The youth mental health imperative: Expanding early access to mental health support for our young people and families
The focus of this panel will be to provide insight into the changing landscape of mental health and the development of innovative programs developed to meet youth, student, and community needs. Allcove creates integrated mental health centers for young people ages 12 to 25 to access support for mild to moderate needs in mental health, physical health, substance use, peer support, family support and supported education and employment.
Allcove approaches youth wellness in a comprehensive and youth-friendly way, led by members of an active local youth advisory group, whose contribution guides the design of the services and of the center environment. The centers are reflective of the culture of young people for the community being served and become youth’s independent space for care.
Each center is powered by a coalition of service providers and community-based agencies joining together in an integrated approach to serve young people. Each center proactively works in the community to decrease the stigma surrounding youth mental health and those experiencing serious mental illness, encourage early help-seeking, and increase the knowledge, understanding and importance of youth mental health and wellbeing.
Attendees will be able to learn more about allcove and the intentional engagement of young people in its development and implementation of services, we will also explore how peer support as an evidenced based approach is supporting engagement of services as well as how peer support has served as conduit for workforce development, and lastly explore how allcove as a school linked service can partner with schools and meet needs at the administration, staff, and student levels.
By the end of this 60-minute webinar,
- participants will be able to name service components of a public mental health early intervention model for youth
- attendees will be able to identify ways in which the voices of youth are woven into the allcove program model
- participants will recognize other early intervention program models that link to allcove as part of a system of early intervention
This is a SAMHSA-Sponsored webinar. Live closed captioning and ASL interpreters will be available for this webinar.
Meet the Presenters
Steven Adelsheim, MD, (he/him/his) is a Clinical Professor & Associate Chair for Community Engagement at Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry, directing the Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing. Steve’s work is focused on early detection/intervention programs for young people and he leads the effort to bring allcove to the US, an integrated youth mental health model, which opened in June 2021 in Santa Clara County, CA, November 2022 in LA County, with plans to open in 4 other California sites over the few years. Dr. Adelsheim also co- leads PEPPNET, the national clinical network for early psychosis programs. He continues to also actively work in school mental health, youth suicide prevention, tribal mental health, media & mental health, integrated care, and telehealth. Dr. Adelsheim is committed to developing the national public mental health early intervention continuum for young people, from school mental health to allcove community integrated youth mental health programs to early psychosis programs.
Jules Villanueva-Castano (he, him, his, any) is the Peer Support and Supported Education and Employment Manager for the central allcove team. Before his role with allcove, he was as one of the first Education Liaisons for the National Center for Youth Law’s Compassionate Systems Project in Santa Clara County where he supported young people in the juvenile justice system with their educational and employment goals from a youth law advocacy perspective. Currently, Jules supports the development of the allcove peer support and supported education and employment services. As a part of the first allcove team, he worked in the center as the first Supported Education and Employment specialist, where he had the opportunity to learn about the power of service integration and the crucial role peer support services have within the allcove model. He is a dedicated youth advocate and ally who aims to support the development of youth focused services at allcove that center the needs of young people by centering their voice throughout the service stream’s model development process.
Ana Lilia Soto (she, her, ella) is a youth development manager for the allcove team. Ana Lilia's commitment to community voice, agency and youth development has guided her involvement with youth and community for the last 23 years. She is a community and mental health worker specializing in cultural rites of passage programming and life skill development for youth. Ana Lilia has created, developed and implemented empowerment curriculum for under-resourced youth aimed at encouraging youth to acknowledge their own potential using a philosophy grounded in culture, identity development, resiliency and acknowledgment. Ana Lilia focuses on uplifting youth voice, facilitates the Central allcove Team Youth Advisory Group and ensures that youth feedback is included in all of the Center’s goals and touchpoints.
Laura Avila (she, her, hers) is part of the central allcove team Youth Advisory. Laura is a graduating senior from El Centro, California, and will be attending the University of California: San Diego in the fall. She began her mental health advocacy work four years ago and founded the mental health organization within her district. She is also part of the California Department of Education: Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup where she learned about allcove. As a youth advisor for the Central allcove team, she continues voicing the needs of young people and works alongside other young leaders to improve equal opportunities and resources for communities across the state.
Mack Czajkowski (him, his) is part of the central allcove team Youth Advisory. Mack is a graduating senior from Sacramento, CA, and will be attending Stanford in the fall. He has been involved in Sacramento's mental health sphere for the past four years participating in different forms of activism ranging from local, community-focused pursuits to larger, statewide projects. His passion for destigmatizing mental health and starting conversations brought him to the Central allcove Team Youth Advisory Group where he has been able to come together with other youth across the state who are equally passionate about mental health.