Join us on Thursday, March 20, 2025, for Dr. Thomas Insel’s Pratt Lecture and Book Signing: “Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health”
On Thursday, March 20, 2025, from 5:00-8:30 p.m. at WBUR CitySpace in Boston, MAB Community Services will introduce our new CEO Michael R. Panicola, PhD, and MAB’s Ivy Street division will welcome Pratt Lecture speaker Thomas Insel, M.D.
Ivy Street’s Pratt Lecture Series is dedicated to facilitating the impact of research on practices at the Ivy Street School to improve student outcomes. The late John Pratt served as Associate Director of the Whitehead Institute for 25 years. He was also a member of MAB Community Services’ Board of Directors and cared deeply about the work that MAB and Ivy Street do to help neurodivergent young and young adults develop the skills they need to successfully transition to adulthood.
Dr. Insel’s Lecture is entitled “Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health.” He will focus on treatment and interventions for neurodivergent youth and young adults with major mental illnesses, with the goals of achieving greater agency, independence, and meaningful engagement in their communities, work, and leisure.
After Dr. Insel’s lecture and Q&A with the audience, he will sign copies of his book: Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health, which will be available for purchase.
As director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Insel was giving a presentation when the father of a boy with schizophrenia yelled from the back of the room, “Our house is on fire and you’re telling me about the chemistry of the paint! What are you doing to put out the fire?” Dr. Insel knew in his heart that the answer was not nearly enough. The gargantuan American mental health industry was not healing millions who were desperately in need. He left his position atop the mental health research world to investigate all that was broken—and what a better path to mental health might look like.
About the Pratt Lecture Series
The Suzanne and John Pratt Lecture is dedicated to facilitating the impact of research on practices at the Ivy Street School in order to improve student outcomes. John Pratt served as Associate Director of the Whitehead Institute for 25 years. He was also a member of the MAB Board of Directors and cared deeply about the work that MAB and Ivy Street School do to help young people with special needs develop the skills they need to transition into successful lives as adults. Suzanne Pratt is a social worker, mother to 2, grandmother to 4, and loving wife to John until his death in 2012. Since then, Suzanne Pratt has played a significant role in launching and sustaining this lecture series. John would be delighted to have this lecture series as part of his legacy.
Past Pratt Lecture Series Speakers
Lydia X.Z. Brown, Disability Rights Advocate
Dr. Temple Grandin, Autism Self-Advocate & Author of "Thinking in Pictures: My Life With Autism"
Michelle Garcia Winner, Founder & CEO Social Thinking
Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer-winning journalist, bestselling author
Ross Green, leading clinical child psychologist and author
