Social Work Commons^™

Study Guide: How Youth Partners Can Collaborate With Family Partners In Wraparound, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Portland State University

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is our hope that this study guide can be a helpful training, coaching, and conversational tool to help supervisors and staff think through the nuances of this particular working relationship. It can be used when onboarding new staff, when a family partner is working alongside a youth partner for the first time (or vice versa), when addressing challenges that come up, or simply to check in on and refresh staff skills. In addition, it can be used during one-on-one supervision as well as in a group training or coaching session. This tool also may be useful for colleagues who …

Amp’S Top Ten Tips For Engaging With Young People, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Portland State University

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This tip sheet advises service providers and others how to engage successfully with youth, using specific examples to illustrate effective (and ineffective) communication.

Supporting College Student Success Through Connections To Mentors And Campus Champions, Rebecca Miller, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, B. Hope

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This brief shares best practices learned on the Project Futures research study being conducted at Portland State University and local community colleges in Portland, Oregon. The study is testing evidence-based mentoring strategies for underserved students, in this case college freshmen with lived experience in foster care and with mental health stressors. Campus-based mentoring is an increasingly popular strategy to better support under-represented students, who in addition to navigating the typical challenges of college life, may face additional barriers to student success, such as:

• Homelessness or housing instability and/or financial insecurity with no safety net,
• Mental health and trauma,
• Starting college …

What Is Peer Support And What Is Not Peer Support?, Mary Beth Welch, Caitlin Baird, Celeste L. Seibel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This publication provides clarity around the primary functions of the young adult peer support role, and addresses the common misconceptions of young adult peer work.

Changing The Rules: A Guide For Youth And Young Adults With Mental Health Conditions Who Want To Change Policy, Nancy Koroloff, Barbara J. Friesen, Nicholas Buekea

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This guide provides information about policy and policy change in mental health and other human services for young adult groups who want to be

directly involved in policy change activities. Some of the many ways that young people can be involved in policy work include serving on advisory committees that consider areas where policy change is needed, participating on groups convened to review contract language about youth-related issues or serving on groups charged with developing rules and regulations to support recent policy change. A number of manuals or handbooks address these important roles, although few of them are specifically focused …

Achieving Cross-System Collaboration To Support Young People In The Transition Years: A Tip Sheet For Service Providers, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Claudia Sellmaier, Maria Carolina Gonzalez-Prats, Pathways Transition Training Collaborative

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This tip sheet advises service providers on how to reach across fragmented services and systems to assist young people to achieve their goals.

Advice To Young Adults From Young Adults: Helpful Hints For Policy Change In The Mental Health System, Nancy Koroloff, Barbara J. Friesen, Nicholas Buekea

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This tip sheet is designed for use by youth and young adult led organizations that include young people with lived experience in the mental health system in their membership. Organizations that have a history of working together collectively, have clear leadership roles and are ready to move into policy change are most likely to find these tips useful. The recommendations and the quotes contained in this tip sheet came from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care. Each organization was selected because of its work …

Youth & Young Adult Peer Support: What Research Tells Us About Its Effectiveness In Mental Health Services, Sharice Jackson, Janet S. Walker, Celeste Seibel

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasing the availability of peer support for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions has been advocated by service users, researchers, and government commissions. Efforts to provide peer support for young people are becoming more and more common. This FAQ describes the research evidence for peer support, as well as some of the challenges that can be expected when peer support is implemented.

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Peer Support In A Youth-Led Drop-In Center, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth Move Oregon

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief gives an overview of Youth MOVE Oregon, an innovator in peer-led services for youth. The role and development of Peer Support Providers is discussed in some detail along with organizational challenges that need to be addressed.

Faq: Defining, Supporting, And Sustaining The Peer Support Specialist Role, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pathways RTC, together with staff from the Technical Assistance Partnership and the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, decided to interview agencies that were developing peer support specialist (PSS) roles. The goal was to find out what these agencies were learning about defining, supporting, and sustaining the PSS role. This FAQ summarizes some of the main things that were learned.

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support In Wraparound, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth And Family Training Institute

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief provides an example of how one state has implemented and supported the Peer Support Specialist role for youth with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes a series of challenges and solutions.

Youth Advocate To Advocate For Youth: The Next Transition, Lacy Kendrick Burk, Johanna Bergan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

A growing youth movement across the country has developed a vast number of youth and young adult leaders who are passionate and experienced in sharing their stories to create positive systems change. Many strong youth groups and organizations, authentic youth/adult partnerships, federal grant programs, and research and training centers across the country support this movement. Even more importantly, the movement is sustained by the energy and passion of the young leaders and those who support youth voice.

This guide is intended for young people who have chosen to utilize their lived experience as a mechanism to advocate for positive change. …

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Providing Direct, Individualized Support In A Local Program, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth Empowerment Support Program

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief provides an example of how one locally-initiated program has implemented the Peer Support Specialist role for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes challenges and solutions.

Tips On Core Competencies For Transition Service Providers, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Claudia Sellmaier, Pathways Transition Training Collaborative

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This document describes ten competencies that transition service providers working with young people with mental health difficulties should develop in order to be effective.