Youth and Family Support

412 Youth Zone

The 412 Youth Zone is a youth-centered, one-stop, drop-in center staffed, designed and equipped to support teens and young adults, 16 to 24 years of age, who are eligible for Independent Living services. It also serves homeless youth ages 18 to 24 years.

412 Youth Zone

DHS Trauma Think Tank

The DHS Trauma Think Tank is a cross-system collaborative which promotes a trauma-informed organizational approach. Participants include representatives from each DHS program office, our provider community, family and youth. Our mission is to enhance understanding of trauma and its impact, and foster collaborations that promote a trauma-informed approach at all levels of the system.

The DHS Trauma Resource Library is dedicated to sharing resources which support the mission of the Trauma Think Tank.

DHS Trauma Think Tank

Family Support Partners

Family Support Partners have personal experience as parents or caregivers of children with mental health and/or emotional and behavioral challenges. They not only understand family and parent/child rights but also know how and when to advocate on behalf of families who have a child with special needs. Family support partners understand what families are going through and use their personal experiences and expertise to support, inform and empower families who are involved in the human services system as they work to bring about positive change for their children.

Project LAUNCH

Project LAUNCH recognizes that a child’s wellness, both mental and physical wellness, is based upon the child living in healthy, stable, safe and supportive family and community. Through Project LAUNCH, state and local networks are developed to improve coordination within the young child-serving system, in particular behavioral health and primary care services, and to enhance the practices, programs and services for young children and their families.

Stand Together™

Stand Together™ is the DHS Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) anti-stigma initiative that trains, inspires, and equips middle and high school youth to act against stigma toward peers with mental and/or substance use disorders. Stand Together seeks to reduce negative attitudes and beliefs, promote social inclusion, and promote help-seeking behavior by youth. Each school identifies an adult advisor to champion Stand Together and selects approximately 20 students, comprised of student leaders as well as students who have lived experience with mental and/or substance use disorders, who comprise the core team. After undergoing training, these students write a grant proposal to OBH and are awarded up to $1,000 to implement their project. Projects are entirely student-driven from ideas to implementation, with advisors serving as coaches.

Stand Together™

Youth Support Partners

Youth Support Partners (YSP) are young adult professionals who have personal experience in some area of the human services or juvenile probation system. They share their insights with youth currently in the system, advocate for them and mentor them. Their personal lived experiences gives them credibility and lends to successful engagement of youth in planning and achieving success. Youth may be involved with child welfare, independent living, juvenile probation, behavioral health, developmental supports, autism, or a combination of systems and services. This innovative approach of hiring alumni to work as peer mentors requires a supportive, diverse and strength-based team of YSP leadership staff, DHS colleagues and other system partners.

Youth Support Partners

Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP)

Through an intensive, youth-led planning process done in collaboration with many local stakeholders in the winter and spring of 2019-2020, DHS identified a variety of new projects, initiatives and system-change work aimed at dramatically reducing youth homelessness in Allegheny County. The elements, outlined in the Allegheny County Coordinated Community Plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness (link below), will enhance existing services, deliver new and innovative programs and create a comprehensive homelessness response system centered around equity and youth voice.

Allegheny County YHDP Coordinated Community Plan(PDF, 1MB)

YVLifeSet

YVLifeSet is designed to help young adults with child-welfare-system involvement, who have avoided engaging in Independent Living services, transition to adulthood. It is the largest program in the country showing positive impacts for this population across multiple areas. The DHS three-year pilot program began in January of 2018.

YVLifeSet