Supporting Teens’ Emotional Health, with Dr. Michael Kisicki

With the start of the school year, we are dedicating this month’s episode to the teen mental health crisis in the U.S. According to a recent survey, nearly one in five teenagers has a diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition – leaving parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends – searching for ways to support the mental health of the teens in their lives. Fortunately, we are joined by Dr. Michael Kisicki, an Associate Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Pediatrics and Psychiatry and is the Chief Psychiatrist of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center. Dr. Kisicki – known to many of his patients as “Mickey” – shares insights from his practice, signs to watch for and simple strategies, like listening and modeling, that go a long way toward supporting teens, as well as the adults who love them.  

 

The Takeaway  

• We want to hear from you! Please complete our survey: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/member-feedback. 

• Drop us a line at our social media channels: Facebook // Instagram // YouTube. 

• Visit the Healthy Minds section of our Healthy Living Resource Center for additional information and resources: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyminds/  

• Find a mental health therapist through the Benefit Funds’ Provider Directory: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/find-a-provider. 

• Connect with a therapist online through Teladoc: www.Teladoc.com  or (800) TELADOC (835-2362). 

• Connect with our partner Brightline to access virtual and in-person care at locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island: brightline.com; (888) 255-1329.  

• For additional support, call our Wellness Member Assistance Program: (646) 473-6900. 

• Contact our partners at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) for a wide variety of community resources: www.naminycmetro.org. 

• If you or your child is in crisis, get free confidential counseling, mental health and substance use support and information by: 

• visiting https://988lifeline.org  

• calling or texting 988  

• calling (888) NYC-WELL (888-692-9355) 

• Get inspired by fellow members through our Members’ Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.  

• Stop by our Benefits Channel to view webinars on managing stress, building healthy meals and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos. 

• Visit our YouTube Channel to view a wide collection of healthy living videos: www.youtube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists 

• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents. 

 

Guest Bio 

Michael “Mickey” Kisicki, M.D., is an Associate Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Pediatrics and Psychiatry and is the Chief Psychiatrist of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center. He graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy from Emory University and then studied Medical Ethics on a Fulbright Grant in the Netherlands. His received his medical education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with a psychiatry residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at UCLA. He is a member of the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha and has received multiple awards in medical education, as well as Top Doctor awards in New Hampshire and Connecticut. He has held faculty positions at the University of Washington, the University of Connecticut and Dartmouth College. His clinical interests and expertise are in trauma-related mental health symptoms, development of borderline personality traits in adolescents/young adults and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His research focus has been on medication-assisted psychotherapies in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).