Resources for Working with Youth
Preparation
Youth.gov recommends that all organizations seeking to help support youth do a program evaluation before beginning outreach and advocacy. CDC resources on how to conduct a good evaluation.
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Books
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Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence on Mental Health and Youth and the Blessed Youth Survival Guide by Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund
Sarah is a UCC clergy colleague and has been guiding discussions around mental health and youth for many years. Blessed Youth Survival Guide offers the tools youth need to survive when they are feeling disconnected, confused, and alone. This survival guide is specifically for youth and covers topics that today's youth will undoubtedly face such as anxiety, sadness, depression, phobias, OCD, panic attacks, PTSD, trauma, and therapy.
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The DBT Skills Workbook for Teens: A Fun Guide to Manage Anxiety and Stress, Understand Your Emotions, and Learn Effective Communication Skills. This is part of a series of books written for youth and published by Teen Thrive. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has helped millions of teenagers since it was developed. This workbook takes a teen on a journey going to learn the key skills in DBT.
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Mind Over Monsters: Supporting Youth Mental Health with Compassionate Challenge by Sarah Rose Cavanagh. An investigation into the mental health crisis affecting young adults today, and an impassioned argument for creating learning environments characterized both by compassion and challenge.
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Mental Health Journal: Daily Check In by Taylor Ham. With 70 days of check-ins, prompts, and exercises, this book helps you observe your state of mind over time and adopt a more positive mindset.
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Other Resources
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Peer Pastoral Care Course The Peer Pastoral Care course on UU Institute is designed to provide skills to high school aged youth to be self-aware, supportive listeners who know who to turn to in a crisis.
This course helps youth to:
- Assess their ability and appropriateness to offer pastoral care to a peer
- Build awareness and skills regarding boundaries, self care, and “burn-out”
- Practice a variety of listening techniques to strengthen their effectiveness in a pastoral role
- Determine whether and to whom a pastoral situation needs to be triaged, i.e., when and how to expand the circle of care
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Mental Health America - Supporting Young Minds. A set of resources for youth and adults to help support mental health of children and youth
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National Training & Technical Assistance Center for Child, Youth & Family Mental Health A set of youth-oriented mental health trainings and resources from SAMHSA
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Teen Life: Online Mental Health Resources for Teens This is a list of helpful online resources
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A resource on school shootings: Coping With Grief After Community Violence
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Mentoring helps support youth mental health. Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring
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In California: Soluna Free Confidential support for 13- to 25-year-olds in California. No cost. No pressure. Chat 1:1 with a professional coach, use interactive tools to destress, or explore quizzes, videos, forums, and more. You choose!