Did you know Fort Worth ISD has a Prevention and Crisis Reponse team dedicated to helping teachers, administrators and students understand how trauma impacts the classroom? Michael Garcia, LPC, and Remington Pohlmeyer, LMSW, join us to talk about their small but mighty team of trauma specialists. According to FWISD, the goal of the trauma specialist is to work in partnership with administrators and teachers to implement a trauma informed care approach by providing practical tools and interventio...
Jun 14, 2022•25 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Buffalo. Uvalde. Tulsa. Horrific news coverage of mass shootings seems to be endless and it is impacting the mental health of children and parents. Especially parents. So how can we help our children and help ourselves get through these incredibly difficult times? We ask experts Kia Carter, M.D., and Cameron Brown, D.Min., M.Div., BSSW to guide us. Dr. Carter is the medical director of inpatient Psychiatry at Cook Children’s Medical Center and recounts the discussion she had with her own young d...
Jun 07, 2022•38 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Anu Partap, M.D., M.H.P. is the physician director of Health Equity at Cook Children’s. Dr. Partap has been a pediatrician for more than 20 years and has extensive experience in the realms of public health, mental health, family violence, child abuse, foster care and adverse childhood experiences. She recently spearheaded an effort to bring the REACH Institute to Cook Children’s to help empower pediatricians to address mental health concerns with their patients. On this episode of Raising Joy, w...
May 17, 2022•33 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Brad Hunstable, CEO of electric motor company Linear Labs in Fort Worth and an Army veteran, understands firsthand the complexities that grieving families face after losing a child to suicide. Nothing prepared him for April 17, 2020, the day a figurative “nuclear bomb” went off in his world, altering it forever. Hunstable had just finished a call when his daughter, then 8, ran to him, telling him something was wrong with her big brother Hayden. The 12-year-old had been playing his favorite video...
May 10, 2022•48 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Dana Minor M.S., LPC‑S, CSC, has more than 25 years of experience helping children through grief. She is the program director of The WARM Place, a non-profit that provides free grief support services to children and teens in Fort Worth, Texas. On this episode, we talk to Dana about helping children understand death and debunk some of the myths about grief. You can learn more about The WARM Place at www.thewarmplace.org Raising Joy is part of Cook Children’s Health Care System’s Joy Campaign, a c...
May 03, 2022•26 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Lisa Elliott, Ph.D., is a licensed neuropsychologist and manager of Cook Children’s Behavioral Health Clinic in Denton. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Elliott about bullying and one proven technique kids and teens can use to stop the harassment. We also tackle social media, video game addiction and what changes Dr. Elliott has noticed most in children over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Raising Joy is part of Cook Children’s Health Care System’s Joy Campaign, a communications init...
Apr 26, 2022•35 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Tom and Ellen Harris are the founders and co-chairs of the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation (JEHF) named in honor of their daughter, Jo. Jo was valedictorian of her high school class, a National Merit Scholarship winner, a Stamps scholar at the University of Michigan, an athlete, musician, and most importantly a warm, friendly, compassionate young woman. The Harris family lost Jo to suicide on March 27, 2012. Through their grief, the Harris family of North Richland Hills, Texas, decided to cre...
Apr 19, 2022•34 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Ashley Igo was just 8 years old when her world changed forever. She was riding in an Amtrak train car when a semi-truck tried to speed through the crossing. She lost her mother, two friends, a niece and her right foot in the traumatic accident. For years, Ashley suffered from severe anxiety later diagnosed with PTSD. Today, she is a licensed counselor and registered play therapist, and is passionate about early intervention after trauma. Learn more about Ashley and the charitable work she does t...
Apr 12, 2022•30 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast According to the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment parent survey conducted by Cook Children’s Center for Children’s Health, the mental health of children is top-of-mind for parents, particularly during the pandemic. Half of all children ages 6 to 17 living in Cook Children’s eight-county service area have a parent who is concerned that the pandemic will have a negative impact on both their child’s education and mental health, according to the survey. The survey revealed that parents need su...
Apr 05, 2022•24 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for people 18-45 years old in the United States, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents like Ed Ternan & Stephanie Hellstern know this fact too well and are doing everything in their power to spread the news. Though they live thousands of miles apart, Ed and Stephanie have connected as parents who have lost children to fentanyl, or so-called fentapills. Ed, who lives in California, started a non-pro...
Mar 29, 2022•38 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Whether it’s Tylenol or Fentanyl, Artee Gandhi, M.D. has seen first-hand the damage drug overdoses can wreak on young people. Dr. Gandhi is the medical director of Pain Management at Cook Children’s and is a passionate advocate for about preventing drug addiction, ingestion, misuse, overdose and death. She oversees the Safe and Sound program at Cook Children’s, which promotes pain management techniques such as massage, yoga, aromatherapy and virtual reality. Raising Joy is part of Cook Children’...
Mar 15, 2022•32 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) affect all of us, whether we realize it or not. ACEs are linked to health problems in adulthood such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, depression and diabetes. But how can that be? Dawn Hood-Patterson, Ph.D., is the program manager of Community Health and Adverse Childhood Experiences at the Center for Children’s Health, led by Cook Children’s. Dr. Hood-Patterson explains the science behind ACEs and why it’s so important for parents to process their trauma. S...
Mar 08, 2022•26 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Pediatrician Kathleen Powderly, M.D., noticed something alarming happening in her office in late 2020. It seemed the number of patients showing signs of depression and anxiety had jumped dramatically and she knew she needed to act. Dr. Powderly is credited with drawing attention to the mental health crisis unfolding in North Texas and sparking the idea for the Joy Campaign at Cook Children’s. We talk to Dr. Powderly about her experience treating children and teens with mental health concerns bef...
Feb 25, 2022•38 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Children and teens across the U.S. have struggled with stress, depression and anxiety throughout the pandemic. On this introductory episode of Raising Joy, hosts Wini King and Kristen Pyrc, M.D., discuss the alarming spike in youth suicide attempts, the different levels of mental health care available to kids, and what to do if you’re worried about your child. Raising Joy is part of Cook Children’s Health Care System’s Joy Campaign, a communications initiative aimed at preventing youth suicides....
Feb 25, 2022•26 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 
