As an example of our partnerships, in 2014 PRIDE worked with Roca Inc, a community organization working to disrupt incarceration, poverty, and racism experienced by high-risk youth involved in the criminal justice system. The 5-year partnership focused on developing a CBT life skills program designed to be delivered by the Roca staff. Using the principles of community-based participatory research of mutual respect and active collaboration as a foundation, PRIDE and Roca engaged in an iterative process of developing, piloting, and adapting the CBT life skills program, with feedback from both the staff and youth to enhance its fit within the organization. The final CBT life skills program included 10 CBT skills, delivered by Roca staff both formally, in a group setting, and informally, as part of conversations on the go, in 15-45 minute doses. Both the Roca staff and youth reported high feasibility and satisfaction with the skills, seeing changes in their lives, relationships, and mental health challenges (5). The CBT program has also been shown to be effective in improving functional outcomes in the youth, with young men who practiced CBT having a 66% lower chance of unenrolling from the organization prior to program graduation, and a 65% higher chance of getting a job (6). Developed with sustainability in mind (7), Roca continues to implement this CBT life skills program with the youth they work with in their locations across Massachusetts and in Baltimore.
 
PRIDE continues to develop innovative ways to increase access to mental health strategies for high-risk youth. Applying user-centered design, we iteratively developed a new CBT skills program to increase usability and uptake across diverse organizations and settings. During the refinement process, we received feedback from organization leaders, frontline staff, and youth about the skills, and developed the TEB (Thoughts, Emotions, and Behaviors) Skills, which include five core CBT skills that have been shown to be effective across difficulties and populations (8). The TEB Skills include an open access curriculum, and a rigorous training and coaching program to equip our community partners with the knowledge and expertise to deliver the TEB Skills to the high-risk youth they work with. For example, we have partnered with three organizations in CT to infuse the TEB Skills within the organizations and equip the staff with the competency to deliver the skills to the youth that they serve, including those involved with the criminal justice system. To learn more about the work we do and to partner with us, please see our training institute website.