APA Monitor: BUSSW Professor Paris’ Work is Changing Mental Healthcare for Young Children

We are thrilled to see the work of Professor Ruth Paris and the Building Resilience Through Intervention: Growing Healthier Together (BRIGHT) program featured in the latest APA Monitor!

As the Associate Director for Research within the Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being (EC Institute) and Professor of Clinical Practice at the BU School of Social, Dr. Ruth Paris is helping drive a national paradigm shift. Her research proves that mental health care shouldn’t wait for a crisis—it must begin by supporting the “relational health” between caregivers and their children from day one.

Why this work matters: Through the BRIGHT program, Dr. Ruth Paris focuses on mothers in recovery from substance use disorders, using an attachment-based approach to heal trauma. By working with the mother and child together—the “dyad”—BRIGHT helps parents recognize their children’s emotional cues and respond with attunement, even during the most stressful moments of early parenting.

As Dr. Ruth Paris notes: “What happens in the early years matters for psychological health later in life.”

At the EC Institute, we are dedicated to this “whole-child” approach. We believe that by transforming the nurturing ecosystems around a child—including their home, health services, and community—we can mitigate the impact of adversity and build lifelong resilience.

By meeting families where they are and prioritizing prevention, we are ensuring that the next generation has the foundation they need to thrive.

Read the original feature in the APA Monitor: Here