Attendees gather in Frisch’s Theater during Family Mental Health Education Day at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens on Feb. 28, 2026.
Aubrey Wineinger | Staff Reporter
Mental health advocates in the Greater Cincinnati area met at the Cincinnati Zoo on Feb. 28, 2025, for Family Mental Health Education Day, an educational event focused on treating anxiety and depression in young people.
Hosted by Cincinnati mental health nonprofits 1N5 and MindPeace in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Mental and Behavioral Health Institute, the program was designed to help reduce stigma around mental illness in youth.
“Youth are struggling with depression and access to care,” said 1N5 founder and Executive Director Nancy Eigel-Miller. “Family Mental Health Education Day offers adolescents, young adults, and their caregivers a chance to connect, share experiences and learn from experts about managing mental health challenges.”
Alyssa Lloyd, a certified youth peer supporter with 1N5, opened the program by sharing her own mental journey. “Healing is possible; it’s not about being perfect,” Lloyd said. “It’s about being willing to take it one step at a time.”
Several medical and social work professionals in Cincinnati delivered lectures at the event.
Dr. Melissa Young, an assistant clinical professor and clinical psychologist at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center, encouraged attendees to actively listen to youth patients without minimizing their feelings.
Young said that discussions about mental health should educate listeners on practical ways to manage stress, navigate treatment decisions and create supportive environments at home.
“As a therapist myself, I really view myself as a coach,” Young said. “My job is to teach skills, reinforce, help cheer people on and help them navigate challenges as they get stuck.”
Speakers at the event also held interactive breakout sessions between lectures, allowing attendees to engage with experts on specific aspects of teen and young adult emotional care.
Some sessions addressed coping skills, stress management and peer support. Nicole Pfirman, senior vice president of MindPeace, and Katie Bruening, youth programs and training manager for 1N5, led a session on mind and body coping mechanisms for anxiety and depression.
Annie Altenau, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the University of Cincinnati (UC), and Mark Johnson, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s, led a session on balancing mental health with personal independence.
Other talks centered on how to identify early warning signs of anxiety and depression, and how supportive conversations are needed when evaluating psychiatric treatment options.
Dr. Melissa DelBello, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience and pediatrics at UC, talked about setting goals between the family for when to take the medicine, when intervention should arise and when stronger doses should be considered if the medication is not having the desired effect.
Rana Elmaghraby and Kelli Dominick, both psychiatrists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and faculty members of UC’s department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience, led a session on non-medicating treatment options for anxiety and depression. The talk discussed alternatives like Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT).
“It’s very exciting to see people that are bringing kind of a scientific, medical and clinical expertise in combination with those with lived experiences,” said Laurel Leslie, the director of the mental and behavioral health institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “Real changes happen when we bring expertise and lived experience together.”