Center for Youth Mental Health
The Center for Youth Mental Health is a program of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences established through a grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. It envisions a mental health system that truly meets the developmental needs and goals of adolescents and young adults.
Mission & Vision
The mission of the Center for Youth Mental Health is to champion the change needed to close the gap in the mental health care system that neglects adolescents and young adults. The center does this by developing age-specific research and resources, collaborating with community providers to strengthen practices and transforming the system to ensure that adolescents and young adults have access to the targeted support and treatment they deserve.
The center envisions a reality where the mental health of adolescents and young adults is a priority in every community and includes relevant, accessible and age-appropriate services that consider every aspect of a young person’s life. To create a model of change, the center facilitates its work through four critical components of care: awareness, innovation, collaboration and advocacy.
Components of Care
The center educates policymakers, care providers, parents and community members about the urgency of the issue so that they’re more receptive to supporting the mission.
The center leverages research, including invaluable input from adolescents and young adults themselves, to develop new practices and resources that can better address their needs.
The center partners with mental health providers and community organizations to deliver resources and redesign programming to make them more accessible, engaging and relevant to the young people they serve.
The center supplements on-the-ground impact by influencing change from the top, encouraging local and state policymakers to advocate for more complete and continuous mental health care in the state of Texas.
About Transition-Age Research
Fifty percent of adults with a mental illness report their symptoms began in their early teens, and 75% report their symptoms began by age 24. Despite the increased risk of mental health concerns, older adolescents and young adults seek treatment at lower rates than any other age group.
This disruption in treatment engagement for individuals who are 16 to 25 years old, also called transition-age youth, is untimely. At this age, major mental illnesses first emerge and place those individuals at risk for high school dropout, unemployment, housing instability and criminal justice involvement. By not addressing treatment during this transitional life stage, emerging adults face a potential lifetime of struggle.
Mental Health Support for Young Adults
Amplify Center
The Center for Youth Mental Health hosts the Amplify Center — a young adult-specific clinic designed to effectively intervene in mental health challenges that develop during adolescence and young adulthood. The center strives to improve the quality of life among young people experiencing mental health distress by helping them obtain support grounded in their personal interests and lives — including work, school and relationships.
Amplify Center, a first-of-its-kind clinic in Texas, is modeled after headspace, Australia’s established model of an interdisciplinary care clinic designed to screen and intervene for mental health needs. The center was launched after five-plus years of community-oriented planning with nonprofit, medical and governmental leaders throughout Central Texas. Read more about how the center was created »
Team Details & More
The Center for Youth Mental Health is co-directed by Deborah Cohen, Ph.D., MSW, and Vanessa Klodnick, Ph.D., LCSW.
Emerging Voices Advocacy Council & Youth Consultancy
The Center for Youth Mental Health, in its prioritized commitment to uplifting young people’s voices and lived experiences, supports the Emerging Voices Advocacy Council, the center’s youth and young adult advisory effort.
Youth and young adults also participate in consultancy opportunities to help shape the center’s research and Amplify Center programming to support informed and competent mental health support.
Contact Information
To reach the Center for Youth Mental Health directly, email the team or call 512-495-5312.
Make a Gift
Your gift helps close the gaps in transition-age youth. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of young adults and their families.