New York City Office of School Health Portfolio Project

This project helps build the skills and capacity of school-based health staff—as well as staff of other youth-serving organizations—to provide high-quality, evidence-based sexual, reproductive, and mental health care to adolescents in New York City.

Adolescence is a time of significant brain development. It is also a time when youth are engaging in both health-promoting and health-impeding behaviors, as well as taking risks that impact their physical and mental health.

It is critical that adolescents receive the support and guidance they need to make sound decisions during these formative years. It is also important that they have access to services that address mental health issues that can lead to social isolation, poor school performance, and high-risk behavior in the short term—and limit their options and success in the future.

School-based health centers play a significant role in giving adolescents a space to access support, counseling, information, and resources—especially on topics of mental health and sexual and reproductive health.

Initiative

Through the Office of School Health Portfolio Project, CAI is delivering trainings that build the capacity of staff in public high school and middle school-based health centers—including in mental health programs—to provide affirming sexual and reproductive health and mental health education services to adolescent students. The initiative is designed to expand adolescents’ access to comprehensive and high-quality health services and, ultimately, improve their sexual and reproductive health outcomes.

This initiative also trains staff in foster care agencies, teen parenting programs, and the Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health (CATCH) Program.

Impact

Data demonstrate that prevention and early intervention around mental health issues can help build adolescents’ resilience and lead to positive long-term outcomes, such as increased rates of high school graduation and community involvement. Studies also show that access to sexual and reproductive health services increases the likelihood that young people use contraception when they are sexually active.

By building the capacity of both clinical and mental health staff within the school environment to provide young people with skilled support, counseling, education, and access to reproductive health services, this project strives to improve overall health outcomes and student success for adolescents attending New York City public schools.

Project funder and key partners

Funder: NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
Key Partner: NYC Department of Education

Leadership and contact

Elisabeth Salner, Project Director: school.health.contact@caiglobal.org

CAI’s New York City Office of School Health Portfolio Project offers the following trainings to school-based health staff—as well as staff of other youth-serving organizations—in New York City.

Mental health roadmap trainings

“What’s Going On?” Adolescent Development and Brain Development for Mental Health Providers

This one-day training provides mental health providers who work with adolescents with an understanding of how teenagers make decisions and the tools necessary to best support them in this process.

Fostering Trauma Informed Partnerships in School Settings for Mental Health Providers

The goal of this training is to foster different partnerships and lasting connections that will lead to better health outcomes for young clients confronting the challenges associated with developmental trauma and lingering effects from COVID-19. Mental health staff learn to identify challenges and successes in building trauma-informed partnerships.

The Ethics of Self-Care: When Working with Youth Who Endure Trauma

In this training, clinicians have an opportunity to begin to understand the continuum of stress in the workplace. They gain a deeper understanding of the link between trauma-informed care and the prevention of vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress. Clinicians learn to identify signs and symptoms that can assist them in developing and integrating self and team care strategies daily.

Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health (CATCH) trainings

Contraceptive Counseling

During this training, CATCH staff learn evidence-informed contraceptive counseling strategies to aid them in their work with adolescents. They have the opportunity to practice how to apply these skills to the 5-step contraceptive counseling model that is consistent with a client centered and sexual- and reproductive-justice framework.

Pregnancy Options Counseling

This training focuses on providing client-centered options counseling to adolescent clients. To develop this training, CAI drew on the body of evidence that guides best practices in options counseling to ensure an unbiased, non-directional, and client-centered environment with the goal of providing participants with the tools and resources they need to support adolescent clients with a positive pregnancy test result.

Adolescent Development

During this training, participants learn about adolescents’ developmental stages and brain development and discuss how to modify language and communication to fit each student’s various needs.

Communication Strategies

This training incorporates the core concepts of stages of change and motivational interviewing, as well as strategies for promoting culturally sensitive and client-centered care. CATCH staff have the opportunity to practice communication and counseling skills that they can apply to their contraceptive counseling and pregnancy options counseling session they have with students.