But first, read our latest feature article on teens and mental health, written by high school sophomore Julissa Sanders for Youthcast Media Group. The hardest part is not talking about their mental health problems; it’s telling their parents. Plus, the closeness that can result if a teen decides they’re finally ready to open up to their parents.

Policy expert Joy Burkhard attended the Lindsay Clancy trial. Here’s what she says needs to change about maternal mental health.

Joy Burkhard has led the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health for the past 15 years. For most of that time, “postpartum psychosis” was not a widely used or understood term and discussions of postpartum mental health challenges were rare among the general public. That has changed radically in recent months as the tragedy surrounding Lindsay Clancy, the former labor and delivery nurse charged with killing her three young children in 2023, became front-page news, permeating the media and social media. Burkhard was a regular attendee at the trial, and has written about her impressions of the proceedings.

We spoke with Burkhard about the case and what it reveals regarding public understanding of maternal mental health, and the policy changes her center is trying to create.

Courtney Wise: What does the Clancy mistrial suggest to you about where public understanding actually rests relative to maternal mental health conditions, especially postpartum psychosis?

Though there has been a massive shift in awareness of maternal mental health disorders in the last decade, the trial illustrated that there are still significant gaps in understanding postpartum psychosis and conflating it with postpartum depression, which are two distinct conditions, though they can exist at the same time. To me, the evidence was clear that Lindsay was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Someone who is in the throes of psychosis or postpartum psychosis can still “plan,” and that’s confusing to people. We need to think about what the planning is based on — reality or delusions, hallucinations, and paranoia.

What is incredibly frustrating is that in this case, her psychiatrists missed diagnosing this even when she was hospitalized. Postpartum psychosis can be difficult to diagnose, and I believe we must advance the diagnostics with urgency. Where else in medicine do we rely solely on a patient questionnaire of self-reported symptoms to make a diagnosis? And when someone is suffering from a mental illness, the stigma and fear of judgment can absolutely interfere with a person disclosing honestly. To further complicate matters, when someone is in a state of postpartum psychosis, she can be delusional, paranoid, and distrusting of authority figures, which further compounds her ability to answer questionnaires accurately. We must advance diagnostics to include blood or saliva biomarkers, brain scans, and other technologies.

Read the rest of our interview here on the MindSite News website.

Future Friends, a concert series to reduce loneliness and increase belonging

Students at college campuses across the nation are struggling with loneliness, anxiety and other mental health challenges that counseling centers can’t solve alone. Cue Future Friends, a new campus concert series that points students toward mental health support on campus as they build new connections. The two-day events pair live music with phone-free social gatherings, wellness activities and mental health resources, partnering with campus counseling centers, student life teams and organizations like NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) to staff information tables on site.

Future Friends officially launched yesterday at the University of Wisconsin, with activations to follow next week at the University of Michigan and at Indiana University later this month. The goal is for students to have fun building real connections with support close at hand. The events are deliberately nonpolitical, said co-founder Harris Schwartzberg, so students can find “a safe space where they can meet new people.”

“It’s about creating community and empathy,” he added. “We encourage students to come solo and be open to walking away with new friends. We want students to understand they don’t have to be a trained psychologist to help their friends, they just need to be able to listen and show up for one another.”

Student ambassadors and volunteers plan and promote each event, which is free for students to attend, with the exception of the concert, which asks for a $20 donation to a mental health nonprofit selected by the campus. Students or schools interested in hosting Future Friends can email info@two-bridge.com to get the ball rolling. Events can run anytime classes are in session, and spring 2027 visits are already in the works.

“A lot of kids suffer in silence,” Schwartzberg said. “All it can take to change this is picking up the phone or visiting a friend to check in on them and remind them, they aren’t alone.”

A big win for mental health parity in California

At a time when the Trump administration is seeking to weaken regulations that enforce federal mental health parity laws California is doing the opposite. On September 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Behavioral Health Parity Protection Act, AB 2011. The law will help strengthen existing state laws requiring that insurers cover mental health and substance use disorder comparably to coverage for physical health care.

“We have spent decades learning how to help people with mental health and addiction challenges live healthier, fuller lives. I’m grateful that our laws are catching up,” Rebecca O. Bagley, president and CEO of The Kennedy Forum, said in a statement. She added that the new law would help promote early intervention, treatment and recovery. Stronger parity, she said, “will lead to a healthier workforce, thriving communities, and improved well-being throughout the state.” Along with the Kennedy Center, the Steinberg Institute and the California Department of Insurance co-sponsored this legislation. 

California has recently increased its enforcement of mental health parity requirements with increased crackdowns on health plans that violate the law. Gov. Newsom has also signed a package of bills designed to promote better mental health and substance treatment in the Golden State.

In other news…

The best student podcasts, according to NPR: I love podcasts, especially those that focus on real people sharing stories about their real lives. That makes work by kids and teens some of my favorite listening because of their special knack for getting to the heart of a matter. Earlier this week, NPR announced the finalist shows in its 2026 Student Podcast Challenge, many spotlighting stories on mental and emotional health, including:

Dear Kate, from a middle schooler recalling her close relationship with her grandpa as she learns about dementia, the illness that eventually took him from her;

Dyslexia and MEE, which tells the story of a student navigating her dyslexia diagnosis and learning how she might experience the condition as she grows up;

More Than Just a Differability, featuring a boy seeking to help people understand Down syndrome isn’t all that defines his brother;

The Person I am Becoming, in which a teen interrogates grief, growth and legacy following the death of his father;

Music on the Mind, a podcast exploring how music helps students with learning differences.

Next week we’ll visit the problem of sexual assault on campus – most recently in the news concerning allegations at Cornell – and potential solutions. Stay tuned.