mdlogix is excited to be working with the Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy, a multi-phased intervention program open to 16-18 year olds who have dropped out of high school. The program begins with a 5 ½ month residential phase focused on education and practical life skills, followed by a 12-month post-residential phase comprised of mentoring and job placement. The Youth ChalleNGe Academy, a cost-free program administered by the Department of Defense (DoD) and implemented by the National Guard Bureau (NGB), operates 40 programs across the nation. The program utilizes quasi-military discipline and training along with educational instruction, experiential learning, and mentoring. Since its inception in 1993, the Youth ChalleNGE Academy has graduated 160,173 cadets, generating significantly better outcomes than most other programs that serve similar populations.
To further promote the success of their cadets, the program will use BH-Works to identify, quantify, monitor, and evaluate behavioral health and psychosocial risk, measuring outcomes throughout the program and then collecting follow-up data after graduation. BH-Works gives cadets and staff the capability to complete assessments, surveys, and daily diaries on a computer or mobile device, helping to quickly measure and better understand the emotional and behavioral health status of each cadet. Once each cadet’s baseline status and risks are known, staff can create individual care plans in BH-Works, monitoring individual cadet progress with continued assessment.
Staff can connect cadets to behavioral health and other specialists in the community, coordinating with contracted clinicians through the platform’s integrated and secure referral & tracking capabilities. Program staff will be able to refer cadets and their families to community healthcare providers and social support services through an online directory configured with partnered service providers. Staff from multiple organizations can seamlessly manage and track interventions and referrals based on individual risk scores. The Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy will also use BH-Works to collect data for staff observations and quality improvement using online measurement tools completed by staff, cadets, parents, and other stakeholders.
Want to learn more about a Youth ChalleNGe Academy in your state? Visit the national site.