Leading National Behavioral Healthcare Provider

Call 1-800-345-1292


Devereux SVP and Chief Medical & Clinical Officer, Dr. Marilyn Benoit, responds to New York Times Opinion, “Don’t Grade Schools on Grit.”

A response to Angela Duckworth’s opinion, published March 26, 2016:

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I am delighted we are openly addressing the need for schools to support children’s social and emotional development. Schools promote resilience and facilitate character development, but are a secondary crucible for such development. Policy makers fail to address parents’ responsibilities (parents provide the primary crucible within which children are reared). This primary crucible is where templates for empathy, compassion, self-control, turn taking, frustration tolerance, self-soothing, and respect for authority are developed. The first year of life remains critical in developing secure attachments between parent(s) and child. Within the context of that secure attachment, babies develop early capacities that result in self-regulation. Parents serve as “external regulators” helping young children build the neuronal brain structures that later take over and self-regulate. Children should come to school with such readiness, with schools enhancing and facilitating further development. Policy makers should promote additional support to young parents, enhancing their success in this critical first stage of child development.

Marilyn Benoit, M.D.

Rainbow Heart   Pride Month: Fostering a culture where LGBTQ+ youth, adults feel valued and supported

Pride Month, celebrated in June, is a time to honor and uplift the voices of those within the LGBTQ+ community, promote inclusion and allyship, and recognize the challenges that remain for many LGBTQ+ youth and adults as they strive to live life as their authentic selves.

Fireside Chat Screenshot   Devereux video: Leaders share first jobs at Devereux and how ASCEND can propel your career

Watch our latest Fireside Chat, in which Devereux President and CEO Carl E. Clark II introduces several leaders who share how they got their start at Devereux, what they are doing today, and how Devereux’s ASCEND Career Accelerator program can help anyone looking to advance their career.

Arnette Miller   Celebrating Devereux’s Healthcare Heroes: Spotlight on Devereux Arizona Clinician Arnette Miller

At Devereux, our employees are at the heart of everything we do – and are key to our success. Learn how Devereux Arizona Clinician Arnette Miller is serving and inspiring others every day.

New podcast episode   Season 2, Episode 6: ‘Not Your Average School Psychologist’ podcast

Listen to the latest episode of the Devereux Center for Effective Schools’ podcast featuring Amanda Nickerson Ph.D., NCSP, who shares her work informing the National Association of School Psychologists PREPaRE model, which provides training to school crisis response teams. Dr. Nickerson is a professor and director of the Dr. Jean M. Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music/Audible.


More Stories