Update from ACT for Youth | June 2025

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ACT for Youth Resources

We've updated our popular SEL Toolkit with new resources (and kept old favorites!). Visit this curated collection of tools, strategies, activities, and videos in our SEL clearinghouse. ACT for Youth.

Self-Awareness

Supporting the ability to identify our own feelings, as well as how our feelings and thoughts influence what we do.

Self-Management

Supporting the ability to manage our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in a variety of contexts.

Social Awareness

Supporting the ability to understand and empathize with others' points of view.

Relationship Skills

Supporting the ability to communicate and connect with a range of people in healthy ways.

Decision Making

Supporting the ability to make positive choices about how we behave.

SEL Strategies and Tools

General strategies and tools that cut across the SEL competency domains.

Research and Resources

This blog post and video describe a Youth Participatory Action Research project on safety and violence in Washington, DC. Supported by training, young adult researchers designed the study, which involved surveys, interviews, and focus groups. They have begun to "use research as a tool for change" by not only presenting their findings to the community but using the data to solicit community ideas for change. Child Trends.

The youth mental health crisis comes with a related problem: a severe shortage of mental health professionals who treat children and adolescents. Can online therapy be part of the solution? Cornell University, Evidence-Based Living blog.

Enhancing access to health care and improving student outcomes are longstanding challenges in rural communities. Identifying solutions has been elusive, but school-based health centers (SBHCs) have shown promise. Cornell Chronicle.

This handout identifies terms related to gender and sexual identity. Sexual identity is typically a combination of someone’s: sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior. Healthy Teen Network.

The celebration of Pride and Juneteenth offers an opportunity for reflection on intersecting identities and highlights the need to support and make space for Black LGBTQ youth. Learning for Justice and The Trevor Project.

Professional Development

Grants

This newsletter was developed with funding provided by the New York State Department of Health Bureau of Perinatal, Reproductive, and Sexual Health. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the ACT for Youth Center for Community Action and do not necessarily represent the views of the New York State Department of Health.