At present, the mental healthcare system cannot meet the demand for services, and the need-to-access gap is widest among children and adolescents. Single session interventions (SSIs) or brief, intentional, and mechanism-targeted prevention and intervention programs have shown promise in increasing the reach of effective, evidence-based services, but a wide gap still remains due to other structural barriers (e.g., workforce shortages). The present paper calls for the coupling of SSIs and mentor-delivered programs as a promising future step to further overcome the inaccessibility of youth mental health services. Indeed, capitalizing on the advantages of mentoring relationships (e.g., the associated interpersonal benefits and mentors’ pre-existence in most community settings) has the power to complement and enhance the value of SSIs, and to expand the acceptability and reach of evidence-based mental health services. In this paper, we discuss the anticipated benefits of mentor-delivered SSIs from multiple perspectives, as well as cautionary considerations related to the proposed model. To conclude, we highlight necessary implementation considerations prior to deploying any systems change.

This practice brief presents the work of doctoral students who aim to reform the graduate experience in their department to support marginalized students. Utilizing strategies from community organization and organizational change theories, we detail the processes of fostering community dialogue and of crafting a demand letter to communicate students’ needs and recommendations. We also discuss implications as it relates to accountability, implementation, and overcoming pushback. By centering students’ voices in change efforts, we hope to empower other students in dismantling oppressive systems and implementing practices to make higher education a more equitable and safer environment for marginalized students to thrive.