Implementation of Youth Empowerment Services (YES) juvenile justice diversion program: A first‐person account

American Journal of Community Psychology · 2026-04-09

In Santa Barbara County, the Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Program brought together several government and community-based organizations, as well as a university-based evaluation team, to provide pre-adjudication diversion to youth ages 12 to 17. The primary goals of this program were to reduce the number of misdemeanor arrests and reoffending rates in the county's juvenile justice system, and to support the strengths and needs of youth in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive manner. This first-person account article shares the experiences of a community-university partnership with the implementation of this program. A history of collaboration, flexibility in the face of a global pandemic, and clinically useful evaluation tools supported the program during its initial external funding period and its continued success with a sustainable infrastructure and internal funding.

Activating Critical Resource Theory for School‐Based Mental Health Staffing

Journal of School Health · 2025-05-25 · 1 citations

BACKGROUND: Critical resource theory (CReT) provides a framework for the examination and reform of public finance policy. Funding policies for staffing school-based mental health providers have a substantial impact on the structure of service delivery and the ability of youth (and their families) to access much-needed supports in an era of growing mental health needs. METHODS: Using CReT, this integrative literature review examines the existing policies and practices of funding for staffing school-based mental health providers. It synthesizes the historical context of United States school finance policy and the current state of school-based mental health systems to identify opportunities for future research, policy, and practice. FINDINGS: The history of residential segregation by race and a complex system of funding sources and allocation methods presents significant barriers for equitable, adequate, and sustainable funding of school mental health staff. However, applying CReT to existing literature revealed sources of funding that can be leveraged and coordinated to provide the necessary staff for school mental health teams. IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY: An application of CReT with mixed methods and participatory action research designs can support communities in securing the resources to staff adequate mental health systems through informed advocacy.

Living and Working in Community: The Ethical Practice of Liberation Psychology’s Accompaniment Principle

School Psychology Review · 2025-05-06

Considerations for Equitable Social Emotional Learning in Schools

Contemporary School Psychology · 2025-07-04

Exploring Teacher Well-Being from the Perspectives of Public School Teachers: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Organizational and Individual Factors

DergiPark (Istanbul University) · 2025-03-22

Supporting Educators and Students: A University–Community Partnership to Implement Trauma-Informed Practices in Schools

School Mental Health · 2024-05-23 · 9 citations

Abstract With the growing recognition of the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences, building trauma-informed service systems is critical. Although there are many online resources to help school systems become more trauma informed, how much they meet the needs of educators is not well understood. To help schools implement trauma-informed practices (TIPS) to support both educators (all school-based certificated staff) and students, a partnership among a California research university, a local foundation, and three school districts was developed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership envisioned a three-phase study to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes of an intervention supporting TIPS. First, two local districts were engaged in a mixed method needs assessment to explore educators’ wellbeing and use of trauma-informed resources. Input from district-level advisory committees guided a needs assessment that informed the development of trainings to (1) help administrators best support their staff, and (2) teach educators how to best support themselves and their students with traumatic stress and related symptoms. Second, researchers curated freely available resources to develop a 3-module administrator training and an 8-module teacher training. Finally, university-based psychologists and teacher educators delivered the curricula in two school districts and the university’s teacher education program. Researchers implemented a pretest–posttest evaluation design and gathered in-session feedback after each module. Results indicated that participants found the sessions helpful and relevant and they had greater knowledge of TIPS. Future directions include scaling up implementation, understanding outcomes from multiple perspectives, and integrating follow-up activities to help with skill retention.

A Prospective Examination of Mental Health Trajectories of Disaster-Exposed Young Adults in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Behavioral Sciences · 2024-09-07 · 1 citations

This longitudinal study examines young adult mental health (MH) trajectories after exposure to natural disasters (i.e., hurricanes, wildfires, mudslides) across four waves, two pre- and two during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (n = 205) answered questions about anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) across Waves (Ws) s 1–4 and pre-pandemic factors (prior trauma history, disaster exposure, life stressors since disaster) at Wave (W) 1. Hierarchical linear modeling was conducted to examine MH trajectories and associations with pre-pandemic factors. Only the PTSS trajectory significantly differed across all Ws, with the largest increase between Ws 2 and 3 (pre- and during-pandemic time points). Prior trauma history and life stressors since the disaster were significantly associated with all MH trajectory intercepts but not growth rates.

School Climate Perception among Latinx and White Students: An Examination of Intersecting Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Identities in Context

School Psychology Review · 2024-01-12 · 5 citations

Limited research has explored how the characteristics of student and teacher racial/ethnic composition may explain students’ perceptions of school climate. This study used stratified analysis to assess the associations of two prominent diversity aspects (i.e., student racial/ethnic diversity and teacher racial/ethnic diversity) with students’ perceived school climate. Particularly, this study controlled for student- and school-levels demographic characteristics among 41,237 Latinx students and 23,819 White students from 7th grade to 12th grade enrolled in 250 California public schools. The findings indicated that higher teacher racial/ethnic diversity had a mild to moderate positive association with perceived school attitudes to parental participation (Economically Disadvantaged Latinx: β = 0.20, p < .05; Economically Disadvantaged White: β = 0.37, p < .01) and perceived school equity and safety (Economically Disadvantaged Latinx: β = 0.16, p < .05; Economically Disadvantaged White: β = 0.19, p < .05) among Latinx and White students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Only Latinx students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds perceived less favorable school safety and equity in schools with a higher student racial/ethnic diversity (Economically Disadvantaged Latinx: β = −0.20, p < .05). Results have implications for addressing school climate disparities at an organizational level.

Advancing trauma informed practices in schools using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research

Frontiers in Education · 2024-05-22 · 5 citations

As the world becomes more aware of the prevalence and consequences of trauma for young people, the education sector is increasingly responsible for supporting students emotionally and academically. School-based mental health supports for students who have experienced trauma are crucial, as schools are often the only access point for intervention for many children and families. Given that over two-thirds of children in the U.S. will experience a traumatic event by age 16, it is imperative to better understand the mechanisms of implementing mental health support in schools. Despite the increasing need for trauma-informed practices in schools (TIPS), schools often struggle to provide them due to a myriad of barriers. More research is needed to understand how to implement and sustain TIPS. Researchers have begun exploring these questions, but there is still a shortage of research about how to best implement TIPS. We argue that the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) is useful for organizing and advancing the implementation of TIPS. By consolidating findings from existing scholarship on TIPS, we identify themes and future directions within the CFIR framework. Based on our review, we also provide practical suggestions for schools seeking to implement TIPS.

Identifying what educators need to support trauma-informed practices in the schools: A community needs assessment.

School Psychology · 2024-02-08 · 9 citations

= 14) to obtain feedback on factors affecting the use of TIPS. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the factors most related to resource use. Teachers reported strong well-being and low levels of secondary traumatic stress, but high levels of burnout. Themes from the focus groups highlight administrator actions that can improve teacher well-being. Teachers rated their most used resources as a list of mental health resources, virtual-guided wellness activities, and opportunities to connect with others, whereas the most helpful were opportunities to connect with others, in-person-guided wellness activities, and training to identify students who may need support. Teacher well-being and school climate achieved traditional significance values for predicting teacher use of resources; however, they did not reach the Bonferroni-adjusted significance value. Results from this needs assessment indicate that teachers wanted resources to adequately respond to their own and their students' mental well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).