Empowering and Supporting Youth Outside the Classroom: Practices From a Mental Health YPAR Initiative

Professional medical organizations in the United States have declared child and adolescent mental health to be in a “state of emergency.” To explore and address this in the context of Central Virginia, the Teen Wellness Team (TWT)—a university medical center-led initiative—was created. The TWT employed youth participatory action research (YPAR) to prioritize the perspectives of young people in every stage of the research process and collect relevant and timely data around the youth mental health crisis in our region. This case study adds to the limited body of literature on YPAR conducted in academic medical settings, specifically related to youth mental health. In this methodology paper, youth and adult researchers describe the process and lessons learned in the TWT. The main lessons that can be applied to future participatory research include ideas for how to manage the time-consuming nature of YPAR, the need for patience and flexibility, the importance of addressing power dynamics in order to foster youth empowerment, and the benefit of interdisciplinary collaboration.