Please join the Arlington Board of Youth Services and Dr. Steven Schlozman for the inaugural Mental Health Focus Series discussion on “Understanding and Reducing Stigma in Mental Health.” This event will be held at Arlington Youth Counseling Center (AYCC) at 670R Mass Ave, Arlington on Wednesday,

May 2 from 7-8:30pm. The program is free and light refreshments will be served.

Have you ever wondered about: Why mental health stigma persists? How the current system of care contributes to this stigma? How parents can advocate for their child, for themselves, and for their communities to diminish mental health stigma? What some of the most unexpected findings in the study of stigma and mental health are? Dr. Schlozman will address some of these topics and more as he explores the stigmatization (and de-stigmatization) of mental illness.

Steven Schlozman, M.D., is the associate director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He was also the co-director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry for HMS and is a staff child psychiatrist at MGH. He works with children, adolescents, and adults and consults to the transplant services there. He has been involved in national efforts to increase recruitment in psychiatry and decrease stigma with regard to psychiatric illness. He has conducted international research focusing on stigma and mental illness and has written and presented extensively on the topic. He also writes fiction and has published two novels including The Zombie Autopsies.

This event is co-sponsored by the Board of Youth Services, Arlington Youth Counseling Center, and Arlington Public School’s Parent Forum Committee. For more information please visit http://www.arlingtonma.gov/aycc.