The Prevention, Access, Self-Empowerment and Support (PASS) program provides behavioral health support to youths ages 13–18 and their families. PASS began in 1997 under the New York State Community Reinvestment Act of 1995, receiving funds from savings accrued from the reduction of state-operated inpatient care. At a focus group to determine the needs of individuals of color, families in which there was a parent with a severe and persistent mental illness shared their concern that their children were often placed under children’s protective services for supposedly inappropriate parenting behaviors and that no services were available to help ameliorate the situation. Families and service providers designed PASS to address this gap. The program continues to receive state funding and is sponsored by the Monroe County Office of Mental Health and managed by Coordinated Care Services Inc. PASS serves youths who have behavioral health challenges or who have a parent with a psychiatric diagnosis. The program augments instead of replaces any current mental health treatment of participants. They are referred by schools and clinics and, often, by former participants. PASS uses a two-tiered mentoring approach, with adult mentors who reflect the demographic makeup of the families being served and have prestigious community roles, e.g., lawyers, teachers, and firefighters, and adolescent peer mentors who are graduates of the program ...
Language: en
", language="en", issn="1075-2730", doi="10.1176/appi.ps.70303", url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.70303" }