Newton Wellesley Hospital Resilience Project's 8th Annual Educational Summit
Newton-Wellesley Hospital

January 31, 2024 10:30-12

Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention

University of Michigan Psychiatry Grand Rounds
January 26, 2024

School Mental Health: Treating Students K-12


Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston, MA

Students of all ages continue to struggle with increased mental health issues since the pandemic upended the world. According to a CDC 2021 survey, 42% of adolescent students felt persistently sad and 22% seriously considered attempting suicide. The U.S. Surgeon General has further emphasized the issue’s urgency with his recent report on the youth loneliness crisis. Our children and teens are crying out for help, and those who work with school-aged youth must stay current with the latest knowledge and skills that will enhance the emotional well-being of our students.

This course is designed to meet those needs and offer participants practical strategies with a mix of lecture, case studies, interactive panels and Q&A. Topics will cover resilience, risk assessment related to suicide and extremism, trauma awareness, social justice and immigrant supports; perfectionism, school avoidance and pediatric emergencies; while attending compassionately to ourselves and our colleagues.

Participants will complete the course with practical and timely clinical information and skills based on emerging research, evidence-based practice and innovative learning strategies. And this year we are excited to now offer two options of format: in person or online livestream.

We welcome all mental health and health clinicians, educators, school administrators, researchers, and others interested in the development and treatment of school-aged children and adolescents.

Who Should Attend

  • Primary Care Providers
  • Specialty Physicians
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Family Therapists
October 24, 2023 3:30-5:30pm

Institute 4: Is This Student Safe to Return to School? Critical Strategies for Threat Assessment and Management in K-12 Schools

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's Annual Meeting
New York, NY

Dr. Rappaport is the chair of this institute on school threat assessment and management, and will present “” with Dr. Sarah Goodrum.

October 24, 2023 8-10am

Clinical Perspectives 16: Helping Students Transition Back to School: Addressing School Avoidance and Absenteeism Through Collaboration

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's Annual Meeting
New York, NY

Dr. Rappaport will be the discussant for this Clinical Perspectives session on school avoidance and absenteeism.

May 04, 2023

Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence

AACAP's Douglas B. Hansen, MD, 48th Annual Update Course

Child psychiatrists, whether consulting to schools or providing services in private practice or an emergency room, are increasingly asked to make judgments about students’ safety. Thus, it is imperative that they are familiar with the research on assessing student threats, broaden their knowledge base of the standard safety/threat assessment process, and understand the critical information needed for this process. This presentation provides an overview of a comprehensive school safety assessment approach for students whose behavior raises concern about their potential for violence, presenting a model that can help prevent school violence while getting students and families the services they need. Participants will better understand the multi-faceted role that child psychiatrists, working in a variety of settings, can play in building a school culture of safety, performing school threat assessment and responding appropriately, facilitating communication and connection to needed services, and supporting students, families, and educators.

February 07, 2023 7pm

Teen Depression: What Parents, Schools, and Communities Can Do

Winchester Coalition for a Safer Community
Winchester High School Library
February 02, 2023

School Mental Health: Treating Students K-12


Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston, MA

Dr. Rappaport will present “Case: School Avoidance” as part of the two-day conference:

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, the impact on our students is increasingly clear but so too are new solutions and approaches. Mental health needs have skyrocketed among youth, and many schools struggle with burned out teachers and administrators, challenging parents and a lack of mental health providers in schools and their communities. We are eager to come together again in person to share successes and challenges on our collective journey through constant uncertainty.

This course will equip participants with up-to-date knowledge and skills to enhance the emotional well-being of children and adolescents at school, as well as the well-being of larger systems and communities. Topics will cover pandemic effects on learning, navigating LGBTQ+ issues, autism & social communication, polyvagal theory, school avoidance, perfectionism and the impacts of prejudice and other traumas. We are excited to also offer an open ‘Doc Roundtable’ to address questions and concerns related to the latest medications, and a powerful lived experience panel on gun violence and youth activism. Participants will leave with practical and timely clinical information and skills based on emerging research, evidence-based practice and innovative learning strategies.

Mental health and health clinicians, educators, school administrators, researchers and others interested in the development and treatment of school-aged children and adolescents will gain updated knowledge and skills via a mix of didactic lectures, case studies, panel discussions and Q&A.

January 25, 2023

Depression and Suicide: Balancing Risk and Finding Hope and Connection

Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth
Hybrid - Virtual or at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, Danvers, MA

Nancy Rappaport, M.D., will discuss how depression presents in children and teens at home and at school, how to proceed when concerned a student may be suicidal, and how to support youth with depression. This workshop will include an interactive discussion of clinical cases to illustrate key points.

December 13, 2022 1:30-4pm

The Behaviour Code: Practical Strategies for Working with Challenging Students

Lentegeur Hospital Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
Lentegeur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
November 02, 2022

Supporting Youth With Depression

Children's Trust 30th Annual A View from All Sides Conference
Framingham Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center, Framingham, MA

Dr. Rappaport will discuss what depression may look like in teens at home and at school, how to proceed when concerned a teen may be suicidal, and how to connect with and support teens with depression during the pandemic and beyond. She will also discuss how building resilience in ourselves and in teens and families allows us to boost our, and their, capacity to endure and perhaps even thrive during uncertain and challenging times. Her talk is based on her many years of clinical experience and experience translating psychiatric concepts into easy actionable steps for professionals and families.

October 22, 2022 7-8:30am

Family is the Best Medicine: Strengthening Family Therapy Skills to Support Children in Crisis

AACAP/CACAP 2022 Annual Meeting
Toronto, ON
Discussion focuses on addressing clinical problems as challenges for the family to resolve with the help of the child and adolescent psychiatrist, and on promoting effective family function and recovery. Cases presented by participants are used to identify common themes voiced by families that are “stuck” and develop questions and approaches that enhance closeness, encourage effective limits, and build understanding and support within the family. Participants develop skills to effectively engage with the family, build family-therapist collaboration, enhance flexibility, promote appropriate distance in relationships, and resolve conflicts to ensure cooperation that builds family hopefulness and improves family function in relation to the presenting problem.
October 20, 2022 1:30-4:30pm

Workshop 23: The Essential Threat Assessment Toolkit: What Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists Need to Know

AACAP/CACAP 2022 Annual Meeting
Toronto, ON
Psychiatric threat assessment is an intervention providing essential psychiatric and educational treatment recommendations to schools and parents. Case vignettes and videos are used to introduce and demonstrate the psychiatric threat assessment process, the consultation process with parents of students who make threats, and effective engagement with school administrators and educators. Presentations look at warning behaviors, social media threats, copycat phenomena, and family dynamics. Participants discuss strategies for identifying and safely managing aggressive students in schools and collaborating with family and school personnel to gather critical information. The role of the child and adolescent psychiatrist in addressing firearm safety issues is discussed. Participants receive a set of resources to continue the learning experience and to educate others.
October 20, 2022 8-11am

Workshop 20: Writers Unblock: A Motivationally Enhancing Writing Workshop for Writers at Any Level

AACAP/CACAP 2022 Annual Meeting
Toronto, ON
Writers at all levels of experience enhance their writing in a welcoming, nurturing, and non-judgmental space. Presenters address barriers to writing and give specific, measurable, achievable, and timely ways that participants can advance their writing. Participants learn about opportunities to incorporate various forms of writing into their training or career; hear from expert writers about their process and strategies for writing; and engage in a real-time writing exercise that motivates and inspires writing efforts beyond the Workshop. Prior to attending, participants have the opportunity to complete a survey about their interests and are invited to pair with another participant to share a writing piece for feedback and advice.
October 18, 2022 8-10:30am

The Disruptors: A Deep Dive into ADHD

AACAP/CACAP 2022 Annual Meeting
Toronto, ON
The Disruptors is a 90-minute, award-winning documentary about Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the people who have it. The documentary includes major experts in the field, many famous people who have ADHD, and five stories of people with ADHD from diagnosis through treatment. Executive producer of the film and experts in the field discuss this most common neurodevelopmental disorder to encourage understanding of a strengths-based approach to treatment. Participants gain new understanding of what it is like to live with ADHD and a new perspective on working with those with the disorder. Filmmakers hope that The Disruptors can reach and educate youth in underserved communities where there is often little access to information about ADHD and limited clinical help due to the lack of access to doctors with substantive understanding of ADHD.
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