Resilience

Project SEARCH: Opening Doors to Employment for Young People with Disabilities

 This unique work immersion model is designed to help students with significant disabilities transition from school to work, with a focus on the needs of both the student and potential employer. This Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 2009 brief describes Project SEARCH and considers whether it represents an effective model for increasing employment among these individuals.

Click here to read the Disability Policy Research Brief.

Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise

RAND Report by L.A. Karoly, M. R. Kilburn, and J.S. Cannon

Summary

"Many children face deficiencies between ages 0 and 5 that can impede their ability to develop to their fullest potential. The PNC Grow Up Great initiative, a program financed by PNC Financial, Inc., asked RAND to prepare a thorough, objective review and synthesis of current research that addresses the potential for various forms of early childhood intervention to improve outcomes for participating children and their families. The authors consider the potential consequences of not investing additional resources in the lives of children, the range of early intervention programs, the demonstrated benefits of interventions with high-quality evaluations, the features associated with successful programs, and the returns to society associated with investing early in the lives of disadvantaged children." (RAND)

To access and read this RAND summary or report, click here.

 

Working Together to Help Youth Thrive in Schools and Communities: Systems of Care

 SAMHSA, Systems of Care, 5/2010.

Summary

This report provides an overview of the systems of care program and how youth and their families improve on various behavioral and mental health outcomes a result of receiving services in systems of care. Findings from the national evaluation of the systems of care program are highlighted for youth aged 14 - 18 years old. This brief report demonstrates how youth improve academically, behaviorally, and emotionally after receiving services for 12 months in federally funded systems of care. (SAMHSA)

To download this report, from SAMHSA, click here.

Remote Assessment and Treatment via Telemedicine Combined With Onsite Case Management Enhance Access to Mental Health Services for Low-Income and Minority Students

AHRQ Innovations Exchange, University of Texas Medical Branch, 8/2010.

Summary

In collaboration with several community partners, the University of Texas Medical Branch provides remote mental health assessment and treatment services via videoconferencing technology and onsite case management to low-income, minority, and other students and parents in four school-based primary care clinics in the Galveston Independent School District. The program's goal is to improve student mental health status and behavior, which is expected to lead to a reduction in student absenteeism, drug use, and violent behavior in the schools.

Click here to read the Innovation Profile.

Outdoor Experiential Youth Development Program Reduces Substance Use and Related Problems Among American Indian Adolescents

AHRQ Innovations Exchange, Project Venture, National Indian Youth Leadership Project, May 2010.

Summary

Project Venture is an outdoor experiential youth development program designed to prevent substance abuse and related problems among American Indian youth, including high-risk youth. The program relies on traditional American Indian values to promote the development of a positive conception of one’s self, effective social interaction skills, a community service ethic, an internal locus of control, and good decisionmaking and problem-solving skills. This nationally recognized program has led to significant reductions in substance use by participants and their peers, as well as improvements in participants’ attitudes and behaviors.

To read the complete innovation profile, click here.

Community-Wide Collaboration Provides School-Based Mental Health Services to Students and Families in Impoverished, High-Crime, Urban Neighborhoods

AHRQ Innovations Exchange, August 2010.

Summary

Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention, a local child mental health agency, along with the Boston Public Schools and several other urban community service agencies, have joined together to develop Connecting With Care, a school-based, collaborative, community-wide program that provides mental health and other support services to students and their families living in neighborhoods plagued by poverty and crime. Connecting With Care is designed to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in mental health status and treatment by focusing on students (and their families) who are adversely affected by ongoing exposure to trauma. The program has enhanced access to needed mental health services in a population that has limited means of accessing such services. An evaluation of the program's impact is currently in process. 

Click here to read this AHRQ Innovation Profile.

Unclaimed Children Revisited: The Status of Children's Mental Health Policy in the United States

The National Center for Children in Poverty, by Janice L. Cooper, Yumiko Aratani, et al, November 2008.

Executive Summary

Over 25 years ago Jane Knitzer, in the report Unclaimed Children: The Failure of Public Responsibility to Children in Need of Mental Health Services, documented policy and program disconnects that meant children and youth with mental health needs and their families did not get the services they needed.* That report, along with family advocacy, served as a spur to improve service delivery for the most troubled children. In the intervening years, there has also been an explosion of knowledge about the biological and social determinants of children’s mental health issues, new understandings of how children and their problems develop, and new ways of providing preventive and treatment services. And so, more than a quarter of a century later, NCCP posed the central question for today’s children’s mental health system: to what extent is this new knowledge incorporated into the policy and practice frameworks governing children’s mental health?

This report is based on a study that documents how current child mental health policies across the United States respond to the needs of children and youth with mental health problems, those at risk, and their families. Our aim was to identify best policy practices that support family- and youth-focused, researchinformed, developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically competent services and supports.  (NCCP)

Click here to read more or download the full report.

InBrief Series: Early Childhood Science and Policy

Harvard University, Center on the Developing Child.

This three-part series offers short summaries of the scientific presentations given at the National Symposium on Early Childhood Science and Policy in June 2008. Each is available in print form and in video form.  Presentations are as follows:

• The Science of Early Childhood Development
• The Impact of Early Adversity on Children's Development
• Early Childhood Program Effectiveness.

To watch or read the presentations, at the Center on the Develop Child web site, click here.

School Mental Health Demonstration Project

Grantmakers in Health, University of Maryland, School of Mental Health, Mark  D. Weist, Ph.D. et al, The Excellence in School Mental Health Initiative: Final Report, June 2010.

In 2007, four Baltimore-based funders came together to support a school mental health demonstration project at two Baltimore City K-8 public schools, implemented and documented by the University of Maryland Center for School Mental Health. The overall goal of the project was to demonstrate the potential of offering a full continuum of environmental enhancement, stakeholder involvement,and evidence-based mental health promotion and intervention. The report below documents the project and findings and makes a number of recommendations for Baltimore City moving forward that may be applicable to many urban public school settings. (Grantmakers in Health)

Click here to access the report at  the Grantmakers in Health web site.

National poll suggests school support is lacking for emotional, behavioral issues

The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked nearly 1,100 parents across the United States to grade their children’s public schools on how well they support children with behavioral, emotional or family problems. At the primary school level, only 37% of parents gave an 'A' for support for children with ADHD and other behavioral problems, and 34% gave an 'A' for support.  Although these national results do not necessarily reflect the situation in every local school district, the results should generate discussion about the role of schools in systems of care for children's behavioral health.

Read the full results of the survey here...