May 7, 2023
IWF Georgia Member Luncheon
Topic: The Surging Mental Health Crisis
Location: Maggiano's Buckhead, 3368 Peachtree Rd.
Timeline:
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Arrival & Networking
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM Program
The Surging Mental Health Crisis
We’ll take a deep dive into the rising mental health crisis among young people, as well as the wide-spread and devastating effect of loneliness and social isolation on all ages.
Panelists Include:
Dr. Allison Arwady, Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC
Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, is the director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control where she leads CDC’s innovative research and science-based programs to prevent injuries and violence and to reduce their consequences.
Dr. Arwady most recently served four years as the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, leading the health department of the nation’s third-largest city, including through the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, she spent four years as Chicago’s chief medical officer, overseeing the department’s behavioral health and disease control work.
Under her leadership, Chicago’s behavioral health team more than doubled in size and established dozens of innovative programs and partnerships in substance use and violence prevention, as well as mental health promotion and linkage to care. For the first time, Chicago embedded mental health professionals into 911 response; coordinated and funded a citywide network of no-barrier mental health clinical providers; and launched new behavioral health supports in homeless shelters, libraries, schools, food pantries, clinics, and more, while working to decrease stigma and increase access to mental health supports.
Chantel Cohen, CWC Coaching & Therapy, Life Coach, Counselor
Chantel Cohen is the Founder and CEO of CWC Coaching & Therapy, where she and her team of therapists and coaches provide mental health services with a business coaching lens. Specializing in serving high-performing professionals, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and co-founders, Chantel and her team excel in leadership development, personal growth, and career advancement while addressing challenges such as negative self-talk, psychological pain, self-sabotaging behavior, past hurts, and improving personal relationships. The CWC team works on every aspect of a person's life, including their mental wellness, their career or business, and their significant relationships both personally and professionally.
Chantel herself is on a mission to empower entrepreneurs of color, women business owners, and founding duos. Her commitment to providing mental health support through CWC Coaching & Therapy is not just a business endeavor but a personal calling to improve the lives of those she serves. Known for her open communication and unwavering transparency, she has worked with corporate partners like Google, Coca-Cola, and Lenovo, advocating for the vital link between mental health and professional success. Central to her approach is the Become One Again™ Method, a strategic framework designed to address mental health challenges unique to entrepreneurs. As one of only 5% of Black therapists in her field, Chantel brings an invaluable level of cultural competency and empathy to her practice. Her dedication to understanding and addressing the challenges faced by minority entrepreneurs reflects her exceptional emotional intelligence and people-first approach.
M. Daniele Fallin, PhD / James W. Curran Dean of Public Health, Emory
M. Daniele Fallin, PhD, is the James W. Curran Dean of Public Health at the Rollins School of Public Health. With more than 250 scientific publications that have been cited more than 22,000 times, Fallin’s globally-recognized research focuses on applying genetic epidemiology methods to studies of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder and to developing applications and methods for genetic and epigenetic epidemiology, as applied to mental health and development.
Dr. Fallin has led multiple CDC- and NIH-funded projects regarding how environments, behaviors, genetic variation, and epigenetic variation contribute to risk for psychiatric disease, particularly autism. She currently leads the B’more Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study, one of 25 sites of the NIH’s newly initiated HBCD study, where she also serves as an associate director of the administrative core to guide epidemiologic design.
Prior to joining Rollins, Fallin worked at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for 22 years, where she served as chair of the Department of Mental Health, Sylvia and Harold Halpert Professor, Bloomberg Centennial Professor, and held joint appointments in the Bloomberg School’s Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry.
Ben Hunter, MD, FAPA, Charles B. West Chief Medical Officer, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Skyland Trail
Dr. Ben Hunter is the Chief Medical Officer at Skyland Trail, a nonprofit mental health treatment organization in Atlanta. In this role, Dr. Hunter provides leadership and oversight for all clinical services, research, and outcomes analysis and reporting. Dr. Hunter completed his medical training at Emory University School of Medicine followed by psychiatric residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as chief resident during his final year. Dr. Hunter also completed fellowships in psychoanalysis through the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia and in organizational psychiatry with the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Dr. Hunter is an elected Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, treasurer and 2024 president-elect of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association, and a member of numerous state- and national-level committees aimed at improving access to psychiatric care.
Skyland Trail began providing mental health services in Atlanta in 1989. Residential and day treatment programs treat adults ages 18 and older and adolescents ages 14 to 17 with psychiatric disorders such as major depression, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, and thought disorders.
Amy Glennon, Former Publisher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Moderating)
Amy Glennon is the former publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and of Cox Media Group’s Vertical Businesses, a portfolio of digital content sites.
Glennon is on the Advisory Board of the James M. Cox Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership at The University of Georgia; and is an Advisory Board member of the Salvation Army of Metro Atlanta.
