Children's Mental Health Fair Provides Resources for Families in Tulsa
Parkers Hope partnered with Tulsa Public Schools at the Children’s Mental Health Fair at Guthrie Green.
The 2025 Children's Mental Health Fair provided mental health resources and education for Tulsa families on Thursday. The coordinator for Mental Health Association Oklahoma hosted the event in partnership with the Children's Behavioral Health Partnership of Tulsa, City of Tulsa, Empowered Voices, and Tulsa Public Schools.
"We just often don't really know what to say or what children's mental health or mental health in general really is and so it really helps to have different people around to kind of explain the supports and services and what's there for people if you start to wonder, hey is my kiddo struggling, right?" said City of Tulsa's Chief Mental Health Officer Rebecca Hubbard.
Hubbard explained why focusing on children's mental health specifically is so important.
"Actually, some researchers at Duke University are looking at mental health as a developmental process because we do have so many that, when they experience a mental health disorder across the lifespan at any given time, symptoms often actually occur before the age of 14. So if we can catch it earlier, then we have less symptoms, lower impact on our overall life and so it's essential to recognize that early detection in those before 14 or teenage years when the brain is changing quite a bit those are the times to really be paying attention to significant changes that you can maybe support your kiddos through."
Along with providing mental health education, Hubbard said it's great to see families bond and have fun at the event.
"I feel ecstatic when I see kids having fun because that's what being a child is about, right? Learning, growing, and having fun. We all just love to see children, families, parents all together learning and growing so we just think it's lovely and we want to be there for them in the good times and the challenging times."
