Mental Health Champions: Why & How Eve Loren Goldstein and Danielle Matthew Are Helping To Champion Mental Wellness
Creating relationships and making connections is a third strategy. Sharing experiences with others and enjoying friendships and relationships is essential. Simple strategies like texting your friend 3 friends or family members each morning can make a big difference. It is also important for people to learn to reach out for help and support when necessary.
As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Dr Eve Loren Goldstein and Danielle Matthew, LMFT.
Dr. Eve Loren Goldstein and Danielle Matthew, LMFT are Mental Health Champions who have launched SEL Collective with the mission to empower parents, teachers, and students with the skills necessary for building positive strong communities.
Eve Loren Goldstein, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist and learning disabilities specialist who is a speaker, clinician, teacher trainer, mental health advocate, and works bi-coastally as the director of Westchester Child Therapy in Scarsdale, NY, and Calabasas Child and Adolescent Psychology in Calabasas, CA. She is passionate about addressing the challenges that arise at the intersection of education and mental health, consulting and speaking on a variety of topics including self-esteem building, emotional resilience, mindfulness, problem-solving, communication, social happiness, academic success, school collaboration, and parenting solutions.
Danielle Matthew, LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist whose lifelong mission is to empower families, schools, and health and wellness professionals to conquer bullying and educate about social-emotional learning. She is a national and international speaker on the topics of bullying, post covid stress, anxiety, and depression. She has authored Amazon Parenting Best-Seller, The Empowered Child: How to Help Your Child Cope, Communicate, and Conquer Bullying, and is a major contributor to national news organizations and media sharing her expertise with the Washington Post, Huffington Post, TODAY.com, Fox, ABC and CBS Morning Shows, and Mom Talk Radio.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
Danielle: I was born in Baltimore, Maryland but raised on the West Coast in Los Angeles, growing up in Santa Monica and West LA.
Eve: Meanwhile, I am from the east coast, growing up in New Rochelle, NY. Eventually I traveled to the Midwest for college and graduate school, finally making my way all the way West to Los Angeles with my husband and three children. There, I was fortunate to meet and work with Danielle, since we have a similar passion to positively impact and empower communities.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit about what you or your organization are trying to address?
Eve: Through SEL Collective, we provide a 360° approach to recognizing and supporting the ongoing youth mental health crisis. Mental health issues were rising prior to the pandemic, but since then, 1 in 3 children and teens are experiencing loneliness, depression, and anxiety. We need to come together across home and school communities to help our youth.
Danielle: Yes, the mental health issues going on with youth today are so challenging that the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued a general advisory towards the growing concern of Youth Mental Health. We knew we could make a difference and have put together this important seminar series which supports the entire community of educators, parents, and students.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
Eve: In our practices, throughout the pandemic, we were getting call after call with a need for support services. We knew that we needed to make more headway, which is why we teamed up to create SEL Collective. We looked to work on a broader level to ensure that as a community and society as whole, we came out of this challenging time in a position of growth and resilience.
Danielle: We have much hope for the future and want to inspire and provide communities with the tools they need to grow, be innovative, and build the life skills necessary to support our youth.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
Danielle: Eve and I were constantly discussing the kids in crisis. We knew the schools were a great place to start because teachers see over 50 million students across the nation.
Eve: It became obvious that educators need the tools to know how to help themselves and their students. They are a huge influence in our society, and we need to support them so that they can support our children.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
Danielle: Well, most recently we had the opportunity to connect with the Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona, while attending the 2022 ASCD Conference in Chicago. We are all on the same page of needing to be innovative and daring as we move forward. Now is the time for education to shine.
Eve: Absolutely! My favorite message that he shared was that we need to let our fingerprints be on the plan for education. This is exactly what we are doing with our seminar series that focuses on finding purpose and empowerment through social emotional learning.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
Eve: Growing up I had trouble learning to read. My school kept trying to help me with what they understood about learning, but in 8th grade I started working educationally with Ms. Rosalyn Tauber. Because she unlocked the key to my learning needs, I was able to move into all honors classes, graduate high school a year early, and attend some of the finest universities in the country. It was my experience with her that led me on the path to becoming a learning specialist and school-clinical child psychologist.
Danielle: I too was faced with challenges in school, where I was bullied. I took my experiences into my professional career, and dedicated myself to helping others, spreading kindness, and supporting children and their families when they experience bullying. I had a professor, Dr. Pamela Harmell, who believed in me and invited me to professionally speak on bullying. Her belief in me was so impactful that my book is actually dedicated to her.
According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?
Eve: Society is taught to push away or hide emotions. It is not something often spoken about and yet we need more understanding about our emotions, more self-awareness. Happiness is a great construct, but you can’t get there without feeling. We all have the same core emotions and should all attempt to know more about mental health, to try and understand it, and know when and how to reach out for support.
Danielle: Yes, we need to empower people to garner the knowledge and skills to address mental health issues with positive support systems.
In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?
Danielle: I feel that knowledge is power and the more understanding we have of mental health, the more we can decrease the stigma in our society. Everyone can benefit from mental health tools.
Eve: I agree that we need more understanding and knowledge. Without it, we end up with great suffering. Instead, we need to be open, support ourselves and one another.
What are your 5 strategies you use to promote your own wellbeing and mental wellness? Can you please give a story or example for each?
Danielle and Eve: We love providing simple and useful tips to promote wellness. Here is a top five hits list that can be quite impactful and important for one’s mental health and wellbeing.
The first strategy is self-care. The idea is for a person to be able to rest and reinvigorate their mind and body to help take care of their mental health. Engaging in practices such as exercise, yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and getting enough sleep are all part of self-care. There are apps available that can help facilitate meditation, mindfulness, and other relaxation techniques. It is important that the person finds the best self-care technique that matches their needs.
Self-compassion is a second important strategy. You really want to be your own best friend. A person with self-compassion tries to be kind to themselves with their own self-talk, championing oneself and being positive about who they are. Treat yourself with kindness, understanding, and compassion.
Creating relationships and making connections is a third strategy. Sharing experiences with others and enjoying friendships and relationships is essential. Simple strategies like texting your friend 3 friends or family members each morning can make a big difference. It is also important for people to learn to reach out for help and support when necessary.
The fourth strategy is chronicling and attribute building. You want to recognize your own strength by looking back at challenging times and see what coping skills you used to handle challenges. This helps you work from a position of strength and resilience when you face new challenges.
The final strategy is to build end-of-day rituals. Examples can include thinking about something small that happened in your day for which you are grateful for or writing in a gratitude journal. You can also do more mindfulness activities at this time like breathing exercises that allow calmness to center oneself. These can be important strategies to end the day on a positive note and remind us about what is important.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?
Danielle: One of the most helpful books that I use in my practice is written by Julie Lythcott-Haims’ How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success. This book has really helped empower my work with families and how to help children launch to the next stage of development in a healthy and mindful way. Another book that I use in my practice is Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff. This book provides examples and exercises of ways for people to be kind to themselves. I find this to be an important way for clients to recognize their own value and worth.
Eve: There are many wonderful books to choose from. I particularly appreciate the work completed by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson. They focus on the science of how children’s brains are wired and with that information how to best cultivate balance, resilience, insight, and empathy. Check out The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child. Angela Duckworth’s book on Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance and Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success are also up there as favorites.
If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
Danielle: I feel that knowledge is power and the more knowledge and understanding people have can help make a positive and empowering impact on the world.
Eve: I believe that we have limitless potential that can be tapped into if we can step out of ourselves we can make a difference. It is important to be self reflective and self aware, in order to make change happen.
How can our readers follow you online?
Danielle’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-targan-matthew-b8b587a
Danielle’s e-mail dmatthew@empowerment.space
Empowerment Blog: https://empowerment.space/blog/
Practice Blog: https://www.daniellematthewlmft.com/blog
Eve’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eve-loren-goldstein-psy-d-2b30916
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drevegoldstein/
Westchester Practice: https://westchesterchildtherapy.com/staff/eve-loren-goldstein-psy-d/
Calabasas Practice: https://calchildpsych.com/about/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Mental Health Champions: Why & How Eve Loren Goldstein and Danielle Matthew Are Helping To Champion… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.