Evaluating a Virtual Mentoring Program Plus Mental Health Videos for Teens

Weekly mentorship meetings \& guided CBT videos. Participants assigned to Appa Complete will have unlimited access to the Appa website and materials described in Appa Lite, along with weekly mentorship meetings with a trained and supervised near-peer mentor with whom they have been matched. Matching is based on preference for mentor gender, racial/ethnic minority status, and LGBTQ status and is designed to increase the sense of identification with the mentor and peer-mentor alliance. Virtual meetings begin with a review and discussion of the video and other materials for the week. Mentors ask about how clients are incorporating their CBT learnings into their life, share ways they have used the focal skills in their own lives, illustrate skills use in popular culture, and provide problem solving strategies. Each week has a specific prompt to ensure that clients are applying the concepts and skills they are learning and can talk about any questions or reflections with their mentors.

Unguided EBP videos and materials. Participants assigned to the Appa Lite condition will have unlimited access to the Appa website, including short form CBT-based videos and materials such as an emotions wheel pdf and thoughts, feelings, and behavior worksheets. The website is structured so that the materials are presented in a developmentally appropriate manner consistent with evidence-based principles in a 12-week format, beginning with general psychoeducation to define mental health, proceeding to introducing CBT and basic CBT skills such as identifying thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, layering on applying specific CBT skills, and ending with reflective journal exercises. Client progress through the materials will be completely unguided.