By Youth, For Youth: Digital Supported Peer Navigation for Addressing Child Mental Health Care

January 26, 2026 updated by: University of California, Riverside
Despite significant progress in research, practice, and policy over the past few decades, many children and youth continue to experience poor mental health outcomes. With their unrivaled ability to reach youth, school-based services and primary care are ideal hubs to provide mental health, healthcare, social services, and prevention to youth and families who otherwise face barriers to care. Using Participatory Design and Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) for app development, mobile technology is designed to optimize access to wellness resources. The proposed intervention is a model of care using technology and navigators for connecting youth ages 13-22 to mental health care and supports. The app is co-created with the community and supported by culturally responsive individuals called family and youth navigators, in schools and primary care clinics. Outcomes are measured using the cascade of care model.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Using Participatory Design and Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR), UCLA and UCR psychiatry research centers with Los Angeles Trust for Children's Health aim to: (1) Fully co-design (with youth, caregivers, clinicians and other stakeholders) an innovative mental health digital tool, called Connected for Wellness, to implement algorithmically supported mental health + social determinants, resiliency app based tools and navigation activities AND help support the clinical workforce within schools and primary care clinics (PCCs); (2) Study the implementation of mental health navigation models (family and youth navigation) plus the Connected for Wellness app, and their effectiveness for improving connecting and matching youth to the right level of care and supports. We will accomplish these aims through three strategies: (1) Use community participatory informatics to co-design a mental health digital tool called Connected for Wellness, to support mental health navigation, linking youth to a range of mental health services, evidence-based prevention resources referred via the app, and other school, clinic, community, and social supports; (2) Integrate mental health self-assessments and artificial intelligence (AI) in Connected for Wellness to individualize app resources, optimize engagement and recommendations for addressing mental health and social needs; (3) Using a stepped wedge design, test the implementation of the app supported by mental health navigation models (peer navigators, family navigators) for improving connections and access to prevention resources, mental health services and social supports, for youth and families. This project will be initiated with youth 13-22 years old and their family and community members across 10 Los Angeles County Schools and 10 Riverside County/University of California Riverside primary care clinics. A successful outcome of the project is a CPPR developed app-based intervention implementable in school-based and primary care services for access to wellness resources and improving mental health services access along the cascade of care. Outcomes are measured using the cascade of care model with the following key stages: (1) need identification, (2) referral to care/ linkage to resources, and (3) care initiation.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

8360

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Youth 13-22 enrolled in high school or participating primary care clinics, and their caregivers.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Those not meeting inclusion criteria

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Care as usual

All individuals within each site regardless of type of site or step period will begin with a control period of care as usual

Youth and parents within each site will have access to navigators who will share information about mental health and social services supports as well as referrals.

The duration of the control period (1, 2, or 3 years; collected via medical and/or other administrative records) will depend on the step period of the individual's site.
Experimental: Implementation
In this stepped wedge design, following a period of care as usual as a control, sites will then cross over to the experimental arm, during which, all youth and their caregivers at the enrolled site are encouraged to download and use the wellness app for the duration of the implementation period. Navigators promote and support use of the app.
Behavioral: Navigator Plus App Intervention
Navigators will provide their usual care services and also be encouraged to use the Connected for Wellness (CFW) app during their usual activities with youth and caregivers at their site. The duration of this period (2, 3, or 4 years) will depend on the step period of the individual's site. All youth at the school or clinic site can use the CFW app on their own and through the app receive prevention strategies, psycho-education that destigmatizes mental health, encourages referrals to local resources as needed, and increases motivation to access care if needed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of youth referred to mental health services who initiate care.
Time Frame: 1 year
Referral to and initiation of mental health services data will be obtained from electronic medical records.
1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of youth completing a mental health screening who are referred to care.
Time Frame: 1 year
Mental health screening and referral to mental health services data will be obtained from electronic medical records.
1 year

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of youth in school/clinic completing a mental health screening.
Time Frame: 1 year
Mental health screening data will be obtained from electronic medical records.
1 year
Proportion of youth initiating mental health services who have 3 or more visits.
Time Frame: 1 year
Mental health initiation and visit data will be obtained from electronic medical records.
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, Riverside

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Francisco

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

July 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 31, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 7, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

November 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • U01MH131827 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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