Amy, Pediatrician: A Labor of Love for Teens and Families

By Amy Heneghan, Pediatrician & HEARD Alliance Team Member

I was an inaugural member HEARD and helped with its development, the initial website content and design, and gathering/vetting mental health resources. As a primary care pediatrician, I brought that perspective, namely, what do providers caring for teens need to help those in crisis.

After a few years of meeting regularly, the HEARD alliance was launched and administered beautifully from Stanford. I moved on to other projects, including the Adolescent Behavioral Health Project at PAMF, but am still listed on the website as part of the leadership team. I did not contribute to the K-12 school tool kit, but did edit it and review it with the team.

As a pediatrician, I have many patents in crisis, with anxiety, depression, ADHD, and at times suicidal ideation. I have become adept and prescribing medication for depression and anxiety. I feel comfortable screening patients for suicide risk. I have at the ready many resources that I share with families for mental health care. I provide the HEARD Alliance website to EVERY family, and I often show them how to navigate, especially for the search able list of mental health support/services. 

The HEARD Alliance was and is a labor of love for the teens and families in our community. I am proud of HEARD and the website, the K-12 toolkit, the partnership among primary care providers, psychiatry, and schools. I miss working so closely with Shashank, yet know that the mission of HEARD remains consistent and the commitment to our community remains strong. I did look over the website again with a more critical eye and it is really terrific. Other than updating the resources to make sure they are current (a never ending task) and acknowledging all the work HEARD has done (and the people who are doing it), the website is great.