Youth Mental Health Research Act

Youth Mental Health Research Act

This bill authorizes the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to establish a Youth Mental Health Research Network for the conduct or support of youth mental health research and intervention services.

The NIMH may award cooperative agreements, grants, and contracts to governments and private nonprofit entities for: (1) conducting youth mental health research or training for researchers in youth mental health research techniques; (2) providing youth mental health intervention services; and (3) collaborating with NIMH to build on the scientific findings and clinical techniques of earlier programs, studies, and demonstration projects.

A number of these awards must go to entities that agree to: (1) focus primarily on the early detection and intervention of severe mental illness in young people; (2) conduct or coordinate multisite clinical trials for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of early severe mental illness in a community setting and rapidly disseminate their findings; and (3) adhere to the guidelines, protocols, and practices used in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study and the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode initiative.

The NIMH must establish a data coordinating center to assist awardees and distribute scientific findings generated by awardees.