Shrinking It Down: Mental Health Made Simple
"Shrinking It Down" highlights the fact that youth mental health is anything but simple! Child & adolescent psychiatrists Dr. Gene Beresin and Dr. Khadijah Booth Watkins help parents and other caring adults to navigate tough questions about child and teen mental health. From depression and learning disorders, to digital media and societal concerns, Shrinking It Down covers it all.
Tune in the THIRD Thursday of every month. Subscribe wherever you stream.
About Us: The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital is a multi-media educational resource to help adults support the mental, emotional, and behavioral well-being of young people through innovative education. Visit us online at mghclaycenter.org.
This podcast is for educational purposes only. The Clay Center does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any health-related questions you may have.
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- Update frequency
- every 18 days
- Average duration
- 24 minutes
- Episodes
- 180
- Years Active
- 2013 - 2025
How Do I Fall Asleep When I'm Anxious?
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Leading up to this month, we received several mental health questions from our Instagram followers. In this podcast miniseries, Dr. Gene Beresin and Dr. Khadijah…
A Teen's Take On the Pandemic
The COVID pandemic is like nothing most of us have ever lived through. This is especially true for kids and teens who are still developing mentally and physically. This week we talk with special gues…
Young Athlete Mental Health, featuring Mai Uchida, MD
At what point are we pushing our young athletes too hard? We all watched 15-year-old Russian Olympic skater, Kamila Valieva, exit the ice in tears after a doping scandal. Where did the adults in her …
Self-Esteem: How do we build our kids up?
Low self-esteem gets all of us down at one point or another. For kids, the goal is to help build them back up. Lots of things can lower our kids’ self-esteem like body image, cyberbullying, adverse c…
Ukraine: What Do We Tell Our Kids?
The crisis in Ukraine feels to many like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Between the COVID pandemic, police brutality, the climate crisis, and now the war in Ukraine, the world may feel increa…
Body Image and Young People, featuring Holly Peek, MD, MPH
Turning on TV, opening a magazine, or going on our phones these days, kids are overwhelmed with images showing us what we should look like. Even on “reality” TV, none of the people look like your ave…
Bonus: Alcohol Conversation Starters
Our recent conversation with Dr. John Kelly of the MGH Recovery Research Institute reinforced even more how important it is to start talking with young people about about alcohol use and it's possibl…
Alcohol & Adolescents, featuring John F. Kelly, PhD, ABPP
Did you know that 3 out of 4 addiction cases in the U.S. are alcohol addictions, and that kids who start drinking before age 15 are significantly more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder than t…
COVID-19 Risk, Fear, and Anger
COVID-19. We can’t seem to escape it no matter where we turn, even in our own homes. All of us – caregivers and young people, alike – are experiencing feelings of fear, frustration, and anger as we b…
Bonus: School Refusal Conversation Starters
If your child is struggling to go to school and regularly wanting to stay home, it's important to learn more about what's making things so hard for them. Talking about it can help. Here are a couple …
Is Your Child Struggling With School Refusal?
Does your child get stomach aches at the thought of going to school? Does your younger child throw temper tantrums? Does your teenager spend all day in the school counselor’s office, or even refuse t…
Take a Cup of Kindness (musical interlude)
As we lead into a New Year, we wish you and your loved ones physical and mental wellness. It has been a challenging two years, with more challenges to come. But together, we can manage this. So for t…
These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things
Mindfully enjoying the things we look forward to during the holidays is a great way for families to lessen stress and support well-being. What are Gene and Khadijah's favorite things about the holida…
Strategies for Managing Holiday Stress
Families have felt tremendous stress over the past two years due to the pandemic. But for many, this is a special time of year that we fantasize about and look forward to, and it’s not healthy to go …
Quick Tip: Can Kids Make Up Lost Sleep?
As we "fall back" this weekend, hold onto to some clinical wisdom from Bernard Kinane, MD, Director of the Pediatric Sleep Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He joins Dr. Gene Beresin in this…
Bonus: ADHD Conversation Starters
If your young person is struggling in school, and you think it might be Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Khadijah Booth Watkins has some ways to …
All About ADHD
In today's episode of Shrinking It Down, we revisit some of the most helpful conversations we've had with clinical experts about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in kids and teens. Fir…
Bonus: Asking About Social Media
If Instagram and social media are still on your mind after our last episode, but you still haven't talked to your teen about your concerns, here are some things to say to start the conversation. Dr. …
Unsettled About Instagram?
We weren’t due for another episode until next week, but given the news of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and her disturbing claims that the company knows its platforms cause mental harm, inclu…
Mental Health Myths - BUSTED
Welcome back to Shrinking It Down – because mental health is anything but simple. What better way to launch Season 5 than by busting some mental health myths?
In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Gene Beresi…