The purpose of the Youth and Family Training Institute Advisory Board is to provide high level input into the development and implementation of the Training Institute by representing the views of key stakeholders, recommending priorities, monitoring progress, assuring that progress and results are communicated to the stakeholders as well as to the wider community, and providing recommendations for expansion and sustainability.
The Advisory Board reflects the Training Institute’s core value of partnership with equal membership of:
- Youth under the age of 26, who are managing their own behavioral health challenges.
- Family Members that have or are currently raising a child with behavioral health challenges.
- System Partners including representatives from behavioral health, drug and alcohol, education, juvenile justice, child welfare, and others.
The Advisory Board is structured as a model of shared oversight with 1/3 youth, 1/3 family members, and 1/3 system partners and a corresponding tri-chair leadership structure with a youth, family member, and system partner sharing responsibility for planning and facilitating advisory board meetings.
Youth and family members receive stipends and travel reimbursement in appreciation for their time and leadership.
The Advisory Board has been a training ground for its youth and family members, and a springboard to state-level committees such as the State Leadership and Management Team that oversees the Commonwealth’s SAMHSA grants. YFTI has been called on by SAMHSA’s Technical Assistance Network, other states, and other programs, to share this model at conferences, webinars and in publications.
There is extraordinary benefit for youth and families when youth leaders, family leaders, OMHSAS, system partners, counties, behavioral health managed care organizations, providers and the Youth and Family Training Institute leadership work together to promote high fidelity wraparound, implement it with fidelity, and support continuous quality improvement.
– Advisory Board Member
Being on the advisory board has given me the confidence to step outside my comfort zone and participate in my community.
– Advisory Board Youth Tri-Chair
How do I become a Board Member?
For more information and information about becoming an Advisory Board Member, click on the appropriate link below or direct questions to Laurie Jones.