Project 466775

Youth interacting with school-based mental health care are broadly experiencing some level of challenge to their well-being. How can the time they spend in school be capitalized on to provide them the best possible chance of a positive trajectory moving forward? This project aims to use existing and incoming data from the Youth Development Instrument (YDI) to develop evidence-based, feasible, and sustainable interventions for adolescent school-based mental health services that promote resilience, well-being, and positive trajectories. YDI data has already been collected from 2300 Grade 11 students in BC and will expand further in Spring 2020; as such, this data would be used to develop interventions geared toward high school students. A strengths and asset-based approach to youth well-being would anchor this project and, on a systems level, it would be rooted in a commitment to understanding the resource limitations (e.g., time, money, training, access to resources/care) of the school system. In line with this, the project would use a two-pronged concurrent approach: (Aim 1) background research and fieldwork to understand the current system, resource limitations, intervention opportunities, and stakeholder perspectives, and (Aim 2) quantitative analysis of YDI data to develop data-driven interventions. The anticipated result is a pilot-ready, feasible, effective, and sustainable intervention that would support numerous aspects of youth well-being (e.g., improving social connections).