If you joined us live or watch the archived stream for Well Beings Tour: The Breaking Point: How the Mental Health System Is Failing Children, please help us improve the development of future content and events by taking this brief survey.
As the pandemic continues, it’s clear many children are feeling the long-term effects — lockdowns, uncertainty and isolation. With few child psychiatrists, therapists or direct-care experts to treat young people, families are often left without options. WFYI and Side Effects Public Media health reporter Carter Barrett will host a discussion on this emerging mental health crisis and the solutions that families and youth can turn to.
Event Highlights
About the Host
Carter Barrett, Reporter at Side Effects Public Media (WFYI)
Carter is a reporter based at WFYI in Indianapolis. A long-time Hoosier, she is thrilled to stay in her hometown to cover public health. Previously, she covered education for WFYI News with a focus on school safety. Carter graduated with a journalism degree from Indiana University and previously interned with stations in Bloomington, Indiana and Juneau, Alaska.
About the Panelists
Ashtyn Robertson, young adult presenter with National Alliance on Mental Illness
A graduate student and Behavioral Health Academy member at the Indiana University School of Social Work in Indianapolis (May 2022), Ashtyn is currently interning as a mental health and addictions clinician at Eskenazi’s Adult Outpatient Community Mental Health Center. She also enjoyed an opportunity to intern at the NeuroDiagnostic Institute and Advanced Treatment Center on the adolescent unit during the 2020-2021 school year, where she facilitated groups and learned to coordinate care for youth in the state hospital before graduating with her Bachelors of Social Work degree in May of 2021. In her spare time, Ashtyn volunteers with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as a young adult presenter, sharing her experiences of living with mental health challenges with Indiana youth.
Julie Hill, School Counselor (Grades 9-12 A-I)/Department Chair, Western Boone Jr/Sr High
A school counselor for 21 years, Julie currently serves as department chair at Western Boone Jr/Sr High where she led her department to earn state and national model program recognitions.
Julie served on the Board for the Indiana School Counselor Association for 11 years in multiple roles including President and currently chairs the Ethics Committee. Nationally, she served 6 years on the Board of Directors for the American School Counselor Association including 3 years as Chair of the Board. She was named ISCA’s Indiana School Counselor of the Year in November.
Hill serves as an adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University and an instructor for the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health and Service to Armed Forces divisions.
Denise A. Senter, LMHC, Director of Mental Health and Clinical Services
Denise directs mental health and clinical services at Reach For Youth. She is a licensed mental health clinician with more than 30 years of experience serving families and children. She owns a private practice specializing in mood disorders; behavioral problems in the home and/or school; trauma, including domestic violence, sexual abuse and physical abuse; attachment difficulties in children and adults, and cultural awareness and cross-cultural competency. Denise is a consultant with the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program at the Riley Child Development Center and provides training to organizations and groups on various mental health topics, as well as on Culture, Equity and Inclusion.
