Marc S. Atkins

Marc S. Atkins PhD

Dr. Atkins is a licensed clinical psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and past Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He developed and led the internship in clinical psychology for the Department of Psychiatr ...

Community Outreach

UI Center on Depression & Resilience partners with the UIC Student Veterans Association for documentary film screening

Suicide among veterans has reached epidemic proportions. In fact, more veterans die to suicide than combat. To bring attention to this sobering fact the UI Center on Depression & Resilience has collaborated with the UIC Student Veterans Association for a screening of the documentary film Almost Sunrise (trailer below) on April 4, 2017. Read More

Community Outreach

A Conceptual Framework for Public Health Approach to Children’s Mental Health

A number of recent developments have begun pointing the way toward a new approach to children’s mental health in the United States. Belief in the need for a new approach is fueled by concern about overburdened health care systems, high costs, and fragmented approaches to children’s mental health. Read More

Community Outreach

5 Pillars: The Pathway to Improving the Delivery of Mental Health Services in Education

The Kennedy Forum, mental health advocates and longstanding UI CDR partners, released a paper on 5 pillars to improving the delivery of mental health services in education. While we don’t agree with all the points listed in this engaging report, our work enthusiastically endorses the concept that “…bringing mental health services to a community is more successful than having children and their families go beyond their communities for services.” Read More

Community Outreach

A Silent Epidemic: Children's Mental Health in Public Schools

NPR presents a thought-provoking, powerful, and illuminating infographic on the silent epidemic of children’s mental health problems in public schools. Read More

Community Outreach

Can the playground provide mental health moments?

For many, the playground provides fond childhood memories.Games of tag at recess, playing on the monkey bars, swinging so high it seemed we could touch the clouds.These memories may be filled with laughter, fun, and imagination, but we also learned valuable life lessons. For better or worse, how we interact with our peers can be learned through play.Cooperation, sharing, creativity, team building, taking turns, communication, and conflict resolution can all be developed on the playground. Read More

Community Outreach

Children’s Mental Well-being, Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and a Culture of Health

Doctor Atkins' long-standing interest in the development of effective mental health services for children and families living in high poverty urban communities brought him to Washington DC last month for two meetings that addressed our nation’s gaps in promoting children’s mental health and well-being in schools and communities. Read More

Community Outreach

A Radically Different Approach: Schools as a New Kind of Mental Health Clinic

Thirteen years after a landmark U.S. Surgeon General's report characterized the lack of adequate mental health services for children as a "serious concern," those services remain widely unavailable in low-income, inner-city neighborhoods. Some 80% of uninsured youth who require treatment don't receive any, and services for the other 20% are often of questionable quality. Read More

Community Outreach

On the Table discussion on "Building a Mental Health Resilience Plan for Chicago"

How can we have an impact on mental health citywide? How can individual treatment methods be translated into policy? What does mental health look like through a public health lens? These were the questions raised during an On the Table discussion hosted by UICDR titled “Creating a Mental Health Resilience Plan for Chicago,” part of the series of conversations held on May 10 in conjunction with the Chicago Community Trust and the Kennedy Forum. Read More

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