In this first episode of Frontline Conversations: Systemic Response, Drs. Saliha Bava and Laurie Charlés discuss some of the origins of the podcast, including their professional experiences as consultants, trainers, and also, as volunteers, working in complex, humanitarian contexts, public health emergencies of international concern, and disaster settings, in the U.S. and across different parts of the globe. “We are all called to respond.” “We are all having to lead.” We discuss how the pandemic, still in its early days, has already had a profound change on families and on the world, requiring all of us to make changes in our lives as we are each called to find ways to adapt to support ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities in the face of so many new challenges, including but certainly not limited to infection prevention and control (IPC). Such adaptations are necessary in emergencies, as our various structures disappear or collapse, forcing us to create new jointly arranged, planned, and coordinated efforts to maintain our connections, perhaps even heightening them in useful, innovative, and virtual ways. We focus on versions prep and check-ins along with a live consult of integrating mental health within an emerging virtual response community. Relevant Sources from Ideas Mentioned Gregory Bateson: Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays In Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, And Epistemology https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3620295.html Forwarding Family Therapy Leadership in Global Mental Health Laurie L. Charlés & Saliha Bava March 8, 2019 AAMFT Leadership Symposium Washington, D.C. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332513187_Forwarding_Family_Therapy_Leadership_in_Global_Mental_Health_Laurie_L_Charles_Saliha_Bava_March_8_2019_AAMFT_Leadership_Symposium_Washington_DC Charlés, L. & Bava, S. (in press). “Family Therapy & Global Mental Health: Reflections on Professional Development and Training.”In M. Rastogi & R. Singhe (Volume Editors; K. Wampler Series Editor), Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy, Volume IV. Wiley: NY. CREDIT: Music: Gus Greene | Cover Art: Mark Greene