The Center for Law and Social Policy’s (CLASP) youth and young adult mental health framework calls for policies that increase access to healing, transformative mental health supports for this population.6 Through our Policy Advancing Transformation and Healing (PATH) initiative, CLASP has collaborated with partners over 2019 and 2020 to test this framework, advancing systems and policy changes supporting well-being for transition-age youth (ages 16-17) and young adults (ages 18-25). We identified a set of policy options with broad applicability and strong potential to increase access to transformation and healing for economically marginalized young people.

This brief, by Nia West-Bey and Kayla Tawa, outlines policy solutions that expand virtual and community-based access to care and are particularly effective for meeting the needs of youth and young adults.