Supporting our youth means supporting their parents and caregivers.

Developmental research indicates that certain aspects of brain functioning during adolescence, such as reward processing and impulse control, contribute to risky behaviors, including substance use. Substance use can have neurotoxic effects on the brain and continued use can alter neural function. Thus, identifying risk and protective factors related to substance misuse during adolescence and into young adulthood is an important public health priority.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an enormous disruption, uncertainty, and stress in our everyday lives. Attendees will hear from Kelcey Stratton, PhD, from the Michigan Medicine Office of Workplace Resilience and Michelle B. Riba, MD, MS, from Michigan Workplace Mental Health Solutions at the University of Michigan Depression Center, on how to adapt to new mental health challenges in the workplace (and at home).

With all that is happening in 2020, there is a lot to pay attention to. But the current pandemic has drawn attention to what public health experts have been saying for years – that structural racism is a public health crisis.