Leaders@Play out-of-school time program: Community-academic collaboration to promote adolescent mental health

Children in the U.S. face a continuing mental health crisis that demands a public health framework. Sustainable innovations that keep pace with dynamic community settings require community-academic partnerships. Out-of-school time (OST) is a natural setting for mental health promotion as OST program goals align with social-emotional skills common in evidence-based programs. This manuscript describes an iterative process to refine Leaders@Play (L@P), an OST model for youth promoting mental health and co-facilitated by park and university staff promoting mental health, by University of Illinois Chicago researchers and Chicago Park District staff and administrators. We describe two phases: (a) Refinement: adapting content and format from the original L@P, and developing a training system; (b) Open Trial: exploring feasibility of the refined curriculum and impact on youth social skills and behavior. Results revealed high feasibility and potential support for program impact on youth mental health among high-risk youth. Implications for workforce development and program refinement are discussed.