Foundations

About one in five adolescents have a current, diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition in the United States. According to the National Survey of Children's Health (2024), "Between 2016 and 2023, the prevalence of diagnosed mental or behavioral health conditions among adolescents increased 35 percent (from 12.0% to 20.3%)."

This course is about considerations for caregivers and their role in supporting their children throughout the process of receiving psychosocial care for mental or behavioral health conditions. It highlights emotional parenting actions and their alternative counterpart called effective parenting actions. Finally, it offers an overview of motivational interviewing.

This course is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of behavioral health professionals in delivering evidence-based treatments (EBTs) to youth and families. This training provides an overview of the principles and benefits of EBTs, describes strategies for overcoming barriers to using EBTs in community practice, and introduces recommended EBTs for common youth mental health concerns.

Infants and young children experience trauma and adversity, and it happens right here in Colorado. This course is designed to equip you with knowledge, tools, and insights to support infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in the community care setting. It covers various types of trauma and their short and long-term consequences. Additionally, you'll gain practical experience in recognizing signs and symptoms of trauma in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

In this course, participants will gain a better understanding of suicide risk assessment, prevention, and intervention for children and adolescents. Participants will learn how to recognize suicide risk factors and warning signs and how to speak with young people who are at risk. Participants will review suicide risk assessment strategies to increase comfortability when speaking with younger clients about suicide. The course will also include a discussion of Safety Planning Intervention (SPI) and additional evidence-based intervention strategies developed to reduce the risk of suicide in children and adolescents.

The courses in this series equip you with knowledge and tools to support infants and young children (0-5) experiencing trauma symptoms in Colorado. You'll learn to recognize trauma symptoms, understand its impact, and explore prevention, intervention, and treatment programs, gaining practical experience in selecting evidence-based approaches for trauma care in community settings.

This training provides an understanding of trauma-informed care tailored to children and adolescents. Participants will gain insights into the impact of trauma on young individuals and learn evidence-based practices to effectively support and promote healthy outcomes in this vulnerable population. This training will focus primarily on the following developmental stages:

1. Early school age (age 5-7)

2. Middle school age (age 8-12)

3. Early adolescence (age 13-17)