There’s no impact without funding. This week. Thrive Dispatches Podcast explores the family-centered approaches to mental health through the lens of impact investing.

Our guest is Louise Langheier, founder of Luminary Impact Fund, the first venture capital philanthropy fund dedicated exclusively to family mental health. Louise brings a unique perspective shaped by personal experiences and decades of social impact work, including co-founding Peer Health Exchange, which now serves over half a million young people annually.

When most of the industry prioritizes individual-focused models, Louise's work makes a strong case for family-centered approaches to mental health care.

This conversation reveals why family-centered approaches to mental health remain surprisingly scarce despite their obvious importance, examining the structural obstacles in payment systems, the cultural individualism that shapes American healthcare, and the innovative leaders who are breaking through these barriers with creative new models of care.

🎧 Building Community Through Culture: A Conversation with the Navajo Nation
In this special extended episode of Thrive Dispatches, we explore how culturally grounded partnerships can drive sustainable change in early childhood mental health. Host Matt is joined by Thrive Center’s Jen Drake-Croft, who introduces a powerful conversation with Kim Kee and Charnielle Desiderio—two inspiring leaders from the Navajo Nation who helped guide the transformative work of Project I-LAUNCH.

Together, they reflect on building trust with Indigenous communities, adapting evidence-based practices through cultural lenses (including Positive Diné Parenting), and how traditional practices like cradleboarding support infant wellness. You’ll also hear how these efforts continue today through community collaboration, storytelling, and systems change—long after the original grant ended.

🧠 Themes include:

• Indigenous-led approaches to mental health

• Culturally adapted parenting programs

• Cradleboard practices and early development

• Long-term sustainability through relationships and respect

Whether you're a parent, educator, or advocate for culturally responsive care, this episode offers deep insight into the power of partnership and cultural humility.

What does it really take for children to thrive—not just individually, but within families and communities? In this episode of Thrive Dispatches, host Dr. Matt Biel speaks with Dr. Jack Shonkoff, renowned pediatrician and funding director of Harvard's Center on the Developing Child, about what he calls Early Childhood Development 2.0.

Together, they unpack how decades of developmental science point beyond parent-child relationships to include broader community and environmental factors. From systemic inequities to housing stability and even air quality, Dr. Shonkoff argues for a radically expanded approach to early childhood policy and practice.

Listen in as they discuss:

• Why responsive relationships are necessary but not sufficient

• The shift from “being nice” to grounding care in cutting-edge science

• How public investment and real-world impact can—and must—align

• The urgent need to adapt programs for the children they’re not yet reaching

This is a rich conversation for anyone working in child health, education, social policy—or who just wants to understand how to build a world where all children can thrive.

As they prepare for their first Solutions Fair on May 22nd, 2025, Dr. Matt Biel speaks with Jason Lehmbeck and Kinsley Cuen from the Thrive Center's Innovation Hub, exploring how the first cohort of innovators at the Hub benefited from building and learning with academic and clinical experts from Thrive.

The Innovation Hub, launched earlier this year, enables collaborative partnerships that bridge research and practice. Jason, as director, and Kinsley, as program manager, share insights from their first cohort's journey and their vision for the upcoming focus on early childhood development.

Jason and Kinsley also describe the creative, "science fair-style" approach they've developed to showcase fellows' work in an engaging format that facilitates meaningful connections with decision-makers and field leaders—moving beyond traditional presentation formats to interactive demonstrations that reflect the dynamic nature of their innovations.

This week, Dr. Matt Biel speaks with Dr. David Willis, a pediatrician who dedicated his career to understanding how relationships shape child development and wellbeing and putting in places policies and support structures to enable these relationships to flourish.

David brings a unique perspective shaped by his experiences as a developmental and behavioral pediatrician, academic scholar, leader of federal policy in early childhood, and founder of the Nurture Connection Network.

The discussion explores the evolution of pediatric care beyond individual treatment toward a more holistic understanding of children within their relational ecosystems—families, neighborhoods, schools, and communities.

David shares evidence and case studies on how communities across the country are successfully implementing locally-tailored relational health initiatives that honor families' values while addressing isolation and fostering connection - as well as the results these programs deliver including Bridgeport, Connecticut's "Baby Bundle" initiative that has improved developmental outcomes in Head Start by 15% in just four years.

For questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at: thrivecenter@georgetown.edu.

In this episode, Dr. Matt Biel speaks with Rob Harris, an expert in early childhood mental health and education. Their conversation explores the critical role of relationships that young children form with the adults in their lives - caregivers, parents, extended family members, and educators.

Rob brings a unique perspective shaped by his experiences as a classroom teacher, mental health counselor, consultant, and father. The discussion challenges conventional thinking about children's behavior, presenting it as a crucial form of communication about their inner experiences and emotional needs.

In this episode, Dr. Matt Biel speaks with Andy Arias, whose work spans policy, advocacy, and program development in disability rights. Their conversation explores what it means to thrive at the intersection of disability, cultural identity, and lived experience. Andy brings perspective as a professional in disability policy, as a member of Latino and LGBTQ+ communities, and as someone who has lived with cerebral palsy since birth.

The discussion challenges conventional thinking about disability, presenting it not as a deficit or tragedy, but as a cultural identity that will touch all of our lives. Andy articulates a vision where self-determination becomes the foundation for authentic thriving.

This week, our Thrive Dispatches host and Thrive Center director, Dr. Matt Biel, chats with colleague Kelli McDermott about setting foundations in early childhood mental health, the nuances of childhood trauma, and a framework for resilience.

Kelli McDermott is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) with specializations in trauma and interpersonal violence and early childhood mental health. She has worked with young children, their families, and early childhood education centers to develop strengths-based, relational, and environmental supports to foster resilience during this critical developmental stage. She is currently part of the training and technical assistance team for the Office of Head Start funded National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety. Additionally, she supports Pyramid Model implementation in a variety of settings.