Will Dobud PhD

Author of KIDS THESE DAYS (Out Now), social work academic, outdoor therapy enthusiast.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Lots of legends here. Getting really excited!

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

What if the way you interact with your child to prevent mental health struggles is exactly the same as how you support them when they���re struggling?

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

@MCG58 I agree in principle that if we’re going to be tough on social media that we should be tough. But….do we have the research evidence to actually support the rationale for why we should be tough? I’m not convinced the evidence supports doing much of anything at a macro level.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

No expert, book, or to-do list has the magic formula.

Parenting isn’t a professional sport — it’s gloriously amateur.

One more child will quickly remind you of that!

This short, refreshing clip is a great reminder to trust your instincts, stay humble, and keep showing up — even when it feels messy.

“You know your kid better than I do, or any book does.”

Who else feels seen by this?

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Why is it so hard to change systems — even when we know what works for kids?

We have mountains of evidence on what helps children thrive… yet actually doing it feels almost impossible.

On the Adults in the Room Substack, Dr. Bruce Perry explains that systems aren’t just policies — they’re like living organisms. They have their own “biology.” We influence each other’s stress responses, immune systems, and development in powerful ways. Humans aren’t independent — we’re deeply interdependent.

That’s why creating biologically respectful environments (for learning, emotional growth, and connection) is so powerful… and so rarely done.

“We tend to forget that systems are kind of like big organisms.”

If we truly understood this, we could design schools, families, and communities that actually optimize how kids grow.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

The Risk-Taker’s Advantage (and the Responsibility-Taker’s Advantage)

What if the best thing we can do for kids isn’t protecting them from every risk… but giving them real responsibility?

In this clip from the full interview on the Adults in the Room Substack, Michael Ungar and Nevin Harper unpack how children thrive when they move from being “passengers” to “crew members” — contributing meaningfully to the family, group, or community.

Belonging. Purpose. Being counted on. They’re developmental necessities. The result? Kids who feel needed, capable, and resilient.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

During a gathering in Norway with outdoor therapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists in 2022, I found myself reflecting on a troubling paradox. Despite record numbers of professionals dedicated to supporting youth mental health, we continue to see worsening outcomes — higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide among young people. It brought to mind James Hillman and Michael Ventura’s book We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy: And the World’s Getting Worse. As someone deeply fascinated by this work, I believe we have to be honest about what might be missing and how we can do better for the next generation.

A fun conversation with Will White from the Stories From the Field Podcast with Nevin Harper.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

“We’re throwing gasoline on the fire with good intentions…”

Ever implemented something that sounded great for kids’ mental health… only to make things worse?

In this clip from The Brainy Moms Podcast, the conversation gets real: School-based stress management and emotion regulation programs — despite the best intentions — are often replacing the very thing kids need most: one-on-one, loving relationships with caring adults for co-regulation.

Instead of helping, they can raise anxiety, send the message that big emotions are dangerous, and turn up the temperature on fear.

Common sense meets uncomfortable truth. This is why we need to examine our well-meaning solutions more carefully.

[Oliver Scott Curry @Oliver_S_Curry]

I despair. People who should know better keep churning out correlations, presenting them as causes, and advocating for irrational (and possibly counter-productive) policy 🤷‍♂️ #nurtureassumption https://t.co/DSbbHZZuXZ

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

@Oliver_S_Curry We are entering stupid hour.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Social-emotional learning has become a booming industry — but are we applying it at the right developmental level? As Nevin Harper explains, young children need co-regulation with trusted adults far more than they need to learn meditation or independent calming techniques. Forcing self-regulation strategies too early (or in the wrong context) can miss crucial opportunities for emotional growth in safe relationships. A grounded, developmentally-informed perspective on supporting kids today.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

When kids reflect on therapy that actually worked, they don’t talk about mindfulness homework or breathing exercises. They say: “The person listened to me. They were caring. I saw them as a real human being.”

Great therapy is a genuine relationship — not a checklist of interventions. When we treat young people as resources with their own wisdom instead of empty vessels to be filled with adult techniques, real healing and growth become possible.

This is why @UNICEF has emphasized for 20+ years: approaches that don’t treat youth as active resources are destined to fail.

Focusing on authentic relationships and youth agency creates engagement, trust, and lasting outcomes. Technique-heavy approaches without connection feel mechanical and often backfire, especially with young people who crave seeing adults as real people.

[NBA @NBA]

AN ALL-TIME ANGLE OF AN ALL-TIME MOMENT.

OG Anunoby’s unreal putback gave the Knicks a 3-1 series lead!

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Full article: https://t.co/gQFkH7kPUA

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

New Substack piece.

"Sympathetic knowledge is the only way of approach to any human problem, and the line of least resistance into the jungle of human wretchedness must always be through that region which is most thoroughly explored, not only by the information of the statistician, but by sympathetic understanding." -Jane Addams (1912)

Link to follow.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

I'm not a huge basketball guy but that was amazing.

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Effective youth mental health interventions require a fundamental shift: young people must be seen as active resources and participants rather than passive ‘empty vessels’ awaiting expert knowledge. Treating them as passengers significantly reduces the likelihood of success. A really fun discussion on agency-centered approaches with the Safer Society Foundation.

[Chris Ferguson 🇺🇸🎇🎆 @CJFerguson1111]

New NAEP report coming out.

Good news: improvements for elementary school kids.

Bad news: No improvements or declines for teens.

My take aways:

1.) Looks like younger kids are emerging from the covid downturn

2.) Covid closures continue to affect older kids long-term

3.) School cellphone bans, which influence older kids, have failed to produce improvements in standardized testing. This is consistent with most research studies.

4.) School cellphone bans have not produced increased student reading despite all the "kids are just flocking to the school library" claims we've been seeing.

5.) Those younger kids who are doing well will eventually end up in middle and high school. Expect people to try to take credit for this for their favorite policy (cellphone bans or w/e), when it is likely just due the absence of school covid closures.

https://t.co/euAX0YXcNP

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Nevin shares a powerful idea for parents that we used in #KidsTheseDays: Instead of following the mainstream, look around for the people in your community who are actually raising successful, thriving kids — even if they’re going against the flow.

Build relationships with them. Learn their practices. There may not be one perfect answer, but there are dozens of great ideas waiting to be discovered.

What’s one thing you’ve seen a family do differently that actually works?

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Is there really a youth mental health crisis? 🤔

This depends on who you ask...

Scott D. Miller, PhD and Dan Lewis, MD reviewed Kids These Days and provided some critical questions. In our episode of The Book Case, we discuss the challenges of labeling an entire generation as "anxious," the risks of overdiagnosis, overmedication, and "othering" kids — and the big question: Who is actually going to solve this?

A thoughtful pushback on the current narrative around youth mental health and technology.

What do you think? Genuine crisis, or are we overreacting? If there is a crisis, who is going to actually solve this problem?

Scott D. Miller, PhD and Dan Lewis, MD reviewed my latest book, Kids These Days, and provided some critical questions. In our episode of The Book Case, we discuss the challenges of labeling an entire generation as "anxious," the risks of over-diagnosis, over-medication, and "othering" kids — and the big question: Who is actually going to solve this?

[Will Dobud PhD @WillDobud]

Tech bad? Not so fast. Nevin Harper on Jay Vidyarthi's Reclaim Your Mind: You can code, game, AND meditate. Refreshing pushback on the moral panic around tech & youth mental health. #ReclaimYourMind"