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
- Getting Back in the Door: School and Family Strategies for School Avoidant 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
Mental health issues among school-aged children and adolescents have continued to overwhelm students, schools and communities. The impacts are far reaching—from academic performance and financial challenges to long-term public health outcomes and societal well-being. With schools being a primary access point for mental health screening and services for many children, the school setting can offer prime opportunities for early identification, treatment, and coordination of care.
Mental health professionals in and out of educational systems can play a key role in addressing the mental health crisis. Still, too many of us struggle to stay up to date on changing diagnosis, treatment, and best practice guidelines in school settings. To promote the best outcomes, providers need guidance on screening and treatment tools, care coordination, referral pathways, and larger systemic strategies.
Our popular course is designed to offer participants the latest clinical information and practical strategies that address current topics in school mental health through a mix of lectures, case studies, lived experience, interactive panels and Q&A. Faculty this year will discuss working with families, supporting high-achieving students, poverty’s impact on developing brains, autism, play therapy, boys’ crisis of connection, effective CBT techniques, the experience of being black in school, measurement-based care strategies, culturally responsive care for immigrant students, pornography, gaming, and more!
Each year we strive to create a warm, energizing and fun learning experience to enhance connection and networking among attendees. 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 to join us in 2026!
Previous Events
Harvard Active Minds
Narrative Medicine as a Teaching Tool: Incorporating Memoir, Speakers, and Writing
Hyatt Regency Chicago or Swissotel Chicago (TBD)
Dr. Rappaport will present”Narrative Medicine as a Teaching Tool: Incorporating Memoir, Speakers, and Writing” as part of Symposium 13: Young Voices: Approaching Lived Experience Through Narrative, Qualitative, Video, and Graphic Methodologies at AACAP’s Annual Meeting.
Cambridge Health Alliance Pediatrics Grand Rounds
Virtual
Dr. Rappaport will present Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention at Cambridge Health Alliance’s Pediatrics Grand Rounds.
The Behavior Code: Practical Strategies for Working with Challenging Student Behaviors
Strengthening K-12 Student and Staff Mental Health and Wellness
Virtual
Join us for a webinar led by Hanover experts, district leaders, and subject-matter experts, where we will share insights and strategies designed to ensure the mental health and wellness of students and staff in school communities. Participants will learn evidence-based strategies and real-world practices that educational leaders have used to create school environments where student and staff mental health are top priorities.
Join us as we delve into the challenges and solutions leading with mental health and wellness calls in 21st Century schools.
Never have public schools faced greater challenges regarding the mental health and wellness of both students and educators than in the period of time following the COVID-19 pandemic. Lower levels of staff and student wellness are associated with a negative school climate, poorer attendance, and challenges with staff retention. Critically, students whose mental health and wellness are compromised are less ready to learn and far more likely to struggle behaviorally and emotionally.
Combating these issues calls for both preventative and responsive strategies. College, career, and life-ready young people emerge from schools where they, and the adults who oversee their growth, are supported beyond academics to be healthy individuals in all that it implies.
Panelists:
– Dr. Roberto Lozano – Chief of Educational Equity and Support Programs, Las Cruces Public Schools (NM)
– Dr. Christopher Willard – Harvard Medical School Faculty, Author, Psychologist, and Consultant
– Dr. Nancy Rappaport – Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Moderators:
– Dr. Naomi Brown – K12 Content Director, Hanover Research
– Dr. Sean Watkins – K12 Content Director II, Hanover Research
Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
School Mental Health: Treating Students K-12
Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel Boston
Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention
Getting Back in the Door: School and Family Strategies for School Avoidant Students
Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School, Lexington, MA
Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention
Keynote: The Behavior Code
Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Safety Assessment Approach to Violence Prevention
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
Institute 4: Is This Student Safe to Return to School? Critical Strategies for Threat Assessment and Management in K-12 Schools
New York, NY
Dr. Rappaport is the chair of this institute on school threat assessment and management, and will present “Institute 4.1: Looking Back and Moving Forward on Threat Assessment and Management in Schools: Research Evidence, Implementation Barriers, and Next Steps ” with Dr. Sarah Goodrum.
Clinical Perspectives 16: Helping Students Transition Back to School: Addressing School Avoidance and Absenteeism Through Collaboration
New York, NY
Dr. Rappaport will be the discussant for this Clinical Perspectives session on school avoidance and absenteeism.
