STAY Tuned: Supporting Transition-Age Youth with mental health conditions
S.T.A.Y. Tuned is a podcast made for and by young adults with mental health conditions. Guests include: -Researchers and colleagues who share information from their studies and interventions designed to support transition aged youth and young adults navigating school or work. -Young adults with mental health conditions who share their journeys navigating high school, college, and post-grad life. These authentic conversations offer an inside look into what it’s like transitioning to adulthood when you have a mental health condition. https://www.umassmed.edu/TransitionsACR
Thu, November 07, 2024
Finding Personal Fulfillment as a Young Adult: Careers, Community, and The Help that Gets Us There
In this episode, we dive into the impactful work of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (now known as MassAbility) and how it empowers young adults with disabilities to build fulfilling careers and independent lives. Our guest, Amanda Baczko from MassAbility, shares personal insights from her journey with her mental health and professional exploration, offering a glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of navigating career and personal exploration with a disability. We discuss MassAbility’s unique programs—ranging from Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) to peer and family supports. This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about fostering meaningful inclusion and support for those navigating mental health challenges and disabilities. Join us for an inspiring, honest, and hopeful conversation on finding purpose, facing detours, and thriving through community support.
Wed, October 23, 2024
Living With a Disability- Work, Life, and Self Advocacy with Destiny Maxam
In this episode, we chat with Destiny Maxam. Destiny is a therapist who shares her story about self-advocacy and navigating life with chronic illness and a spinal cord injury while building a career in the mental health field. She opens up about going back to school while living in a nursing home, her passion for psychology, and what drives her to help others living with chronic illness, disabilities, and mental health conditions. She also speaks on how the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (now known as MassAbility) was able to provide life changing resources, and how people can find similar services in their states. We dive into the challenges of balancing work and life in a mental health career and how she’s learned to set boundaries to avoid burnout. Plus, she shares some great tips on self-care, managing mental health, and how professionals can better support their clients. It's a conversation full of wisdom and practical advice!
Mon, September 16, 2024
Improving mental health through community-based music, writing and art programs
In this episode, we sit down with Davy, a musician and member of our young adult advisory board who shares his experience of using creativity and music to support his mental health. We discuss the transformative power of creative communities and their impact on mental health. Davy talks about discovering creative writing groups, musician groups in both virtual and hybrid communities. He shares how structured environments, like virtual writing sessions and local art events, fostered accountability, inspired creativity, and provided a sense of belonging. Ready to get more creative? This episode offers practical tips on finding local resources, connecting with like-minded individuals, and enhancing your well-being through creativity.
Thu, August 01, 2024
Scott Bryant-Comstock on Youth Mental Health and "Getting Busy" (Part 2)
Part 2 of our conversation with Scott Bryant-Comstock covers the intention of, and evolution of, the Children’s Mental Health Network (CMHN), an organization he founded to act as an independent voice supporting improvements in mental health practices for children and young adults. The CMHN managed to bring together people from diverse backgrounds for dialog around interventions, policy change and current systems of care. This “old geezer” (his words) shares experiences and wisdom, but reminds us that as an “elder” he can give us his wisdom, but that the engine that’s going to drive mental health improvements forward in in the hands of the young adults with lived experience, and he urges us to “get busy”. Scott’s storytelling abilities and his journey is not to be missed!
Wed, July 10, 2024
ADHD Unpacked: The Impact of Being Diagnosed as a Young Adult
Do you procrastinate until the last minute for assignments and then feel frustrated at yourself for not starting sooner? You’re not alone. In this episode of STAY Tuned, Emily and Mei (our podcast hosts) get real about their personal ADHD journeys, exploring what it’s like to be diagnosed later in life. From struggles throughout school and work in young adulthood, they share their highs, lows, and everything in between. Join us for a relatable conversation about the challenges faced by women who are diagnosed with ADHD as adults, including issues with self-esteem, procrastination, and managing day-to-day responsibilities. This episode is perfect for anyone interested in learning more about ADHD or seeking a deeper understanding of late diagnoses.
Mon, June 24, 2024
Paving the way for patient centered therapy with Scott Bryant-Comstock (Part 1)
In today's episode, we speak with a remarkable guest, Scott Bryant-Comstock, an advocate in the field of mental health for over 40 years, and Founder and CEO of the Children’s Mental Health Network. Scott shares his decades-long journey from working in halfway houses in San Jose to pioneering parent-professional collaboration in national mental health policy. His career is filled with funny stories and transformative encounters; and has powerfully impacted the mental health space. Join us for part 1 of his story, as Scott unravels his personal and professional evolution, revealing the lessons learned from navigating complex systems and embracing human imperfections. Whether you're new to Scott's work or familiar with his impactful legacy, prepare to be inspired by his unyielding commitment to listening, learning, and forging new paths in mental health support. If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned for part 2 of Scott’s story coming soon!
Fri, May 10, 2024
Leveling Up Together: Gaming, Community, and Mental Health
There is a stereotype that gaming is a waste of time, but this episode with Derek Lewis, a member of our Young Adult Advisory Board challenges that notion head-on. Derek shares his personal journey, revealing how gaming became a lifeline for him, while growing up in a gang-prone LA neighborhood. We talk about how gaming helped Derek build meaningful relationships, including one with a gamer friend who stood by him as his best man at Derek's wedding! Tune in to learn how virtual worlds can become real sources of support and community, proving that sometimes, the best friendships can be found behind a controller.
Tue, April 30, 2024
Suffering in Silence? How to obtain mental health accommodations at work and school Ep. 16
Debbie Nicolellis, the Training Director for the Helping Youth on the Path to Employment (HYPE) Study at the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research brings her knowledge on all things accommodations in this episode. What can mental health accommodations look like in school and work? If your medication makes you drowsy in the morning, maybe it’s shifting your work hours to start and end an hour later. Who can use accommodations and how do you set them up? Debbie answers all our questions on how accommodations can help you be the best version of yourself in school and work.
Wed, March 20, 2024
“Nothing About Us Without Us”- Practicing self-advocacy as a young adult with a mental health condition
AmandaGrace Krier, a certified peer specialist with Youth MOVE National joins the show and discusses her journey advocating for herself in school and then in the workplace. There is not just one way to practice advocacy. It can look like anything from standing up for yourself to standing up for others through legislation. For AmandaGrace, self-advocacy was not always easy but was a skill she had to practice. Now she teaches others how they can practice advocacy for themselves, and she shares these tips with us including tips on obtaining accommodations in work and school.
Mon, February 12, 2024
Can Avatars Help Young Adults Manage Alcohol Use Problems & Suicidal Thoughts? Ep. 14
Can a mobile intervention using avatars help young adults manage their mental health after being discharged from the emergency department? Dr. Lourah Kelly’s “Avatar Project” explores this possibility. She’s testing an app-based cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for young adults with alcohol misuse and suicidal thoughts who have visited the ED. Lourah shares that “this age group [has] the highest rates of alcohol use disorder and suicidality, but very low rates of utilization of behavioral healthcare for either problem.” There aren’t enough healthcare providers available, and young adults often want to manage their problems on their own. This avatar-based mobile intervention may help bridge this need and access gap. This is a fascinating episode where we learned how an avatar-based app is created and how input from young adults is driving the content of this tool. Read more about Lourah's project here: https://www.umassmed.edu/news/news-archives/2024/01/mobile-health-intervention-study-for-binge-drinking-suicide-risk-among-young-adults-to-start-at-umass-chan/ Learn more about Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research . Links mentioned: -The National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers support and connection through mental health struggles and crises and is also available for friends/family of persons in need of support. Call or text 9-8-8 anytime, or chat here https://988lifeline.org/ -The SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator is a confidential and anonymous source of information for persons seeking support in the United States for substance use/addiction and/or mental health problems. https://findtreatment.gov -The NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator is a free national resource to help people who want to cut down or stop drinking, with searches for quality providers, some questions to ask providers to make sure it’s a good fit for you, and things to consider when choosing your care. <a href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falcoholtreatment.niaaa.nih.gov%2F&data=05%7C02%7CEmily.Sudbrock%40umassmed.edu%7C4b6642a1f866488ddce408dc2367ec14%7Cee9155fe2da34378a6c44405faf57b2e%7C0%7C0%7C638424178174351230%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoi
Thu, February 01, 2024
Salsa Dancing, a Youth Advisory Board and Peer Support for Mental Health. Ep. 13
Today we talk with Joshua Calarino, a member of our Youth Advisory Board, about ways getting involved in his community has helped his mental health. Joshua shares his journey, from someone who struggled with their mental health in high school, to his discovery of different activities that helped him feel better and more connected to his community. His story of recovery started when he said “yes” to an invite to a salsa dance class. We talk about his participation in Youth Move, as a peer support specialist, and Joshua’s experience as a member of our Youth Advisory Board. As part of the YAB, Joshua joins other young adult members to provide valued feedback from the youth perspective to our research teams at Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research. Joshua highlights the impact that a strong sense of community can have on young adults’ mental health. S.T.A.Y. Tuned: Supporting Transition-Age Youth Podcast is a podcast for young adults, made by young adults, with mental health conditions. Our podcast hosts bring on guests, including research collaborators from across the globe, and young adults with lived experience and we discuss the challenges and opportunities for youth with serious mental health struggles, particularly as they navigate educational and workforce experiences. This podcast episode was developed by our new Center for Community Inclusion and Reflective Collaborative (The CIRC Center). Learn more about The CIRC Center: umassmed.edu/transitionsacr/circ For more information about Transitions to Adulthood Center For Research, visit https://www.umassmed.edu/TransitionsACR/ For more information about our Young Adult Advisory Board, visit https://www.umassmed.edu/sparc/isparccenters/engaging-the-mental-health-community-in-research/engaging-the-mental-health-community-in-research2/ For more information about Youth MOVE, visit https://youthmovenational.org/
Thu, November 16, 2023
Why Millennials and Gen Z Love Nostalgia & How it Impacts Mental Health. Ep. 12
Do you find yourself going back to your childhood favorite shows and movies like Wizards of Waverly Place, Mulan, or Max and Ruby? Maybe you find yourself playing your old games like Webkinz, The Sims, and Pokemon. It’s actually quite common if sometimes all you want to do after a long day of work is consume the nostalgic content you grew up with. But what we wanted to know is, what is it about nostalgia that soothes us? Why do we find comfort in the things from our past? Can nostalgia be intentionally implemented as a tool to help us cope with our stressors in life? Join us as we explore these questions and discuss our childhood favorites to hopefully give you your own dose of nostalgia for the day. Notes from the podcast hosts: This isn’t a topic we’ve focused on at Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research but it is a topic that we were curious about. So we did a little bit of our own research and found these sources. We thought we’d share them, although they don’t come from our research. Sources: "Once upon a game: Exploring video game nostalgia and its impact on well-being" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328087196_Once_Upon_a_Game_Exploring_Video_Game_Nostalgia_and_Its_Impact_on_Well-Being "Nostalgia confers psychological wellbeing by increasing authenticity" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103122000981 "Flow and Pokémon GO: The Contribution of Game Level, Playing Alone, and Nostalgia to the Flow State" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322581896_Flow_and_Pokemon_GO_The_Contribution_of_Game_Level_Playing_Alone_and_Nostalgia_to_the_Flow_State
Tue, September 12, 2023
Progress isn't linear- you might even need a detour out of school. Ep. 11
Graduate high school, graduate college, get a job. A deceivingly simple timeline that young adults were expected to follow since they were kids. In reality, life is messy and we're here to tell you detours along the way are normal and there's more than one way to reach your goals. In this episode, we bring on Maya Ingram, a Project Director here at UMass Chan Medical School. Maya tells her story of how she navigated the ups and downs life has thrown at her all while paving the way for her career.
Wed, July 26, 2023
"Too sick" to work? - Breaking the narrative for Young Adults w/ Mental Health Conditions. Ep. 10
Today's episode might be a longer one but we promise it's worth it! Join us and Dr. Michelle Mullen CRC, CPRP, as we discuss her work on preventing disability and keeping young adults out of a system that breaks them. She explains why the language used to describe the mental health of young adults is so key and what can be done to change the narrative of self-blame. We also get into her thoughts on what the future of mental health care should look like for young adults and how we can work towards it.
Tue, May 16, 2023
Trauma is a thief- reclaiming your power after PTSD. Ep. 9
Left alone at a baseball field in a thunderstorm with no way to get home, 17-year-old Joan Sullivan found that her life had changed forever. Joan would later be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), stemming from the tangled web family often weaves. As young adults, many are left to overcome the traumas they were dealt growing up, leaving them confused and powerless as they transition to adulthood. In this episode, Joan shares her story about how she was able to find her power again.
Thu, April 13, 2023
Prioritizing YOU- taking a leave of absence for mental health purposes w/Ali Gold. Ep. 8
While Emily and Mei are not taking a leave of absence from work or school right now, it's still important to discuss, should you ever feel that taking a leave is the right option for you in order to prioritize your mental health. How does one go about sharing their mental health conditions with their supervisor? What's it like coming back from taking a leave? How might you address your leave of absence with colleagues? They have brought on Ali Gold, the State-Wide Youth/Young Adult Peer Coordinator to help answer these questions. Later, she shares some of her own lived experiences from her mental health journey and how that has led her to her recent experiences with electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment method.
Thu, April 13, 2023
Is anybody out there? The isolation of young adulthood. Ep. 7
Hello hello! Emily and Mei are back this week with a special episode of STAY Tuned. In this episode, Emily and Mei wanted to let you guys get to know us a little bit better. They keep it real and discuss their struggles in creating healthy routines in a life where screens dominate one's whole day and later get into the lonely reality of post-grad life. How does one make friends outside of work and school? They would love to know. Later on, they get a little meta and discuss some of their thoughts on what it's like making this podcast and the challenges of using social media for their job.
Thu, April 13, 2023
We're working on it! Young Adult Mental Health & Working w/Emma Narkewicz. Ep. 6
Today's episode features iSPARC's very own Emma Narkewicz, a research coordinator here at the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research. Emma begins by walking us through her work on Pre-employment Transition Services in Massachusetts. Later we dive into what it's like being a young adult with mental health conditions entering the workforce and sustaining a career. Let's talk navigating mental health as a young professional, living wages, and what we wish we had known going into college!
Fri, December 09, 2022
The WEIGHT of weight stigma w/Dr. Nana Yaa Marfo. Ep. 5
Hello! We are back with a new episode. Today's podcast episode features Nana Yaa Marfo, PhD, a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow here at iSPARC. Dr. Marfo provides outpatient clinical care and conducts mental health services research. Her past experiences working on weight-related studies informed our chat today. We discuss unrealistic body expectations promoted by social media, food insecurity on college campuses, the impact of weight stigma on young adult mental health, and how the social determinants of health play a role in weight stigma.
Fri, November 11, 2022
Trauma informed care for LGBTQ+ youth w/Antonia Barba, LCSW. Ep. 4
Wow! We covered a lot in this episode. Join in on our conversation with Antonia Barba, as she guides us through her expertise in trauma-informed, affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth. We touch on how clinicians can work with unwilling caregivers to accept gender and sexual identity, the intersectionalities of LGBTQ+ youth, advocacy work, and even dive into the systemic issues within our healthcare system.
Fri, October 14, 2022
Tailoring mental health treatments with young adult voices w/ Dr. Michelle Munson. Ep. 3
In this episode, we interview Michelle Munson, PhD who is a professor at NYU's Silver School of Social Work. Dr. Munson walks us through her innovative research, collaborating with youth to fully understand what implementation strategies and tools will best meet their unique needs and desires.
Sat, July 16, 2022
Engaging youth in mental health services w/ Dr. Vanessa Klodnick. Ep. 2
In this episode, we interview Vanessa Klodnick, PhD, on her work in youth and young adult services engagement and speak with her about her vast experience in participatory action research in transition-age youth mental health services.
Thu, July 14, 2022
The unique importance of transition-age youth services w/ Dr. Maryann Davis. Ep. 1
In this episode, we interview Dr. Maryann Davis, an internationally renowned expert in youth and young adult mental and behavioral health services on her journey into developing the field of transition-age youth mental health services research.
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