Background: Youth mental health needs have worsened following COVID-19. Rising demand for school mental health services is straining capacity. Several states have added policies requiring mental health education, yet these vary widely and barriers to operationalization exist. Purpose: This paper explores the onerous landscape of mental health…

Background: Mental health care is critical to improving mental health but factors associated with student utilization are poorly understood. Methods: Data were from high school students (N = 2933; mean age = 15.7 ± 0.6) enrolled in a California cohort. We examined associations of sociodemographic factors, substance use, and mental health symptoms…

Rates of depression in youth are continuing to increase at a steady rate, yet these youth often do not receive mental health services (Bertha & Balázs, 2013; Thomas et al., 2011). Schools are an ideal setting to connect youth to mental health services; however, many barriers exist with respect to schools having adequate resources and access to…

The goal of this qualitative study was to understand the perspectives of school community members (adolescents, parents, school administrators, teachers, mental health providers) regarding the adaptation of an evidence-based transdiagnostic mental health treatment, known as the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders…

High school athletes are not immune to mental health challenges. The persistent lack of state or national mental health guidelines for athletes has impacted high school athletes' abilities to access and apply resources in a mentally healthy manner. This can impact not only a high school athlete's career but can leave lasting effects on collegiate…

This demonstration brief provides teaching and learning stories from districts and schools implementing PBIS with an integrated systems focus and is organized across the following areas: (a) the context of the school/district, (b) the changes made in the systems, (c) the impact of the changes made in the systems, and (d) next steps to improve the…

Evidence suggests that youth progressively experience mental health needs and discover mental health symptoms for the first time in adolescence. Schools have come to the forefront of providing mental health services, as adolescents spend most of their day in the academic setting. The current study aimed to examine individual and school-level…

Comprehensive programmes to help reduce substance misuse/mental illness in youth should combine Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). EMPATHY, an SBIRT programme, was part of a school-based prevention initiative to reduce symptoms of substance misuse in youth in Grades 6-12, along with reducing symptoms of depression,…

Background: Mental health services in the United States public schools are an important component of the academic success of a student. Not all schools, however, have the necessary personnel and funding to offer such services. Methods: In this paper, we provide an analysis of data collected from schools in 3 geographic locations. Comparisons were…

School mass shootings have been increasing, leading to the need to better understand how exposure to these events affects high school and college students' academic performance, psychosocial functioning, and mental health. With a greater understanding of these effects, results can be used to inform the contemporary literature on the psychological…

Transitioning from high school is known to be challenging for students. Utilising the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis for scoping review guidelines, this scoping review examined the extent of existing research on the association of career indecision with depression, negative thoughts, and the role of…

This dissertation aims to elucidate that current school-based mental health services need a more LGBTQI+ affirmative stance to counter and disrupt the heteronormativity, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that LGBTQI+ students regularly encounter at school. Many LGBTQI+ students continue to be harassed, bullied, and discriminated against;…

This study utilizes archival data from a district-based initiative aimed at improving the provision of school-based mental health services. It dives deep into the stories of adolescents who were classified and receiving special education supports, which included school-based counseling. These students endured challenging family contexts. A…

Many schools and communities conduct regular surveillance surveys to monitor student mental health risk. These surveys rarely ask about use of mental health services, despite the potential importance of this information to support service planning and resource allocation. The current study developed and tested the Adolescent Mental Health Support…

The Adolescent Depression Awareness Program, developed by psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is a depression literacy program delivered to high school students by teachers. This mode of delivery represents an effective and sustainable way to increase awareness of mental health, reduce stigma,…