About this event
As climate-driven disasters continue to escalate, clinicians are increasingly finding ourselves on the frontlines, providing mental health care to vulnerable children and adolescents, while negotiating the impact of disaster on ourselves and our communities. Join us to learn strategies for integrating post-disaster treatment into your work with young people of all ages in this introductory virtual event.
Meet the team
Dr. James McKowen is a licensed clinical child psychologist and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed his post-doctoral training at MGH in addiction medicine and pediatric neuropsychology at MGH/HMS. He is currently the clinical director of the Addiction Recovery Management Service, an outpatient clinic specializing in the treatment of adolescents and young adults with substance use and comorbid mental health issues. He conducts research in youth addiction including neuropsychological predictors engagement, marijuana smoking and aggression in youth, and he developed a protocol for treating substance use in youth with autism. He has authored and co-authored papers throughout his career examining relationships between substance use and psychopathology as well as relationships between parental mental illness and child development. For the past several years, Dr. McKowen has also been expanding his clinical and research interests to the impacts of climate change on youth mental health. He is co-chair of the MGH Climate and Mental Health Initiative, Associate at the MGH Center for Environmental and Health, Affiliate Faculty, Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and member of the Climate Psychology Alliance – Youth Subcommittee. He is trained in climate-aware therapy and works with teens in groups to process climate emotions. He has published several papers on climate distress and mental health and is currently studying 22,000 6th-12th graders to characterize who is at risk for climate related distress.
Jennifer Silverstein is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and California endorsed Infant Family Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator. She has decades of clinical experience working with young children with complex trauma histories and their parents and caregivers. Jennifer has extensive experience providing nature-based therapy for children recovering from trauma, including many who struggled with the impacts of Sonoma County fires. Jennifer frequently lectures and writes about community climate resilience and the intersection of climate change, social justice, and early childhood. She provides clinical continuing education training on climate aware therapy for children. She is co-author of the literature review "What Are the Impacts of Concern About Climate Change on the Emotional Dimensions of Parents’ Mental Health?" She serves on the Executive Committee of the Climate Psychology Alliance-North America and is the chair of their Youth Committee. www.jennisilverstein.com
Linda Goldman has a Fellow in Thanatology (FT): Death, Dying, and Bereavement (FT) with an MS degree in counseling, and master’s Equivalency in early childhood education. Linda is a Retired Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). She worked as a teacher and counselor in the public school system for almost twenty years and as a grief therapist for over twenty years. Linda shares workshops, courses, and trainings on children’s grief and climate change and has taught as an adjunct faculty in multiple graduate programs. Linda has written many resources for working with young people including Climate Change and Youth: Turning grief and anxiety into action 2022, Life and Loss: A Guide to Help Children Grieving Children Classic Edition 2022, a current chapter on climate change and youth in: International Handbook of Child and Adolescent Losses in Contemporary Context 2023, and editor for An Educator’s Guide to Climate Emotions 2023.
Mary Ann Cernak, Ph.D., LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker who resides in New Jersey. She received a Ph.D., in Clinical Social Work and a Certificate in International Trauma Studies from New York University, and a MSW from Columbia University. During 40 years of employment she has worked in a number of positions. These include: Administrator Director and Regional Clinical Coordinator of Emergency Mental Health Services for Children and Adolescents at University Behavioral Healthcare at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, consultant to/for New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Hospitals. Traumatic Loss Coordinator for Schools in Monmouth County and Mental Health Team Leader for FEMA in several federally declared natural and man-made disasters that include hurricanes, floods and 9/11. She co-authored two Mental Health Disaster Training Manuals developed by the New Jersey Division of Mental Health. She developed and taught a Masters level course graduate level course in Treatment of Traumatized Children as an adjunct professor for NYU School of Social Work; she prepared and delivered provided numerous presentations, workshops, in-services and trainings on an extensive range of mental health related topics for a wide range of audiences. Mary Ann is an active member of the CPA-aster, School and Youth committees.
Register here!
Ticketholders who attend this event LIVE may be eligible for CEs.
CPA-NA is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CPA-NA maintains responsibility for for this program and its content.
To sign up for CEs, please purchase a ticket and purchase an add-on CE. You must attend this event live to receive credit. We'll send a quiz shortly after the event and you must earn 70% or more to pass.
CPA-NA has requested presenter(s) to disclose any potential conflicts of interest or commercial support for the program. The presenter(s)for this event have reported none.
CE credits are awarded based on full attendance at this presentation, >70% passing grade on the post test, and completion of a satisfaction survey. These materials are maintained for our annual APA CE report.
We ask participants to specify their accessibility/accommodations needs on our registration form at least one week in advance of this training.
CEU objectives
Participants will name at least 5 ways that disasters impact the development of young children
Participants will provide 3 strategies for integrating post-disaster treatment into play therapy for young children
Participants will learn age-appropriate vocabulary related to children ages 6-12 experiencing climate disasters.
Participants will be provided with 3 strategies using the creative arts for children ages 6-12 experiencing climate disasters.
Participants will be able to identify three adolescent developmental issues that may be impacted by exposure to climate-related disasters.
Participants will be able to identify three mental health interventions to use when providing supportive mental health services to adolescents after a climate related disaster.
CEU resources
Vergunst and Berry. Climate Change and Children’s Mental Health: A Developmental Perspective. Clinical Psychological Science. (2021) 10(4): 767-785.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Place Matters: The Environment we Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development: Working Paper No. !6. (2023) Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu
Goldman, Linda. 2023. Climate Change and Youth: Turning grief and anxiety into activism. NY: Routledge.
Hickman, Caroline & Marks, Elizabeth & Pihkala, Panu & Clayton, Susan & Lewandowski, R & Mayall, Elouise & Wray, Britt & Mellor, Catriona & van Susteren, Lise.(2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change a global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health. 5. e863-e873. 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278.
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