Exploring Youth-Led Mental Health Initiatives: Empowering Adolescents and Strengthening Community Well-being Department of Social Policy and Intervention

Aligned with Objectives 3.2 and 3.3 and 4.1 and 4.3 of the NIMH Strategic Plan for Research (US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, 2023b), this NOSI encourages studies that address questions related to the effectiveness, implementation, and scaling of evidence-based practices and services in school and afterschool program settings. Taken together, these federal investments demonstrate a clear interest in leveraging schools to mitigate the youth mental health crisis. As a result, only a fraction of affected youth receives mental health services (Ghandour et al., 2019; Whitney & Peterson, 2019). The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supports school mental health research that relies on partnerships between academic researchers and school communities to develop optimized interventions that bridge the research-to-practice gap. A system of behavioral health centers increases access and intervention for students in more than 280 New York schools.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Importantly, the proposed mechanism of action should be a construct that can be measured feasibly in school contexts using valid measures that are widely accepted by the field. The exact nature of the mechanism will vary based on the intervention characteristics.

Preventing Mental Health Crises and Emergency Department Visits

That money has paid for mental health apps, education campaigns, and mental health workforce training programs, among a number of other efforts. Despite the slow start for the new school billing program, other mental health efforts are underway through other components of the state’s $4.7 billion Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative that launched in 2021. California made a huge one-time investment in youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic as rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders surged among children and teens. This partnership between PHI and the CDPH, OHE aims to facilitate a deep investment in children and youth (ages 0-25), parents and caregivers who live in communities that are historically unserved, underserved and inappropriately served, including five priority populations, which will enable select local organizations to develop youth-centered, and co-created public health campaigns.

Resources

Only 14 school districts and county offices of education have begun billing for behavioral health services under the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative Fee Schedule Program, according to state health officials. Eligible entities to submit a proposal may include individual practitioners, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, behavioral health providers, counties, plans, and Tribal entities. The $4.7 billion investment of state General Funds for the CYBHI will improve access to, and the quality of, BH services for all children and youth in California, regardless of payer. SACRAMENTO – The California Health & Human Services Agency, along with its departments and offices, is proud to share the January 2023 Progress Report  of the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), a $4.7 billion, five-year initiative to transform the way California serves the mental, emotional and behavioral health needs of children, youth and families. Organizations representing the community, education, and health sectors are coming together to build a more coordinated, youth-centered, prevention-oriented, and accessible behavioral health system.

• Peer support programs allow youth to connect with one another, fostering a sense of belonging.
• In step 1, the first author (HT) familiarized herself with the entire dataset through an iterative process of reading through all the information available on each program.
• By engaging in community involvement, these organizations help reduce stigma and promote mental well-being among youth.
• Moreover, most programs allow self-referral and do not demand a diagnosis, as well as offering community support rather than mental health treatment.
• These adolescents run campaigns in the media and interview people on their opinions about mental health (see Table 1, Item 7).
• Additional practices and programs relating to youth drop-in centers or youth-driven programs that are designed with, by, and for youth may be considered eligible for grant funding with the submission of supplementary material.

A Simple Process to Reduce the Need for Physical Restraints

This study confirms that programs operate adolescent-oriented facilities that are characterized by a welcoming friendly style and atmosphere, and offer content aimed to provide a relaxed, appealing non-clinical physical space to enable these adolescents to feel safe and comfortable (26). These programs provide adolescents with opportunities to interact with their peers, acquire new skills, and enhance https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2023/call-national-strategy-strengthen-youth-behavioral-health-workforce their well-being. The program produced a website that enables youth to conduct a dialog on mental health, share personal stories, express their thoughts and emotions through arts and drawings, and ask and receive help (see Table 3, Item 8). The team also provides social skill acquisition groups, short-term therapy, and a mentoring project where soldiers prepare adolescents with MHC for military service (see Table 3, Item 7).