Title:Lambert Foundation supports outpatient program and research for Georgetown’s new Thrive Center

The Gerard B. Lambert Foundation has made an investment in the future of children and families in the DC area and beyond with a $3 million gift to Georgetown’s new Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities, a multidisciplinary academic center focusing on child and family mental health, disabilities, health equity, and digital health. The gift will support the enhancement of outpatient mental health services for children, adolescents, and families with innovative programming to address nutrition, exercise, time in nature, meditation, sleep, and healthy relationships with digital media.

“The core of our clinical care for children, adolescents, and families is based on psychotherapy and counseling, family guidance, and medical treatment, but this gift from the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation enables us to add extra layers of support so that children and their families can truly thrive,” says Matthew Biel, M.D., MSc, the Marriott Chair of Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and chief of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. “With these funds, young people will work in a garden that we’re building outside of our clinical building, cultivate healthy food, and learn from our dietitians about the relationship between what they eat and their mood or their attention span.

“There will also be classes in exercise and yoga. Expert instructors will teach children and their parents how to meditate,” adds Biel. “We know all of these things are really meaningful for well-being, but typically tend to be excluded from the clinical setting.”

A ‘win-win’

The Gerard B. Lambert Foundation embraces a holistic approach to stress management, including time outdoors.

“An afternoon gardening is like therapy for kids, many of whom have a hard time adapting to the new world of social media and other ills,” explains Thomas Lloyd, president of the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation’s Board of Directors. “We have seen how a garden can become a learning laboratory for ecology and science.

“Our foundation wants to participate in cutting-edge advances in therapy,” continues Lloyd. “Dr. Biel wants to cast a larger spotlight on DC kids and how we can change lives for the better. So this partnership is a win-win and helps us meet our goals as a foundation.”

Read more about the Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities >