Assist MH Digital Technologies to Support School Mental Health Care

The goal of this SBIR is to create Assist-MH, a new interactive digital support system for SMH providers. Assist-MH will offer an innovative suite of diverse MH strategies to help providers address the clinical needs of youth in distress. In Phase I, the focus will be on depression and anxiety for students ages 12 to 17 years. These MH problems are among the most common for youth, and have shown increasing prevalence in recent years among this age group. Investigators will conduct user-centered testing to determine the set of MH strategies most needed by SMH providers, create a sampling of these resources, and test the usability and promise of the proposed Assist-MH product prior to Phase II full development and pilot testing.