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Mental Health Symposium 2025

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Mental Health Symposium 2025 logo

Saturday
March 8, 2025

Students participating in an equine therapy session, petting horses
event attendee petting a therapy dog
Self Defense Training session
Presenter speaking to a forum room of adult attendees
table host speaking to event attendees at the resource fair
event attendees painting in a session
Presenter answering audience questions from a classroom of student attendees
table host speaking to event attendees at the resource fair
a young child pointing to a book in the book fair
event staff handing out a prize drawing basket to the winner

Thank you to all 2025 speakers, staff, volunteers, and attendees!

Presentation Archive

All available Keynote and Breakout Sessions' presentation resources are now available, linked here: Keynote Video, Adult Sessions, and Student Sessions.

Untethered Book Cover

Keynote Address: Overscheduled and Overwhelmed: Navigating a Culture of High Achievement

Teenagers are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress and, as a result, many are struggling to cope effectively. Although the research on emotional regulation has been around for decades, many people don't understand how the brain functions under stress and, thus, how to best manage our difficult moments. This presentation will provide participants with new ways to understand regulation and provide strategies for managing our most stressful moments.

Presentation SlidesVideo

About the Speaker: Doug Bolton, Ph.D.

Doug Bolton Portrait
Doug Bolton is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Director of School Consultation for Formative Psychological Services. He spent over 20 years as a psychologist and principal at North Shore Academy, a K-12 therapeutic school in Highland Park. Dr. Bolton provides consultation, supervision and professional development to parents, educators, and clinicians throughout Illinois to create communities that help foster student and staff resilience.  His book, Untethered: Creating Connected Families, Schools, and Communities to Raise a Resilient Generation will be released in March, 2025.

Find out more about Doug here.


Breakout Sessions

Click on a image below to view the respective breakout session's public resources.

As of March 17, all available presentations are posted. As of April 1, all available videos are posted.

District Logos: SD129, SD308, SD203, SD204, SD200, SD131


Looking for last year's Symposium?

You may still access the Mental Health Symposium 2024 Archive here.