As part of WBFO’s Mental Health Initiative, Buffalo Toronto Public Media presents a three-part virtual series exploring the stressors and available resources for students, teachers, and faculty returning to in-person classrooms in the fall. This first discussion focused on elementary and middle school students. Academic transitions present a number of challenges for students, teachers, and parents and these pressures are heightened by new routines under the pandemic. Increased isolation has been difficult for many families, especially children. Effects of the pandemic can be associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression.

This virtual discussion series explores topics related to the reintegration of students and faculty into in-person learning. Topics include mental health and behavioral supports in schools, resources for parents, caregivers and families, and support and training for faculty and staff. 

WBFO’s Mental Health Initiative is funded by the Patrick P. Lee Foundation.

Moderated by Dave Debo, WBFO News Director
Panelists:
Jill Glowniak, LCSW, Family Support Center in Amherst Central School District 
Anne Landrigan, M.Sp.Ed., Coordinator for Student Services, Elmwood Village Charter School
Amanda Robert, Parent

Being LGBTQ+ is NOT a mental health challenge. However, LGBTQ+ youth often face external forces and stressors that can impact mental health. Stigma, discrimination, bullying, and hate speech are often reported experiences from LGBTQ+ youth and can be traumatic events that significantly influence a young person’s life and mental wellbeing. Buffalo Toronto Public Media partnered with GLYS to host a community conversation and panel discussion exploring issues that contribute to stress and negative impacts on LGBTQ+ youth on September 23, 2021.

Robert DiGangi-Roush, Executive Director of GLYS, served as host and moderator for LGBTQ+ Mental Health: What We All Need to Know. The panel discussed some challenges LGBTQ+ youth experience and how the intersection of social class, accessibility, religion, age, race, ethnicity, and more can impact mental wellness. The panel offered information for parents, caregivers, peers and the community on access to mental health care and services for LGBTQ+ youth. 

ABOUT THE MODERATOR AND PANELISTS:

Dr. Robert DiGangi-Roush (he/him & they/them), Executive Director of GLYS Western New York, Inc. has their undergraduate and Master's Degrees from The State University of NY at Buffalo, where their graduate work was in non-profit Administration. Their PhD is in Alternative and Complementary Healthcare from Westbrook University. Their dissertation is still used internationally as a textbook for creating a complementary and alternative healthcare clinic. In it, they used the same service wraparound concept that is now part of GLYS's Youth Gender Affirmation Program. 

Vivian D. Logan (she/her/hers), LMSW, APC; Outreach and Engagement Specialist with Horizon Health Services has worked in the Human Service field and in the field of social work for 20 years as a Licensed Masters Social Worker, prior to that she obtained an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Her MSW program at SUNY Buffalo entailed a program concentration in Families and Children and Mental Health. She has completed her doctorial course work, and currently preparing to conduct her research and complete her dissertation with UOP’s-online program in Educational Leadership and Administration. Her dissertation focuses on the leadership perspective of culturally responsive teaching practices as a method to engage and enhance the academic standards of ethnically and racially diverse students. As she believes a need exists for leaders to be culturally competent, understand the various theories of how people learn, and why factors such as “race, power, legitimacy, cultural capital, poverty, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, and language” can affect learning styles and skill development. In 2022, she will begin her quest to become a life coach, focusing on all areas of well-being.

Andrea (Andi) Binner (she/they) has worked in the Human Service field since they received their 1st Master’s Degree in Education/Counseling Psychology from St. Bonaventure University. Andrea also has a Masters’ degree in Social Work from the University at Buffalo. She started in the field working on a psychiatric unit/Emergency Room and then a Partial Hospitalization Program in Jamestown, NY. Andrea has enjoyed a mix of assisting both adult, teens and children throughout her 29-year career thus far. Andrea was trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and conducted research on HIV at SUNY – Binghamton where she earned her BA in Psychology. She also volunteered in helping individuals to grow safer, related to risk for HIV and other STI’s by assisting students, professors and anyone that wanted to learn about how to help make sex fun and consensual, while learning to have more agency over their sexual health. She continued this work at Evergreen and the Pride Center in 2015-2016. This is where she co-facilitated a Trauma Informed Psychoeducation group for people who identified themselves and Transgender/Non-Binary or Gender Expansive. Andrea has been in Private Practice full-time since 2016 in Buffalo, NY.

Jennifer Parrack has a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and has been living and working in Western New York for the past 11 years. She is currently employed by New York State.  She is a certified Our Whole Lives instructor, a comprehensive sex education curriculum that spans all ages. She is passionate about combatting bias in health care and the legal system (and life in general), from racism and transphobia to ableism and fat phobia. Jennifer is mom to two other panelists, 17-year-old, Allie (she/ her pronouns) and 14-year-old and Rin(they/ them pronouns).

Thank you to GLYS partners: Dr. Robert DiGangi-Roush, Executive Director and Rev. Susan Frawley, Community and Parent Outreach Coordinator and Pastor of the Hamburg Unitarian Universalist Church.

One of the largest issues individuals with mental illness face is the availability and accessibility of housing. The lack of safe and affordable place to live is a tremendous barrier to recovery and to the prevention of homelessness, hospitalization, and movement through the criminal justice system. Unhoused individuals living with mental illness face a variety of obstacles that are intersected and exacerbated by the lack of affordable and accessible services in the region.

WBFO News Director Dave Debo host “Finding Home,” a panel discussion on issues surrounding the lack of housing options for those living with mental illness. This conversation includes current work to combat the closing of housing options, the housing landscape in the greater Buffalo area for individuals with mental illness, effects of the housing shortages, as well as efforts in education, prevention, and intervention for individuals and families. 

Included on the panel are Mark O’Brien, Erie County Commissioner of Mental Health, Kelly Dumas, LCSW, Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer at BestSelf Behavioral Health; and community member and advocate Patricia Seifert. 

WBFO News Director Dave Debo hosts “Mental Health and Policing: Do Crisis Intervention Teams Work?,” a dialogue about the various changes under consideration in Buffalo, including greater use of Crisis Intervention Teams, embedding social workers with police, and other reforms under broader consideration. 

WBFO welcomed credentialed alcohol and substance abuse counselor Karl Shallowhorn to talk about addiction and risk of suicide amidst a global pandemic. He spoke about integrated treatment, the biology of addiction, and how mental health first aid can help you assess someone's risk of suicide.

Dave Debo, WBFO’s News Director, talks with psychiatrist Dr. Sourav Sengupta from UBMD Psychiatry and Oishei Children’s Hospital about the mental health of those facing COVID-19 on the front lines - first responders, healthcare workers and those in essential businesses.

Dave Debo, News Director, welcomes Dr. Ursuline Bankhead, a psychologist working in geriatrics and with older adults at the VA WNY Healthcare Center. She answers questions and comments from older adults and their caregivers regarding the range of emotions this population is experiencing during this pandemic.

Dave Debo, News Director, welcomed Dr. Aimee DiPasqua, a child psychiatrist from Spectrum Health and Human Services. She answered questions and comments from parents and other caregivers regarding the range of emotions children are experiencing during this pandemic.

Host Dave Debo, WBFO’s News Director, talked with local Advanced Practice Clinician, Ofer Ziv, from Horizon Health Services about signs and symptoms of PTSD, how you can help those who struggle with it, and how this health crisis is having an impact on all of us.

Host Dave Debo, WBFO’s News Director, talked with local mental health counselor, Erin M. Moss about stress and anxiety.