Focal Point is a publication of the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health. Publication of the journal began in 1986 and ceased in 2019.
Each issue of Focal Point explores a topic related to youth and young adult mental health and the transition to adulthood. Contributing authors offer perspectives and research from a variety of fields, including social work, psychology, sociology, juvenile justice, child welfare, public health, public policy, and neuroscience.
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Focal Point, Volume 17 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point offers insight on cultural reciprocity, clinical outcomes for diverse youth, culturally competent research practices for African-American communities, identifying behavioral strengths in Black children, and cultural competence in services.
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Focal Point, Volume 17 Number 02
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
The authors of the articles in this issue of Focal Point represent a spectrum of Wraparound's stakeholder groups—family members, service providers, trainers, and researchers. From their different perspectives, they discuss the issues of quality and fidelity. What is striking is the extent to which these perspectives converge in their descriptions of successful practice and implementation. This Focal Point issue is evidence that substantial progress is being made in bringing a clearer focus to the Wraparound vision.
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Focal Point, Volume 18 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue highlights recent work at the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health in Portland, Oregon. The Center's work is guided by a vision of family–professional partnership within systems of care serving children with emotional or behavioral disorders and their families.
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Focal Point, Volume 19 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point examines the concepts of resilience and recovery and what they mean in the context of mental health care for children and adolescents. A resilience-and-recovery perspective highlights new ideas and strategies for transforming mental health care for children and adolescents.
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Focal Point, Volume 20 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point discusses how social support can be harnessed to improve children's mental health. Articles in this issue define and recommend various methods of establishing and improving social support among families, mentors, and peers. Types of support examined include family–to–family support, wraparound, peer support, and natural support.
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Focal Point, Volume 20 Number 02
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point describes the need for, and provides examples of, new strategies for meeting the mental health needs of children and adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system.
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Focal Point, Volume 21 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This Focal Point issue focuses on child traumatic stress, particularly as experienced by children involved in the child welfare system. The causes and effects of traumatic stress are discussed, as are evidence-based treatments, and prevention strategies.
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Focal Point, Volume 21 Number 02
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
Evidence–based programs produce positive outcomes for consumers, providers, and the greater public. However, not all evidence–based programs have been proven to work with diverse groups. This issue of Focal Point features programs that have been developed specifically to meet the needs of underserved youth such as immigrants, rural or homeless youth, and those from racial or sexual minority groups.
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Focal Point, Volume 22 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point explores how the increasing emphasis on using evidence–based practices and a "system of care" approach is driving changes in jobs and roles related to children's mental health. Articles in the issue describe how agencies and providers of services and supports have responded to these changes by creating new types of positions or by redefining existing roles. The articles also focus on training and other workforce development activities that are required to support these kinds of changes in the workforce.
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Focal Point, Volume 22 Number 02
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point—through a consideration of personal, lived experience as well as practice and research—examines the mutual impact of caregiver and child mental health, and highlights practical strategies to promote positive outcomes for children and caregivers who experience mental health difficulties.
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Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 01
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
Stigmatization can result in exclusion of and discrimination against the stigmatized individual. This issue of Focal Point provides state-of-the-art information about stigmatization, its causes and consequences, and strategies and programs for alleviating it.
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Focal Point, Volume 23 Number 02
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point highlights a number of successful and innovative efforts to promote youth voice and youth empowerment. Many of the articles are authored by or include contributions from youth who are directly involved in the featured programs.
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Focal Point, Volume 24
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
The articles included in this inaugural issue of the "new" Focal Point address "Transitions to Adulthood" from the perspectives of researchers, youth, family, and professionals. [This is the first issue of Focal Point as published by the Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures; previous issues had been published under the preceding RTC for Family Support and Children's Mental Health.]
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Focal Point, Volume 25
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point is about Healthy Relationships and their effects on young adults with mental health conditions. While most of the articles focus on the positive aspects of relationships, others highlight more negative experiences and their impacts.
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Focal Point, Volume 26
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point focuses on the recognition that mental health and physical health should not be considered separately. It addresses how the mind and body impact each other, and how we can strive to achieve balance within ourselves.
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Focal Point, Volume 27
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This special issue of Focal Point focuses on best practices for helping youth and young adults with mental health challenges reach their educational and employment goals, by highlighting preliminary results from some of our research at Pathways to Positive Futures as well as some of the work being done at the Transitions RTC at the University of Massachusetts.
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Focal Point, Volume 28
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
Between one–third and one–half of young adults with mental health challenges have co-occurring substance use issues. This issue of Focal Point examines treatments and supports for this population.
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Focal Point, Volume 29
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point focuses on trauma–informed care and its growing relevance in research, official policy, practice methods, and organizational structure.
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Focal Point, Volume 30
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue explores early psychosis intervention services. Throughout history psychosis has traumatized and permanently disrupted people's lives, but early psychosis intervention is showing that much of this trauma and disability can be prevented. Early psychosis intervention services are rapidly becoming available in every state of the US, and thousands of people who have lived through psychosis are speaking out and proving that we have every reason for hope.
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Focal Point, Volume 31
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
Research demonstrates that the prevalence of mental health conditions among justice system involved youth is alarmingly high, coupled with a strong likelihood of multiple traumatic exposures. Unfortunately, while the need for appropriate and timely treatment is acute, the juvenile justice system seems challenged in meeting it. The authors of this issue of Focal Point identify and propose solutions to these challenges with new research findings.
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Focal Point, Volume 32
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point includes a series of research summaries that reflect the state of the science and project descriptions focused on the theme of community integration for youth and young adults who experience serious mental health conditions. Space in Focal Point is limited, and this has meant that we are only able to include short versions of each of these articles. However, more detailed versions of most of the articles – including extensive reference lists – are available on the Pathways RTC website. We encourage you to take a look at these longer versions for further detail and a more comprehensive treatment of each of these important topics.
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Focal Point, Volume 33
Portland State University. Regional Research Institute
This issue of Focal Point explores the findings from the local evaluations conducted by Healthy Transitions grantees over the past 5 years as well as present evaluation findings from two other innovative programs for transition-aged youth and young adults. Taken together, the articles in this issue supply service providers and planners across the nation with an indication of the successful outcomes generated by a variety of program approaches.