Community Education Night

Description

Fusion Academy, in collaboration with PATCH (Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall-Mercer)  invites you to our upcoming Community Education Event.

When: Tuesday, April 30th from 6-8pm

Where: Zoom, Virtual Event

Topic: Raising Brave Kids: Supporting Caregivers to Support Anxious Youth

Anxiety is a core human emotion that we all experience. But for as many as 1 in 3 kids, that anxiety gets overwhelming.  Emily Becker-Haimes, PhD, a child clinical psychologist and expert in pediatric anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders, will discuss how to recognize whether your child or teenager’s anxiety is at a place where more help is needed. She then will discuss recommended strategies for parents to respond to a youth who is struggling with anxiety to support them. She will emphasize key principles parents can use to help their anxious children and teens slowly face their fears and learn to manage anxiety more adaptively. She will conclude by discussing some strategies for connecting with professional mental health services to support youth in learning to manage anxiety more effectively and then engaging with audience questions.

Presenter:

Emily Becker-Haimes, Ph.D.

Emily Becker-Haimes, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Mental Health and the clinical director of the Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall Mercer program, which is the only specialty anxiety clinic in Philadelphia dedicated to serving youth in the public mental health system. Dr. Becker-Haimes received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and her doctoral degree in child clinical psychology from the University of Miami. She completed predoctoral internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a clinical psychologist whose work is dedicated to improving mental health service quality for youth.  She has expertise in the implementation of exposure therapy across settings and the application of exposure therapy for youth with complex comorbidities. Her research is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the International OCD Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trust.

Workshop Outcomes

1. List the signs and symptoms that might differentiate an anxiety disorder from healthy anxiety.
2. Name at least three strategies parents can employ to support their children who may be struggling with anxiety
3. Identify key strategies for how to seek out effective therapy when professional support is needed.

About PATCH

PATCH (Pediatric Anxiety Treatment Center at Hall-Mercer) is a specialty clinic in Center City Philadelphia that assesses and treats children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), tics, and trichotillomania. PATCH therapists use treatments that have been demonstrated to work, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure and response prevention (ERP). Our therapy approach involves a partnership between the therapist and family and helps youth learn to manage their anxiety more effectively.