What Happens in Vegas in April Will Help The Future of Youth Mental Health: In Conversation with the #ADAA2025 Conference Co-Chairs

Is youth mental health in a global crisis? It’s a redundant question, but a Google search for that phrase returns an alarming number of results, from 2024 alone, that give a resounding yes: from the World Health Organization to UNICEF, to the New York Times, the World Economic Forum and even Australia. the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. And that’s just the first page of results.

The ADAA 2025 conference in Las Vegas (April 3-5) will focus on youth mental health. It seems superfluous to say that right now It is time for this approach. ADAA, its members, supporters, donors and professional contributors have been working to improve the mental health status of young people for decades and understand the importance of addressing and treating mental health conditions as early as possible. But given the current climate in the mental health field, it seems there has never been a more crucial moment.

ADAA recently spoke with the conference co-chairs about the topic, Navigating the Youth Mental Health Crisis: From Science to Solutions, their roles in preparing for the conference, their hopes for the outcomes of the event, and the work they do to advance mental health care. and treatment for young people.

Co-chairs complement each other as the ADAA conference complements research and clinical work

talking to Kate D. Fitzgerald, MD and Erika E. Forbes, PhDIt feels like they were meant to co-chair an event together. Luckily for ADAA, it’s our next conference. Not only are they complementary in their respect for each other’s passion and dedication to youth mental health, but they are both clinicians and researchers, and they encompass the mission, work and goals of the ADAA conference.

Dr. Fitzgerald, who has attended the ADAA conference for at least 20 years and received the CDLP award, says that the ADAA, through its work and conferences, is able to “thread the needle” between evidence-based research and clinical practice. .

The Columbia University professor and child and adolescent psychiatrist told ADAA that she is particularly motivated to co-chair this youth mental health conference with Dr. Forbes.

“I see huge waiting lists to enter the clinics. Then there are treatments that are considered the gold standard but don’t work for everyone, so we need other options for young people,” Dr. Fitzgerald said. “As a doctor, I want to improve services, treatments and outcomes for young people with anxiety, OCD and depression. “The conference brings us together as clinicians and researchers to talk about cutting-edge strategies and approaches to help more of these young people.”

Dr. Forbes, a depression researcher, clinical and developmental psychologist, and clinical neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh, agrees with her co-chair.

“ADAA is like a breath of fresh air, beautifully balancing the clinical and research aspects,” said Dr. Forbes. “Other conferences may cover similar material and topics, but ADAA handles them in a special and effective way that brings together physicians, doctors and healthcare workers, as well as physicians, researchers, students and professionals from across the field who study and treat these disorders. . .”

Dr. Forbes adds that the ADAA conference allows attendees the opportunity to meet other experts in complementary areas, something that many other conferences do not offer.

What youth mental health can get from the conference

Drs. Fitzgerald and Forbes know they have a lot of work ahead of them not only to chair the conference, but also to address several factors affecting the mental health of young people today. But they aim high and are up for the challenge. The conference event calendar is in good hands.

Bringing together clinical and research experts is a highlight of the ADAA conference, says Dr. Forbes, and all members and attendees share the same priorities, but being in different worlds and networks has created some challenges. The co-chairs have encountered a variety of suggestions from researchers and clinicians about speakers, sessions, symposiums, and issues to address. But the good thing, the co-chairs point out, is that they have a larger pool of potential speakers and topics to choose from, producing a conference that combines clinical and research priorities and perspectives.

The most pressing aspect of the conference is the need to immediately address youth mental health. The co-chairs discussed the rise in depression, especially among teenage girls, the rise in suicidality among youth, and higher levels of anxiety and depression. They highlighted the importance of identifying and intervening earlier and earlier to prevent chronic disorders.

“Even knowing which youth are most at risk presents opportunities to keep them on a healthy path. “There are windows of development when certain interventions are more likely to help,” the co-chairs said. “The brain is still growing and developing. An additional imperative to study and treat these disorders comes from how things got worse with COVID-19. “Different young people have experienced different problems depending on whether the pandemic affected them during childhood or adolescence.”

Drs. Fitzgerald and Forbes are optimistic about working with young people, especially younger generations who, for the most part, are open about their mental health.

“It’s exciting to study and focus on mental health treatments for young people,” said Dr. Forbes, “they know it’s important and don’t consider it stigmatizing, so they are more likely to ask for help and seek treatment. “We now have a great opportunity with young people to address their challenges.”

Why attend the conference and what to expect

It’s Las Vegas! The co-chairs, who even mentioned the word “fun,” are excited about Las Vegas, in part because of its convenient location for West Coast members and attendees, but also because they hope it will attract new attendees in Nevada and surrounding states who they might I have not had the opportunity to attend an ADAA conference.

The most important reasons to attend the conference, Drs. Fitzgerald and Forbes, are: researchers can obtain new ideas to incorporate into their work; doctors can learn new techniques to apply to working with their patients; and both clinicians and researchers can gain more confidence by becoming comfortable with what they don’t know and what they need to know and how to do it. The co-chairs add that the conference reiterates the essential point of partnering to advance youth mental health care, practice and treatment.