There is compelling evidence that helping adolescents develop certain traits (especially related to resiliency) can mitigate the confounding effects of suicide. Specific demographics of youth appear to have higher rates of suicidal behavior including those with mental health diagnoses and educational disabilities that affect students' academic achievement. We looked at evidence based social and emotional learning programs (SEL) that fostered adaptive coping skills and resilience. We identified Strong Teens (Carrizales-Engelmann, Merrell, Feuerborn, Gueldner, & Tran, 2016) as a program that could be easily administered and adapted into traditional and nontraditional school settings. This study was conducted in a residential treatment center (RTC) for adolescent males. The RTC permitted one of their therapists to implement the Strong Teens over the course of two consecutively run groups. Group 1 included seven boys and Group 2 included four boys. We relied on the therapist's self-assessment of modifications made to the program; the researcher's field notes collected during observations; emails between the therapist and researcher; the researcher's notes taken during conversations between the therapist and researcher; monthly Youth Outcome Questionnaire Self Report (Y-OQ-SR) test scores; youth Strong Teens pre and post test scores; and youth exit surveys conducted in one-one interviews at the conclusion of the Strong Teens lessons. Fidelity of program implementation was measured by the therapist and researcher completing the Strong Teens fidelity checklist (included in the Strong Teens manual). Based on collected data, we make the following recommendations: Adapt the Strong Teens program to increase student participation and receptiveness; carefully consider the size of the group, taking into account the capacity of the group leader to manage the group's behaviors and attend to individual needs; consider conducting groups sessions in settings that help youth feel safe and comfortable--groups held outside may be preferable to groups held inside classrooms; mental health professionals and teachers who lead the Strong Teens lessons may consider learning about a variety of basic therapeutic strategies and how these strategies might fit participants' needs; when evaluating the effectiveness of Strong Teens, carefully gather, consider, and contextualize a variety of data (quantitative and qualitative) from a variety of sources (youth participants, group leaders, and others who interact with the youth); in addition to focusing on teaching information and skills, group leaders must consider motivational strategies; focus initial conversations on why one would use such strategies to benefit oneself--later conversations may expand to include how strategies benefit others.

ÖREBRO UNIVERSITY Department of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences Program of social work Social Work C C-essay in Social Work, 15 credits Autumn term 2013 The family is the only way back home – A qualitative study on staff’s view on family involvement in the treatment of adolescents Authors: Cakici, Nahrin and Claesson, Sandra Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate how the staff at residential treatment centers works to involve the family and the social network in youth’s treatment and how they experience that the involvement affects the young person. The aim is also to study the difficulties the staff experience in their work to involve the family and the social network. In this study, staff from two residential treatment centers in Sweden participated. The study is conducted based in on qualitative method in which four semi-structured telephone interviews and one group interview have been conducted. The result was analyzed using general system theory, attachment theory and social representations. The result shows that family involvement in treatment will have a positive impact on the young person and the treatment. This may facilitate a positive way to move home. The social network has also an impact on the young person, and then as a support during and after treatment. One difficulty for staff to involve the social network is that they must relate to confidentiality laws which may limit the social network’s participation in the treatment. Keywords: residential treatment center, youth, family, social network, involvement, difficulties.

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