Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities

09/30/2025

Thrive team member Rob Harris was recently named a recipient of the Promise Sandbox Award. This funding award was presented by the Promise Fund, a philanthropic foundation supporting leaders in the field of Early Childhood Care and Development. Robert will use the award to pilot the>3 Project, which is a program designed to increase male representation in early childhood education through mentorship and networking.

Congratulations to Rob!

09/25/2025

What Young People Tell Us About Hope

A week after our season premiere, we're reflecting on Dr. Lynn Fiellin's observation about young people and optimism.

When asked to describe themselves with five adjectives, adults typically use negative words: frustrated, annoyed, tired. Young people choose words like fun, excited, creative.

This optimism shapes Dr. Fiellin's game design. Rather than lecturing teens about risks, her games meet them where they are: curious, engaged, and capable of growth. They're not just preventing negative outcomes; they're building positive futures.

What gives you hope about the young people in your life?

Listen to the full conversation: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4E6IOElYCwYIascahbDUZ4

09/24/2025

Thrive team team members Neal Horen and Jenn Drake-Croft presented a poster at the recent ISEI Early Childhood Intervention Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, which shared insights from research in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank examining mental health services and interventions for children aged 0-5 in IDB borrowing member countries.

The poster shared real successes and challenges from this study, revealing important insights about early childhood mental health across Latin America and the Caribbean. These findings can help inform better policies and interventions for children and families in the region.

👏 Congratulations to Neal and Jenn!

09/23/2025

🎓 Meet Our Expert: Angela Castillo

Angela Castillo brings expertise in cultural competence and systems change to her role as Provider Network Component Manager for the OPWDD-Georgetown University NCCC Partnership for Systems Change. With comprehensive experience supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, she oversees a portfolio that includes coordinating regional provider forums, managing statewide organizational self-assessment processes with associated technical assistance, and developing virtual professional development activities that strengthen cultural and linguistic competence across New York State's developmental disabilities service system.

Angela has a Master of Arts in Professional Studies and deep experience from her work with both the Georgetown University NCCC and the Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. She excels at conducting training, consultation, and technical assistance activities while collaborating closely with research and evaluation teams to ensure all initiatives are rigorously assessed for impact. Her work is essential to creating lasting systemic change that promotes equity and cultural and linguistic competence in developmental disabilities services.

09/19/2025

Leading with Empathy: Dr. Matt Biel on SALA Series Podcast.

This week's episode of Series podcast features a conversation with Thrive Center's Dr. Matt Biel, host Mori Taheripour, and Dr. Harold Koplewicz, the founding president of the Child Mind Institute. The three discuss leading with empathy in a mental health system defined by stigma and scarcity.

With insights that span children's mental health, public health, education, and family systems, Dr. Biel offers a roadmap for leaders from a range of backgrounds and industry sectors.

🎧 Listen to the podcast here: http://bit.ly/46Jyr6y

09/18/2025

Season 2 of Thrive Dispatches launches today with Dr. Lynn Fiellin, whose lab uses video games to prevent substance use in adolescents. Her team co-designs educational video games with teens that help them make better choices in real life.

"It's beyond just preventing the bad things. It's really helping them learn how to build the good things and not just survive, but thrive."

Listen to the full episode here: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/thrivecenterforchildrenfa/episodes/Gaming-to-Build-Better-Decision-Making-with-Dr--Lynn-Fiellin-e38d161

09/18/2025

Thrive team members Toby Long, Jenn Drake-Croft, David Willis, and Neal Horen recently presented a symposium entitled, "Advancing Early Relational Health Within Early Childhood Intervention" at the 8th ISEI Early Childhood Intervention Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The team presented research showing that relationships are the foundation for children's wellbeing, specifically exploring how early childhood interventionists (ECI) play a crucial role in supporting families through community-based, relationship-centered approaches.

The Thrive Center team shared diverse perspectives on this approach. Toby Long examined ECI practices around the globe, identifying what we know and what we still need to learn. Jenn Drake-Croft explored development through a systems perspective, showing how interconnected factors influence child outcomes. David Willis discussed how to elevate Early Relational Health within ECI practice, while Neal Horen introduced Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation as a prevention-based strategy that operationalizes these principles.

👏 Congratulations to Toby, David, Jenn, and Neal!

09/17/2025

"ADHD is just one part of who you are. It doesn't define you or limit what you can achieve. Embrace your unique brain. Work on your challenges and celebrate your strengths. With the right tools and support, you can do amazing things."

Haven Resource Center recently unveiled a new video, “Understanding ADHD,” which breaks down what ADHD is and debunks some common myths. It also shares five helpful strategies to manage ADHD, and suggests some useful tips to create a support system and get help from medical professionals.

Watch the video here:

Living with ADHD can feel like a rollercoaster, but you don't have to navigate it alone! This video breaks down what ADHD really is and busts some common myt...

09/16/2025

Dr. Dani Dumitriu is returning to the Thrive Center on September 26th with a talk entitled, “The Developmental Origins of Resilience: Of Mice, Men, and Physician-Scientists." The presentation will be on campus from 12:00-1:00pm EDT at the Wright Lounge, White Gravenor 308.

"Dr. Dumitriu is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the inaugural director of the Center for Early Relational Health (CERH). The uniting principle of Dr. Dumitriu’s multifaceted research program is to actuate a strengths-based pivot in pediatrics: preventing pathology by promoting resiliency. From basic science through clinical & implementation studies, her multi-modal, multi-species, multi-scale research focuses on understanding and harnessing the neurocircuits of resilience, toward spearheading novel approaches to universal primary prevention."

If you are local to the Washington, DC area, or happen to be visiting, please join us!

09/12/2025

👋 Meet the Fellows: Wide Therapy 👋

We are excited to have Wide Therapy join the Innovation Hub Fall 2025 cohort. “Wide Therapy is a digital intervention where neurodiverse children across all learning abilities can see themselves succeed in whatever is challenging for them in real life. By seeing themselves succeed in an understandable way, they're able to apply what they've learned digitally into their real environment.

Wide is the first online platform where you can easily and quickly create personalized simulations, helping children with diverse abilities to overcome challenges and develop essential life skills for personal growth and independence."

We cannot wait to collaborate with the incredible team at Wide Therapy over the coming weeks!

To learn more about Wide Therapy, watch the video below.

Meet Our Innovation Hub Fellow: Wide TherapyWhen a child sees themselves succeed, they believe they can.Rinat Hitelman, Co-Founder and Clinical Director“Wide...

09/11/2025

👋 Meet the Fellows: Special Olympics 👋

Special Olympics will be joining the Innovation Hub Fellowship’s Fall 2025 cohort! “The Special Olympics Young Athletes App was developed to help address the challenges that families of children with ID face. Our free mobile app provides families with personalized play-based activities, research-backed guidance, and peer support."

We cannot wait to work alongside the wonderful Special Olympics team!

Click below to learn more about Special Olympics.

Meet Our Innovation Hub Fellows: Special Olympics, Young Athletes AppEvery child deserves the chance to thrive, and every family deserves tools that honor th...

09/10/2025

👋 Meet the Fellows: Northwest Center 👋

Northwest Center will join the Innovation Hub’s Fall 2025 cohort this month!

The Innovation Hub is thrilled to collaborate with the Northwest Center team over the next few months! “Northwest Center in Seattle, Washington, focuses on supporting infants and their caregivers transitioning from the NICU to home. These families are navigating confusing systems and medically complex care while also dealing with the emotional well-being challenges that arise from the trauma of a NICU stay.

Our early intervention team created the hospital-to-home care model to address the service cliff that families experience. This model integrates support for the mental health of caregivers with clinical support for an infant's feeding, growth, and development."

Click below to learn more about Northwest Center.

Northwest Center: Hospital to HomeExtra Support for Vulnerable Babies and Their Families, Caregivers, and CliniciansSarah Cercelli, Systems Change Manager & ...