Group care programs, while ubiquitous, are not clearly differentiated despite differences in the population served, size, auspices, and program activities, to name a few. Words like group care, residential care and residential treatment are often used interchangeably in policy, research and practice. This paper introduces reporting standards that…

Research in mindfulness-based methods with young people is just emerging in the practice/research literature. While much of this literature describes promising approaches that combine mindfulness with cognitive-behavioral therapy, this paper describes an innovative research-based group program that teaches young people in need mindfulness-based…

The Nimkee NupiGawagan Healing Centre (NNHC) in Muncey, ON provides residential treatment to First Nations and Inuit youth who abuse solvents. As a complement to its culture-based programming, in 2008 the centre began offering weekly equine-assisted learning (EAL) curriculum to its clients in partnership with the Keystone Equine Centre and the…

In Pennsylvania, Family Day Care Homes (FDCH) are private residences used to care for up to six children in a 24 h period. These homes are often times the most affordable alternative to day care centers parents have in low-income communities. The aims of this study were to evaluate FDCH providers' knowledge of hazards and their understanding of…

Summer camps are commonly implemented as a psychosocial intervention for children with chronic illnesses; however, there have been few published consumer (parent and child) satisfaction evaluations of summer camps. Such evaluations are important both for improving existing services for children and families, as well as to build an empirical…

In a seven week quasi-experimental study, parents (n = 15) of elementary school students (n = 15) learned autonomy supportive communication techniques that included helping their children set learning goals for homework assignments. Treatment vs. comparison group (n = 30) ANCOVA analyses revealed that the parents in the treatment group perceived…

Three significant, prevailing and overlapping narratives of teenage girls have dominated North American popular consciousness since the early 1990s: the sad girl, victimized by male privilege and misogyny of adolescence and beyond; the mad grrrls who rejected this vulnerability through music and media; and the bad girls of much current popular…

Clinician ratings of anxiety hold the promise of clarifying discrepancies often found between child and parent reports of anxiety. The Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) is a clinician-administered instrument that assesses the frequency, severity, and impairment of common pediatric anxiety disorders and has been used as a primary outcome…

This population-based study investigated the unique and cumulative relations between risks that are monitored by public surveillance systems and academic and behavioral outcomes for an entire cohort of third graders in a large, urban public school system. Using integrated, administrative records from child welfare, public health, housing, and…

Wilderness therapy programs continue to be a possible treatment modality for at-risk youth who require out-of-home care. Issues associated with wilderness therapy also continue to be a spirited topic with professionals in the field and the general public. This commentary will add additional considerations, and continue the discussion concerning…

A professional outlet in most children's hospitals for seriously-ill children is the child life specialist. Our objective in this study was to determine the extent that dying and death is emphasized in child life programs in the United States. Therefore, we surveyed via snail mail the 35 child life programs on the website of the Child Life…

Knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders; attitudes that promote help-seeking; knowledge of risk factors and causes, treatments and self-help, and professional help available are all elements of mental health literacy. The complexities of practice with suicidal adolescents and young people suffering from mental health concerns require…

The researchers describe a study conducted to explore how child protection practitioners negotiate their way through ambiguous and contradictory evidence when working with families under a "suspicion" of neglect. In depth interviews were conducted in order to understand the processes of discernment that practitioners used to determine how to…

Wilderness therapy is a growing treatment modality for adolescents presenting with a variety of clinical concerns, and wilderness therapy clinicians and referring mental health professionals must carefully consider the ethical issues that are unique to this modality. Following an overview of wilderness therapy as a mental health treatment,…

This study explored how gender differences may influence the community reentry experiences of incarcerated youth. Structured surveys assessing risk factors for re-offending, perceived reentry needs, and anticipated barriers to meeting these needs were administered to a convenience sample of males (n = 36) and females (n = 35) who were within 60…