Foster Care Training

At ages 17 or 18, foster youth are 2 to 4 times more likely to suffer from lifetime and/or past year mental health disorders compared to transition aged youth in the general population. As well, substance use and abuse has been consistently found to be higher among youth in child welfare than in the general population. Even more so, many times caregivers of these same youth may be similarly vulnerable to navigating life’s stressors through various “stress-reduction” strategies that involve sanctioned, illicit or prescribed substances. The prevalence of comorbidity between substance abuse and mental health challenges is thus a significant and relevant clinical issue to be addressed.