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Healthy children, healthy families and healthy communities: That's the focus of our research at the Pediatric Mental Health Institute. Every day, our researchers are making critical discoveries that advance our understanding of the risk factors for developing mental health conditions in childhood.
Through research, our team is testing and implementing new approaches to promoting healthy child development and more effective treatments for mental illness. Along the way, we're finding ways to improve access to better mental health care for children and families in Colorado and beyond.
What our mental health research means for kids
Our researchers work to change the future of mental health by discovering risk factors of mental illness and developing better prevention and treatment for children. This work is particularly needed as we face a youth mental health crisis that has only grown since the COVID-19 pandemic. We have served as leaders in naming this crisis and acting as advocates for kids across the country.
What’s more, our researchers are also looking for new ways to improve the delivery of our care and to increase access to resources and services throughout the community. We are designing better ways to support schools, training healthcare professionals, and supporting parents and caregivers.
"Our group wants to understand the origin of negative emotions so we can develop and improve treatments to enhance the lives of youth and their families."
-JOEL STODDARD, MD
Advancements in pediatric mental health
Our researchers are consistently conducting more than 30 studies to expand our understanding of the genetic and experiential underpinnings of mental health. From implementing suicide screening in primary care and improving parenting interventions, to developing more effective treatments for kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, we are consistently redefining the standard of care.
We are also using the latest in technology to help us make informed predictions to save and improve lives. By using machine learning and artificial intelligence, we can determine new indicators of suicide risk to complement screening approaches and help caregivers more quickly react to severe behaviors, such as hitting, biting and kicking. Additionally, we are studying different approaches to training mental health professionals to improve specialized care for conditions, such as anxiety, eating disorders and OCD.
All of this is in service of addressing the ongoing youth mental health crisis to ensure children and their families have access to effective, evidence-based therapies.
Pediatric mental health training
We not only care for children’s mental health today, but we also help train the next generation of pediatric mental health providers to care for kids for years to come.
