Speakers

Mental Health Task Force
 
Erika's Lighthouse ∙ erikaslighthouse.org
Erika's Lighthouse is a leading provider of school-based, universal programs that impact every student, family and educator in a building. The presentation will review the current status of youth mental health, how schools can be leaders in supporting community-wide mental health literacy, and how school culture promotes good mental health, normalizes conversations, encourages help-seeking, and acts as a strong component of suicide prevention.
 
Meg Kissinger  ∙  megkissinger.com

Meg Kissinger spent more than two decades traveling across the country writing about America’s mental health system for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, she has won dozens of accolades, including two George Polk Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and two National Journalism Awards. Kissinger teaches investigative reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was a visiting professor at DePauw University, her alma mater.

She has consulted on projects for Frontline, ProPublica, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Seattle Times and the Solutions Journalism Network, among others. Her stories on the abysmal living conditions for people with mental illness led to the creation of hundreds of new housing units. She and her husband, Larry Boynton, live in Fox Point, WI. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Doug focuses his work on helping adolescents, families, and couples improve their ability to cope with the stresses in their lives primarily through a family therapy model.  After receiving his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Vermont, he completed his internship at Children’s Memorial Hospital (now Lurie’s Children’s Hospital) in 1995.  Because of his belief in a system’s power to help people change, he began working in therapeutic schools as a school psychologist while maintaining a small private practice.  Doug then spent 14 years as principal of North Shore Academy, a school for students with significant emotional and behavioral issues in Highland Park. 

 
 
Azza Cohen   [www.azzacohen.com]
  • Contact:  Azza Cohen  ∙  azzaccohen@gmail.com