Successfully engaging young adults in treatment is among the many challenges confronted by Coordinated Specialty Care programs. Discontinuation of services or failure to fully participate in care can result from poor engagement and can result in compromised clinical and functional status.

Dr. Michelle R. Munson from New York University has systematically studied the engagement process among economically and socially marginalized young adults for over fifteen years using both qualitative and quantitative methods.  Based on her work and that of her colleagues, she has developed systematic engagement methodologies – including strategies that are youth-informed and centered, and have shown promise in empirical studies.

Dr. Munson embeds these engagement strategies in intervention programs she is testing in the public mental health system.  These programs include a strong mentoring relationship provided by an individual with lived experience and they include content to address issues of acceptance, motivation, stigma, hope, mental health literacy, and a need to maintain connection to others while receiving care.  Their approaches also include a foundational emphasis on building trust and promoting self-efficacy, and learning how to do this over time in partnership with professional mental health providers.

In this webinar, Dr. Munson will present the formative data that led to the young adult engagement program, and data collected during the development of the program. She will share initial insights that have been gleaned from a randomized clinical trial that is underway in New York.  She will be joined by Iruma Bello, Ph.D. and Aanchal Katyal, LMSW from first episode programs who will discuss the applicability of these approaches for engaging youth in Coordinated Specialty Care.