Young Adult Advisory Board (YAB)
Our Purpose
The Young Adult Advisory Board (YAB) is a virtual board comprised of around 10 young adults between the ages of 18-30 years old with serious mental health conditions from all around the United States
The YAB members join together virtually once a month to provide feedback on research-related projects and products.
The members of the board used their lived mental health experience to help us tailor our research projects and products to become more ‘youth friendly’ and provide feedback surrounding language, content, and clarity.
Our Products
S.T.A.Y. Tuned Podcast Episode 13: Salsa Dancing, a Youth Advisory Board and Peer Support for Mental Health
Today we talk with Josh Calarino, a member of our Youth Advisory Board, about ways getting involved in his community has helped his mental health. Josh shares his journey from someone who struggled with their mental health in high school to the discovery of the different things he found that helped him feel better and more connected to his community. His story of recovery started when he said “yes” to an invite to a salsa dance class. We talk about Youth Move, peer support, and Josh’s experience as a member of our Youth Advisory Board where he joins other young adult members to provide valued feedback from the youth perspective to our research team at Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research. Josh highlights the impact that a strong sense of community can have on young adults’ mental health. Watch it on our YouTube Channel. Read the transcript
Meme Project
One of our youth-led Learning & Working RRTC’s knowledge translation projects is developing memes that are relevant to youth and young adults living with mental health conditions. Memes use popular cultural images and simple language to convey meaningful content on social media. Created in 2019, our memes are developed on the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research’s social media channels. View our Meme Gallery
For more information or to join our YAB, contact:
Tracy Neville and Mei Pearlstein Co-YAB Facilitators
The Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research is a center within UMass Chan Medical School, Implementation Science & Practice Advances Research Center (iSPARC). The Center represents a national effort that aims to improve the supports for youth and young adults, ages 14-30, with serious mental health conditions. We are located at the UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA in the Department of Psychiatry.
The Young Adult Advisory Board is supported under grants with funding from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, (NIDILRR), United States Departments of Health and Human Services (NIDILRR grant numbers 90RTEM0005 and 90RTCP0010) and co-funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, SAMHSA, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
