Youth and Young Adult Organizations & Resources*

Among the significant challenges facing young people at risk are when they turn 18 and become young adults. Where do they turn for continuing assistance in assimilating into healthy, productive adults, individuals who are self-reliant and contributing members to their communities. The service coordination process should continue providing access to existing services and supports, both formal and informal, and when appropriate propose new services, supports, and/or strategies to be added in order to address unmet needs.

The organizations and sites below provide resources to youth and young adults.

Transition to Independence Process (TIP) and the
National Network on Youth Transition (NNYT) for Behavioral Health
http://www.tipstars.org/
The National Network is the only technical assistance resource that is exclusively focused on improving practices, systems, and outcomes for transition-age youth and young adults and their families. Stars Training Academy, a division of Stars Behavioral Health Group, (SBHG) collaborates with community agencies across North America to provide enriched training and customized consultation to achieve high fidelity and sustainable implementation of evidence-supported and evidence-based practices. The Stars Training Academy serves as the purveyor of the Transition to Independence Process (TIP) Model. The National Network on Youth Transition (NNYT) is a semi-autonomous entity that is under the SBHG umbrella. NNYT is responsible for defining and applying fidelity and certification standards for the implementation and sustainability of the TIP Model.

Achieve My Plan (AMP)
A Randomized Field-Test of Youth Engagement in Mental Health Treatment Planning
https://www.pathwaysrtc.pdx.edu/p3c-achieve-my-plan
For young people aged 11.5-18 with serious mental health conditions, a comprehensive, team-based approach is increasingly seen as the preferred mechanism for creating and monitoring treatment plans. Unfortunately, the young people themselves rarely participate meaningfully in these kinds of interdisciplinary planning teams. As a result, they can become disengaged from the planning process and unmotivated to participate in the planned treatment. The Achieve My Plan! (AMP) study tested a promising intervention that was developed by researchers at Portland State University, in collaboration with young people who have mental health conditions, service providers and caregivers. The study systematically evaluated the impact of the AMP intervention on youth participation and engagement in treatment planning, youth empowerment, and youth mental health and recovery outcomes.

Focal Point (Pathways Research and Training Center, Portland State University
https://www.pathwaysrtc.pdx.edu/focal-point
The Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures annually publishes the research review Focal Point, which is mailed free of charge to 18,000+ readers. Each issue of Focal Point explores a topic related to youth and young adult mental health and the transition to adulthood. Contributing authors offer perspectives and research from a variety of fields, including social work, psychology, sociology, juvenile justice, child welfare, public health, public policy, and neuroscience. The RTC for Pathways to Positive Futures aims to improve the lives of youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions through rigorous research and effective training and dissemination. Our work is guided by the perspectives of young people and their families, and based in a positive development framework.

Youth M.O.V.E. National
http://www.youthmovenational.org/
Youth M.O.V.E National is a youth led national organization devoted to improving services and systems that support positive growth and development by uniting the voices of individuals who have lived experience in various systems including mental health, juvenile justice, education, and child welfare. The members of Youth M.O.V.E. National work as a diverse collective to unite the voices and causes of youth while raising awareness around youth issues. We will advocate for youth rights and voice in mental health and the other systems that serve them, for the purpose of empowering youth to be equal partners in the process of change.

Youth M.O.V.E  Ohio
https://ohioyouthmove.org/
YouthMOVE Ohio is a youth led organization devoted to improving services and systems to support youth inclusion, mental wellness, positive supports and healthy transition. YouthMOVE Ohio empowers youth to advocate for themselves and live healthy, meaningful lives. Our vision is a world where youth are respected for their experience and given the tools and supports they need to succeed. YouthMOVE Ohio advocates for youth rights and youth voices at a national, state and local level. We empower youth to be equal partners in the processes that impact them and offer support and guidance.

Crisis Text Line Communications Guide
http://wraparoundohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Crisis-Text-Line-Communications-Guide.pdf
This guide will assist you in creating materials and promoting Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line provides free support at your fingertips, 24/7. Crisis Text Line was born “from the rib” of DoSomething.org, the largest organization for young people and social change. Dozens of DoSomething.org members were texting in to ask for personal help and the CEO (Nancy Lublin) came up with the idea for Crisis Text Line and quietly launched it in August 2013. Within 4 months, Crisis Text Line was being used in all 295 area codes in the USA. Two years later, Crisis Text Line spun out into a separate entity. We have a human-first approach. We do not believe machines should replace humans. However, we leverage technology to make our service faster, better, and cheaper. This is the largest mental health data set in the world. Imagine the impact this data corpus could have on police departments, school boards, policy makers, hospitals, families, journalists and academics.