Peer involvement and accessibility as key ingredients for 21st century youth mental health care services

Amelsvoort, Thérèse van; Leijdesdorff, Sophie

doi:10.1002/wps.20930

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…As emphasised by van Amelsvoort and Leijdesdorff, peer support and trained youth volunteers are of great importance in removing barriers to care and helping young people open up and feel heard, not to just solve financial or staff shortage concerns, but as an early accessible intervention in itself. 33 In addition to being around the same age and having received trainings, numerous peer counsellors have lived experiences, a key feature in peer support, 34 allowing to personally and authentically relate to the young person's problems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating changes in functioning and psychological distress in visitors of the @ease youth mental health walk-in centres

Boonstra,

van Amelsvoort,

Klaassen

et al. 2024

BJPsych open

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Background Highly accessible youth initiatives worldwide aim to prevent worsening of mental health problems, but research into outcomes over time is scarce. Aims This study aimed to evaluate outcomes and support use in 12- to 15-year-old visitors of the @ease mental health walk-in centres, a Dutch initiative offering free counselling by trained and supervised peers. Method Data of 754 visitors, collected 2018–2022, included psychological distress (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation 10 (CORE-10)), social and occupational functioning (Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS)), school absenteeism and support use, analysed with change indicators (first to last visit), and mixed models (first three visits). Results Among return visitors, 50.5% were female, 79.4% were in tertiary education and 36.9% were born outside of The Netherlands (one-time visitors: 64.7%, 72.9% and 41.3%, respectively). Moreover, 29.9% of return visitors presented with suicidal ideations, 97.1% had clinical psychological distress levels, and 64.1% of the latter had no support in the previous 3 months (one-time visitors: 27.2%, 90.7% and 71.1%, respectively). From visit 1 to 3, psychological distress decreased (β = −3.79, 95% CI −5.41 to −2.18; P < 0.001) and social and occupational functioning improved (β = 3.93, 95% CI 0.51–7.36; P = 0.025). Over an average 3.9 visits, 39.6% improved reliably and 28.0% improved clinically significantly on the SOFAS, which was 28.4% and 8.8%, respectively, on the CORE-10, where 43.2% improved in clinical category. Counselling satisfaction was rated 4.5/5. Conclusions Reductions in psychological distress, improvements in functioning and high counselling satisfaction were found among @ease visitors, forming a basis for future research with a control group.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating changes in functioning and psychological distress in visitors of the @ease youth mental health walk-in centres

Boonstra,

van Amelsvoort,

Klaassen

et al. 2024

BJPsych open

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“…They did not all feel comfortable, however, to share their story with them and depend on them for emotional support, mostly due to previous negative experiences. Future efforts should be geared towards sufficient financing, supervision, training of the YPSWs and the nonpeer staff, to successfully implement a peer support model 35,36 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future efforts should be geared towards sufficient financing, supervision, training of the YPSWs and the nonpeer staff, to successfully implement a peer support model. 35 , 36 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future efforts should be geared towards sufficient financing, supervision, training of the YPSWs and the nonpeer staff, to successfully implement a peer support model. 35,36 The items that reached consensus pertaining to the treatment stage indicated that although not all youth-friendly characteristics, such as involvement in treatment decisions, are youth-specific, certain themes (e.g., identity formation, self-management, emotion regulation, narratives of hope) seem to particularly resonate with the young adult population. In recent years, new youth-focused mental health teams have adopted a more transdiagnostic and personcentred approach to treatment.…”

Section: Agreement On Youth-friendly Service Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How to make mental health services more youth‐friendly? A Delphi study involving young adults, parents and professionals

Wittevrongel,

van Winkel,

Jackers

et al. 2023

Health Expectations

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IntroductionAlthough youth‐friendly service characteristics have been previously identified, consensus among a representative group of stakeholders about which of these characteristics are truly relevant to the youth‐friendliness of services is currently lacking. In our study, young adults, parents and professionals were consulted on this topic to reveal existing (dis)agreement. In addition, (dis)agreement on feasibility for implementation in clinical practice was also assessed.MethodsA mixed‐method Delphi approach was used with three online questionnaire rounds and a physical meeting. Young adults (18–26 years) and parents were part of a public panel and professionals were allocated to the professional panel. In the rounds, participants were asked to rate the importance and feasibility of each item. Subsequently, the percentage agreement (% of participants giving a score of 7 or above on a 9‐point Likert scale) within and across panels was calculated. Consensus was assumed to have been reached when at least 70% agreement was achieved. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data, obtained in the rounds and the physical meeting, was performed to identify overarching themes and characteristics of relevance to the youth‐friendliness of services.ResultsFor 65% of the items included in the Delphi questionnaire, consensus on importance was reached within both panels. Participants showed more insecurity about the feasibility of these items, however. Our thematic analysis revealed reasons for disagreement between and within the panels.ConclusionsOur study revealed substantial between‐ and within‐panel agreement on youth‐friendly service characteristics. We recommend that the items for which consensus was reached should be used as a checklist in terms of youth mental health service development, design and delivery. The characteristics for which there was disagreement between and within the panels should inspire an ongoing trialogue between young adults, parents and professionals both on the individual level and the service level.Patient or Public ContributionIn this study, (parents of) young adults with lived experience were included as experts, including one of the coauthors. This coauthor contributed to the manuscript by having a final say about the included quotes.

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“…Prior to the COVID pandemic, mental health accessibility in the United States was already a highly researched and debated topic (Hodgkinson et al, 2017; Panchal et al, 2021). COVID resulted in an increase in the number of people seeking mental health services and put a strain on mental health practitioners providing services in an already impacted and burdened system (Elisabeth Dubois & Yuan, 2021; Egede et al, 2020; Gloster et al, 2020; van Amelsvoort & Leijdesdorff, 2022). Telehealth, which had struggled to find a foothold with both clinicians and clients (in spite of research that lauded its accessibility and affordability), gained almost overnight acceptance as COVID ushered in a period of restrictions to in‐person services (Monaghesh & Hajizadeh, 2020; Mueller, 2020; Weigel et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences of psychotherapists transitioning to private practice during COVID‐19

Duquette

Morgan

2023

Couns and Psychother Res

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The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to gain insight into the lived experiences of psychotherapists transitioning to private practice during the COVID‐19 pandemic. With an ever‐expanding need for targeted and accessible mental health care, it is vital to understand this phenomenon and how it impacted patient access and care, and the providers themselves. Eighteen licensed psychotherapists were interviewed and their responses highlighted meaningful professional and clinical implications. As a result of the participant interviews, three major themes were identified: (1) the unknown related to COVID‐19, (2) ease of transition and (3) work–life balance. Eleven additional subthemes emerged. Results suggested that psychotherapists had various personal and professional stressors exacerbated by the pandemic, along with a desire to balance work and life, manage the changes brought on by the pandemic, and gain or retain autonomy in their professional careers. Ultimately, the results of the study point to some shared experiences among psychotherapists, potential issues of access to psychotherapy, issues related to career satisfaction among psychotherapists, as well as some important areas for future research.

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Peer involvement and accessibility as key ingredients for 21st century youth mental health care services

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Evaluating changes in functioning and psychological distress in visitors of the @ease youth mental health walk-in centres

Evaluating changes in functioning and psychological distress in visitors of the @ease youth mental health walk-in centres

How to make mental health services more youth‐friendly? A Delphi study involving young adults, parents and professionals

Experiences of psychotherapists transitioning to private practice during COVID‐19

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