Our Vision
Our vision is to help improve the mental health of youth by the effective translation and transfer of scientific knowledge. Our model is to use the best scientific evidence available to develop application-ready training programs, publications, tools and resources that can be applied across disciplines to enhance the understanding of adolescent mental health and mental disorders.
Teen Mental Health. Org works to create, develop and deliver nationally and internationally recognized research, education and clinical programs by collaborating with health care providers, policymakers, schools, the business community, non-profit organizations and the general public.
Our approach to knowledge translation involves three components that work in tandem. The knowledge creation work has been developed in a variety of formats and has been contextualized for educators, health providers, parents and youth. The knowledge translation work marries best available scientific evidence with end-user needs. The materials we have created are provided in a variety of mediums that include animations, face-to-face training programs, web-based training programs, mobile applications, eBooks, easy to understand guides and books designed specifically for youth, parents, educators and health providers. Our knowledge dissemination work takes a variety of forms from media interviews, to junior high parent chats, partnership with NGO’s, institutions, government and work with partners in mental health and the arts. In addition numerous global partners have been secured to further the dissemination of these important materials.
How Our Materials Are Created
We are committed to creating and disseminating the highest quality mental health information (products and training programs), addressing the needs of youth (ages 12 to 25 years), families, educators, health providers, policy makers and others.
All our materials meet the following criteria
1. Based on best available scientific information. We use numerous strategies to ensure that our materials and training programs are based on the best available scientific information. We use systematic literature reviews, bibliographic analyses, key references, input from experts, as well as other approaches to find, synthesize and interpret the best scientific information available.
2. End user participation. Every product and training program is developed using extensive end user participation. That means, for example, that materials designed for use by health professionals are informed by extensive input from health professionals. All of our materials are distributed for field review and response. We include input from a wide audience: youth, parents, educators (teachers, administrators, student service providers, etc), mental health providers, health providers and policy makers in the creation of our materials. This input addresses both content and design, and is used to create the final product which is reviewed and signed off by the Chair prior to distribution. We acknowledge the participants who have made substantial contributions to our materials by noting them in our materials.
3. The process. We use an environmental scan push model based on extensive input from experts, individuals and communities to identify specific needs for materials. We also use a pull process, where organizations and institutions (such as government, health providers, educators, etc.) come to us for specific requests to create materials to meet their needs.
4. Product feedback and continuous improvement. We encourage end-users to provide feedback on all our materials. We collect and periodically review this input and use it to modify and improve our materials. Some of our products have been translated into numerous languages by our various end-users and all our materials are identified on our website. Some of our products and training programs under go more detailed qualitative and quantitative evaluations. We post various reports and other detailed information regarding these evaluations on our website. Please check out our resources section to download these reports.
We are committed to creating and disseminating the highest quality mental health information (products and training programs), addressing the needs of youth (ages 12 to 25 years), families, educators, health providers, policy makers and others.
