(PS8-99) Thinking Outside the Box: single Session Intervention for Helping Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) Transitioning out of Foster Care Navigate the Holidays

Emerging adulthood is a period characterized by sharp transitions in relational responsibilities and roles.  Adolescents and young adults (AYA) must navigate increasing self-reliance and changing family relationships.  This can be difficult in stable homes with positive parent-child interactions, and especially so for AYA leaving the foster care system. AYA in foster care commonly experience a plethora of difficulties during this transitional period (Armstrong-Heimsoth et al., 2021). Furthermore, navigating relational role transitions brings about additional stress during the holidays. We were approached by a foster care agency needing immediate help teaching “holiday survival skills” to AYA transitioning out of the foster care system.  These individuals either had no family to visit during the holidays or were expected to visit their biological family, with whom many had conflictual interactions. Using the PERMAH Model of Well-Being (Seligman, 2011) and Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) we designed a thirty-minute group intervention to increase well-being and resilience. Basic mindfulness skills and behavioral activation, in the context of increasing individual well-being using the PERMAH model, were taught.  Relying upon the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotion (Frederickson,  2006) all intervention strategies were brief and accessible. Participants were twelve AYA transitioning out of foster care.  This population was largely white (92%), non-Latinx (75%), cis-gender (83.33%), and heterosexual (83.33%) from rural KY.  Average age was 19.3 years (SD=3.23).  Following this intervention, on a scale from 1-10, AYA reported feeling high positive emotion (M=8.83, SD=1.32) and low negative emotion (M=1.9, SD=1.59).  Qualitative feedback from participants was positive.  Notably, participants “liked all the skills to help me survive.” Another participant stated, “this interaction was really helpful.” The effectiveness of single session interventions for improving mental health outcomes in youth has been demonstrated (Schleider, 2020).  Importantly, the single-session intervention approach fit the needs of this specific AYA population and their stakeholders (i.e., foster care agency). Innovative approaches to meeting the mental health needs of AYA in challenging situations through providing brief evidence-based interventions is imperative.