Conveners
Keynote 4: From Evidence to Impact: Advancing School-Based Mental Health Promotion
- Tamar Mendelson (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
Description
Chair: Samuel Tomczyk
Abstract: A growing evidence base demonstrates the mental health benefits of school-based prevention strategies, but scaling and sustaining these prevention efforts effectively is extremely difficult. This presentation will highlight opportunities and challenges related to embedding mental health-related prevention strategies within schools. Evidence-based approaches at different levels of the prevention continuum will be presented, including ongoing research on RAP Club, a trauma-informed universal intervention to promote mental health across the transition into high school. Best practices for implementation, sustainment, and dissemination will also be discussed, with a focus on the role of research, practice, and policy. In this context, recommendations will be presented for advancing the field of school-based prevention to increase public health impact on young people’s mental health.
