Category: Program / Treatment Design
Katherine Wislocki, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California
Rosa Hernandez-Ramos, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California
Miya Barnett, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of California Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Katherine Wislocki, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California
Rosa Hernandez-Ramos, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California
Katherine Cohen, M.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
Stony Brook University
Jamaica, New York
Damaris Garcia-Valerio, B.A. (she/her/hers)
University of California, Santa Barbara
Goleta, California
Sylvanna Vargas, M.P.H., Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
Mental health problems amongst youth in the United States continue to rise. Recent work has demonstrated that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened this crisis (Abreu et al., 2023; Hawke et al., 2021). Systemic disparities in accessing mental health services can exacerbate the burden of mental health issues, particularly for minoritized youth with minoritized identities are not only less likely to receive care, but they are also less likely to receive evidence-based interventions (SAMHSA, 2017). Indeed, existing service delivery models–particularly those that rely on delivery by formally trained providers—do not adequately meet the needs of these youth (Banks et al., 2021; Cunningham et al., 2021). As such, expanding the portfolio of mental health services could help increase access to quality evidence-based interventions for minoritized and otherwise underserved youth (Kazdin & Blase, 2011). Nontraditional service delivery models, such as those that leverage digital technologies (Boydell et al., 2014), non-clinical settings (Arenson et al., 2019), and lay providers (Barnett et al., 2021) have the potential to increase access to quality evidence-based interventions for minoritized and underserved youth.
This symposium will provide an overview of several projects relating to novel delivery models for minoritized and underserved youth. Through leveraging lay providers, digital technologies, and non-clinical settings, these projects contribute to the novel delivery of evidence-based interventions. Our first presenter will review a literature synthesis to demonstrate how nontraditional service models can be used to scale access to suicide prevention for rural Latine adolescents Our second presenter will examine the design, engagement, and effectiveness of a single-session digital mental health intervention for LGBTQ+ adolescents. Our third presenter will review qualitative results from individual semi-structured interviews aiming to understand how peer to peer models can address the mental health service needs of undocumented college students. Our fourth presenter will
assess clinical strategies employed by peer providers to support adolescent users experiencing at-risk behaviors on a digital mental health application. Our final talk will present results from a scoping review of freely-available youth suicide prevention trainings for both lay and professionally-trained providers working with youth at-risk for suicide in traditional and nontraditional settings.
Each of these presentations will feature an in-depth discussion of considerations and limitations, as well as the future directions for leveraging these findings to inform nontraditional service delivery going forward. Dr. Miya Barnett, a leading expert in the nontraditional service delivery of evidence-based treatments and implementation science will discuss best practices and future directions for building capacity to deliver evidence-based interventions to minoritized and underserved youth. This includes the importance of ensuring treatment fidelity, leveraging community partnerships, and novel research methodologies to promote equitable implementation and optimize effectiveness.
