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Each quarter, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC is excited to share with you Youth & Young Adults Now: Vision, Voice, and Ventures!
Our Center has a special focus on supporting youth and young adults (YYA) of transition age. The transition to adulthood is an important time in young people’s lives—a time for new independence, new challenges, and new opportunities for growth. It’s also a crucial time to support young people who are living with mental health challenges, who are involved in youth-serving systems, or who are at increased chance of developing mental health needs.
When we amplify YYA voice, choice, and leadership, we create space for them to thrive.
Our YYA Team Leads, Oriana Ides and Evelyn Clark, guide us in this work and are special contributors to each issue of Youth & Young Adults Now. We welcome you to join Oriana for upcoming sessions of Aging Out or Growing Together? Flipping the Youth Services Paradigm to Better Support Young Adulthood and to participate in Evelyn’s series on Creating Safe Spaces for Peer Support Providers and Incorporating Anti-racist Practices in Peer Support Delivery.
Each quarter, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC draws together our recent and upcoming events and other important field resources to share with our partners in this work. This month, we’re honoring Mental Health Awareness in May, and are offering timely and relevant developments from our Center and the field.
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Youth who are impacted by the justice system deserve access to support, but they often do not receive mental health services. Youth peer support is changing that narrative.
Youth who are impacted by the justice system are powerful agents of change. There are growing efforts to support young people with justice-impacted experience to become certified peer specialists. Check out this youth spotlight on a phenomenal person who is providing peer support while incarcerated.
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As a leader and known name in the juvenile justice field, Aaron Toleafoa has been a leading participant in the laws that have been recently changed involving justice-involved youth. Aaron has advocated for his peers to increase the age at which youth stay in the juvenile system based on research into adolescent brain development. He has also advocated for change nationwide. Aaron has been instrumental in the work that has been done so far in making the juvenile justice field actually rehabilitation based, as opposed to punishment based. Aaron currently resides in a youth prison in Washington State; he truly models resilience and shows the power of change.
Here is some of Aaron's work:
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Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice’s (CURYJ) Community Healing Program is deeply rooted in the belief that culture is a powerful antidote for the systemic oppression and injustice BIPOC communities persistently face. Their program design and offerings uplift cultural practices that are affirming and contribute to a sense of wholeness and belonging for young adults who are often underserved, over pathologized, and searching for belonging. (https://curyj.org/programs/community-healing/)
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This summer, the Pacific Southwest MHTTC team is planning a forum of experts and leaders in the field to examine the perils and powers of social media and digital spaces for youth. This panel will be open for all to learn from a team of panelists and to join in a dialogue on how young people from many backgrounds have been harmed by media usage, what we can do to prevent or combat negative effects, and how digital platforms have been tools for empowerment. Stay tuned for this upcoming event. In the meantime, we’d like to share a global, community-, and youth-led movement, LOG OFF, that aims to lower social media’s impact on mental health and create solutions for healthier use of media.
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» Aging Out or Growing Together?: Flipping the Youth Services Paradigm to Better Support Young Adulthood
Join us in collaboration with diverse youth-serving organizations for a learning series that uplifts the complex and comprehensive needs of transition-aged youth. This five-part learning series is an open forum and discussion group for agencies and individuals that serve transition-aged youth and young adults.
We will examine how our collective organizational values, implementation strategies, program design, and goals might expand to support the evolving, holistic needs of this age group. We will explore the creative ways youth-serving organizations are adjusting to best support them. Through guided conversation and promising-practice spotlights, this generative space will also unpack culturally and developmentally appropriate models that support young adults in attaining wellness and self-actualization.
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Each session is facilitated by YYA Co-Team Lead Oriana Ides, MA, APCC, PPS, with one or more guest speakers. Oriana is a School Mental Health Training Specialist at CARS (Center for Applied Research Solutions) and she approaches healing the wounds of trauma and oppression as core elements of social justice.
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» Rising Practices & Policies Revisited: Emerging Priorities in Mental & School Mental Health
Rising Practices & Policies Learning Series is back for its second year! Throughout Spring and Summer of 2023, we offer a no-cost, virtual, four-part learning series to provoke dialogue and discovery. Join the Pacific Southwest MHTTC to explore emerging issues, practices, and policies that are creative, innovative, and responsive.
This series expands on last year’s series to assess where we are in our work, what we can celebrate, and where we still need to grow. We return to the same essential question that we posed together last year: How can the behavioral health and school mental health workforces evolve our practices and policies to meet the evolving needs of the people and systems we serve?
Session 1 - 988 Turns One!: How Did it Go and How Can it Grow? kicked off on May 8. View it now: Session 1 Recording
Pull up a seat and contribute to the dialogue and learnings in these upcoming sessions. Youth and families are an essential aspect of each topic.
ALL SESSION TIMES:
Main Session: 3:00 - 4:15 p.m. PT
Optional Discussion: 4:15 - 4:45 p.m. PT
SESSION 2
» Uplifting Supports, Strengths, and Healing for Refugees from War
Monday, June 12 (view your time zone)
Register for Session 2 >
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SESSION 3
» Working with Youth and Families Experiencing Homelessness and Home Insecurity
Monday, July 10 (view your time zone)
Register for Session 3 >
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SESSION 4
» Mental Health & Student Mental Health Workforce: The Woes & Wonders of Recruitment & Retention
Monday, August 14 (view your time zone)
Register for Session 4 >
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» Creating Safe Spaces for Peer Support Providers and Incorporating Anti-racist Practices in Peer Support Delivery
This learning series asks: How can we create spaces where all peer professionals feel safe? How do we support Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) peers and implement anti-racist practices within peer support?
We welcome BIPOC peer support agencies, specialists and allies who work in mental health and cross-systems to this ongoing collaborative set of panel presentations and dialogue that explores ways of creating safe spaces for peer support providers within agencies. This affinity group series will open up opportunities to discuss ongoing support, career paths, antiracist practices, and how our Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) peers can navigate the field. It will also offer a space to learn from other peer specialists.
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Each session is facilitated by YYA Co-Team Lead Evelyn Clark, CPC, with one or more guest speakers. Evelyn is a Mexican-Native American woman with nearly 15 years of experience serving young people and their families who were system involved and is also a justice-impacted professional.
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» Learning Summary: Rising Practices & Policies in the Workforce: Pacific Southwest Region’s 2022 Spring and Summer Four-Part Learning Series
Last year, the Pacific Southwest Team brought together regional leaders and implementers in a four-part learning series on emerging issues for the mental health and school mental health workforce. Our goal was to identify considerations and elevate promising practices. Each session explored topics related to the experiences of youth and young adult populations.
This recently published document summarizes the series and includes the webinar recordings, highlights of the resources, ideas, and learnings from all panels:
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Session 1: Launching 988: What Do We Need to Know and How Might It Go?
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Session 2: Mitigating Distress & Maximizing Supports for Refugees from War
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Session 3: Working with Youth and Families Experiencing Homelessness and Home Insecurity
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Session 4: The Woes and Wonders of Recruitment and Retention in the Mental Health and School Mental Health Workforce
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» Helping Youth on the Path to Employment: Preventing Long-term Disability in Youth and Young Adults through Career Development
In this interactive presentation held by the New England MHTTC, the Training Director for HYPE (Helping Youth on the Path to Employment) will discuss HYPE as a service model that aims to prevent long-term disability in youth and young adults through a strong and early emphasis on higher education and employment. The origins, creation, philosophy, current offerings, and future directions of HYPE will be discussed.
Currently the Training Director at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research, Debbie Nicolellis has a keen interest in supporting people with mental health conditions to succeed in work and school and to have productive, meaningful careers. Debbie has a Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling with a focus on Supported Employment and Psychiatric Rehabilitation from Boston University and is certified nationally as a Rehabilitation Counselor.
This webinar will be co-hosted by the Massachusetts Psychosis Network for Early Treatment (MAPNET, www.mapnet.online)
Register for this Webinar >
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» Youth and Young Adult Support Space (YYASS!)
May 17 and every third Wednesday • 12 p.m. PT / 9 a.m. HT
The Youth and Young Adult Support Space (YYASS) is a monthly virtual learning and peer-sharing space for those who are working in and leading youth-centered programs and organizations. YYASS is perfect for leaders of Youth MOVE chapters and other youth-run programs that engage youth with lived mental health experience in change-making.
Register for YYASS! >
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» Moving Beyond Change Efforts: Evidence and Action to Support and Affirm LGBTQI+ Youth
SAMHSA
This new SAMHSA report (March 2023) offers an updated, evidence-based roadmap for supporting and affirming LGBTQI+ Youth. It provides a comprehensive overview of the scientific research and consensus that LGBTQI+ youth are resilient and can thrive when they are supported and affirmed, but that pervasive discrimination, rejection, and bullying of LGBTQI+ youth has led to a nationwide mental health crisis.
Access SAMHSA Report >
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» How to Find a Therapist for My Child
Orange County Resource Directory
From our partners with the Orange County Resource Directory comes a new 4-part brochure series designed for parents/guardians and other caring adults. It aims to demystify the process of getting the right kind of help for children. While each brochure can serve as a stand-alone tool in the process of help-seeking, the brochures’ material and content build upon each other to effectively limit the barriers that any parent/guardian may face in finding a therapist.
Access Brochure Series >
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» State Advisory Group Members | CJJ
Coalition for Juvenile Justice
State Advisory Groups were established under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) and SAG members are appointed by Governors/Chief Executives in each U.S. jurisdiction. They are principally responsible for monitoring and supporting their state's progress in addressing the four core requirements of the JJDPA. SAGs are an integral part of CJJ’s coalition. SAG Members receive training and technical assistance on innovative practices in juvenile justice. CJJ cultivates partnerships with leading reform organizations and advocates to translate how federal policy affects work at the state level.
View SAG Members >
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» Youth Voice in Juvenile Justice Research
Young people are experts on the juvenile justice system, but their experiences, feelings, and perspectives are not often heard or respected.
This research captures interviews about the juvenile justice system from young people aged 18 to 24 years old who have lived experience with the system and provides valuable insights on how research can help improve the system for young people. Interviewees answered questions about what they thought of the juvenile justice system, what could be changed, what could be done better to help young people be successful, and what the greatest challenges are for young people who interact with the system.
Access Resource >
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» The Power of Peer Support in the Juvenile Justice System: From Incarceration to Inspiration
According to the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention, 70% of youth in the juvenile justice system have an undiagnosed mental health need. Because of stigma and lack of resources, many young people involved in the justice system do not disclose their mental health needs, and those who do disclose may not receive the supports they need.
This recorded webinar featured three experts–certified peer counselors–who have served young people and their families within the juvenile justice system. These peers will empower viewers to empower those who work with young people, promoting leadership and awareness to break the stigma on those who have touched the system.
View Webinar >
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Contact the Pacific Southwest MHTTC
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Disclaimer: This announcement is supported by SAMHSA of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award over four years (2019-2023) with 100 percent funded by SAMHSA/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by SAMHSA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
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