Mentoring for Youth Mental Health

Learn evidence-based strategies to support youth mental health as a mentor.

Overview

Decades of research says that mentors can support youth in meaningful ways. However, recent evidence suggests that mentors can be most beneficial when they are supporting youth in learning specific skills. In this course, mentors will learn how to leverage their caring relationship with their mentee to support them in learning how to express their feelings and cope with challenges.

Join Dr. Alexandra Werntz – the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring’s new Associate Director – and other leaders in the mentoring field to learn about ways you can support youth mental health. Course participants will learn how to use evidence-based strategies developed by decades of research and implementation by clinical and community psychologists and redesigned for use by mentors who work directly with youth. This course is designed to encourage mentors to think critically about their important role in youth’s lives as someone who can model healthy mental health skills and encourage conversations about feelings.

This course is designed for mentors who work directly with youth, in addition to program staff with an interest in expanding their program’s offerings. Course participants will receive exclusive access to digital tools developed by the Center for use with youth. The course will be taught synchronously over Zoom, so attendees can participate from anywhere! Participation in this course will also come with access to this course through MentorCorps, Dr. Jean Rhodes’ newest digital tool to support mentors and programs. MentorCorps allows course participants to interact with each other to create networks and engage in discourse.

Curriculum & Schedule

This course is designed to provide our participants with a high-quality and engaging experience with the teacher and other course participants. Although there will be no formal assignments required, participants will be encouraged to reflect on resources between sessions and interact with other course participants on our new learning management system.

Dates & Times: The first course will be held weekly for 12 weeks.

Each 90-minute session will consist of didactics and time for practice and reflection.

To receive a Certificate in Mentoring for Youth Mental Health from the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring, course participants should attend all sessions. However, if a session or two must be missed, course participants will have the opportunity to review class recordings and can still receive a certificate.

Planned Lessons:

Session 1: Introductions, course overview, role definitions
Session 2: Ethics of mentoring, working with families, triangulation
Session 3: Common youth behavioral and mental health challenges
Session 4: Introduction to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Session 5: Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors Part 2
Session 6: Evidence-based interventions: What can I do as a mentor?
Session 7: Evidence-based interventions: What can I do as a mentor? Part 2
Session 8: Deep dive into youth anxiety
Session 9: Building motivation: An introduction to motivational interviewing
Session 10: Mentoring with cultural humility
Session 11: Supportive accountability mentoring
Session 12: Conclusions and Wrap-up

Teacher

Alexandra Werntz received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia, and completed her clinical internship at the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, VA. She completed her postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the University of Virginia and was funded in-part by AIM Youth Mental Health. She also completed her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Virginia, making her a “triple hoo.”

Dr. Werntz has won numerous awards, including the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) Outstanding Student Teacher Award (2018), the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy’s (ABCT) Virginia A. Roswell Student Dissertation Award (2020), and the Society of Clinical Psychology (SCP) and Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology’s (CUDCP) Inaugural Distinguished Student Scientist-Practitioner Award (2019). Dr. Werntz has co-taught an early version of this course – Therapeutic Mentoring (Spring 2021). She has also taught a course for undergraduates on how to find direction in life in the years following graduation called Designing your Life (2017). She is passionate about teaching and loves engaging with students.

Her recent research focuses on understanding how mentors can provide supportive accountability to mentees engaging in digital mental health interventions. She and the other members of the Center are passionate about advancing the science of mentoring, specifically around how mentors can engage with youth around targeted, meaningful activities.

Dr. Werntz is also a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in Virginia, specializing in anxiety, depression, end-of-life issues, and trauma. However, she feels passionately that evidence-based mental health skills do not need to be taught by trained mental health providers, but instead can be taught by and practiced with trained paraprofessionals.

Dr. Werntz lives in Charlottesville, VA with her husband and three hairless cats. When she’s not doing research, teaching, or working with clients, she can be found enjoying Virginia’s hiking trails, cooking, spending time with friends, and exploring Virginia wine country.