Update from ACT for Youth | April 2024
ACT for Youth connects youth development research to practice.
Featured Resources: Mental Health
In light of the increasing incidence of mental health challenges among young people, ACT for Youth sponsored a series of webinars for youth-serving organizations funded by the New York State Department of Health.
Here, ACT for Youth provides a brief overview of mental health and mental illness in adolescence.
Mental Health Clearinghouse:
Young people with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, or trauma do not always disclose these conditions in program settings. Fortunately, even when facilitators lack this personal information about participants, there are ways to make programs more inclusive. Creating Inclusive Program Environments for Youth with Different Abilities aims to provide youth work professionals with information, practices, and activities that will help them promote inclusion and engagement for all young people.
Positive environments are social settings that are safe, inclusive, and welcoming, where young people feel a sense of belonging and know that they are valued. When contexts like these are also rich in opportunities, youth can undertake challenges, fail productively, and try again without emotional or physical harm.
Relationships are at the heart of successful youth work. It is through relationships that we engage young people and help them grow. Thanks to research into brain functioning, we now know that positive relationships can also counter adversity and stress.
A trauma-informed approach to programming means understanding, recognizing, preparing for, and responding to the effects trauma may have on program participants. Find Trauma resources for program providers and sex educators here.
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