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In April, 2009, SRCD was the lead sponsor for an interdisciplinary summit on children's mental health, which was held at the University of Denver. There were more than twenty other sponsoring groups, listed here. The summit was designed to emphasize collaboration among researchers, mental health experts, other stakeholders and communication scientists about the importance of children's mental health for optimal development in order to inform public attitudes and public policy.

The format of the Summit included a few presentations designed to catalyze discussion, but the real work of the meeting happened in four small groups; each focused on one of the following topics: (1) The importance of mental health for normal child development; (2) Everyday challenges for parents and child mental health; (3) Prevention opportunities in child mental health; and (4) Child mental health disorders: Treatment works.

Each group aimed to discuss, among those findings that are empirically supported, what are the most critical and useful ideas to improve public understanding? The summit was dedicated to the life and work of Jane Knitzer.

Director Beye, Colorado Department of Human Services opens the summit.		Mrs. Ritter, First Lady of Colorado, welcomes the audience and applauds the goals of the summit.
Susan Bales, Frameworks Institute, introduces the audience to the strategic framing approach.		Larke Huang, SAMHSA, reviews child mental health funding and policy.
Don Wertlieb, Tufts University and the planning Group, moderated a discussion of children's mental health.		Summit participants listen to a speaker.
Discussion among summit participants		Gary Blau, SAMHSA talks with First Lady Ritter, Mary Ann McCabe and Karen Saywitz

The following individuals presented at the event:

Mary Ann McCabe, Ph.D., Director, Office for Policy and Communications, Society for Research in Child Development and Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine, reminded the participants of the purpose of the summit and defined the tasks of the break-out groups. View slides.

Susan Nall Bales, M.A., President, FrameWorks Institute; Visiting Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health, gave a presentation entitled, Working Toward a Core Story of Child and Family Mental Health. View presentation.

Deborah Perry, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Center for Child and Human Development, Georgetown University Medical Center, gave a presentation entitled, Foundations of Early Childhood Mental Health. View presentation.

Larke Huang, Ph.D., Senior Advisor on Children, Office of the Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, gave a presentation entitled, A New Day for Early Childhood.... But Where is Early Childhood Mental Health? View presentation.

Donald Wertlieb, Ph.D., Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University, gave a presentation entitled, Toward a Working Draft of a Child Mental Health Core Story. View presentation.

Nat Kendall-Taylor, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, FrameWorks Institute, gave a presentation entitled, Establishing the Expert Core Story as the Base for Translational Communication Research. View presentation.

Tiffany Manuel, Ph.D., Research Director, FrameWorks Institute gave a presentation titled, Refining the Core Story - Child Mental Health. View presentation.

Greg Duncan, Ph.D., President-Elect of SRCD; Professor of Education, University of California, Irvine, gave a presentation entitled, Connecting with Policy Audiences. View presentation.