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News About Children’s Mental and Behavioral Health from Kids’ Minds Matter

Discover the latest news, stories and advocacy opportunities related to children’s mental and behavioral health in the Southwest Florida region with the Kids’ Minds Matter blog. Also, follow Kids’ Minds Matter on Facebook, or sign up for the Kids’ Minds Matter email list to receive updates in your inbox:

Joy of Giving: A Prescription for Better Health

Our prescription to improved physical and mental health may be possible by participating in one selfless act – giving. Let us not rehash it too much. We all know what we have collectively been through these last few weeks, months and years. In addition to other challenges life throws our way, our recovery will take time. How we choose to spend our time and [...]

Lee Health Honors Children’s Mental Health Philanthropists with Humanitarian Award

Previous Next Lee Health Foundation has awarded the Frank Haskell Humanitarian Award to Susan Goldy and Scott Spiezle for their passion, personal commitment and generosity in the advancement of children’s mental health care. Through their leadership behind Kids’ Minds Matter, the pediatric behavioral health initiative of Golisano Children’s Hospital, Goldy and Spiezle have dedicated themselves to bringing high-quality, comprehensive behavioral and mental health services [...]

Our Mental Health Crisis Continues

As we mourn and decry the horrific actions from Buffalo and Uvalde, and implore our public leaders to take reasonable action to prevent gun violence and improve funding for mental health, let’s not pretend that Southwest Florida is immune from the horrors of failing to act. Last week, leaders of Lee Health and Golisano Children’s Hospital held a town hall to discuss the behavioral [...]

Meet Portia, Mental Health Navigator

https://vimeo.com/715606727 Even though her mother was a mental health case manager, Portia does not feel her mother had all the resources needed then to deal with her sister’s mental health struggles. Portia started her mental health advocacy by trying to help her own family. She understands how frustrating it can be to be in the middle of a crisis and feel like no one [...]

Meet Peggy, Mental Health Navigator

https://vimeo.com/715604898 Peggy worked as a press officer and later in public relations in her home in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2014. There she worked as a community engagement coordinator at a Title 1 school and became certified as a community health worker. Her innate nature to help the less fortunate and opportunity to be involved in the new [...]

Meet Joseph, Mental Health Navigator

https://vimeo.com/715602925 After working in human services for 40 years with 30 years as a therapist, Joseph knew that becoming the first Mental Health Navigator in Southwest Florida would allow him to better connect people who felt hopeless with help. He understands the struggles of families with special needs children from dealing with his own son, who is bipolar. “I had no one like a [...]

School’s Out for Summer! How is Your Child Feeling?

Caring for Children’s Mental Health During the Summer Memories of summer vacation for many include camps, trips and relaxing rainy days at home. For some, however, the break from school creates a change in routine that can be difficult for children who may have trouble adjusting. The freedom that comes with summer can be overwhelming for some kids and teens, which can lead to [...]

Meet Megan, Student Advocate

https://vimeo.com/708857704 Megan first learned about the student-run Normal is Overrated event, a program for teenagers to tell their stories about mental health, in high school and decided to speak about her anxiety and depression as well as her ADHD diagnosis during the 2021 program. She talked about how her anxiety and negative thoughts about herself were thought by many to be a “normal teenage girl” [...]

Meet Jodi, Mental Health Navigator

After working with children in crisis for the state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), Jodi became frustrated, feeling she was not able to help children. When she learned about a Mental Health Navigator position to work with children under Baker Act and their families at Golisano Children’s Hospital, she felt she could finally make a difference. The Baker Act allows a person to [...]

Meet Kelly, Student Advocate

https://vimeo.com/708859341 In middle school, Kelly battled anxiety and depression severely to the point where she needed to seek help after surviving a suicide attempt. It wasn’t until years later, mental health treatment, and several experiences that she realized her story began much earlier, after being abused in her daycare facility as a young child. Now she’s a senior studying psychology at Florida Gulf Coast [...]

Founded in 2016, Kids’ Minds Matter is a unified movement in Southwest Florida dedicated to advancing pediatric mental and behavioral health services. By developing clinical pathways to screen and treat patients, enhancing public awareness through education, and lobbying for systemic change and sustainable funding, Kids’ Minds Matter aims to align mental health providers, local agencies, the judicial system, law enforcement, schools and faith-based organizations. Kids’ Minds Matter is managed through the Lee Health Foundation.

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