Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Bright Idea: A Free Teen Clinic Reduces Barriers to Health Care
This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth highlights the work of Tulane’s Drop-In Clinic, which provides free medical care to teens in New Orleans. It shares some of the best practices that have helped the clinic successfully reduce barriers and connect youth to care.
Beyond Addiction: Understanding and Treating Substance Abuse in Young People
This report series from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth provides an overview on substance abuse in youth and young adults. Find information on how drug use can affect the teen brain, how the development of the teen brain makes young people susceptible to trying drugs, the benefits and things to be aware of when hiring youth workers in substance abuse recovery, and some best-known evidence-based practices for treating adolescent substance abuse.
Five Ways to Improve Youth Health
This slideshow presents tips for youth-serving organizations on how they can improve the health of the at-risk youth they work with. Ideas include partnering with local farms to receive fresh vegetables and offering classes for physical and mental health.
Five Key Ways the Affordable Care Act Affects Young People
This blog post from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth links to multiple resources that can help youth-serving programs understand how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affects youth, including homeless and runaway youth. The post also provides some of the highlights from a recent webinar that discussed what youth and youth workers need to know about the ACA.
Online Sexual Health Resources
The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth released this list of recommended resources on sexually transmitted diseases, including information geared specifically to teens and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.
Q&A: Amy Lin of Young Invincibles on Helping Young People Find Health Insurance
This interview features Amy Lin of the health advocacy group Young Invincibles discussing her organization’s work to encourage young people to sign up for health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Amy also discusses the challenges that young people, including those who are homeless or teen parents, face in accessing healthcare and how youth-serving professionals can help them overcome these obstacles.
Ready for Anything: A Disaster Planning Manual for Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs
This manual from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, guides youth-serving organizations in creating an emergency preparedness plan and explains the three areas of disaster planning: prevention and preparedness, response, and recovery. It includes worksheets and checklists that can help organizations prepare for disasters before they happen.
Resource Roundup: Helping Youth and Families Get Affordable Care Act Health Coverage
NCFY has compiled a list of resources from federal agencies and nonprofit organizations that can help professionals guide youth and families in obtaining affordable health care through Medicaid or the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Train Juvenile Justice Staff to Educate Youth on Sexual Health
Without other trusted adults to guide them, young men in juvenile justice facilities may turn to employees for information about sexual health, a role that these individuals may not be trained to fulfill. To answer this need, the Washington State Department of Health, through the State Personal Responsibility Education Program, provided training to juvenile justice staff to deliver evidence-based sexual health curricula to youth.
What Makes Homeless Youth More Likely to Get STIs? More Likely to Get Tested?
This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth provides an overview of recent research on the factors that influence sexually transmitted (STI) infection rates among homeless youth. The article also presents the factors that influence the likelihood these youth will get tested and offers suggestions for potentially effective prevention and intervention efforts to reduce risky sexual behaviors and promote STI testing.
Q&A: How to Help Homeless Youth Quit Smoking
This Q&A with Joan Tucker, the senior behavioral scientist and professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, California, focuses on Dr. Tucker’s work on smoking among homeless youth and her recommendations for what tailored cessation programs might look like.
Resource: Apps Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Promote Youth Sexual Health
This slideshow highlights six free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Share with Youth: Apps Promote Youth Sexual Health
This slideshow features free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. It includes a brief description of each app and a link to where it can be downloaded.
Resource: How Does Talking to Extended Family Influence Teens' Decisions About Sex?
This article highlights a recent study which examined why teens talk with extended family members about sex and what they discuss. The results indicate that almost 60% of teens in the study talked with extended family members about sex, and youth who said they talked exclusively to extended family members about sex were more than twice as likely to have had sex.
2013 Monitoring the Future Survey
The Monitoring the Future survey, conducted annually, measures the current drug use, and attitudes toward drugs, of students in grades 8, 10, and 12 across the country. Results included observed declines in the abuse of prescription opioids, alcohol, and cigarettes by teens, the use of synthetic marijuana, Vicodin, and salvia among twelfth graders, and the use of inhalants by eighth graders, but an increase in teens’ use of Adderall. The results also reveal that less than 40% of high school seniors believed that regular marijuana users risk harming themselves, meaning that the perception by seniors that regular marijuana may be dangerous is the lowest it has been since 1978.
Accelerating HPV Vaccine Uptake: Urgency for Action to Prevent Cancer
This report, released by the President’s Cancer Panel, outlines the case for HPV vaccination and the urgency for action. The report presents three goals: to reduce missed opportunities to recommend/administer HPV vaccines; to increase acceptance of the vaccines among parents, caregivers, and youth; and to maximize access to HPV vaccination services
Alcohol Policy Information System
The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) provides detailed information on a wide variety of alcohol-related policies in the United States at both State and Federal levels.
Charge Up! Healthy Meals and Snacks for Teens
This document guides teens in making healthy food choices, offers examples of smart snack and meal ideas, and gives links to other healthy eating resources.
Drug Addiction: Step-by-Step Guides for Seeking Help
NIDA has released new step-by-step guides both for those seeking help to overcome drug addiction and their loved ones. The guides are presented in a simple Q&A format with accompanying videos and are customized into four categories: (1) teens seeking help, (2) adults seeking help, (3) parents/guardians seeking help for their teen/young adult child, and (4) those trying to help an adult loved one.
E-Cigarette Use in College Tied to Other Risky Behaviors
A new study of more than 1,400 college students shows that students who use tobacco, marijuana, and/or binge drink are more likely to use electronic cigarettes. The survey results also show that students who considered e-cigarettes to be less harmful than traditional tobacco products were also more likely to use e-cigarettes.
Get Involved: NIDA's National Drug Facts Week
Get involved with NIDA’s fifth annual Drug Facts Week. Host or promote events for teens that help shatter the myths about drugs, and expose teens to facts about drugs and addiction from scientists and other experts. NIDA staff can recommend materials and activities, help organizations partner with one another, and highlight events on the official 2015 National Drug Facts Week map.
Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know
This resource provides parents with tips on how to spot marijuana use by their teen and how to raise the issue with them.
Marijuana: Facts for Teens
This resource for teens discusses the consequences and effects of marijuana use, as well as its risk for addiction and potential as a medicine.
Limited Internet? Get a Flash Drive with Resources about Teen Prescription Drug Abuse
Resources from PeerX, NIDA’s online educational campaign to discourage abuse of prescription drugs among teens, are now available on a free flash drive. To get the flash drive, send an email to peerx@iqsolutions.com. The flash drive includes interactive videos, fact sheets, the PEERx Activity Guide, and other educational resources.
Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Research-Based Guide
This guide offers research-based principles and approaches for practitioners to consider when treating adolescent substance abuse, as well as information about settings in which treatment occurs, the role of family and medical professions in treatment and recovery, and frequently asked questions about adolescent drug use.