About Us

The original vision and concept for the MindfulTeen website was, appropriately, a teen!
He noticed that there was a growing number of teens around him that were looking for ways to best handle the increased stress and anxiety they were feeling. Much to his dismay, he soon realized that there wasn’t an online mental health resource developed just for teens. He thought about all the teens right in his own community, let alone all the teens across the country and beyond, that might also be searching for the same answers and help. He knew he wanted to create a resource to fill that void. What he envisioned was a site that was useful and relatable, that offered helpful advice and access to curated outside resources.

Ultimately, through a collaboration with expert psychologists in New York City, they expanded on that early vision to create what is now MindfulTeen.org.

We hope you will find the site informative and helpful! MindfulTeen.org will continue to evolve and grow and we welcome your feedback! Please feel free to email us at share@mindfulteen.org

Meet the Founder

Ryan Yadav

Ryan is a recent high school graduate, after taking a gap year to continue his work on MindfulTeen, including creating a new podcast series, hike in the Himalaya mountains and intern at a start-up firm in Cape Town, South Africa, he is now a freshman at Duke University.

With a teen audience in mind, Ryan developed the MindfulTeen site content plan and layout, worked with Spark Creative on the site design and navigation, researched and created a curated list of resources and gathered pertinent questions and feedback through several focus groups conducted with groups of peers.

Academically, Ryan’s favorite subjects are English and science – especially biology and behavioral neuroscience. To destigmatize the conversation around mental health, he initiated a mental health program at his high school and organized guest speakers from Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry.

Outside of school, Ryan enjoys tutoring adolescents, hiking and backpacking, spending time with his family and dog and surfing.

Colleen Cullen, PsyD

Associate Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry)
DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™
Executive Director & Chief Quality Officer
Psychiatry Faculty Practice Organization

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Zachary K. Blumkin, PsyD

Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry)
DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™
Clinical Director of the Columbia Day Program

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Dr. Melina Wald, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry)
DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™
Clinical Director of the Columbia Gender Identity Program

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H. Gemma Stern, Psy.M.

Fourth-Year Doctoral Candidate at GSAPP

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A special thank you to our legal team at Kirkland & Ellis and their generous pro bono work to support our vision.

About Kirkland & Ellis

This website was designed & developed by Spark Creative