Mood Disorders Research
Mental Health Promotion, Resilience, and Suicide Prevention
Youth Aware of Mental Health, YAM, is an interactive universal mental health promotion program for 8th through 12th graders that encourages increased discussion and knowledge about mental health, suicide prevention, and the development of problem-solving skills and emotional intelligence. YAM uses various learning methods to present the fundamental components of the program in five interactive sessions over 3 weeks.
YAM was tested in a European study with over 11,000 students in 168 schools, across ten European countries. When compared to two others programs, the YAM program was more effective in significantly improving adolescent mental health. To read more about the SEYLE Study, please visit the following link: The YAM program.
YAM fosters the development of skills and knowledge about mental health, without overwhelming students with complicated information, and allows each participating group to influence the content by bringing their perspectives to the forefront. Adolescents learn from both a professional and from each other through a mix of cognitive, emotional, and experiential learning.
Training Future YAM Facilitators
Since the program began in 2016, the CDRC team has reached over 20,000 youth in over 1,100 classrooms with the YAM program. Due to the program’s success, the CDRC team has transitioned to training new facilitators to reach more students and create more sustainable school-based mental health programming.
Driving Discovery
The CDRC has faculty members with expertise in neuroimaging, cognitive and behavioral phenotyping, biospecimens, the gut microbiome, exercise, biostatistics, genetics, adolescent behaviors, research, novel treatments and addiction.
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Monitoring for Wellness
An important element of translating our research into practice involves creating access and capability to track mental health and wellness for the individual (adolescent and adult) within and beyond our community.
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Partnership Across Texas
Over the last 4 years, the CDRC has reached over 20,000 youth with the Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) program. Due to the program’s success, the CDRC has transitioned to training new facilitators to reach more students and create more sustainable school-based mental health programming.
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Solving Depression, Saving Tomorrows
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Structured training encourages adolescents to learn and develop life-lifelong and resilience skills that are shown to help teens and young adults avoid high high-risk self-destructive behavior that can lead to poor academic achievement, substance abuse, more severe psychiatric conditions, and even suicide.