MFT program area students Shalini Srinivasan, Sam Winter, and Luca Codeca presented at the AAMFT Intervention Research in Systemic Family Therapy (IRSFT) Annual Conference.

Under the guidance of Dr. Jody Russon, Shalini and Sam presented “Mental Health Symptoms, Suicide Risk, and Social Distal Stressors Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth Presenting in Residential Care.” The study explored unique social distal stressors experienced by LGBTQ+ adolescents and young adults, compared to their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts, and explored mental health symptoms between LGBTQ+ subgroups among youth presenting in intensive treatment settings.

Luca presented “Stress, Burden, Distress and Perception of Relationships Among Young Adults with Siblings with Suicidal Ideation: An Explanatory Mixed Methods Study.” This study explored differences in individual and relational experiences for siblings of youth with mental illness, compared to those with both mental illness (MI) and suicidal ideation (SI), as well as those with neither. Conducted under the guidance of Dr. Jody Russon and Dr. Carolyn Shivers, the study also examined how young adult siblings of those with MI and SI describe their relationships and experiences with their siblings.

In addition, Luca also presented “The Systemic Family Individual Model’s Approach to Engagement: Results from a Preliminary Study.” This study reported on findings related to the effectiveness of the Systemic Family Individual approach for treatment retention among reluctant youth.