128. Making Sure Our Kids are Okay with Jordan Posamentier

Everyone should be working to ensure our kids are okay; it’s not the sole responsibility of parents or teachers or mental health professionals. If we want to make sure our kids are ready to be tomorrow’s leaders, making sure our kids are okay needs to be a collective responsibility and priority.

 

This week on the podcast, I’m talking to Jordan Posamentier of the Committee for Children, an organization that helps support youth mental health and wellbeing through policy and advocacy for change.

 

In this episode, we talk about the challenge of supporting children’s mental health, how parents and community members can help, and why the onus isn’t just on mental health providers.

 

I hope you’ll tune in and take the action that Jordan suggests toward the end of the episode. We’re all in this together!

About Jordan Posamentier, Esq.:

Jordan Posamentier, Esq., is the Vice President of Policy & Advocacy at Committee for Children, an over-forty-year-old non-profit missioned to foster the safety and well-being of children through social-emotional learning and development. Previously, Jordan was Deputy Policy Director at the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education, Director of Legislative Analysis at StudentsFirst, Legislative Counsel to the California Judges Association, and a teacher in New York City public schools. Jordan earned his JD from the University of Houston, MS in education from Queens College within the City University of New York, and BA in human ecology from College of the Atlantic in Maine. He lives in Shoreline, Washington. Connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.

Jump in the Conversation: [1:40] - Jordan’s genesis story in advocacy for change [3:15] - What does well-being look like? What are we aspiring to? [4:53] - Focusing on youth mental well being [6:29] - Misfire in mental health [8:14] - How the pandemic changed Committee for Children’s work [12:28] - Committee for Children national campaign [13:43] - How to support the campaign [14:40] - Connecting the right way with the right people [16:18] - What the day in a life of a policymaker looks like [17:42] - Roadblocks for policy [19:07] - Other steps changemakers can take [22:12] - Turbo Time [23:56] - What people should know about children’s wellbeing [25:56] - Jordan’s Magic Wand [27:26] -Maureen’s takeaways 

 

Links & Resources Committee for Children Follow Committee for Children on Twitter Follow the #MoreThanJustOkay hashtag Rita Pierson TED Talk: Every Kid Needs a Champion Email Maureen Maureen’s TEDx: Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools The Education Evolution Facebook: Follow Education Evolution Twitter: Follow Education Evolution LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution EdActive Collective Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids Micro-school feature on Good Morning America The Micro-School Coalition Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition LEADPrep