For much of the past decade, suicide has been the second leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States, and suicide rates among adolescents have been rising for the last 15 years. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents were common before COVID-19 and have become an increasing public health priority in the pandemic's wake.…

Student veterans have been attending college in greater numbers since the passing of the Post/9-11 GI Bill. Although similar to other nontraditional students, student veterans face unique transition challenges that can affect their pursuit of higher education. Many student veterans could benefit from dedicated programs to help them succeed in…

Campus students are most likely to confide with other students (Brownson, 2007). Thus, the student peer program's rationale is that it is a vital component of our campus suicide prevention project's purpose to early identify at-risk students, engage at-risk students, and utilize appropriate helping interventions (may include referral to the…

Describes the student mediator program developed at the William E. Ferron Elementary School (Nevada). Since the program began, the number of discipline problems referred to the principal has declined. Includes a sidebar outlining the steps used for orientation of mediators. (MD)

The Indiana Department of Education, at the direction of Phyllis Lewis, commissioned the National Association of Peer Programs (NAPP: formerly known as the National Peer Helpers Association) and the authors listed above to develop a rubric for peer helping programs. Development of the rubric began with a review of the NAPP Programmatic Standards…

The Duke University School Research Partnership (SRP) Office was developed with support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Child and Family Policy. Begun in 2006 as the Duke Office for Research in Schools (DORIS), the SRP Office is an integral part of the work of the Center for Child and Family Policy. The SRP Office facilitates…

There is increasing interest among policymakers and practitioners in tapping the potential of family, friends, volunteers, peer support groups, and mutual aid organizations to help prevent violence. The popularity of these informal social support (ISS) interventions stems, in part, from their flexibility, responsiveness to individual needs, and…

This article explores two methods of peer counseling used in high schools. The open model of counseling, or students trained to help other students, is described. (Author/DF)

This paper describes the Project ALERT program (Adolescent Learning Experiences in Resistance Training) which was established by the Rand Corporation to prevent smoking and drug use among seventh graders. The program is based on the social influence model of drug use initiation. Curriculum features are described including motivation to resist and…

Students can benefit from structured in-school helping relationships in which peers assume formal teaching roles as tutors. Both the student helper and the student learner benefit from peer tutoring. Guidelines for developing effective peer tutoring programs are provided. (BJV)

This second edition of Behaviour Recovery puts emphasis on teaching behaviour concerning children with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD). These children have many factors in their lives that affect their behaviour over which schools have limited control. This book acknowledges the challenge and explores the practical realities, options and…

The "Handbook of Youth Prevention Science" describes current research and practice in mental health preventive interventions for youth. Traditional prevention research focused on preventing specific disorders, e.g. substance abuse, conduct disorders, or criminality. This produced "silos" of isolated knowledge about the…

Analyzes the development and implementation of a teen hotline that utilizes skilled student volunteers. A comprehensive and meaningful training program combined with a high level of acceptance among the general youth population resulted in a valuable service for both the client callers and the student volunteers. (RJM)

This report examines five programs that use peer support groups as the key element of their prevention or intervention efforts in preventing or reducing the incidence of substance abuse, school failure, and other problems of adolescence. Chapter 1 provides introductory material. Chapter 2 contains background information on the peer program…

A social worker and a psychologist, working with troubled youth in a day treatment setting, describe unique ways to use the concepts of Positive Peer Culture (PPC) to facilitate groups from the elementary to high school levels. The authors have adapted the well-known PPC concepts and incorporated them into their strength-based program, SPLASH, to…