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Transitions ACR June 2019 Newsletter

From The Director's Desk

Hello from Transitions ACR! Welcome to summer! This month's newsletter includes a new blog post in our Young Adult Corner, links to recent webinar recordings and presentations, and information on a training we just led at the Massachusetts Dept. of Mental Health . Read on...

On the Job Support

We've begun another HYPE training this month, this time in Quincy, MA. What is HYPE? HYPE (Helping Youth on the Path to Employment) is a manual-based intervention to better assist transition-aged youth and young adults with mental health conditions to develop their careers. Our goal is to deliver state-of-the-art supported education services that will help young adults achieve their goals in work and school, in order to gain competitive employment in the primary labor market and enabling them to live meaningful and economically self-sufficient lives. HYPE modernizes evidence-based, supported employment by prioritizing education early in employment services. Learn more about HYPE and how to bring it to your state HERE .

The New IPS Fidelity Scale for Young Adults Researchers at Transitions ACR, in collaboration with Westat, have developed a new Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Fidelity Scale for Young Adults and scoresheet that are now available for use. The IPS Fidelity Scale for Young Adults is recommended for use with IPS programs serving the age group from roughly 15 to 26 years of age an includes a 35-item scale. This new scale is designed to meet the needs of young adults and these outputs allow organizations to make sure they are delivering young adult evidence-based IPS to fidelity. Fidelity is the extent to which delivery of an intervention adheres to the protocol or program model originally developed. This new scale has been adapted to this younger age group and has more age appropriate items being measured including family involvement, engagement and supported education.  View the new IPS Fidelity Scale for Young Adults HERE and the accompanying score sheet HERE.

Youth at School We recently attended the NARRTC Conference in Washington DC to learn, present and network with other NIDILRR stakeholders on research and practice to support the full inclusion of people with disabilities and their families. Here are two of the presentations we shared. Translating Evidence to Support Transitions: Improving Outcomes of Youth in Transition with Psychiatric Disabilities by Use and Adoption of Best Practice Transition Planning Our Findings: Post-high school employment and enrollment in post secondary education for students with Emotional Disturbance enrolled in special education were correlated with these transitions practices: 1. Student-led IEPS 2. A concentration of career & technical education courses (4 credits minimum) 3. Community partnerships in transition planning View the full presentation here .

Navigating the Ups and Downs to Caps and Gowns: Creating a Path to Academic Success for College Students with Mental Health Conditions Roughly 1/3 of undergraduates have clinically significant symptoms of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety and these students experience high dropout rates. Learn more about Peer Academic Supports for Success (PASS), an empirically supported peer coach intervention to help students with MHC succeed academically. View the full presentation here .

Advancing Research

Dr. Michelle Munson's "Just Do You" Webinar Recording is now available. A few weeks back, Dr. Michelle Munson presented an enlightening webinar about a new approach to engaging young adults in mental health services. In this webinar, Dr. Munson discussed four important aspects of 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. If you missed it, you can view it online HERE .

Young Adult Brain Development and the Impact of Trauma We recently presented Regional Training Forums for the offices of the  Massachusetts Dept. of Mental Health . One of our trainings covered the changes that happen to the brain as people transition from youth to adulthood, how trauma impacts that and how we can mitigate that trauma. Do you remember your Developmental Psychology? Get a great review HERE

Young Adult Corner " Technology has been instrumental in helping me to maintain a job while living with both medical and mental health conditions ." Read the most recent blog post in our Young Adult Blog Corner on the  Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research  website. This section of our website includes real world experience from our young adult team members. This one's called "Work Tools: Tech" and is about using technology as a tool to succeed in the workplace. It was just posted by one of our young adults researchers.  Read more here .

What Is iSPARC Doing?

June is National Men's Health Awareness Month Paternal Post-Partum Depression is something we don't talk about. When pregnancy occurs, the woman becomes the "star" and the focus of this major life change. “Providers are not talking to men about this huge life transition that can lead to depression. Women have multiple points of contact with their OB-GYN. But even if men go to the appointments, they’re not the patient so will not be screened,” according to Dr. Kathleen Biebel, former Assistant Director of iSPARC. What can be done for the dads? Read the research HERE .

Upcoming Events

We are heading to PA in July! Marsha Langer Ellison, Ph.D. Deputy Director of Transitions ACR will be a featured presenter and giving the Opening Keynote Presentation entitled "Transition Planning for Students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders: Making it Work" at the 2019 Pennsylvania Community on Transition Conference: Ignite the Future! Sparking Engagement in Career Readiness. For more information, visit 2019 PA Community on Transition Conference

Who We Are

The Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research   promotes the full participation in socially valued roles of transition-age youth and young adults (ages 14-30) with serious mental health conditions. The Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research ( Transitions ACR ) is located within the  Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center  ( iSPARC ) and houses The Learning & Working During the Transition to Adulthood Rehabilitation Research & Training Center ( The Learning & Working RRTC ), among other projects.   The Learning & Working RRTC   is a national effort that aims to improve the supports of this population to successfully complete their schooling and training and move into rewarding work lives.  Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), and from the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). iSPARC As a Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Research Center of Excellence, iSPARC aims to improve the mental and behavioral health of all citizens of Massachusetts and beyond.

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Some of the contents of this message were developed under a grant with funding from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, and from the Center for Mental Health Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services (NIDILRR grant number 90RT5031). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this message do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and/or SAMHSA and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. The Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research is part of the Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center, a Massachusetts Dept. of Mental Health Research Center of Excellence.