Improving Youth Access to Mental Health Support through a Youth–Adult Partnership

Abstract

Mental and behavioral health disorders are major issues facing young people in the United States; yet, the majority of youth who need support do not get help. Young people tend not to get help for 2 interacting reasons: system barriers that prevent youth from seeking help, and personal reasons that can influence them to forgo treatment. Youth–Adult Partnerships (Y-APs) have the potential to improve mental health programming and increase service utilization because they create space to blend youth and service provider knowledge and experience. This article provides a detailed case study of a youth–adult partnership’s 2-year community assessment and strategic planning process that led to the development of an innovative mental health model that has been sustained for 15 years. This article highlights the practices that contributed to adult transformation and the importance of adults’ roles as boundary spanners in the implementation and sustainability of an intervention that addresses both system barriers and personal reasons youth forgo mental health treatment.

Theorizing Organizational Learning to Enhance Youth–Adult Partnerships in Community‐Based Youth Serving Organizations

“…Individuals and groups in both setting types are conceptualized as sources of knowledge, which knowledge can be transferred directly through individuals exchanging information across groups or indirectly through other mechanisms (e.g., context-specific Y-AP language/narratives/theories of change, standing committees, manuals). Individual or groups of adults staff may play boundary spanning roles (Ross and Connors, 2018) and, in so doing, may also instigate knowledge transfer between the point of access and beyond. The framework proposes that organizational learning processes may address Y-AP challenges directly or indirectly, hence enhancing partnership quality over time (point of access and beyond point of access), and the proposition that groups in both setting types can be sources and holders of useful knowledge.…”

“…As an external entity to internal organizational dynamics, intermediary organizations support individuals and youth-adult groups to surface assumptions and work through tensions involved in establishing, implementing and sustaining Y-APs. These organizations also support new opportunity role structures for youth (e.g., peer leaders orienting newer members to purposes and tasks of the Y-AP) with varying degrees of effectiveness (Ozer et al, 2013;Biddle, 2017;Ross and Connors, 2018). However, that most intermediary organizations focus their intervention at the point of access ignores more consequential factors at the organizational level (and also the external social, ideological and political factors) beyond the point of access that may produce a downward press on Y-APs at the point of access.…”

“…A successful example is the HOPE Coalition (Ross and Connors, 2018), which leveraged a Y-AP approach in the initial strategic planning phase for re-imagining a community's approach to mental health. Even after the later planning phases did not include youth due to substantial funding constraints, the model that was eventually rolled out centered Y-APs.…”

Using participatory culture‐specific consultation to support the mental health needs of summer camp staff

“…As such, the external consultation team members relied on clinical expertise, awareness of professional ethics and boundaries, strengths‐based approaches to intervention, and understandings of person‐environment interactions to reflect on how summer camp staff could be best supported. Specifically, during early development of the model, Dr. Case and the internal consultation team discussed the importance of spending time “on the floor” and as close to the experiences of camp staff as possible during the start of the program to learn more about the person‐environment interactions occurring at camp (Ross & Connors, 2018). Dr. Case also drew on her expertise in community‐based research and her previous work with camps and informal learning settings to guide the initial step of the consultation.…”

PROTOCOL: Mobile apps to reduce depressive symptoms and alcohol use in youth: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of youth worldwide experience mental health disorders (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). Yet despite this high prevalence, youth with mental health and/or substance use disorders rarely access mental health or primary care services due to personal and systemic barriers (Ross & Connors, 2018). The social stigma of asking for help, limitations in community services, and lack of awareness amongst primary care providers, teachers, and parents often leave the youth alone and untreated (Cash et al, 2018; Malla et al, 2019).…”