Presentations
July 19 - 23, 2021
July 19 - 23, 2021
Session One: Mentoring for Youth in Mental Health Treatment (David DuBois & Elizabeth Higley)
It is not unusual for youth participating in mentoring programs to also be receiving counseling or therapy to address mental health challenges. There are unique opportunities and challenges associated with providing effective mentoring for these youth. This session will review research on mentoring for youth receiving mental health care. It will also describe Great Life Mentoring, a mentoring model which is a research-based mental health intervention. We will describe findings of a recent evaluation on the model. Participants will be engaged in a discussion of practices they use for youth receiving mental health care as well as ideas for assessing program needs and potential innovations in this area.
Session Two: Mentoring marginalized youth for mental wellness in the face of adversity (Noelle Hurd)
This session will attend to specific racism-related challenges facing youth of color; implications for mental health; and the potential role of supportive adults in youths’ everyday lives to support youths’ coping processes. In addition to reviewing research on these topics, attention will be paid to familial processes and programmatic efforts that may be able to build supportive natural mentoring relationships in youths’ lives. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive discussion regarding programmatic efforts to be anti-racist and to support youth in further cultivating and establishing supportive bonds with adults in their everyday lives.
Session Three: Relevance of the Parent-Mentor Alliance in Mentoring for Youth with Mental Health Needs: Possibilities for Improving Communication and Match Duration (Martha McCormack)
Parent stress and parent-provider working alliance are two concepts from the field of children’s mental health applied to youth mentoring to identify issues affecting match stability and premature match endings. Participants will learn about two studies involving matches of youth with mental health challenges in BBBS community-based mentoring programs. One study gathered perceptions of parents about the mentoring process for their children who were in long-lasting mentoring relationships. The second study used the working alliance concept to analyze qualitative interviews with the parent, mentor, and agency case manager about matches with an identified mental health diagnosis shared by the parent during the youth enrollment/assessment process. Of particular interest was how parent stress influenced parent-mentor communication, understandings, plans, and respect. Attendees will have opportunities to discuss already-existing practice ‘locations’ in community-based mentoring programs where parent-mentor alliance could be enhanced and monitored.
Session Four: Relationship-based approaches to mental health promotion: Adapting evidence-based practice to promote fit and relevancy for your context (Claire Crooks)
Relationship-based programs are theoretically and empirically validated as approaches to promoting youth mental health and reducing violence. Evidence-based approaches to mental health promotion and violence prevention have typically been developed and evaluated in one specific context. There is a need to adapt these approaches to meet the diversity of youth and communities across North America. This session will use the example of the Fourth R, an evidence-based violence prevention program that was initially designed to be implemented in schools, to show how programming can be expanded and adapted for particular populations and contexts. It will share strategies for those planning to adapt or adopt evidence-based practices to consider how to maximize fit and relevancy. Participants will have the opportunity to identify effective core components of relationships-based approaches that they may already be using, and also to reflect on ways to extend their practice in this area.
Session Five: Mentoring for transition age youth and young adults with mental health conditions: Developing and testing interventions (Michelle Munson)
There is ample empirical support for the benefits of mentoring; however, less evidence exists for mentoring among youth and young adults diagnosed with mental health conditions. This session will briefly highlight the evidence that exists, present empirical data from an in-depth study that investigated the supportive relationships young adults with serious mental illness identified as “key” to their transition to adulthood, and present on two multicomponent interventions that include mentoring. The session will describe how both Cornerstone Coordinated Community Care and Just Do You embed mentoring relationships, while also presenting on feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcome data. Finally, the session will end with a dialogue on next steps for mentoring among youth with mental health conditions focused on lessons learned, various approaches to mentoring in context and protocols on fidelity, safety, monitoring and supervision.