Thomas Insel, MD
Co-founder, Mindstrong Health, and founder, Humanest Care. Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 2002-2015.
David Schreiber, MD
CEO and co-founder, Compass Health Center and Compass Virtual
Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health
BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY! FAN and Compass Health Center are giving away copies of Healing to guests randomly selected from the Zoom attendance report. All details on the webinar registration page. THANK YOU to Compass for their generous financial support of the giveaway!
As director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Thomas Insel, MD was giving a presentation when the father of a boy with schizophrenia yelled from the back of the room, “Our house is on fire and you’re telling me about the chemistry of the paint! What are you doing to put out the fire?” Dr. Insel knew in his heart that the answer was: not nearly enough. The gargantuan American mental health industry was not healing millions who were desperately in need. He left his position atop the mental health research world to investigate all that was broken—and what a better path to mental health might look like.
In the United States, we have treatments that work, but our system fails at every stage to deliver care well. Even before COVID, mental illness was claiming a life every eleven minutes by suicide. Quality of care varies widely, and much of the field lacks accountability. We focus on drug therapies for symptom reduction rather than on plans for long-term recovery. Care is often unaffordable and unavailable, particularly for those who need it most and are homeless or incarcerated. But Dr. Insel also found that we have approaches that work, both in the U.S. and globally. Mental illnesses are medical problems, but the cures for the crisis are not just medical, but social. This path to healing, built upon what he calls the three Ps (people, place, and purpose), is more straightforward than we might imagine.
A psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Dr. Insel has been a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology. He is the author of the 2022 book Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health. From 2002-2015, he served as Director of the NIMH. More recently, he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences); co-founded Mindstrong Health, a digital mental health company for people with serious mental illness; and launched Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery.
Dr. Insel will be in conversation with David Schreiber, MD, a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist and CEO and co-founder of Compass Health Center (CHC) and Compass Virtual. CHC is the largest provider of intensive non-hospital based psychiatric care in Illinois. CHC’s mission is to create safe and caring environments that improve access to treatment, keep people at home and out of higher level of care (e.g., emergency department and inpatient or residential facilities), and attain better outcomes.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on our website and YouTube channel.
Event Sponsors
- Compass Health Center
- Christ Church Winnetka
- Evanston Scholars
- Evanston Township High School D202
- Family Service Center
- Glencoe D35
- Haven Youth and Family Services
- Kenilworth D38
- Lake Bluff D65
- Lake Forest Country Day School
- Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools
- Loyola Academy
- Mindful Psychology Associates PC
- Near North Montessori School
- New Trier High School D203
- New Trier Parents’ Association
- North Shore Country Day
- Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy
- Pope John XXIII School
- Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School
- Roycemore School
- Science & Arts Academy
- Stevenson High School D125
- The Alliance for Early Childhood
- The Avery Coonley School
- University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Parents’ Association
- Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart
- Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.)
Upcoming Events
The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature
Alan Lightman, Ph.D.
Professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT and author of seven novels
Dacher Keltner, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, Faculty Director of the Greater Good Science Center, and bestselling author
ON ZOOM
The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions
Michael Norton, Ph.D.
Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Sam Sommers, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Racial Equity and Diversity Lab at Tufts University
ON ZOOM
