Join the next Society of Digital Psychiatry and JMIR Mental Health webinar
From Co-Design to Community Care: Implementing Library BeWell for Teen Mental Health - April 24, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET
Featured Speaker
-1.png "Headshot of Ashley Knapp, PhD")
Ashley Knapp, PhD
Dr. Knapp's research is focused on youth digital mental health broadly, with a particular interest in designing and implementing accessible, community-based digital tools with marginalized youth and those youth most experiencing inequities. She is currently supported by a NIMH-funded K01 award, where she has partnered with a local public library and their teen patrons to adapt a digital mental health service for anxiety to be implemented into the public library’s teen services.
Read Dr Knapp’s related work here and here.
Why should I attend?
In this webinar, Dr. Ashley Knapp will present Library BeWell, an innovative digital mental health intervention for teens developed through a community-engaged partnership with public libraries. The session will trace the journey of Library BeWell from its inception, highlighting key findings from formative research—including co-design workshops and usability testing—and exploring how digital health tools can be effectively integrated into the unique ecosystem of public libraries.
Key Takeaways
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The Power of Co-Design: Discover how community-engaged partnerships and workshops with teen patrons ensure digital mental health tools are tailored to the actual needs and preferences of marginalized youth.
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Leveraging Non-Traditional Ecosystems: Learn why public libraries are uniquely positioned as vital hubs for mental health intervention and how to effectively integrate digital tools into these community spaces.
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From Research to Implementation: Gain insights into the lifecycle of a digital intervention—from initial formative research and usability testing to the real-world application of a NIMH-funded anxiety support service.
John Torous, MD, MBI
Dr. Torous is director of the Digital Psychiatry division in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. With a background in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley, he earned his MD at UC San Diego and completed his psychiatry residency, clinical informatics fellowship, and master’s in biomedical informatics at Harvard. An expert in mobile mental health technologies, he has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters. Dr. Torous also serves as Editor-in-Chief of JMIR Mental Health.