Transition of Youth & Young Adults with Emotional or Behavioral Difficulties: An Evidence-supported Handbook

by Clark, Hewitt B., Ph.d.

• ISBN13: 9781557669636
• ISBN10: 1557669635
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-01
• Publisher: PAUL H. BROOKES PUBLISHING CO, INC.

Summary

As youth with emotional or behavioral difficulties transition from school and home settings, they face the complex challenges and expectations of adult life: finding and maintaining work, establishing new relationships, building a career, and more. This comprehensive professional handbook will help transition specialists, general and special educators, school psychologists, and administrators support youth and young adults in setting goals and achieving positive outcomes across employment, education, and community settings. Through up-to-date research and in-depth analyses of five successful transition programs, readers will discover how to apply evidence-supported practices to guide youth and young adults through the transition obstacle course, bridge the gap between child and adult mental health services for consistent, coordinated care, and ensure effective adult services that are developmentally and culturally appropriate. System fragmentation is addressed, so the mental health, education, justice, and other systems can work together to serve children¿s best interest and implement strategies for the transition from high school to meaningful employment or postsecondary training. The handbook shows how to use peer support to reach, engage, and coach young people as they move into adulthood and reduce common risk behaviors through skillful prevention planning and methods for funding and sustaining services and supports through a creative combination of federal, state, local, and private dollars. Vignettes and first-person testimonials throughout strengthen readers¿ awareness of the challenges young people experience and how effective transition services can make a difference. Detailed examinations of program, system, policy, and research needs will help professionals shape the future of mental health supports -- and ensure the best possible adult lives for the young people they serve.

Author Biography

Hewitt B. "Rusty" Clark, Ph.D., is Director, National Network on Youth Transition for Behavioral Health, and Professor, Florida Mental Health Institute, College of Behavioral Community Sciences, University of South Florida. Deanne K. Unruch, Ph.D., is Senior Research Associate, Secondary Special Education Transition (SSET), University of Oregon, Eugene.

Table of Contents

About the Editors	p. vii
Contributors	p. ix
Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction to Transition to Adulthood Issues and the Evidence-Supported Handbook
Understanding and Addressing the Needs of Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults and Their Families	p. 3
Challenges and Effective Transition Systems
The Service System Obstacle Course for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults	p. 25
Navigating the Obstacle Course: An Evidence-Supported Community Transition System	p. 47
Community Initiatives: Evidence-Supported and Enduring Transition Programs
Partnerships for Youth Transition: Creating Options for Youth and Their Families	p. 117
High School and Community College Partnerships with Vocational Rehabilitation	p. 141
Serving Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Challenges from Dependency Programs and Community Settings	p. 163
Improving the Transition Outcomes of Adolescent Young Offenders	p. 189
More than Friends: Peer Supports for Youth and Young Adults to Promote Discovery and Recovery	p. 209
Improving Practice, System, and Policy
Prevention Planning: Collaborating with Youth and Young Adults to Reduce Risk Behavior and Related Harm	p. 235
Policy, Funding, and Sustainability: Issues and Recommendations for Promoting Effective Transition Systems	p. 263
Collaborative Approach to Quality Improvement in Process, Progress, and Outcomes: Sustaining a Responsive and Effective Transition System	p. 291
Future Focus: Advancing the Transition Agenda
Future Focus: Practice, Program, System, Policy, and Research	p. 325
Index	p. 345
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