News Mashup for November 2021
Deficit of Supportive Housing for Former Foster Youth
According to a new statewide analysis conducted by Simone Tureck Lee of the John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY), California has the capacity to provide supportive housing for 2,179 youth age 18 to 24. Unfortunately, the state’s capacity to serve falls significantly below perennial demand—at any given time, an additional 1,249 former foster youth require supportive housing but are unable to obtain it. Data collected by JBAY in August and September of 2021 show that Los Angeles County has the greatest capacity deficit; the longest wait times are experienced by youth in Santa Clara, Los Angeles, and Kern Counties.
The new report is “an effort to understand this housing landscape by analyzing the capacity and unmet need of California’s housing programs serving former foster youth: the Transitional Housing Program-Plus (THP-Plus), the Transitional Housing Program (THP), and two federal programs that provide specialized Housing Choice Vouchers to youth who have left foster care, the Family Unification Program (FUP) and the Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Initiative.”
The report provides an in-depth look at each of these programs, identifies challenges, and offers recommendations for how state government, local jurisdictions and community-based providers can improve and expand supportive housing capacity. Click on the link below to learn more.
Simone Tureck Lee. November 2021. 2020-21 statewide analysis of supportive housing for former foster youth in California. John Burton Advocates for Youth. Retrieved November 30, 2021 from https://jbay.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2020-21-Statewide-Analysis-of-Supportive-Housing-for-Former-Foster-Youth-in-CA.pdf .
Universal Mental Health Screening in Schools Successful but Scarce
A study published Dr. Deepa Sekhar and others in JAMA Network Open this month showed that universal school-based screening is more effective than targeted screening for identifying major depressive disorder (MDD) and for initiating treatment. The analysis, which was based on a 2018 through 2020 sampling of 12,909 students attending 14 Pennsylvania public high schools, showed that the odds of being identified with MDD were about 6 times more likely for universal screening; treatment initiations were 2 times more likely.
In an interview with Steven Ross Johnson of U.S. News & World Report, Dr. Sekhar cautioned that while universal screening “is a potentially better way to reach students, we need to be working with schools to make sure they're in a good place to implement universal screening." That “good place” may be hard to find in most school districts. This month, investigative reporter Christine Vestal writing for Stateline (PEW Charitable Trust) used data from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) to illustrate the severe shortage of school-based professionals available for screenings. Across the U.S., the average professional to student ratio was 1 to 1,211, respectively. NASP recommends one professional for every 500 students (K-12).
Colleges are likewise suffering a scarcity of mental and behavioral health professionals. In an interview with Alexander Kafka of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Gary Glass, Director of Counseling at Oxford College at Emory University lamented “the unprecedented number of college counseling-center clinicians leaving this field” and acknowledged that candidate pools to fill vacancies are “smaller than anyone could have ever imagined.” Click on the links below to learn more.
Deepa L. Sekhar, Eric W. Schaefer, James G. Waxmonsky, and others. November 5, 2021. Screening in high schools to identify, evaluate, and lower depression among adolescents: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Network Open 4(11):e2131836. Retrieved November 15, 2021 from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2785910 .
Steven Ross Johnson. November 5, 2021. More depression screening at school can help kids get treatment. U.S. World & News Report. Retrieved November 15, 2021 from https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-11-05/study-universal-depression-screening-at-school-can-help-kids .
Christine Vestal. November 9, 2021. COVID harmed kids’ mental health—and schools are feeling it. PEW Charitable Trust Stateline. Retrieved November 15, 2021 from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/11/08/covid-harmed-kids-mental-health-and-schools-are-feeling-it .
Alexander C. Kafka. November 15, 2021. Campus counselors are burned out and short-staffed. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved November 30, 2021 from https://www.chronicle.com/article/campus-counselors-are-burned-out-and-short-staffed .
Discrimination Increases Mental Health Risk
A recent study published in Pediatrics by researchers at UCLA found that interpersonal discrimination adversely impacts mental well-being of young adults, especially if it is ongoing and/or occurring during key developmental periods. This is one of the first studies to focus on interpersonal discrimination during the transition to adulthood and to follow the same group of adults over several years. In an interview with CNN, the corresponding author, Yvonne Lei, stressed that "With 75% of all lifetime mental health disorders presenting by age 24, the transition to adulthood is a crucial time to prevent mental and behavioral health problems."
Using national data from the University of Michigan Transition to Adulthood Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (2007-2017), the authors found “short-term, long-term, and cumulative associations between frequency of interpersonal discrimination and adverse mental health, behavioral health, and well-being outcomes.” Languishing, psychological distress, a mental illness diagnosis, poor self-reported health, and drug use were associated with increased frequency and intensity of interpersonal discrimination, regardless of the type experienced (racism, sexism, or physical appearance). The authors suggest that the adverse impacts of interpersonal discrimination “are likely also intertwined with mental health service disparities (including care access, provider bias, and structural and institutional discrimination in health care), leading to inequities in diagnoses, treatment, and outcomes.” Click on the links below to learn more.
Yvonne Lei et al. November 2021. Discrimination and subsequent mental health, substance use, and well-being in young adults. Pediatrics. 148 (6): e2021051378. Retrieved November 30, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-051378 .
Joe Hernandez. November 8, 2021. A study links facing discrimination at a young age with future mental health issues. NPR. Retrieved November 22, 2021 from https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1053632912/study-discrimination-young-age-future-mental-health-issue .
Evelyn Tokuyama. November 7, 2021. Discrimination increases risk for mental health issues in young adults, UCLA-led study finds. UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved November 22, 2021 from https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/discrimination-risk-mental-health-young-adults .
Kristen Rogers. November 8, 2021. Discrimination of any kind can lead to much higher risk of mental and behavioral issues for young people, study finds. CNN. Retrieved November 22, 2021 from https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/08/health/ageism-racism-sexism-discrimination-mental-health-effects-wellness/index.html .
Christina Caron. Why are more black kids suicidal? A search for answers. New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2021 from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/well/mind/suicide-black-kids.html .
More Stories in November: The U.S. has failed to meaningfully address young people’s physical and emotional health in the last year Ms Magazine — 11.3.2021; Parents protesting 'critical race theory' identify another target: Mental health programs NBC News — 11.15.2021; State attorneys general probing Instagram’s effects on kids CBS Boston — 11.19.2021; Transgender docs warn about gender-affirmative care for youth MedScape — 11.18.2021; Few students in special education receiving extra services they need to catch up, survey finds EdSource — 11.19.2021; The dangerous experiment on teen girls The Atlantic — 11.21.2021; The kids are not all right: How 4 states are rushing to improve student access to mental health care The 74 — 11.23.2021; Status of school psychology in 2020, Part 2: Professional practices in the NASP membership survey National Association of School Psychologists — 11.01.2021; Adolescents’ concerns about school violence or shootings and association with depressive, anxiety, and panic symptoms JAMA Network Open — 11.01.2021; On the brink: Conditions in California’s Division of Juvenile Justice remain bleak as closure nears Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice — 11.09.2021; Real change proves elusive in mental health care system Capitol Weekly — 11.10.2021; School mental health 101: A primer for Medi-Cal managed care plans National Center for Youth Law & California Children’s Trust — 11.01.2021; A strategic vision for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Health Affairs Blog — 11.16.2021; The ‘absolutely essential’ role of Black counselors on campus EdSource — 11.15.2021
