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.
”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
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
Previous Events
Building a Culture of Safety in Classrooms: Awareness, Assessment, and Monitoring
More than ever educators recognize the importance of identifying and supporting students experiencing mental or behavioral health challenges. Dr. Rappaport and Dr. Goodrum will discuss the ways educators can promote a culture of safety in their schools and classrooms by recognizing the warning signs for mental or behavioral health challenges, conducting threat assessments to evaluate and manage students of concern, and sharing information to support the students’ reintegration and success (or prevent any potential decline).
Keynote: Making a Difference Conference
Supporting Youth with Depression During the Pandemic and Beyond: What Families, Schools, and Communities Can Do
Workshop 34: Writers Un-Block: An Individualized, Intensive, and Motivationally Enhancing Writing Workshop
Institute 4: The Psychiatrist’s Role in School Safety: Preventing, Assessing, and Responding to Student Threats
Child and adolescent psychiatrists are increasingly asked to make judgments about student safety and violence prevention in schools. Participants review the current research on assessing student threats, broaden their knowledge base of the safety/threat assessment process, and learn critical information necessary to complete a threat assessment. Topics covered include school violence perception, performing a safety/threat assessment, and developing programs to support students, families, and educators responding to school safety issues. Case discussions and question and answer periods are integral to understanding the level of risk, practicing case formulation, and planning next steps. Participants receive helpful tools and develop skills to assist them in working with schools to gather information, assess student safety, intervene appropriately, and make follow-up recommendations.
Presented with Dr. Sarah Goodrum, Dr. Farah Williams, Dr. Deborah Weisbrot, Dr. Saneliso Masuku, and Dr. Meredith Gansner.
The Behavior Code: Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students
This interactive workshop will teach participants about classroom interventions and building resilience for students who have anxiety, depression, or oppositional behavior and who may be explosive, as well as those who have experienced trauma (including the impacts of the pandemic). The morning session will introduce participants to the FAIR Plan method of understanding and improving behavior in challenging students, which looks at the function of the behavior, accommodations, interventions, and response to the behavior. The impact of trauma will also be addressed, and many tools and concrete strategies will be introduced with an emphasis on helping students feel safe to accelerate learning; and strategies for working together with challenging parents to support their students and build better working relationships. Participants will work together on case studies using the information presented in order to deepen their understanding. In the afternoon, following a discussion of understanding and working with depressed students, including those who may be suicidal, the workshop will conclude with a discussion of how we can build resilience in both our students and ourselves. Handouts will include a detailed reference list for further reading on topics covered throughout the day. This workshop will provide the information, skills, and concrete strategies that educators need to make a crucial difference for students with challenging behavior.
Course Objectives
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Use strategies that enhance relationships with students with challenging behavior as a life-saving connection and address underlying skill deficits
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List the elements of a FAIR behavior plan
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Describe why traditional behavior plans of reward and consequences often do not work for students with challenging behavior such as anxiety and oppositional behavior
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Describe strategies for collaborating with parents, including those who may be disengaged or angry, to build an alliance and give concrete suggestions to help students with challenging behavior
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List signs and symptoms of depression in children and adolescents
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Identify steps to take when concerned a student may be suicidal
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Describe strategies for reintegrating students at school following a hospitalization
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Describe strategies for building resilience in students
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Identify tools for building resilience in self and in fellow educators
| Course Schedule | |
| 8:00-9:30 | Understanding and teaching the most challenging students |
| 9:30-10:00 | Break |
| 10:00-11:30 | Working with challenging students…and challenging parents |
| 11:30-12:30 | Lunch |
| 12:30-2:00 | Keeping kids alive: working with depressed kids and families |
| 2:00-2:30 | Break |
| 2:30-4:00 | Building resilience |
| 4:00 | Course evaluation |
Inly School: Parent Conversation
Supporting Youth with Depression During the Pandemic and Beyond: What Families, Schools, and Communities Can Do
Nancy Rapport, M.D., 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 both ourselves and in teens boosts 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 educators and families.
Resilience in an Uncertain Time: Supporting Students and Families During the Pandemic and Beyond
During the pandemic, adults who work with children and families have risen to the challenge of finding new ways to connect, offering practical strategies for coping and thriving, and providing comfort and consistency – all while trying to care for themselves and their own families. Dr. Rappaport will share practical concepts and tools that participants can use to continue this work: maintaining connections, finding contributory activities, communicating in age-appropriate ways, validating questions and worries, balancing structure and rigidity, and supporting those with a history of trauma and challenging home lives. Her suggestions will be based on her many years of clinical experience and experience translating psychiatric concepts into easy actionable steps for educators and families. She will also discuss how taking care of ourselves and building our own resilience allows us to better continue to support children and families and allows us to boost our, and their, capacity to endure and perhaps even thrive during uncertain and challenging times.
Participants will be able to:
- Describe strategies for connecting with and supporting students, including those with trauma histories and those who are neurodiverse, during the pandemic
- List strategies for building long-term resilience
- Describe techniques for addressing children’s worries and anxieties and communicating in age-appropriate ways
Dancing with Prolonged Pandemic Anxiety: Supporting Students, Families, and Schools
The Possibility of Thriving: What Cancer Can Teach Us About Navigating a Pandemic
Part of the “Thriving After Cancer: Strategies and State of Mind” new survivor webinar series from the Mass General Cancer Center at Newton Wellesley.
Drawing upon my struggles and experiences battling cancer, I’ll explore how connection, community, and nurturing — myself and others — ultimately helped me tap into a creative healing. I’ll also speak to the ways that these lessons helped me navigate the COVID pandemic, acknowledging how unsettling cancer diagnoses can be while celebrating the strength and resilience of those affected by this disease.
Dr. Nancy Rappaport, Child Psychiatrist, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Resilience in an Uncertain Time: Supporting Students and Families During the Pandemic and Beyond
Dr. Rappaport will give two talks for the Lincoln-Sudbury schools – one for parents on 5/26 and one for educators on 6/9.
During the pandemic, parents and adults who work with children and families have risen to the challenge of finding new ways to connect, offering practical strategies for coping and thriving, and providing comfort and consistency – all while trying to care for themselves and others. Dr. Rappaport will share practical concepts and tools that participants can use to continue this work: maintaining connections, finding contributory activities, communicating in age-appropriate ways, validating questions and worries, balancing structure and rigidity, and supporting those with a history of trauma and challenging home lives. Her suggestions will be based on her many years of clinical experience and experience translating psychiatric concepts into easy actionable steps for educators and families. She will also discuss how taking care of ourselves and building our own resilience allows us to better continue to support children and families and allows us to boost our, and their, capacity to endure and perhaps even thrive during uncertain and challenging times.
Participants will be able to:
- Describe strategies for connecting with and supporting children, including those with trauma histories and those who are neurodiverse, during the pandemic
- List strategies for building long-term resilience
- Describe techniques for addressing children’s worries and anxieties and communicating in age-appropriate ways
My Calling into Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Dancing with Pandemic Anxiety: How Parents and Educators Can Support Kids
Nurturing Resilience in Children, Through the Pandemic and Beyond
During the pandemic, adults who work with children and families have risen to the challenge of finding new ways to connect, cope, and provide comfort and consistency – all while trying to care for themselves and their own families. Dr. Rappaport will discuss how we can nurture resilience in ourselves and in the children in our lives, boosting our, and their, capacity to endure and perhaps even thrive in uncertain and challenging situations. Based on her many years of clinical experience, she will share practical ways to build resilience: maintaining connections, building a meaningful narrative, finding contributory activities, communicating in age-appropriate ways, validating questions and worries, balancing structure and rigidity, and supporting others, particularly those with a history of trauma.
