Search

Search Results

• 1. [Article] Supporting Transition-Aged Youth: One State's Efforts

  Young adults need specialized services as they age out of children’s mental health care and into adult services. Starting in 1997, Connecticut began to address this need by creating a Young Adult Services ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Supporting Transition-Aged Youth: One State's Efforts Author: Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2010 Young adults need specialized services as they age out of children’s mental health care and into adult services. Starting in 1997, Connecticut began to address this need by creating a Young Adult Services (YAS) program, designed to assist those over 18 who had moderate to severe symptoms of mental illness. YAS provides comprehensive service delivery that includes clinical, residential, case management, vocational, and social rehabilitation supports. Major principles that guide the YAS program include: (1) services must be comprehensive and integrated—focusing on one issue without supporting a young adult in other aspects of his or her life is ineffective; (2) it is challenging, yet essential, to facilitate young adults’ transitions from highly supervised and structured programs into community settings in which they experience higher degrees of autonomy, and; (3) given the traumas experienced by many of these young adults, it is particularly important to provide them with opportunities to form secure attachments; therefore, YAS programs should not reject or remove clients. The clients served by YAS have aged out of institutional settings and have complex needs: 95% have known histories of severe and sustained abuse, 95% have been in foster and/or residential care, half have diagnosed learning disabilities, and many have been incarcerated. The purpose of this study was to identify aspects of the YAS program related to positive psychological functioning and well-being in its young adult clients. Title: Supporting Transition-Aged Youth: One State's Efforts Author: Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2010 Young adults need specialized services as they age out of children’s mental health care and into adult services. Starting in 1997, Connecticut began to address this need by creating a Young Adult Services (YAS) program, designed to assist those over 18 who had moderate to severe symptoms of mental illness. YAS provides comprehensive service delivery that includes clinical, residential, case management, vocational, and social rehabilitation supports. Major principles that guide the YAS program include: (1) services must be comprehensive and integrated—focusing on one issue without supporting a young adult in other aspects of his or her life is ineffective; (2) it is challenging, yet essential, to facilitate young adults’ transitions from highly supervised and structured programs into community settings in which they experience higher degrees of autonomy, and; (3) given the traumas experienced by many of these young adults, it is particularly important to provide them with opportunities to form secure attachments; therefore, YAS programs should not reject or remove clients. The clients served by YAS have aged out of institutional settings and have complex needs: 95% have known histories of severe and sustained abuse, 95% have been in foster and/or residential care, half have diagnosed learning disabilities, and many have been incarcerated. The purpose of this study was to identify aspects of the YAS program related to positive psychological functioning and well-being in its young adult clients. Close

• 2. [Article] Is Supported Employment Effective for Youth and Young Adults?

  Supported Employment (SE) is an evidence-based practice to assist people with disabilities in finding and maintaining employment. The types of services provided by SE include job coaching and training, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Is Supported Employment Effective for Youth and Young Adults? Author: Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2013 Supported Employment (SE) is an evidence-based practice to assist people with disabilities in finding and maintaining employment. The types of services provided by SE include job coaching and training, resume development, and transportation. More recently, proof of the effectiveness of this approach for those with mental health challenges has been documented.1 The purpose of this research was to determine whether SE proved to be effective among persons with mental health challenges across different age groups. Title: Is Supported Employment Effective for Youth and Young Adults? Author: Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2013 Supported Employment (SE) is an evidence-based practice to assist people with disabilities in finding and maintaining employment. The types of services provided by SE include job coaching and training, resume development, and transportation. More recently, proof of the effectiveness of this approach for those with mental health challenges has been documented.1 The purpose of this research was to determine whether SE proved to be effective among persons with mental health challenges across different age groups. Close

• 3. [Article] How Mental Health Challenges Impact the Sexual and Relational Health of Young Adults

  Sexual behavior is a normative aspect of young adulthood—90% of young adults have had vaginal intercourse and/or oral sex before the age of 30.1 Similarly, engaging in romantic and/or intimate relationships ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: How Mental Health Challenges Impact the Sexual and Relational Health of Young Adults Author: Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2011 Sexual behavior is a normative aspect of young adulthood—90% of young adults have had vaginal intercourse and/or oral sex before the age of 30.1 Similarly, engaging in romantic and/or intimate relationships is seen as an essential developmental task of young adulthood. However, little is known about the sexual and romantic relationships of young adults with serious mental health conditions (SMHC), despite the fact that there is evidence that this population is disproportionately affected by poor sexual health. This article will outline what is known about the sexual and romantic relationships of young adults with SMHC and highlight the importance of engaging in conversations about sexual and romantic relationships with young adults experiencing mental health challenges. Title: How Mental Health Challenges Impact the Sexual and Relational Health of Young Adults Author: Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2011 Sexual behavior is a normative aspect of young adulthood—90% of young adults have had vaginal intercourse and/or oral sex before the age of 30.1 Similarly, engaging in romantic and/or intimate relationships is seen as an essential developmental task of young adulthood. However, little is known about the sexual and romantic relationships of young adults with serious mental health conditions (SMHC), despite the fact that there is evidence that this population is disproportionately affected by poor sexual health. This article will outline what is known about the sexual and romantic relationships of young adults with SMHC and highlight the importance of engaging in conversations about sexual and romantic relationships with young adults experiencing mental health challenges. Close

• 4. [Article] Community-based Approaches for Supporting Positive Development in Youth and Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions

  Our goal in this chapter is to describe empirically- supported and promising community-based programs or approaches that are designed to promote positive development and to achieve better outcomes for ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Community-based Approaches for Supporting Positive Development in Youth and Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions Author: Walker, Janet S., Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2011 Our goal in this chapter is to describe empirically- supported and promising community-based programs or approaches that are designed to promote positive development and to achieve better outcomes for young people with SMHC. We begin by providing more detail regarding the nature of the challenges that these young people face, as well as some of the challenges that systems and providers currently face in trying to serve the population. We then go on to describe recent theory and research on positive development, particularly as it applies to older adolescents and young or “emerging” adults. The next sections of the chapter describe a series of empiricallysupported and promising programs, including programs specifically designed to serve highly vulnerable populations of transition-age young people, such as those who are homeless and those who are transitioning out of the juvenile justice system. Throughout these sections, we describe how these various approaches are connected to central themes in the research and theory on positive development during late adolescence and early adulthood. Finally, we review some questions and implications raised by considering programs and interventions from a positive development perspective Title: Community-based Approaches for Supporting Positive Development in Youth and Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions Author: Walker, Janet S., Gowen, L. Kris Year: 2011 Our goal in this chapter is to describe empirically- supported and promising community-based programs or approaches that are designed to promote positive development and to achieve better outcomes for young people with SMHC. We begin by providing more detail regarding the nature of the challenges that these young people face, as well as some of the challenges that systems and providers currently face in trying to serve the population. We then go on to describe recent theory and research on positive development, particularly as it applies to older adolescents and young or “emerging” adults. The next sections of the chapter describe a series of empiricallysupported and promising programs, including programs specifically designed to serve highly vulnerable populations of transition-age young people, such as those who are homeless and those who are transitioning out of the juvenile justice system. Throughout these sections, we describe how these various approaches are connected to central themes in the research and theory on positive development during late adolescence and early adulthood. Finally, we review some questions and implications raised by considering programs and interventions from a positive development perspective Close

• 5. [Article] The 2009 Portland National Youth Summit Report

  The following report outlines the planning process, the agenda, and the outcomes of the 2009 Portland National Youth Summit. The purpose of the Youth Summit was to invite systems-experienced youth (e.g., ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The 2009 Portland National Youth Summit Report Author: Strachan, Rebecca, Gowen, L. Kris, Walker, Janet S. Year: 2009 The following report outlines the planning process, the agenda, and the outcomes of the 2009 Portland National Youth Summit. The purpose of the Youth Summit was to invite systems-experienced youth (e.g., those who have been involved with the services such as mental health, child welfare, and/or juvenile justice systems) together to create a “Call to Action” that outlines positive solutions to improve the mental health services they receive. This Summit took place in conjunction with the Research and Training Center’s (RTC) Building on Family Strengths Conference, Monday, June 22, 2009. A Youth Summit Advisory Board comprised of four young members partnered with a Youth Summit Coordinator, RTC staff and support allies to identify the goals of the event, create an application for participation, recruit applicants, create an event agenda, and facilitate activities during the event. Thirty youth and young adults, ages 16-25, were invited to attend the Summit and contribute based on their activities as leaders and advocates within their own communities, and on their experiences with mental health services, foster care, homelessness, residential treatment, hospitalization, and/or the juvenile justice system. During the Youth Summit these participants, led by the Summit Advisory Board, identified five priority areas of change within youth services. They presented these outcomes in a Call to Action Plan. (See section six of this report.) Title: The 2009 Portland National Youth Summit Report Author: Strachan, Rebecca, Gowen, L. Kris, Walker, Janet S. Year: 2009 The following report outlines the planning process, the agenda, and the outcomes of the 2009 Portland National Youth Summit. The purpose of the Youth Summit was to invite systems-experienced youth (e.g., those who have been involved with the services such as mental health, child welfare, and/or juvenile justice systems) together to create a “Call to Action” that outlines positive solutions to improve the mental health services they receive. This Summit took place in conjunction with the Research and Training Center’s (RTC) Building on Family Strengths Conference, Monday, June 22, 2009. A Youth Summit Advisory Board comprised of four young members partnered with a Youth Summit Coordinator, RTC staff and support allies to identify the goals of the event, create an application for participation, recruit applicants, create an event agenda, and facilitate activities during the event. Thirty youth and young adults, ages 16-25, were invited to attend the Summit and contribute based on their activities as leaders and advocates within their own communities, and on their experiences with mental health services, foster care, homelessness, residential treatment, hospitalization, and/or the juvenile justice system. During the Youth Summit these participants, led by the Summit Advisory Board, identified five priority areas of change within youth services. They presented these outcomes in a Call to Action Plan. (See section six of this report.) Close