Webinar - Effective Student Mentoring: Jessica Schleider, PhD, on Scaling Single Session Interventions to Bridge Gaps in Mental Health Ecosystems

June 5, 2025 at noon

Abstract: The discrepancy between need and access to mental health support is incontestable. Due to provider shortages, high treatment costs, and myriad structural barriers, up to 80% of youth and 50% of adults with mental health needs go without services each year. Status-quo mental health systems will never meet population-level needs for support, creating a need for a “Mental Health Moonshot” in the United States. Single-session interventions (SSIs) are well-positioned to rapidly increase access to evidence-based supports at precise moments of need, both within and beyond formal health care systems. SSIs mitigate key treatment access-barriers: many are self-guided (requiring no therapist) or deliverable by non-professionals; web-based (completable from any location); and 5 to 120 minutes in length, eliminating premature treatment dropout. SSIs are also effective. To date, >400 randomized trials have shown their capacity to reduce mental health problems and increase uptake of further treatment, with sustained positive impacts up to nine months later. This presentation will overview recent scientific, clinical, and practical advances in developing, evaluating, and disseminating evidence-based SSIs, both within and outside of traditional healthcare systems and via cross-sector, large-scale partnerships.

Learn more about Dr. Schleider and her work at www.schleiderlab.org

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