With the increasing prominence of the children and adolescent mental health crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been tasked with connecting students with supports to reduce non-academic barriers to learning. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) can assist with this by connecting students and their families with school-based and…

Nearly all states and the District of Columbia have policies requiring schools to address prevention of alcohol or drug use and abuse in high school health education curricula, according to National Association of State Boards of Education's (NASBE's) State Health Policy Database. But with the added concerns about the pandemic's impact on youth…

Understanding factors that foster resilience and buffer against the negative psychological impact of COVID-19 is critical to inform efforts to promote adjustment, reduce risk, and improve care, particularly for adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders. This prospective longitudinal study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of the…

Purpose: (1) To compare demographic, mental health, service usage, and emotional and behavioral characteristics and strengths of youth receiving care from depressed versus nondepressed caregivers and (2) to determine whether a community-based program for reducing problematic behaviors and bolstering strengths is equally effective for youth with…

Many school-based suicide prevention programs do not show a positive impact on help-seeking behaviors among emotionally troubled teens despite their being at high risk for suicide. This study is a secondary analysis of the Surviving the Teens® program evaluation to determine its effect on help-seeking behaviors among troubled youth. Results showed…

Background: Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death among youth aged 15-24 years. Schools provide ideal opportunities for suicide prevention efforts. However, research is needed to identify programs that effectively impact youth suicidal ideation and behavior. This study examined the immediate and 3-month effect of Surviving the Teens[R]…

This InfoBrief discusses challenges faced by youth and young adults with mental health needs during their transition to adulthood and describes strategies used by youth service professionals to avoid age-related transition cliffs and prevent service interruptions during this critical stage of development. This InfoBrief is based on a rich body of…

The State of the Science conference was held in May, 2007 as part of the ongoing series of national conferences, "Building on Family Strengths," conducted by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health at Portland State University. The theme of this State-of-the Science conference was "Effective…

This issue of "Focal Point" explores the concepts of resilience and recovery and what they mean in the context of mental health care for children and adolescents. From the articles, it emerges that the terminology associated with recovery and resilience (particularly the word, recovery, itself) can be confusing and even off-putting to…

Participants at the 1977 Conference on Institution Library Services reassessed a ten-year old program to develop libraries in Ohio's institutions, reinforced the concept that library services are important to institutions, and elicited input for future development. This report presents the texts of the following conference papers: (1) a report on…

Of the 2.5 million reported cases of child abuse and neglect reported in 1990, 9 percent involved emotional abuse. However, unclear guidelines on what constitutes emotional abuse make it difficult for school nurses to intervene over suspected abuse. This paper describes the development of an instrument that defines emotional maltreatment in…

This report describes a managed care approach which uses limited risk bundled contracting to provide mental health services for high risk children and youth in Franklin County, Ohio. The project uses flexible allocation of blended dollars to support individualized plans that are strength-based and family-centered and incorporate principles of…

Exposure to violence at school remains a significant problem for children and adolescents. This study examined the relationship between exposure to violence at school and child reports of psychological trauma symptoms and violent behavior. The sample consisted of children in grades 3 through 12 in 17 public schools from two different states. Rates…