Young adults with serious mental health conditions experience a unique set of challenges as they transition to adulthood and navigate school, training, and work. This three-part series will first provide audience members with a general understanding of this population, then describe how this group navigates school, training, and work, and conclude with an important consideration of how services can and should consider young adults needs from a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. Information from these webinars can help providers and policy makers better understand how to effectively support this population.

PART 3: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL: A DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION FRAMEWORK FOR SUPPORTING YOUNG ADULTS WITH SERIOUS MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS Millions of young adults (ages 16-30) in the U.S. experience mental health challenges, some with and without official diagnoses. Mental health challenges in young adulthood are uniquely experienced based on a young person’s individual, familial, and community context. For example, young people from BIPOC and LGBTQ communities experience unique challenges that contribute to how they experience an SMHC, how (and if) they navigate mental health services, and if/how those services are helpful. This webinar will illustrate how mental health services for young adults need to be individualized and developed with diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind. Social disparities of health and mental health will be discussed to illustrate the importance of meeting young adults where they are at and ensuring that all young people, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual, or gender identity receive the support they need.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explore mental health services for young adults through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens
• Define and describe social disparities of health and mental health among young adults with SMHC
• Provide examples of how services can be more sensitive to the needs of populations that have been historically marginalized