Improving the Lives of Young People with Serious Mental Health Conditions Through Research & Training
Register for Upcoming Monthly Consultation: "Youth Peer Support Specialists' Role in Crisis Intervention and Postvention"
Posted
Date/Time: March 25, 2021, 10am PT / 1pm ET
In this call, our team will will cover youth peer support specialists' roles in crisis intervention and postvention. Learning objectives will include how to create crisis and safety plans with youth, appropriate responses from youth peer support specialists while maintaining boundaries, and how youth peer support specialists can support youth after a crisis event.
Watch Recording of January's Monthly Consultation: "How Youth Partners Collaborate with Family Partners, Part 1"
Posted
In this call, we reviewed how youth and family partners support youth, families, and Wraparound teams individually and collectively. We presented different principles for how youth and family partners work together, and applied said principles to various scenarios.
Watch Recording of December's Monthly Consultation: "Self-Care in Youth/Young Adult Peer Support"
Posted
In December's call we discussed the importance of self-care for staff and youth clients. The holidays are often a confusing and challenging time for youth involved in systems, and young people can benefit from having a self-care plan. We covered conversational strategies to approach this topic with youth and how to normalize the process of creating a self-care plan. We also included an open discussion of topics and scenarios submitted by participants.
Watch Recording of October's Monthly Consultation: "Clarifying Your Peer Support Role/s"
Posted
The topic of this call from October 22 was "Clarifying Your Peer Support Role/s." Research has shown that role clarity contributes to employees' work satisfaction and retention. We explored what this means in the context of youth/young adult peer support, and shared resources to help with role clarification. We also asked participants about their priorities for future meeting topics.
New Research Briefs on College Students with Foster Care Histories
Posted
These briefs share findings from two studies by researchers from Pathways RTC on college students with foster care histories and self-identified mental health conditions. One study examined results from a randomized controlled trial of the FUTURES model, a post-secondary support and retention program, while the other study explored the perspectives of these students.
Watch Recording of February's Monthly Consultation: "How Youth Partners Collaborate with Family Partners, Part 2"
Posted
In this call, we continued to review how youth and family partners support youth, families, and Wraparound teams individually and collectively. We presented different principles for how youth and family partners work together, and applied said principles to various scenarios.
New Journal Article: "EASA Connections: Community-Based Participatory Research to Develop a Peer-Based Early Psychosis Web Resource With Young Adults"
Posted
This article describes a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to develop a peer-driven, web-based, recovery resource for young adults who have experienced early psychosis. The researchers used the CBPR process to collaboratively develop the resource and conducted an iterative usability study to test and refine it.
Watch Recording of November's Monthly Consultation: "Strengths, Passions, Achievements, and Motivators (SPAM)"
Posted
In November's call we discussed how youth peer support specialists (PSSs) engage in strengths-based conversations with young people, using the framework of "Strengths, Passions, Achievements, and Motivators (SPAM)." Discussing strengths can feel uncomfortable, distressing or phony for youth clients. In this call we focused on specific techniques that PSSs can use to help ensure a comfortable and engaging conversation that builds both the PSSs' and the youth's awareness and genuine appreciation of the young person's SPAM.
When done correctly, a strengths conversation between a provider and a young person can be a positive and engaging experience, as well as a good opportunity for a provider to find out what a young person finds motivating, enjoyable and worthwhile. The module provides examples of successful ways to talk with young people about their strengths, as well as examples of some not-so-successful ways.
Watch Webinar Recording: "Supporting Youth Peers During COVID-19"
Posted
COVID-19 has changed the way mental health professionals and youth peers serve their populations, and in doing such many providers may be struggling themselves. This webinar covered how organizations can support youth peer staff; supervision strategies for supporting youth peers; and recommendations on how youth peer support specialists can support their youth while maintaining boundaries.
