ADOLESCENT HEALTH

Current Initiatives

To advance adolescent health in Title V programming, AMCHP serves as a national partner in the Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Resource Center (AYAH Center). With funding support from HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the AYAH-NRC supports MCH investments to promote adolescent and young adult (AYA) health through strengthening State Title V MCH programs to better serve the AYA populations. Key partners include The University of California San Francisco – National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center (NAHIC), The University of Minnesota – State Adolescent Health Resource Center (SAHRC), and the University of Vermont – National Improvement Partnership Network (NIPIN).

AMCHP also supports adolescent health capacity building among its members through technical assistance requests, virtual and in-person trainings, conference sessions/workshops, access to subject matter experts, and product development.

Current Initiatives

Supported by the greater Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Resource Center (AYAH-NRC), AMCHP co-leads the AYA Behavioral Health Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN), composed of multidisciplinary teams from select states. These teams operate through their public health systems (led by state Title V/maternal and child health programs) and primary care systems (led by clinical partners and practices). The first cohort (2019-2021) included Indiana, Minnesota, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The current cohort (2021-2023) is comprised of teams from Arizona, California, Iowa, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

To respond to this growing mental health crisis, the AYAH-NRC is mobilizing the CoIIN to improve depression screening and follow-up for young people through 1.) systems-level behavioral health integration in primary care, and 2.) increasing screening rates for Major Depressive Episodes (MDEs) in clinical settings using practice-based quality improvement tools and methods. The goal is to achieve an 80 percent screening rate for MDE in patients ages 12 to 25 using an age-appropriate standardized tool, with documentation of a follow-up plan when screen results are positive.

The teams address key drivers of unmet behavioral health needs for adolescents and young adults. The CoIIN model fosters reciprocal capacity-building in the public health and primary care sectors to improve population health outcomes in primary care settings through the collaboration of state team members and local quality improvement representatives.

Welcome to the #ScreenToInterveneForAYAs Adolescent and Young Adult Behavioral Health Blog. This is a space for state Title V maternal and child health professionals and their partners to learn about efforts to build better preventive care systems for optimal adolescent and young adult wellbeing across the country. Posts that include food for thought, resources, reflections, and stories related to the work being done by Title V to support optimal emotional wellness among AYAs. Please feel free to share your reactions, ideas, and feelings by tweeting us (@AMCHP_GrowingUp) and using the hashtag, #ScreenToInterveneForAYAs. To receive updates whenever a new post is published, sign up here: http://bit.ly/2Fzr2JD. If you’d like to submit a post, please contact Anna Corona (acorona@amchp.org) to have your writing featured.

Through the AYAH-NRC, AMCHP offers and guides its partners through a comprehensive online resource, “Transforming Health Care for Adolescents and Young Adults.” This resource is actually a change package—a set of materials and ideas that guide and enable improvement teams to implement change in their settings. “Transforming Health Care for Adolescents and Young Adults” is an interactive module that features three change packages on increasing the receipt of quality preventive visits for adolescents and young adults (AYAs), centered around three National Strategies:

1: Increase Access & Utilization of AYA Preventive Services
2: Improve Quality of AYA Preventive Services (Clinic-Level)
3: Improve State- and Systems-Level Policies and Practice for AYA Preventive Services

The change packages are data-driven and reflect the firsthand experiences of state MCH programs in the AYAH CoIIN focused on improving receipt and quality of the adolescent well-visit. They are organized in a manner that enables efficient spread and adaptation by other states, agencies, and organizations that work towards improving National Performance Measure #10 of the Title V Block Grant (percent of adolescents, ages 12 -17, with a preventive medical visit in the past year), or a similar performance measure related to AYA preventive services. Secondary audiences may include other health care, public health, and/or youth-serving professionals that play a critical role in specific improvement activities related to AYAH. Before using the module, please complete the three-question survey.

This set of four e-learning modules is developed for Title V staff interested in how they can leverage their jurisdiction’s MCH block grant program to improve systems of mental health care for AYAs. Each of the four modules functions as a standalone learning experience, and users can navigate between each module at their leisure, and in the order they prefer. Within each module, learners will find an introduction and background to the topic, key resources, examples of MCH programs in action, a summary of takeaways, and an opportunity for individual reflection on the content that’s been covered.

Emerging Topical Issues in AYA Mental Health	Innovation in Service Delivery
Integration of Mental Health into Primary Care	MCH Workforce Capacity and Skillsets

ADOLESCENT HEALTH

Recent Resources & Tools

AMCHP and AAP Virtual Learning Café on Pediatric Mental Health: Session 1 Recording

AMCHP and AAP are hosting a virtual learning café series to increase awareness of community-based mental health supports that are available to children/youth and families. Each learning café will include a short didactic presentation, followed by peer-to-peer discussion and questions. Presenters will include staff from MCH Title V programs who have ongoing mental health programs that involve Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) programs and/or pediatric primary care professionals. This recording is of the first virtual learning café that took place on September 7th, 2023. The session featured the Virginia Department of Health. Access resources related to the PMHCA Virtual Café Padlet: https://padlet.com/tkeane8/pmhca_virtual_cafe Read More

Closeup face of happy children embracing each other and smiling at camera.

Adolescent & Young Adult Behavioral Health Collaboration Guide

This document was designed to help MCH programs identify potential collaborators active in AYA health in your state or region. As you consider partnering with other organizations, it is important to consider their primary interests and the potential contributions they could make to population mental health improvement efforts. This list is a starting point for collaboration; every region is different and there may relevant partners not on this list. The Collaboration Worksheet at the end of this document can help guide brainstorming of potential partners and how their current initiatives or priorities will benefit from a collaboration with your organization. Read More

Indiana CoIIN team AYA Focus Groups: Qualitative Findings

During 2021, the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) completed a two-year project called Adolescent and Young Adult Behavior Health Collaborative Improvement and Innovation (AYA-CoIIN). The CoIIN consists of a two-pronged approach, systems-level and clinical-level strategies to improve depression screening, follow-up for young people, and integrating behavioral health in primary care. To gain feedback from youth and young adults related to this initiative, Diehl Consulting Group was contracted to conduct a series of focus groups targeting mental health topics. A total of six youth focus groups were held virtually during July 2021. Three sessions with unique questions were conducted, and afternoon and evening groups were offered for each session. Participants were recruited by IDOH and included youth and young adults aged 16 to 22. Read More

How to Plan an Accessible Virtual Event

This 20-minute quick learn course was created by AMCHP staff Maura Leahy who completed the CDC E-Learning Institute Fellowship. As a part of this six-month fellowship, Maura created a course on "How to Plan an Accessible Virtual Event" using best practices in e-learning, adult learning theory, and instructional design. The course was designed for people working in the Maternal & Child Health field, but will be of interest to broader public health professionals who want to increase the accessibility of their virtual events. You will need to have a free CDC TRAIN account to take this course. "How to Plan an Accessible Virtual Event" can be accessed here. For questions, please email: mleahy@amchp.org.

Course objectives:

1. Review examples of promotional materials and identify which words need to be changed to plain language (or words that most people understand).

2. Describe three elements to writing good alternative text for images.

3. Outline the steps needed to get a live captioner for a virtual event. Read More

Bright Futures: Applying Principles of a Shared Plan of Care for Adolescents Living with Mental Health Concerns Tip Sheet

In partnership with the Bright Futures National Center, AMCHP collaborated on the Applying Principles of a Shared Plan of Care for Adolescents Living with Mental Health Concerns tip sheet which applies 10 Shared Plan of Care (SPoC) principles to the Bright Futures health supervision visits. These principles form bridges between pediatric primary care and behavioral health care with a focus on adolescent social/emotional well-being. Each SPoC principle features relevant considerations, resources, and tools. Read More