Overview and Mission Statement



This website for parents represents an attempt by myself, Dr. Gladstone, and our colleagues to distill what we have learned from years of research, practice, and advocacy into a program we feel will be helpful for parents facing depression within the family. Our team has worked for many years to promote resilience in families, prevent depression, and to foster recognition and effective treatment of depression for children, adolescents, and adults.

We have developed several effective interventions for families facing depression. For example, on this website we present ‘Family Talk,’ a course developed to train clinicians to use a family-based intervention for families with a depressed parent. Because the format of that program worked so well, we used this same approach to create our Parent Talk resource for parents. Most recently, we developed TeenTalk -- an adaptation of our Parent Talk materials to suit an adolescent audience.

At the heart of our work is the conviction that families can overcome depression, and that getting information and facilitating family conversation are essential to making sense of depression, problem-solving, and building resilience. The key point is that there is much positive work that can be done when a family faces depression. We’ve tried to reflect this in our work with families.

Thank you for exploring this resource.

- FAMPod Developers: William Beardslee, M.D., Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., Maria DiFonte, M.A., and Lauren Thomann, B.S

Parent Talk Sections



Module 1 - Introduction to Parent Talk
Download PDF Module Outline
  • Key Points and Helpful Resources
  • Adolescent Depression
  • Preventing Depression in Teenagers
  • Depression in Parents/Adults
Module 2 - Adolescent Depression
Download PDF Module Outline
  • Depression in Adolescence
  • How Depression is Diagnosed
  • Risk and Protective Factors
  • Resiliency in Adolescents
  • Types of Treatment
  • What You Can Do as a Parent
Module 3 - Adolescent Depression Prevention
Download PDF Module Outline
  • Family Focused
  • Child Focused
  • Internet Based
Module 4 - Parental and Adult Depression
Download PDF Module Outline
  • Symptoms of Depression in Adults
  • Risk Factors for Parental Depression
  • Resilience in Parents
  • What to Do If You May Be Depressed
  • Promoting Resilience in Your Child


TeenTalk Sections



Module 1 - Introduction

  • What you'll learn in TeenTalk
  • Additional Resources

Module 2 - Adolescent Depression

  • Mental Health by the Numbers
  • What is Depression?
  • Comorbidities and Consequences of Depression

Module 3 - Risk Factors, Protective Factors, and Resiliency

  • Risk Factors
  • Protective Factors and Building Resilience

Module 4 - Treatment and Prevention

  • Diagnosis and Treatment
  • Prevention

Module 5 - Seeking Help

  • If You Recognize Symptoms in Yourself or a Friend

Module 6 - COVID-19

  • COVID-19 and Adolescents' Mental Health

Last modified: Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 4:33 PM