The milestone was marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the park.

The new Health and Well-being Center introduces a mental health education component to JA Finance Park’s interactive learning model. The space will help students connect financial literacy with emotional well-being and discover practical ways to prioritize mental health as part of their overall wellness.

“This learning hub represents a powerful step toward closing the knowledge gap around youth mental health,” said Tiffany Benjamin, CEO of the Humana Foundation. “By integrating mental wellness into financial literacy and career planning, we’re helping students build the tools they need to thrive, both personally and professionally.”

The Health and Well-being Center will engage nearly 10,000 middle and high school students annually, offering hands-on activities that help students:

• Understand emotional well-being and mental health
• Create personalized self-care plans
• Explore careers in mental health
• Connect with local community resources for support

The initiative responds to a growing need in youth mental health education. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experiences a mental health condition each year. Yet, Kentucky and Indiana do not currently require mental health in the states’ K-12 curriculum. The Health and Well-being Center aims to normalize mental health conversations and empower students to seek help when needed.

“As physicians and scientists, we have the privilege of helping people find not just health, but purpose,” said Adam Kaplin, a neuropsychiatrist and research affiliate of the Envirome Institute. “Integrating mental well-being into Junior Achievement’s Finance Park is groundbreaking – it shows students that caring for the mind is every bit as essential as caring for the body or managing one’s finances. At UofL’s Envirome Institute, we’re proud to support this effort to help the next generation understand that mental health is central to thriving, not just surviving.”

Each of the four partner organizations played a vital role in bringing the center to life. Humana Inc. led the strategic build and design, contributed expertise in environmental and emotional wellness, and both the Humana Foundation and Jewish Heritage Fund provided strategic funding and a vision to advance equitable health outcomes for Louisville’s youth.

“Adolescence is a critical time for brain development, setting the stage for lifelong benefits,” said Jeff Polson, president and CEO of the Jewish Heritage Fund. “We are grateful for Humana’s leadership on this initiative with Junior Achievement to help Louisville’s youth build a strong foundation for future success.”

A newly published clinical trial led by University of Louisville physicians has shown that a computer-assisted cognitive behavior (CCBT) therapy can overcome these barriers while providing effective treatment for depression.

Jesse Wright, professor of psychiatry at UofL and director of the , documented treatment results for a diverse group of 175 adults for depression. The study, published in in February, showed that patients in a primary care setting who participated in CCBT reported significantly greater improvement in their depressive symptoms than those receiving treatment as usual.

“With modest amounts of telephone support from a clinician, CCBT was associated with greater improvement in depression, anxiety and quality of life than usual treatment in a diverse group of primary care patients. We were pleased to see that CCBT had more than double the remission and response rates as usual treatment,” Wright said.

“There has been a historical lack of effective care for depression in the primary care setting,” he said. “Because this study population included people with lower income and lack of internet access, results suggest that this form of treatment can be acceptable and useful in diverse primary care settings.”

Rather than requiring frequent office visits, a patient can engage in CCBT online whenever their schedule allows and from the comfort of their home. A primary care provider can monitor and support the patient’s progress, helping patients who may not desire or be able to see a psychologist or psychiatrist for their therapy.

“Particularly during the COVID pandemic, we have seen how limited appointments are for mental health services and the rise of telemedicine has led to increasing comfort with utilizing technology to support health, which makes computer-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy a great option,” said Laura Bishop, an associate professor and internal medicine-pediatrics physician at UofL and a co-author of the study.

In the study, CCBT participants used the nine-lesson computer program “Good Days Ahead,” along with as many as 12 weekly telephone support sessions with a master’s level therapist, along with the treatment usually provided by the primary care sites.

“I think this is a preferable option for younger patients who often are more comfortable with self-reflection and working through the CCBT on a computer rather than meeting face-to-face with a provider,” Bishop said. “We’ve seen more and more familiarity with wellness and meditation apps over the past few years that have paved the way for CCBT to be widely accepted.”

Wright began work on computer-assisted therapy in the 1990s and led the initial development of Good Days Ahead. In addition to depression, Wright said CCBT also could be adapted to treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, eating disorders or other conditions.

Patients in the Louisville area can request use of Good Days Ahead through the .

Good Days Ahead is being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under a new protocol for certification of therapeutic computer programs.

Wright retains an equity interest in MindStreet Inc., the company that now manages Good Days Ahead.

Richard Blondell, MD, vice chair for addiction medicine and professor of family medicine at the University of Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, will give an overview of substance use disorders and ways to treat acute and chronic pain for patients with addiction. The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the basement-level auditorium of the UofL Ambulatory Care Building, 550 S. Jackson St.

Blondell provides health care to patients as they withdraw and stabilize from drug and/or alcohol addiction. His research centers on clinical management strategies for groups of patients with prescription drug addiction, including pregnant women and people with chronic pain.

No stranger to Louisville, Blondell established the first addiction medicine consult service at UofL Hospital in 1998 to aid the trauma service with detox management following patient admission and referrals to addiction treatment programs at the time of discharge.

“I didn’t choose to specialize in addiction medicine so much as it chose me,” Blondell said. “I became the program director of the UofL Family Medicine Residency Program in 1989. Shortly thereafter, I sent two family medicine residents off to receive treatment of their substance use disorders.”

The Kentucky Medical Association sponsored an off-site, two-week addiction medicine training for Blondell, and over the years, he became increasingly involved in addiction medicine.

Blondell develops best practices for training the next generation of physicians on how to treat and prevent addiction. In 2013, he was named the first director of the National Center for Physician Training in Addiction Medicine, established by the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation (ABAMF). The addiction medicine fellowship he developed at the University of Buffalo Department of Family Medicine was among the nation’s first postgraduate addiction medicine residencies accredited by ABAMF.

Blondell completed his family medicine residency training at the UofL School of Medicine in 1981, and served on the faculty at the school from 1985 to 2003.

John F. Greden, MD, Rachel Upjohn Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences and executive director of the University of Michigan Depression Center, will present “Depression 2017: Finding the Best Treatment for Each Person.” The event is part of the “Building Hope” public lecture series sponsored by the University of Louisville Depression Center and will be held at 6 p.m. at the Clifton Center, 2117 Payne St.

“Personalized medicine is an overused but essential concept,” Greden said. “The right treatment for the right person at the right time is the only way to attain and maintain wellness for most of those struggling with depressive and bipolar illnesses.”

The lecture kicks off the Depression Center’s 11th annual conference at the Clifton Center on Friday, Nov. 10, that will focus on advancements in the treatment of mood and personality disorders.

Conference sessions are geared toward psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, primary care physicians and other mental health clinicians. Focusing on some of the most promising developments in biological psychiatry and psychotherapy, participants will learn about advanced methods for challenging clinical problems.

Keynote speakers include Greden, Kate Comtois, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington and director of the dialectical behavior therapy program at Harborview Mental Health Services in Seattle, and G. Randolph Schrodt, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UofL and managing partner and principal investigator for transcranial magnetic stimulation research at Integrative Psychiatry in Louisville.

Continuing education credits are available for attendees.

Attendance is free for UofL physicians, nurses, faculty members, students, residents and fellows. Registration for other health care professionals costs $100. . For more information, call 502-588-4886 or visit the .

The conference is supported by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Norton Healthcare, Centerstone, Passport Health Plan and The Brook Hospitals.