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Graham Emslie, M.D., is the Medical Director of the Suicide Prevention and Resilience at Children’s (SPARC) Intensive Outpatient Program. Dr. Emslie also holds the Charles E. and Sarah M. Seay Chair in Child Psychiatry. He previously served as Director for both the inpatient and outpatient units of Children’s Medical Center’s Psychiatry Division.

Dr. Emslie is known internationally for his work in the treatment of pediatric depression. His research has focused on the biological basis of depression in youth by studying stress and sleep physiology. More recently, Dr. Emslie’s research has focused on integrating pharmacological and psychotherapy treatments for depressed youth, as well as suicidality. Among many other projects, he led the Treatment of Adolescent Suicide Attempters Study (TASA), which was the first to examine treatment outcomes for suicidal youth in an outpatient setting.

Betsy Kennard, Psy.D., ABPP, is currently a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. As the former Program Director of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at UT Southwestern from 2009 to May 2023, Dr. Kennard has contributed to the training of over 200 clinical psychologists across the country. Her expertise is in pediatric depression and suicide prevention. She currently acts as Program Director of the Suicide Prevention and Resilience Program at Children's Health, an intensive outpatient treatment program for suicidal youth, where over 2000 youth and their families have been treated. The suicide program was adapted for a community mental health setting, including providing training to local clinicians on intervention strategies for suicidal youth.

Dr. Kennard has served as a site co-investigator in four multi-site treatment studies of adolescent depression and suicide funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She co-authored cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment manuals for these studies. Dr. Kennard also developed a CBT sequential treatment strategy to prevent relapse in youth with depression in a NIMH-funded treatment study. More recently she has conducted research in social media and mental health outcomes in clinical populations.

Laura Stone, M.D., is an Associate Professor within the UT Southwestern Department of Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Division. She did her general psychiatry residency at Texas A&M/ Scott and White in Temple, TX and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at UT Southwestern. After graduation, Dr. Stone joined the Psychiatry faculty and worked on the Inpatient Unit and Consult/Liaison service at Children’s Health. In 2021 she transitioned to her current position as the Medical Director of the Children’s Health Day Treatment partial hospitalization program.

Dr. Stone has been a co-investigator in research studies on depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in youth and has authored publications related to the treatment of depression and suicide in these populations. She teaches and supervises trainees at all educational levels and serves on numerous local and statewide committees.