ANCIPS 2022 – Symposium on Research on Youth mental health in SCARF

India is still a young country with more than a third of its population between the ages 10-24. This youthful population is a great demographic dividend but, also extremely vulnerable to various mental health issues nearly three fourths of which begins before the age of 24. Keeping this in mind, SCARF has been actively working at understanding and addressing the mental health problems of youth. In this symposium, we share our experiences of working with youth in different situations and through different means. Topic 1 – cR-SCARF school mental health program (Mr. Chiranjeevi) This presentation will focus on the randomized controlled trial that was conducted as a part of a collaboration between SCARF and citiesRISE – another not for profit organization. We will share our experiences of adapting a manual of school mental health literacy and delivering it to students and the effect it has on their knowledge and attitudes about mental health. Topic 2 – Juveniles Accessing Mental Health Services – JAMS project (Dr. Shiva Prakash Srinivasan) This presentation focuses on the vulnerable children in the juvenile justice system. This is a population of youth who have got limited attention in spite of the fact that they have faced multiple adversities and world over have been shown to have higher risk of mental health problems. This presentation will describe the scope of activities in creating youth friendly spaces to enhance mental health and wellbeing of youth in the various facilities and some preliminary results on the health of youth in such facilities. Topic 3 – Warwick-India-Canada (WIC) Early Psychosis project (Dr .Vijaya Raghavan) Early psychosis has been the focus of much attention in order to create systems to assist in early identification, referral and ongoing care. This presentation will focus on the development of systems to enhance knowledge and access of youth with early psychosis for treatment. Topic 4 – Wellcome-cR project (Dr. Pavithra) Most of the research on youth has been by adults and the youth have been mere data points. This unique study focuses on the methods of engaging youth in mental health research not in a token fashion but, as active participants in defining the area of research and conducting it. This pathbreaking work demonstrates the way youth can be empowered to participate in research that is directed towards them.