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President’s Message
          NCPS OFFICERS                      Farah Zaidi, MD

                2022-2023
                                              On July 16th, 2022, 988 became the new nation-
    Officers
    Farah Zaidi, MD - President               wide  equivalent  to 911 for  mental  health  and
    Michael Ostacher, MD, MPH - President-    suicide crisis. In May 2022, the office of popu-
    Elect / Treasurer                         lation  Affairs  of  Health  and  Human  Services
    Takeo Toyoshima, MD - Vice President      inaugurated the first ever National Adolescent
    Emaya Anbalagan, MD  - Secretary          Health Month.

    APA Assembly Representatives              NCPS  communication  committee  under  the
    Yelena Zalkina, MD (22-26)                leadership of Dr. Forster and guest editor Dr.
    Mel Blaustein, MD (21-25)                 Bhatia has wisely and very timely chosen to focus this newsletter primari-
    Peter Forster, MD (20-24)                 ly on the ever important and rising issue of child and adolescent mental
    Raymond Reyes, MD (19-23)                 health.

    Past Presidents                           The year 2022 is unique in many ways. The most celebrated event of this
    Shana Levy, MD, DFAPA                     time could be viewed as recovering from the biggest crisis of the 21st cen-
    Anna Glezer, MD                           tury in the form of the Covid 19 pandemic. Despite its current evolving
                                              variants and fluctuating course, we can appreciate that spread has slowed
    Councilors                                down with a less intense infection or need for hospitalization in affected
    Janet Baek, MD (20-23)                    individuals.
    Vacant (20-23)
    Elizabeth Rawson, MD, MHS (21-24)         While  children  and  youth  were  considered  among  the  most  protected
    Vacant (21-24)                            group from Covid virus infection, they were not the most protected from
    Richard Altesman, MD, DLFAPA (22-25)      its impacts and other calamities of this century! Youth mental health crisis
    Richa Bhatia, MD  (22-25)                 was on the rise before the pandemic but worsened during the pandemic

    Resident Councilors                       with  countless  challenges  faced  by  our  diverse  youth  on  many  fronts.
    Surur Sharif, MD ~ CPMC                   And  these  challenges  were  not  experienced  equally  by  all,  as  CDC
    Jimmy He, MD ~ Kaiser Oakland             notes:  “While the pandemic has affected all students, the experiences of disrup-
    Kathryn Brown, MD, MBA ~ Kaiser Oakland   tion and adversity have not affected all students equally”.
    Tiffany Chao, MD ~ Kaiser San Jose
    Manisha Yelda, MD ~ Kaiser San Jose       YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System) of the CDC indicated an
    Ashley Shatola, MD ~ San Mateo            increase in suicide attempts by high school students from 6.3% in 2009 to
    Kara Wang, MD~ San Mateo                  8.9% in 2019. Note, that this data presents stats till 2019 but this trend did
    Catherine Shir, MD ~ Stanford             not stop there. We are witnessing youth’s challenges as parents, psychia-
    Jasmine Tatum, MD ~ Stanford              trists, first responders, and community members.
    Cynthia He, MD, PhD ~ UCSF
    John “Connor” Barnhart, MD ~ USCF         One particular area of grave concern is exposure to and being a victim of
                                              gun violence, particularly in schools. According to gun violence archive (a
    Chapter Presidents                        non-profit,    data    collection   and     research    group-https://
    James Eyerman, MD, DFAPA                  www.gunviolencearchive.org/),  in  the  year  2022  alone,  the  number  of
    North Bay Counties                        children and teens under age 17 who died by gun violence is estimated to
                                              be more than 900!
    Parliamentarian
    Raymond Reyes, MD                         Newsletter articles, social media sites, scientific literature and above all,
                                              everyday life is witness to the devastating reality of the increase in inci-
    Communications Committee                  dents of gun violence in schools. Trauma, fear, and loss (of lives, safety,
    Peter Forster, MD ~ Editor                hope, trust, and predictability) are some of the inevitable outcomes in the
    Richa Bhatia, MD                          aftermath of these heartbreaking events. When schools are experienced as

    PFNC President                            combat rather than safety zones for learning, networking, social connect-
    Zena Potash, MD                           edness and future planning, they are bound to be dreaded and could lead
                                              to toxic stress resulting from ACEs (Adverse Childhood Events).
    Executive Director                        So what can be done during these difficult times to support our youth?
    Maggie Furrow

    415-334-2418 | F:415-239-2533 | ncps.org                                                          Continued on page 3

         NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY                                   Page 2             July/August 2022
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