Families and Youth as Providers and Evaluators

In many communities, families and family-run organizations have become providers of services and supports, a trend that benefits a workforce too small to meet the needs of our children and youth. They have also helped fill gaps in services and supports.

An additional benefit is that families and family-run organizations often know what works for the children and youth in their community - even if it has not been scientifically proven to work. Families and family-run organizations can develop capacities to gather data and partner with researchers to put evidence behind their practices.

Families and youth have also been very effective in program evaluation related activities through various ways such as:

    Family and youth capacity to participate effectively in evaluation activities is a critical component of an Evidence-Based Culture.
  • Families and youth asking important questions about the research supporting an EBP
  • Families and youth helping to develop and advocate for access to Practice-Based Evidence
  • Families and youth participating in and advocating for ongoing quality assurance strategies (especially tracking adaptations made to EBPs)
  • Families and youth helping to develop and pilot measurement instruments
  • Families and youth helping to design evaluations, collect data, interpret results, and suggest the best ways to use evaluation results for continuous quality improvement

The development of Practice-Based Evidence is crucial to the transformation of mental health services for children, youth, and their families. Practice-Based Evidence is critical to ensuring that all children and youth and their families have access to services and supports that will work for them. The national Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health defines Practice-Based Evidence as the range of treatment services and supports that are accessible, culturally appropriate and known to be effective by the families, youth and providers. Policy and funding for mental health services for diverse people cannot be limited to a finite list of EBPs developed through one single method, namely, scientific clinical trials.

For more information, visit the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health.