Our Research

Youth Intervention for Positive Emotion Enhancement

AIM Implementation & Equity Grantee: Galen McNeil, PhD - UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Dr. McNeil's study will pilot a randomized-controlled trial of the Youth Intervention for Positive Emotion Enhancement (YIPEE) protocol for treatment-seeking anxious youth and their caregivers.

Use of Psilocybin for Youth with Stress Related Disorders

AIM Implementation & Equity Grantee: Amanda Tamman, PhD, from the Baylor University College of Medicine will investigate how psilocybin affects two measures of genetic aging in 18-26 year olds with stress-related disorders.

Help for Parents with Children on Waitlists for Therapy

AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grantee: Madelaine R. Abel, PhD -Massachusetts General Hospital. Madelaine will evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of a single-session, self-guided, online intervention delivered to parents of children ages 5-12-years-old who are on the waitlist for outpatient CBT.

Using AI to Improve Teen Mental Health Helplines

AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grantee: Sylvanna Vargas, PhD, MPH - UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Vargas's research aims to increase the quality and reach of mental health care, with an eye on improving services for the most vulnerable.

Youth Intervention for Positive Emotion Enhancement

Use of Psilocybin for Youth with Stress Related Disorders

Help for Parents with Children on Waitlists for Therapy

Using AI to Improve Teen Mental Health Helplines

Youth Mental Health and Violence

Dr. Jerel Ezell, a professor at Berkeley University, is leading a study on youth violence in urban centers around the country. With AIM’s support, Ezell will be building a “community action board” of Black and Latino youth in Los Angeles to act as researcher collaborators in his study of youth violence.

Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices for Youth

AIM Implementation & Equity Grant to Dr. Evelyn Cho. Dr. Evelyn Cho is a postdoctoral fellow in the Lab for Youth Mental Health at Harvard University. Her program of research focuses on supporting high quality implementation of evidence-based practices for youths and families receiving mental health care in community settings.

Supporting Clinicians in Implementing Evidence-Based Practices

AIM Implementation & Equity Grant to Dr. Briana Last, from University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Last’s implementation science project is a community-based, participatory research study that seeks to support clinicians in implementing evidence-based practices. Using mixed methods, she plans to engage youth-serving clinicians in New York State’s public mental health clinics to examine structural and pragmatic barriers to implementing evidence-based practices. Informed by this contextual inquiry, she plans to use a human-centered design approach to develop a session planning tool that will facilitate clinicians’ use of evidence-based practices.

Addressing Urgent Knowledge Gaps in Youth Mental Health Research

AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grant to Dr. Karolin Krause, from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. As an AIM Clinical Science Fellow, Dr. Krause will work to addresses urgent knowledge gaps regarding the content validity and interpretability of impairment scales in youth mental health. Her research focuses on strengthening outcome measurement in youth mental health, with a focus on consistency, youth-centeredness, and the assessment of functional impairment.

allcove X AIM Youth Mental Health Collaboration Fund

allcove and AIM Youth Mental Health Collaboration – For a Preliminary Youth-led Needs Assessment in the Salinas Valley allcove is developing an innovative network of integrated youth mental health centers designed with, by, and for youth that reduce stigma, embrace mental wellness, increase community connection, and provide access to culturally responsive services. One of the locations under consideration for an allcove center is the Salinas Valley of Monterey County.

A Suicide Intervention App for College Students

AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grant to Benjamin Johnson, from Pennsylvania State. Dr. Johnson’s research combines two aims: 1) apply machine learning to ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data to predict the emergence of self-harm urges and suicidality among young adults; 2) employ a mobile intervention to reduce the likelihood of such behaviors.

Smartphone Delivered Mindfulness Intervention

AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grant to Dr. Hannah Lawrence, from the Treatment and Etiology of Depression in Youth Laboratory at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Lawrence research will test whether a smartphone-delivered mindfulness intervention reduces anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescents by helping them disengage from repetitive negative thought (RNT). $50,000

Family Interventions for Eating Disorders in Youth through Telehealth

Two coordinated telehealth family intervention eating disorder studies at UCSD and Stanford The study will include two coordinated projects focused on the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary clinical utility of telehealth to deliver family interventions for eating disorders in youth. The UCSD project will focus on multi-family support for patients in treatment. $70,000. The Stanford University project will focus on the online self-help family interventions for patients/families awaiting treatment. $50,000. Both projects will have common outcome measures to assess feasibility, acceptability and clinical change.

Technology-Delivered Intervention for Youth Anxiety

AIM Clinical Science Fellow Grant to postdoctoral research associate, Alexandra Werntz, from the University of Virginia. Dr. Werntz will develop and evaluate a free, easy-to-access technology-delivered intervention (TDI) for youth anxiety used within the context of formal mentoring programs. $50,000

Computerized Brain Training Exercises for Children at High Risk for Developing Serious Mental Illness

Seed funding for a study of innovative treatment that combines computerized brain training exercises resembling popular video games and intensive “talk therapy.” The research is being done by Dr. Barbara Cornblatt, a Professor of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine and the Director of the Recognition and Prevention (RAP) Program at Hofstra University’s Northwell School of Medicine. $60,000

Behavioral Parent Training and Talk Therapies for Disruptive Behavior in Children

$65,580 Second-Year Science Fellowship award for research into finding effective responses for children with severe irritability and frequent aggressive, disruptive behavior. The work is being done by Dr. Spencer Evans, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.

Role of Stress, Anxiety, and Parental Influences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

$50,417 Clinical Science Fellowship award to support research on eating in the absence of hunger and obesity risk among African-American and Latinx youth. The work is being done by Dr. Joya Hampton-Anderson, a clinical post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at Emory University. A key element in this research is the role that stress, anxiety, and parental influences play in determining children’s eating behaviors.

Attention Training Approach for Adolescents with Attention Difficulties

$45,600 AIM grant. Dr. Adam Gazzaley, an AIM Scientific Advisory Board member and founder of UCSF’s Neuroscape, will conduct a pilot study of a novel, adaptive attention training software, Engage, in adolescents who have difficulties with attention.

Events & Programs

AIM is bridging the gap between research and access to care for youth struggling with their mental health by finding, funding and implementing evidence-based treatments, empowering youth to discover their own mental health solutions, and training caring adults to create a safe holding place for children, teens, and young adults.

2025 AIM Gala

2024 AIM Gala

The 2023 AIM Gala (passed)

The 2023 AIM Gala (upcoming)

2023 AIM GALA

The 2023 AIM Symposium

AIM is bridging the gap between research and access to care for youth struggling with their mental health

Upcoming Events

2025 AIM Gala

More than 250 attendees gathered at The Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach for the 9th Annual AIM Youth Mental Health Gala “Hamilton: from Broadway to Pebble Beach” on Thursday, September 14, 2023.

2024 AIM Gala

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Our Research

Youth Intervention for Positive Emotion Enhancement

Use of Psilocybin for Youth with Stress Related Disorders

Help for Parents with Children on Waitlists for Therapy

Using AI to Improve Teen Mental Health Helplines

Youth Intervention for Positive Emotion Enhancement

Use of Psilocybin for Youth with Stress Related Disorders

Help for Parents with Children on Waitlists for Therapy

Using AI to Improve Teen Mental Health Helplines

Youth Mental Health and Violence

Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices for Youth

Supporting Clinicians in Implementing Evidence-Based Practices

Addressing Urgent Knowledge Gaps in Youth Mental Health Research

allcove X AIM Youth Mental Health Collaboration Fund

A Suicide Intervention App for College Students

Smartphone Delivered Mindfulness Intervention

Family Interventions for Eating Disorders in Youth through Telehealth

Technology-Delivered Intervention for Youth Anxiety

Computerized Brain Training Exercises for Children at High Risk for Developing Serious Mental Illness

Behavioral Parent Training and Talk Therapies for Disruptive Behavior in Children

Role of Stress, Anxiety, and Parental Influences in Children’s Eating Behaviors

Attention Training Approach for Adolescents with Attention Difficulties

Events & Programs

Upcoming Events

2025 AIM Gala

2024 AIM Gala

Join Our Newsletter Now.

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