Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1152518
60 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 9 LOCALKNOWLEDGE Susan Stilwell Attorney, Hotelier, Founder AIM Youth Mental Health F ive years ago, longtime volunteer Susan Stilwell, with the help of her husband Mark and three children, Mark, Sydney and Richard, launched AIM for Mental Health. Their first fundraiser, a gala in Pebble Beach, provided over $300,000 for youth mental health research and awareness. AIM has since grown in stature and impact, with a world-renowned scientific advisory board, a dedicated staff, and fundraising efforts sup- porting cutting-edge researchers looking for ways to help the estimated 1 out of 5 youth with a mental health challenge. Through partnerships with top doctors and scientists, awareness campaigns, and funding brain studies, AIM looks to discover research-backed, early intervention tactics for mental health issues. Stilwell and husband Mark, former executive vice president of Pebble Beach Company, have met with top doctors and experts in mental health from around the world. Stilwell also owns hotels Tradewinds Carmel and Carmel Lodge and has lobbied on behalf of a variety of social welfare issues. On August 15th, AIM's annual gala at the Parc du Concours Tent in Pebble Beach features a performance by four of the top Phantoms from "Phantom of the Opera" and Kaley Voorhees, currently playing Christine on Broadway. Chris Harrison from "The Bachelor" fame is the emcee. For tickets, call 831/372-1600 or go to www.aimformentalhealth.org. Q: Why do you care so passionately about mental health research? A: I grew up with a mother who had anxiety and OCD. That first got me motivated to do something in an area that didn't seem to have much atten- tion. When my kids were in school, I saw so many kids getting prescrip- tions for anxiety and ADHD. I decided to found AIM after the Newtown, Connecticut, [Sandy Hook elementary] school shooting, the root cause of which was mental illness. Yet I could find no national charity dedicated to addressing what I viewed as perhaps the most serious epidemic facing our nation today. So, I decided to do something to fill that void. Q: What is the biggest need for youth today? A: We want to give them a positive, forward-thinking campaign that they will want to be part of...the most important thing is making it okay to talk about mental health. Through our awareness programs, we try to normalize feelings about mental health. We give kids AIM T-shirts that have words such as bipolar, happy, anxious, passionate, sad—it's really powerful and helps kids understand you can have both good and bad feelings all going on at the same time. We want kids to feel comfortable using mental health related words and also to understand that mental health struggles are not a personal weakness. It's okay to ask for help and we want to provide them with hope. Q: What are some of the take-aways that have come out of the last five years of looking into youth mental health needs? A: Our scientific advisory board is the real meat and substance of AIM and they are steering how we are funding research…One of the main models we are focusing on is from Dr. David Clark out of Oxford and what he is doing in the U.K…He wrote a position paper with an econ- omist on why providing mental health services to youth will save the government millions and millions by curbing homelessness, missed work, drug and alcohol abuse, ER visits, and school absences. Many of today's major social problems are rooted in mental health. If we can solve the mental health epidemic, we can help solve a lot of society's other prob- lems. Dr. Clark is convinced if we put money now into cognitive behav- ioral and other evidence-based therapies and provide mental health ser- vices as the first line of treatment, we can help our youth before they become homeless, get jailed, become addicted, or drop out of school. Q: It's encouraging that there are scientifically backed solutions. A: Absolutely. One of the most exciting projects we are funding is by Dr. Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist out of UCSF who is at the forefront of digital (internet-based) medicine. A lot of places where people live don't have mental health professionals. Dr. Gazzaley is developing digital med- icine for teens that have attention difficulties. We are funding a trial with a game on an iPad called Engaged that gets them to focus…Kids might be reluctant about going to see a mental health professional, but by playing a video game that helps them, that should be much easier. And they can still get some face-to-face time with a psychologist through video conferencing like Skype. Q: What is a recent success story? A: We funded Dr. Kate Fitzgerald out of University of Michigan who just finished a three-year trial with children 4-6 years old who have extreme anxiety and OCD and couldn't stay in school. She created a cognitive behavioral program called Kid Power and has had very positive results….Early intervention and prevention are what's needed…We now need to work on targeting the best practices we have and dissemi- nating them to the front lines where kids can get help today! —Brett Wilbur