Articles by Gene Beresin

May 28, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Gaming Disorder: Is It a Real Illness?

Hear a conversation about gaming disorder below, or search for “Shrinking It Down” wherever you stream. Este artículo está disponible en español. “He is playing games all the time. Every chance he gets! From the time he gets home until bedtime, he’s in his room on that computer. And spends almost no time with the family. […]

May 22, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Illuminating Mental Health Through Art, featuring Multimedia Artist Elisa H. Hamilton – Shrinking It Down

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts – just search for “Shrinking It Down.” At the Clay Center, we often stress the importance of creativity for supporting healthy youth development and community relationships. So, we’re thrilled to have socially engaged multimedia artist Elisa H. Hamilton join Gene and Steve in today’s episode! Elisa is a visiting artist with the […]

May 7, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Self-Care for Resilience – Shrinking It Down

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts – just search for “Shrinking It Down.” Did you know Ellen enjoys boxing for self-care, and that Gene depends on daily interactions with his dog, Bear? This week is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week! What better way to celebrate than by focusing on self-care, and on building resilience […]

April 25, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Understanding ADHD – Shrinking It Down

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts – just search for “Shrinking It Down.” We all get distracted and disorganized. Today, it seems more than ever with digital media consuming our lives. We bet you’ve even wondered, at some point in your life, whether you might have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Heck – do […]

April 24, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Managing Sibling Conflicts: The Obvious and Hidden Battles

A lot has been written on sibling rivalry, particularly about name calling, arguing, provoking, physical fighting, and other forms of overt hostility. Almost every article suggests that this is inevitable and normal. In drawing comparisons, writers often reference the animal kingdom – baby birds throwing weaker siblings out of the nest, carnivores snatching a sibling’s […]

April 18, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

It’s the Time of the Season for… Mental Illness – Shrinking It Down

Tune in below or wherever you get your podcasts – just search for “Shrinking It Down.” Flowers are blooming. People are smiling. On the surface, it seems as if spring is the sweetest season of all. And while it is rejuvenating and joyful in many ways, it’s also associated with the highest rates of psychiatric […]

March 27, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Discipline and Punishment – Shrinking It Down

Listen wherever you get your podcasts – just search for “Shrinking It Down.” Punishment. It’s not the most fun part of the job, but parents know they have a responsibility to discipline their kids when they do something that’s not right – stealing, hitting, staying out past curfew. But how do you make the punishment […]

March 20, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Admissions Scandal, College Pressure, and Mental Health

You can also listen to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, SoundCloud, and most podcast apps – just search for “Shrinking It Down.” On today’s show, Dr. Ellen Braaten joins Gene and Steve to think deeper about our American culture that’s contributed to issues like the recent college admissions scandal, as well as less extreme (and less fraudulent) […]

March 7, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Cannabis and the Teen Brain, featuring Jodi Gilman, PhD – Shrinking It Down

Welcome to today’s “pot-cast”! Marijuana is on everyone’s mind, especially the parents of tweens and teens, as it becomes legal in more states – not just for medicinal use, but for recreation. We’ve learned from alcohol that teens are going to have easier access to cannabis the more state laws ease up, even when the […]

March 6, 2019

By Gene Beresin, Executive Director

9 Tips to Help Toddlers to Sleep On Their Own (and Enjoy Being Alone)

Recently, I was teaching a seminar for child psychiatry fellows on the topic of Donald Winnicott’s Theory of Emotional Development. About a third of the group had young children. Winnicott is less known by many parents. As a pediatrician, and later a child developmentalist, he was the first to describe some things we all appreciate: […]