Yuen Oversees Film Productions for Compassionate Home and Action Together Family Initiative
Innovative Family Intervention Program Aims to Address Adolescent Mental Health Challenges
Eunice Yuen, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University and a member of the Child Study Center, has spearheaded a groundbreaking initiative aimed at enhancing mental health support for adolescents and their families. The program, dubbed Compassionate Home, Action Together, or CHATogether, represents a multifaceted family-centered intervention designed to address the complex emotional and psychological challenges faced by young individuals aged 13 to 18.
CHATogether integrates several psychotherapeutic modalities, including psychodynamic psychotherapy, drama therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. The initiative, which has been implemented at the Yale Branford Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program, has thus far developed an impressive array of 14 skits that encapsulate critical mental health themes relevant to both adolescents and their caregivers.
Recent film productions created by Dr. Yuen and her team further expand the scope of CHATogether, aiming to include transitional youth and school-aged children in the framework of the intervention. Through the medium of drama, the skits elucidate various aspects of adolescent mental health:
1. “Boy’s Depression: Understanding the Emotions Behind the Scenes” sheds light on the common tendency among caregivers to focus on impulsive behaviors in young boys, often neglecting the deeper emotional struggles that contribute to these actions.
2. “Girl’s Depression: Understanding the Emotions Behind the Drama” addresses the unique pressures school-aged girls face in the digital age, particularly regarding the need to conform with peers on social media, which frequently go unnoticed by their parents.
3. “The Growing Pain of Young Adults” encapsulates the challenges faced by Generation Z, including feelings of loneliness and anxiety about future career choices—issues that parents may struggle to comprehend and adequately support.
These skits serve not only as a means of storytelling but also as therapeutic tools designed to facilitate family discussions around mental health, enhancing understanding and support within the familial context. The initiative has ambitions to extend its reach further into the Child Study Center and the inpatient transitional youth unit at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, thereby potentially impacting a larger demographic of young patients.
The success of the CHATogether initiative has been bolstered by a collaborative effort among professionals in the field, including Bonnie Yam, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow at the Yale Child Study Center; Jessica Augur, MS, a psychiatric counselor at Yale Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program; and Drs. Yun Feng and Thomas Laux from Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital. This innovative intervention is made possible thanks to the support of the Yale New Haven Health System Innovation Award, underscoring the organization’s commitment to advancing mental health solutions for the youth population.
As society continues to grapple with rising mental health concerns among adolescents, initiatives like CHATogether not only provide immediate therapeutic benefits but also aim to foster a broader conversation about mental health within families, paving the way for healthier futures.
