Youth & Behavioral Health

This focus area provides students with the knowledge and practical experience to effectively infuse child and adolescent behavioral health principles and values into evidence-based practice, with an understanding of practical application.

Competencies

In this focus area, students will gain knowledge and practical experience in these areas:

  • Effectively infusing child and adolescent behavioral health principles and values into evidence-based practice, with an understanding of practical application.
  • Understanding service system conditions and characteristics that impact the planning and delivery of CABH services.
  • Providing effective services for people with co-occurring disorders.
  • Demonstrating an understanding of the value of youth and families as full partners in educating behavior health professionals and in the delivery of care in CABH.
  • Demonstrating an in-depth understanding of CABH advocacy, including consumer and family participation in advocacy efforts.
  • Demonstrating an understanding of the value of interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration within CABH and the ability to translate multiple perspectives across contexts/systems.
  • Critically evaluating applied services research and specifying a broad range of CABH literature to analyze CABH issues and problems.
  • Demonstrating ability to work with children and families from culturally- and linguistically-diverse backgrounds.
  • Utilizing strengths-based approaches in the delivery of care, in a way that empowers families in addressing CABH challenges.
  • Developing leadership skills at a system/policy level that are grounded in child and adolescent behavioral health research.
  • Discriminating evidence-based practices in CABH for specific organizational and community contexts.
  • Demonstrating an ability to integrate and synthesize research findings, with an understanding of relevant methodologies and models in order to translate research into practice.

For additional information on the Youth & Behavioral Health focus area, contact Cathy Sowell, LCSW.

If after viewing the information on the CABH focus areas, you are still uncertain about which one would fit best with your specific situation, please contact either the Director of the area for which you plan to apply, and/or Debra Mowery, PhD. Keep in mind that there is overlap between all focus area curriculums and the choice of focus area should be based on your specific interests, and career and educational goals. The choices of focus area and track (thesis or applied/non-thesis track) need to be declared at the time of application.