Resources
The Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc. (CHDI) and NCYOJ jointly published a resource to help schools and communities address students’ behavioral health needs and reduce youth juvenile justice involvement. The resource, Children’s Behavioral Health and Implementation of the School Responder Model, provides guidance on implementing a school responder model as part of a multi-tiered systems of support framework.
Suicide is 1 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, claiming more than 47,000 lives in 2019 alone. The rates of suicide have risen more than 30 percent between 1999-2019. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Surgeon General—in collaboration with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention—released The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. This new report outlines the actions that communities and individuals can take to reduce the rates of suicide and help improve resilience.
The National American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network’s K-12 School Initiative now offers a year’s worth of free telehealth mental health services to children and youth in grades K–12. The services will allow children and adolescents to connect via cell phone with counselors, therapists, or social workers. Providers must have a computer, laptop, or cell phone to conduct virtual appointments. Interested providers who work in school or community healthcare programs for American Indian and Alaska Native youth are encouraged to email Teresa Brewington for more information.
A recent survey from the Urban Institute shines a spotlight on gaps in child welfare research and reveals a need for major systems transformation. The survey, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, and the William T. Grant Foundation, shows that respondents see the greatest need for research that informs investments in strengthening families before child abuse and neglect can occur—known in the field as primary prevention.
With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Youth Employment Coalition has created a tool kit to foster meaningful collaboration between professionals in the federal workforce development system and the juvenile justice system. This resource offers readers 1) evidence-based practices in youth workforce development; 2) an overview of the workforce system funded under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA); 3) advice on improving WIOA-funded services for youth with justice involvement at the local level; and 4) guidance on forming effective interagency partnerships.
This issue brief, created by CHDI, provides information on expanding access to evidence-based children’s behavioral health treatments through a train-the-trainer (TTT) approach. While evidence-based treatments (EBTs) are considered best practice, making them widely available for children and families in community-based and clinical settings has proven challenging, and most children still do not receive EBTs. Increased use of a TTT model is a promising strategy for improving dissemination so that more children and families can access EBTs.
This issue brief, created by CHDI, provides information on social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in additional and ongoing adversity, trauma, and behavioral health concerns for many students and staff, and has disproportionately impacted those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Together, this syndemic (i.e., a set of interrelated epidemics involving health and social/cultural problems) of COVID-19 and racial justice requires ensuring that SEL curricula, as well as broader school approaches to wellness, incorporate principles of equity and anti-racism.
