Transformation through Participation

Background and Purpose: Provision of training and mentorship are core expectations with federally funded research programs to enhance the research knowledge and skills of students and emerging scholars and also allow mentees to develop transferrable skills for continuing education or career development. In our three-year Youth Mental Health Project (YMHP), we made a strong commitment to student training and mentorship from the onset of the proposal writing stage through project implementation. This paper presentation will share a collaborative governance framework and transformation experiences from mentees who were involved in different stages of this project and had completed their formal affiliation with us.

Methods: We developed a collaborative partnership governance framework to guide the development and implementation of this YMHP. The definition of partners includes service users (i.e., youth and their parents/guardians), service providers, project researchers/assistants, and policy makers. From the proposal writing stage, we had involved a doctoral student as a project collaborator. After funding was awarded, we formed an advisory committee in which we recruited two youth volunteers and a parent with teenage children to join this decision-making body. During the project implementation we provided job positions for project assistants, placement opportunities for post-secondary students from transdisciplinary backgrounds, and we also engaged youth who learned about our project and wanted to be volunteers. After their field placements, internship, or volunteering, we offered paid project assistant positions to those students, interns, or volunteers who wanted to stay on the project.

Results: As of today, we provided training and mentorship to 29 students, emerging scholars, volunteers, and project assistants who served on different task groups of the YMHP. Among these mentees, 15 completed their positions with the project and moved on to their next phase of advance study or career development. The majority of these 15 mentees received at least one letter of reference for application to college/university/graduate school, job search and/or some form of awards. Among these mentees, five were admitted into graduate schools and eight were promoted or employed within 1 to 6 months. Most importantly, these mentees have provided very positive testimonials on their experiences with this Project in terms of the development of transferrable skills such as team building, community networking, proposal writing, problem solving, and app development that are so useful in their further study, job search or existing employment.

Conclusions and Implications: Evaluation of research impacts has multiple fronts. Discussions on social impacts related to training and mentorship is scarce. The quantity and quality of training and mentorship the YMHP has provided is promising even though this is conducted within a modest budget. Positive feedback from the mentees attest to valuable experiences and the development of transferrable skills that support continuing education and career development. This presentation will provide new insights into how we define social work research, and for many volunteers and paid research assistants, a transformational experience.