Pathways rtcUpdates Newsletter April 2019

Focal Point on Innovative Transition Programs Available Now!

The 2019 issue of Focal Point highlights evaluations of transition programs that incorporate innovative approaches to services. Ten articles featuring programs from around the country report successful outcomes from sites using a wide variety of program approaches. The majority of the programs represented are Healthy Transition grantees, and two other innovative practice models are also included. We are excited to share this with you and hope that it will provide valuable information for service providers and program planners, as well as others interested in the latest approaches to serving young adults.

Rescheduled: Webinar: Drop-in Centers as a Low-Barrier Engagement Strategy for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults

Date/Time: May 21, 2019, 10am – 11am PT, 1pm – 2pm ET

Pathways RTC's 2019 issue of Focal Point focuses on the evaluation of innovative transition programs across the country. For this webinar, we're going to focus on two examples of programs featured in the issue that are innovative in their low-barrier approach. Both Massachusetts, with its YouForward Healthy Transitions project, and Kentucky with its Transition Age Youth Launching Realized Dreams (TAYLRD), use drop-in centers as a way to engage transition-age youth and young adults. Join us for this webinar to hear more details about how these two state programs have implemented drop-in centers as part of their success.

Strategic Sharing Workbook

This workbook, created by Pathways and the National Federation of Families, is designed for young adults, working alone or with a supportive adult, to prepare to share their stories safely and deliberately. It includes exercises to help young adults identify the potential risks and benefits of sharing their stories in their own advocacy work and other contexts.

Upcoming Webinar: Approaches to Evaluating Services for Youth/ Young Adults of Transition Age

Date/Time: June 27, 2019, 10:30am – 12pm PT, 1:30pm – 3pm ET

Janet Walker, Director of Pathways Research and Training Center, will present in this webinar hosted by Westat. She will discuss strategies for assessing services, supports and systems that serve older youth and young adults with significant mental health needs. The discussion will focus on identifying assessment tools and strategies that are sustainable and efficient, and that produce data that is useful to stakeholders. Stakeholders who are successfully doing this work will present examples of findings and how these have been used to support efforts to improve and sustain services and systems. Additional information and registration link will be available soon.

Save the Date!

Spanish Version of Assessment of Youth/Young Adult Voice at the Agency Level (Y-VAL)

A Spanish language version of the Y-VAL assessment of Youth/Young Adult Voice at the Agency Level, is now available, the "Evaluación de la voz de los jóvenes y los adultos jóvenes a nivel de las agencias (Y-VAL)". The YVAL is a validated assessment tool developed through a collaboration between Youth MOVE National and Pathways RTC to measure support for the meaningful participation of youth and young adults in advising and decision making at the agency level. For more information on how to use the the English or Spanish language versions of the Y-VAL with your agency, visit Youth MOVE National's Y-VAL page and complete the online form.

SAMHSA's 2019 National Mental Health Awareness Day Live Webcast

Date/Time: May 6, 2019, 12pm – 2pm PT, 3pm – 5pm ET

SAMHSA's 2019 National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day event, "Suicide Prevention: Strategies That Work," will be accessible via live webcast. Evidence-based strategies and resources for preventing suicide among children, youth, and young adults will be presented.

Access the live webcast on May 6 »

Learn more »

Webinar: "Multi-Component Engagement Program" – Considerations for Service Provision to Young Adults Early in Their Recovery

Date/Time: Thursday, May 22, 2019, 10am – 11am PT, 1pm – 2pm ET

In this Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research webinar Michelle R. Munson, PhD will discuss four important aspects of intervention development, as related to creating the "Just Do You" intervention. "Just Do You" is a brief meta-intervention for young adults experiencing one of their first-contacts with the mental health system. It was designed to help orient young people to their clinics, their programs, their providers, and typical mental health service components, while also encouraging them that they can be partners in their mental health care decisions. The randomized control trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of the "Just Do You" intervention that Dr. Munson and her colleagues are working on will be presented in this webinar as well.

Community of Practice for Youth Peer Support Specialists in NW

As a part of the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC), Portland State University is providing monthly communities of practice for youth peer support specialists in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Alaska. These monthly sessions focus on topics like strategic sharing, advocacy, self-care, and more. There are also sessions hosted for supervisors and free technical assistance available as well.

Email Caitlin Baird at baird5@pdx.edu for more information.

Help Test Assessment of Youth Voice on Committees and Councils (Y-VOC)

Portland State University and Youth MOVE National are recruiting interested participants to test their new assessment regarding meaningful youth voice, the Youth Voice on Committees and Councils (Y-VOC) assessment. This assessment is intended to help committees and councils involve youth and young adult input in a meaningful way. Interested in helping test the assessment? If you are on a committee or council that: 1) aims to have youth and young adult involvement, 2) has at least 12 participants, and 3) is interested in meaningfully involving youth voice, they'd love to hear from you about possibly participating in the confidential online survey.

Email Caitlin Baird at baird5@pdx.edu for more information.

45th Annual National Association for Rural Mental Health Conference

Date/Location: August 26 – 29, 2019, Santa Fe, NM

The National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) Annual Conference is the premier interdisciplinary mental health event for rural families and peers, community members, clinicians, researchers, administrators and policy professionals.

Learn more »

National Wraparound Implementation Academy

Date/Location: September 9 – 11, 2019, Baltimore, MD

The Academy is designed to provide participants involved in Wraparound – care coordinators, care supervisors, state and organizational leaders, parent peer support providers and more – the opportunity to build skills and gain tools and information to use in their states, tribes and organizations. This year the Academy will offer 12 options for full-day learning intensives held on the first day, focusing on a wide range of topics, including leading organizational change, integrating data to improve Wraparound practice and facilitating the Wraparound process through the trauma lens.

Check out the learning intensives »

News from Pathways RTC

Focal Point on Innovative Transition Programs Available Now!

Rescheduled: Webinar: Drop-in Centers as a Low-Barrier Engagement Strategy for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults

New Tip Sheet for Parents and Friends of Young People Experiencing Psychosis

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