Summary

Learn how to better clinically serve "risky" adolescents--from the clients themselves!

Clinical and Research Uses of an Adolescent Mental Health Intake Questionnaire: What Kids Need to Talk About explores the research on adolescent behavior culled from the answers to a clinician-designed intake questionnaire given to adolescent clients asking how they view their own risks, what they worry about, and what they wish to talk about. Respected authorities discuss the enlightening findings and present ways to reshape services, taking into account customer preference, risk and worry, and youth development (YD) perspectives while presenting practical clinical strategies to engage at-risk adolescents in mental health treatment.

Clinical and Research Uses of an Adolescent Mental Health Intake Questionnaire: What Kids Need to Talk About provides conceptual models that practitioners and organizations can use to develop reflective practices and to understand better how to engage adolescent clients in treatment. The book includes three case studies that illustrate an organization's experience in developing ways for organizational learning, including the clinicians' own accounts of their experience in conducting practice-based research. Two chapters describe the development and the clinical uses of the intake questionnaire and offer guidelines for other practitioners to develop their own. The book discusses specific findings about adolescent risk, worries, and desire to talk across a wide range of psychosocial domains such as education and work, sex and sexuality, safety, substance abuse, and family and friends. Other research examines adolescent risk and vulnerability profiles of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, as well as the impact of racism. Finally, the book builds upon this empirical analysis to address the clinical challenge of engaging "risky" adolescents in counseling.

Clinical and Research Uses of an Adolescent Mental Health Intake Questionnaire: What Kids Need to Talk About analyzes:
adolescent risks, worries, and coping
adolescent help seeking and desire to talk in counseling
youth development (YD) and adolescent vulnerability
urban adolescents' health and mental health concerns
effectively engaging adolescents in counseling
collaborative strategies for clinicians and managers
reflectivity and learning in human service organizations

Clinical and Research Uses of an Adolescent Mental Health Intake Questionnaire: What Kids Need to Talk About presents essential information for social workers, mental health professionals who work with adolescents, adolescent researchers, pediatricians and adolescent medicine practitioners, teachers, students, and youth workers.