COVID-19 exposed issues in our mental health system, prompting an emergency advisory from the Surgeon General on youth mental health. This Comment offers two lessons drawn from empirically supported aspects of a public health model to guide a transformation of youth mental health services: (1) the importance of recruiting local community members (peer support specialists [PSSs]) with lived experiences to promote engagement in services and (2) the necessity of expanding services to natural settings to enhance access and uptake. Examples of service models applying these lessons and illustrating how they are interrelated are provided. These initiatives are overdue in response to persistent disparities and the need to provide services across the prevention to intervention continuum.
- Tara G. Mehta
- Marc S. Atkins
- Jennifer Watling Neal
