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Current Projects

Group of high school aged students holding books and smiling
  1. Young Adult Engagement Project, aka ‘Just Do You’ (Application of Experimental Therapeutics)
  2. Progressive Early Psychosis Support Intervention (PEPSI)
  3. Cornerstone Coordinated Community Care (CCCC)
  4. Mental Health Decision-Making among Young Adults in Low-Resourced Communities, aka ‘Staying Healthy/Feeling Good’
  5. Making the Transition to Adulthood Mixed Methods Research Project, aka 'got mood'

Young Adult Engagement Project, aka ‘Just Do You’

(Application of Experimental Therapeutics)

Just Do You logoThe goal of this project is to test the efficacy of ‘Just Do You’ through a randomized clinical trial. Just Do You is an innovative evidence-informed intervention designed by and with young adults, which has been found to be acceptable, feasible, and practical. It draws upon communication, decision-making, and mental health service use theories in an effort to improve young adults' investment in their mental health and their outcomes. The project has used participatory action research (PAR) throughout the development process with young adults with lived experience joining researchers in decision-making about the intervention and the research.

Funding Sources: National Institute of Mental Health, ODMH, New York Community Trust, New York University Research Award

Related Publications

  • Narendorf, S.C., Glaude, M. & Munson, M.R., Minott, K. & Young B. (accepted for publication, in press). Adaptation of a Mental Health Treatment Engagement Intervention for Older Foster Youth. Child and Adolescent Social Work.

  • Raghavan, R., Munson, M.R., & Le, C. (2019). Toward an Experimental Therapeutics Approach in Human Services Research. Psychiatric Services, 70(12), 1130-1137.

  • Munson, M.R. & Jaccard, J. (2018). Mental Health Service Use:  A Communication Framework for Program Development. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 45(1), 62-80.

  • Cole, A.R., Jenefsky, N., Ben-David, S.B., & Munson, M.R. (2018). Feeling Connected and Understood: The Role of Creative Arts in Engaging Young Adults in their Mental Health Services. Social Work with Groups, 41(1-2), 6-20.

  • Cole, A., Kim, H., Lotz, K., & Munson, M.R. (2016). Exploring the perceptions of workers on young adult mental health engagement. Social Work in Mental Health, 14(2), 133-148. 

  • Munson, M.R., Cole, A. Jaccard, J., Kranke, D., Farkas, K., & Frese, F. (2016). An Engagement Intervention for Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions. Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, 43(4): 542-563.

  • Kim, H., Munson, M.R., & McKay, M. (2012). Engagement in mental health care among adolescents and young adults. Child and Adolescent Social Work, 29(3), 241-266.

Progressive Early Psychosis Support Intervention (PEPSI)

The goal of this collaboration is to partner with community-based organizations to refine, pilot and test a prevention program for youth experiencing mental health symptoms in order to reduce untreated psychosis. The project brings together organizational leadership, researchers, providers and loved ones, many of whom also identify as mental health service users. The project is distinct from many prevention and intervention initiatives as it is intentionally moving services outside of the formal psychiatric system to provide services in the community, and in this sense the entire initiative is an anti-stigma campaign.

Funding Sources: New York University SEED Grant

Cornerstone Coordinated Community Care (CCCC)

The goal of this collaboration is to build on findings from an intervention pilot in Detroit, Michigan, to move forward a larger intervention trial called ‘Cornerstone’ -- which is conceptualized as a multi-component psychosocial intervention providing ‘coordinated community care. Cornerstone Coordinated Community Care (CCCC) builds on evidence-based approaches to provide an integrated ‘transition’ intervention for youth with documented need transitioning from the children’s to adult mental health service systems.

Our team is currently studying the implementation process of Cornerstone in an outpatient mental health clinic in New York. If you are interested, please read our recent publication in Trials.

At this time, our group is providing consulting for groups in North America who are considering adapting components of Cornerstone and testing the intervention in their communities in the United States and Canada.

Funding Sources: National Institute of Mental Health, National Council for Behavioral Health, Inc., Bristol Myers Squibb

Related Publications

  • Ben-David, S., Amaro, A. & Munson, M.R. (accepted for publication, in press). Experiences of psychosis among transition-age youth attending an outpatient clinic in a low-resourced community. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research.
  • Munson, M.R., Cole, A., Stanhope, V., Marcus, S.C., McKay, M., Jaccard, J. & Ben-David, S. (2016). Cornerstone program for transition-age youth with serious mental illness: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 17(1):1-13.

Mental Health Decision-Making among Young Adults in Low-Resourced Communities, aka ‘Staying Healthy/Feeling Good’

Tree branch illustration with letters as leavesThe goal of this mixed-methods research project is to build understanding on the multi-level factors associated with mental health service use decision-making and mental health among young adults living in Low-Resourced Communities. The project also examined community violence, depression, post-traumatic stress, and food insecurity.

Funding Sources: Silberman Fund/New York Community Trust, New York University Pilot Funds

Related Publications

  • Cole, A.R., Ramirez, L., Villodas, M., Ben-David, S. & Munson, M.R. (2019). “I want to rise above it all”: Perceptions of the neighborhood among young adults living in public housing. Children and Youth Services Review, 103, 63-69.

Making the Transition to Adulthood Mixed Methods Research Project, aka 'got mood'

The goal of this study was to build knowledge on the mental health service use experiences of young adults whose childhood histories include a mood disorder diagnosis from a professional, Medicaid mental health care and additional public sector service use. We examine the perspectives of young adults in the following areas: 1) what it means to be an adult, 2) decision-making regarding mental health services, 3) identity, and 4) supportive relationships.

Funding Sources: Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH), Mandel Foundation

Related Publications

  • Munson, M.R., Narendorf, S.C., Ben-David, S., & Cole, A. (2019). A Mixed Methods Investigation into the Perspectives on Mental Health and Professional Treatment among Former System Youth with Mood Disorders. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 89(1), 52-64.

  • Munson, M.R., Narendorf, S.C., Ben-David, S., Cole, A., & Floersch, J. (2018). Integrated, Overwhelmed, and Distanced: Narratives of Mental Health among Young Adults. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 9(3), 413-430.

  • Narendorf, S.C., Munson, M.R., Ben-David, S., Cole, A., & Scott, L.D., Jr. (2018). Race and Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Help Seeking among Marginalized Young Adults with Mood Disorders: A Mixed Methods Investigation. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 41(4), 277-289. 

  • Ben-David, S.B., Cole, A.R., Spencer, R., Jaccard, J., & Munson, M.R. (2017). Social Context in Mental Health Service Use among Young Adults. Journal of Social Service Research, 43(1), 85-99.

  • Lee, B., Cole, A., & Munson, M.R. (2016). Navigating Family Roles and Relationships: System Youth in the Transition Years. Child and Family Social Work, 21(4), 442-451.

  • Munson, M.R., Brown, S., Spencer, R., Tracy, E., & Edguer, M. (2015). Supportive Relationships Among Former System Youth With Mental Health Challenges. Journal of Adolescent Research, 30(4), 501-529.

  • Munson M.R., Lee., B.R., Miller, D., Cole, A. & Nedelcu, C. (2013) Emerging Adulthood among Former system youth: The Ideal Versus the Real. Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 923-929

  • Munson, M.R., Jaccard, J., *Smalling, S.E., Kim, H. & Werner, J.J., & Scott, L.D., Jr., (2012). Static, Dynamic, Intergrated and Contextualized: A Framework for Understanding Mental Health Service Use among Young Adults. Social Science and Medicine, 75(8), 1441-1449.

  • Munson, M.R., & Lox, J. (2012). Clinical Social Work Practice with Former System Youth with Mental Health Needs: Perspective of Those in Need. Clinical Social Work Journal, 40, 255-260. doi: 10.1007/s10560-012-0256-2

  • Munson, M.R., Scott, L.D., Jr., *Smalling S., *Kim, H. & Floersch, J. (2011) Former system youth with mental health needs: Routes to adult mental health services, insight, emotion, and mistrust. Children and Youth Services Review. 33(11), 2261-2266. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.07

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Please contact us for more information on any of the material on this page.

Email: michelle.munson@nyu.edu
Phone: (212) 992-9731 or (212) 992-6658

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