Guidelines for Adapting Mindfulness-Based School Interventions with Underserved Youth

Low-income and ethnically diverse youth in the United States have unmet needs for mental health services; however, these same youth are unlikely to be connected with high-quality mental health care. Promoting social-emotional competencies through school-based service delivery is one potential solution for improving the accessibility and quality of care for diverse youth facing mental health disparities. Mindfulness, conceived as a set of practices to cultivate social-emotional competencies, can therefore be useful for improving the accessibility and quality of care for diverse youth facing mental health disparities. Given the growing interest in MBSIs and the need to enhance equity in youth mental health services more generally, we provide guidelines to help practicing clinicians successfully adapt and implement MBSIs with underserved youth. First, we offer recommendations for clinicians to enhance underserved youths’ engagement with MBSIs. Next, we overview implementation approaches that clinicians could use for increasing access to MBIs in school settings. Following, we discuss strategies clinicians might employ when working with teachers to effectively implement MBSIs with underserved youth in their classrooms. Ultimately, we hope the guidelines offered in this paper might help inform better practice—as well as motivate further, better research—that advances equitable mental health care in schools with underserved youth.

Guidelines for Adapting Mindfulness-Based School Interventions with Underserved Youth

Low-income and ethnically diverse youth in the United States have unmet needs for mental health services; however, these same youth are unlikely to be connected with high-quality mental health care. Promoting social-emotional competencies through school-based service delivery is one potential solution for improving the accessibility and quality of care for diverse youth facing mental health disparities. Mindfulness, conceived as a set of practices to cultivate social-emotional competencies, can therefore be useful for improving the accessibility and quality of care for diverse youth facing mental health disparities. Given the growing interest in MBSIs and the need to enhance equity in youth mental health services more generally, we provide guidelines to help practicing clinicians successfully adapt and implement MBSIs with underserved youth. First, we offer recommendations for clinicians to enhance underserved youths’ engagement with MBSIs. Next, we overview implementation approaches that clinicians could use for increasing access to MBIs in school settings. Following, we discuss strategies clinicians might employ when working with teachers to effectively implement MBSIs with underserved youth in their classrooms. Ultimately, we hope the guidelines offered in this paper might help inform better practice—as well as motivate further, better research—that advances equitable mental health care in schools with underserved youth.

Enhancing College and Career Readiness Programs for Underserved Adolescents

Supporting college and career readiness among youth who encounter significant academic and life challenges requires innovative strategies to help them envision their futures, leverage their strengths and develop dispositions that promote positive trajectories. For youth development professionals who develop and implement novel programmatic approaches to support the college and career readiness of underserved youth, it is critical to acquire a deeper evidence-based understanding of factors shaping positive career and college pathways as well as to incorporate stakeholder viewpoints in their program design and delivery. In this article, we share key insights from our program development process that can inform the work of program developers, educators and youth services providers who seek to build and enhance career and college readiness programs aimed at underserved youth. We summarize 4 key insights from a narrative review of literature on college and career readiness as well as findings from a set of stakeholders (student, parent and educator) focus groups. We offer our ideas for incorporating these insights alongside stakeholder input into the development and design of college and career readiness activities and programming.

Career and College Readiness for Underserved Youth: Educator and Youth Perspectives

This study solicited perspectives of underserved youth and educators who serve them regarding college and career readiness. We defined underserved youth as adolescents who experience inequitable access to educational resources. Purposeful sampling was used to select 84 focus group participants including educators and students (9–12th grade). Utilizing grounded theory analysis, focus group data revealed findings in three key categories. First, student and educator participants defined readiness as specific career knowledge and skills to develop concrete postschool plans. Second, both educators and students perceived limited availability of career preparation experiences as a barrier, while educators also provided examples of challenging life circumstances which deter youth from fully realizing their college and career potential. Third, educators and students reported that providing a broad array of career related learning activities, coupled with the presence of trusted adults who serve as mentors and guides, can create capacity for young people to expand career options.