Young people transitioning from foster care have elevated risk for a range of mental health diagnoses that for many are often exacerbated by psychosocial coping difficulties, sparse support networks, and service disengagement. Therefore, we are developing and pilot testing a group intervention called Stronger Youth Networks and Coping (SYNC) that targets cognitive coping and help-seeking mechanisms among youth in foster care. We aim to establish the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the SYNC model.

This study was designed by investigators at Portland State University and OSU-Cascades and funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

See Figure 2 from Kothari, Blakeslee & Miller (2020) about the importance of individual and interpersonal factors for youth in foster care.

See Figure 1 from Blakeslee, Kothari, & Miller (2023) below for more details about the SYNC intervention.