GIRLS’ MENTAL HEALTH RISKS 2021:
SEE THEM. SUPPORT THEM

VIRTUAL IMPACT COLLABORATIVE

This event took place THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

Our keynote speaker id the author of a report featured in a recent article from The Washington Post.  It highlights a recent findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the rise of self harm and suspected suicide attempts among teenage girls during the pandemic. The report, “Emergency Department Visits for Suspected Suicide Attempts Among Persons Aged 12 – 25 Years Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” found an exponential increase amongst girls, a 50.6 percent increase compared with 2019. The effects of the pandemic on mental health is well-documented, however this study provides new insight into the psychological toll girls are experiencing.

After an exceptional year, especially in Miami-Dade County, we must put on our gender lenses and focus on the risks affecting girls’ mental health in 2021.

Join us on September 2nd as our expert panel discusses issues and resources related to girls’ mental health risks in 2021, so that we may see them and support them.

If you don’t automatically receive the link to the event upon RSVPing please check your spam folder, or contact viviana@womensfundmiami.org by August 27th

KEYNOTE

CDR Ellen Yard is an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), and an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, where she has worked since 2009. Since joining the CDC, CDR Yard has worked for the National Center for Environmental Health (2009 to 2016), the Center for Global Health (2016 to 2019), and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2019 to present). She has responded to numerous public health threats. These include conducting surveillance for COVID-19 on cruise ships; building public health infrastructure in Zambia; investigating numerous international and domestic outbreaks; and examining lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan. In her current position with the Injury Center, CDR Yard studies the epidemiology of suicide and self-harm in the United States. Before joining the CDC, CDR Yard earned her PhD and MPH in Epidemiology from The Ohio State University, where she studied concussions and sports injuries at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. In her personal life, CDR Yard’s interest include adventurous travel, CrossFit, and dogs. She spent two years playing professional (full-contact) women’s football in Columbus, Ohio.

PANELIST

Virginia M. Akar is the founding CEO of Girls Inc. of Greater Miami, formerly known as Strong Girls, Inc. As an advocate for education equity, she works to ensure that girls in underserved communities have access to support, resources and information that will lead to positive academic, health and behavioral outcomes. Since launching the pilot after school program in Fall of 2018, the organization has grown to serve up to 180 girls in 6 after school programs. The program’s focused attention on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) creates opportunities for girls to learn and practice critical life skills often overlooked in the traditional schoolhouse setting. 

Her early career as a Miami-Dade County prosecutor working in the juvenile division set the foundation for her advocacy work for young girls. She saw beyond the child in front of the judge and saw instead a complex system that rarely addressed the problem from its root causes. 

In 2013, realizing that equitable access to quality music programs for children wasn’t always available, she co-founded Young Musicians Unite, a non-profit that partners with schools in Miami-Dade County to provide free music education. 

In 2015, research led her to Social and Emotional Learning as a solution to help young girls, particularly those who’ve experienced childhood trauma, break out of the vicious cycle they were born into. While earning her Master of Law in Human Rights degree, she developed a program that uses social and emotional skill development to change those outcomes and put girls on a steady path toward college and a successful career. 

In 2019, Strong Girls won the United Way Inspire 305 Grand Innovator Award, and in 2020 Virginia was awarded the United Way Essie Silva Community Builder Award. 

Virginia, her husband and their three children are proud to call Miami home, a city she watched transform over four decades into the multi-cultural mecca it is today.

Dr Lee received a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto, her Master of Science in Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  She completed two year of General Surgery residency at the Harvard Deaconess Surgical program and then completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical Center.  She is board certified in Emergency Medicine.  She is the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital and an affiliated Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.  She oversees the Jackson Memorial Hospital emergency department, the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center and the Florida Poison Information Center based at Jackson Health System in Miami,Fl.

Dr Lee supervises the operation and management of the adult and pediatric emergency department at Jackson with an annual census of over 115,000 patients.  She manages a staff of over 60 attending physicians and 45 resident trainees.  She collaborates with multiple stakeholders in the hospital to ensure quality care for patients with strokes, STEMI, sepsis, and other acute emergencies.  She is also active in research and surveillance projects involving NIH, CDC, and other emergency department based networks.

Dr Lee resides in Coconut Grove and has two children who are now in college.  She enjoys travelling, exploring different cuisines, and engaging with the local communities.

Risa Berrin is Founder & Executive Director of Health Information Project (HIP). Leading up to starting her own not-for-profit organization, Risa spent the early part of her career devoted to education, journalism and law.

Risa started writing for The Miami Herald during summers in college and continued working part-time after law school graduation. Her time working at the Herald exposed her to so many aspects of the Miami community.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, and later the University of Miami School of Law, Risa has always had an innate drive, entrepreneurial spirit and desire to improve her community. During law school, Risa led the school’s Street Law program in Miami’s public schools, which is where she first experienced the great potential young people can have on influencing education. Risa was inspired to make the curriculum more relatable to students through innovative and dynamic lesson plans that would resonate with this age group.

While in law school, Risa also became a court-appointed special advocate for children who are mistreated, abandoned and neglected, which helped shed light on the rampant abuse in our community. She also taught health education to female juveniles who were incarcerated, where she realized that no matter your situation or your socioeconomic status, people need reliable information and resources to deal with serious issues.

To create a solution to this endemic problem, Risa started HIP. As Founder & Executive Director, Risa is responsible for the sustainability and growth of the organization.

Dr. Daniel Sheridan is a licensed psychologist and the Clinical Director for the Children’s Bereavement Center. Dr. Sheridan is trained in both clinical work and empirical research. Clinically, he has provided therapeutic support to children and adults in both individual and group settings. Dr. Sheridan is also a published author and invited presenter at both national conferences and community agencies within South Florida. As Clinical Director for the Children’s Bereavement Center, Dr. Sheridan is responsible for the CBC Peer Support Group Services, community outreach and training, and the dissemination of CBC outcome research.