YCSC Connections: Year In Review

Each year as our YCSC community returns from Yale’s winter recess, I provide updates on the “state of the department” as part of our departmental Grand Rounds. Many thanks to those who were able to join on January 7, when I noted how our academic calendar has a particular—and to the non-academic world, a rather peculiar—rhythm. We mark the beginning of a “new year” each September, with an opening talk for the academic year, welcoming new members to our community and reviewing what lies ahead. Then, we pause again at the start of the calendar year to reflect on what has been accomplished since September while looking ahead to the new calendar year.

In the past—especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic—I have typically started these talks by reminding us of a need to temper our worries with hope and optimism, grounded by all the remarkable work happening in our department and beyond—a realistic optimism. This year, while this certainly remains true, I began on a slightly different note, acknowledging that there is so much uncertainty in our world—along with the many challenging and heart-wrenching events of 2024 and the immediate start of 2025, including the California wildfires, the New Orleans attack, and the Las Vegas explosion.

Indeed, as I prepared for this year’s talk, I experienced a greater than usual dilemma about how to strike that balance implied by realistic optimism, especially in light of the many children in our community and around the world who are regularly impacted by violence, hate, and destruction. It led me to think deeply about how often as a society we do not center children’s needs in these discussions. As such, as part of this year’s state of the department overview with a look ahead at our unfolding strategic initiatives—a high level summary of which is highlighted below—I included some personal reflections stirred by several stories in the news in recent months, tying them to the deepest meaning of our mission as professionals—caring for and centering children, while doing our best to ensure they have the opportunity to thrive.

In blending these two purposes, celebrating and anticipating our continued growth and success while bearing witness to the increasing challenges for children and adolescents, my aim is to raise up our moral compass as professionals working with children and as community committed to a shared mission around the care of children and adolescents. Certainly, facing challenges in this work is not new—and I am grateful to the diverse, committed voices and growing partnerships within our department and beyond working together to address the vast and varied behavioral health needs of children and families.

This year’s talk is available to view on-line for anyone who missed it and may be interested in hearing more—and though it may feel like a distant memory, I do hope you all enjoyed the December holidays and any time you were able to spend with loved ones or in any restorative spaces. May the new calendar year bring you and your loved ones joy and good health. Thank you, as ever, for your work and support to improve the lives of children and families.

Linda Mayes, MD
Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology; Chair
Yale Child Study Center

The Yale Child Study Center (YCSC)—which serves as the department of child psychiatry for the Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Children's Hospital—has been serving families through the integration of evidence-based clinical practice, training, and research for over 100 years.

The mission of the YCSC is to improve the mental health of children and families, advance understanding of their psychological and developmental needs, and treat and prevent childhood mental illness through the integration of research, clinical practice, and professional training.

The YCSC has been serving children and families from birth through adolescence since 1911. At the core of the center's work is the mission to improve the lives of children and families through research, service, education, and policy, by translating research and evidence-based practice into effective policy change, legislative advocacy efforts, and social innovation at local, state, national, and global levels. Our work involves multidisciplinary, intergenerational, translational, and community implementation.

As YCSC Chair Linda Mayes noted in her 2025 opening talk, “Being strategic means to imagine where a field is going. Where do we want to be? Who do we want to be? And how do we get there? This involves both tactical and strategic thinking.” The image above illustrates some predictions of where the department is going, via some “big picture” trends in child and adolescent behavioral health & developmental science. These include:

• Growing use of digital platforms for first level care
• Growing reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize care
• Networks of multidisciplinary behavioral health clinicians providing services virtually
• Need for enhanced professional development from respected academic centers
• Stronger push for evidence of impact and replicable metrics (value-based care)
• Increasing awareness of inequities in access to care
• Taking a multidisciplinary approach to child health

Learn more about what lies ahead for the YCSC this year in the January 7, 2025 "state of the department" talk given by Dr. Mayes, when she posed, “As we do our best to care for the children and families who come to us for both clinical services and research...and to train the next generation to care for those families, how do we best use our voices for all children and ensure that children are the priority in our society?”

She noted that this point was underscored for her by a December editorial by Margaret Renkl in the New York Times that cited two earlier pieces, one by Wendell Berry in October another by Nicholas Kristof from February. She explained, “Each is saying that our humanity—our societal and moral integrity—is rooted in how we care for the children in our communities. Not just those we care for directly—whether our own or those coming for our services—but all children. And if we allow children’s lives to be cut short, to be disadvantaged and overlooked, what does this say for our own moral integrity and the future health of our society? A society is not only measured by how it treats its most vulnerable, but also by how it cares for its children who are its future.”

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