Implementing Youth and Young Adult Navigation

Youth and young adult navigation programs play a critical role in addressing the diverse and complex needs of young people by empowering them to thrive during pivotal transitions such as aging out of foster care, leaving the justice system, or pursuing independent living. These programs offer relationship-centered, culturally responsive, and youth-driven support. This support ensures access to resources, guidance, and advocacy that empower young people to achieve stability, self-sufficiency, and wellbeing. With funding from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the CIP team undertook an implementation support engagement focused on more deeply understanding core navigation practices, effective implementation strategies, and replicable approaches to enhance how navigation is provided in community-based settings.

This work culminated in development of the Youth and Young Adult Navigation Core Practice Brief, which identifies navigation practices and approaches that help young people as they progress toward five goals:

effectively transitioning to adulthood,
building supportive and family-like relationships,
achieving economic and/or academic success,
connecting and contributing to their community, and
experiencing overall wellbeing.

Navigation is the process of helping young people access and coordinate the services they need to achieve stability, wellbeing, and long-term success within systems that are often fragmented and complex. In our findings, we describe effective navigation as involving both youth-facing and community-facing practices, with a strong emphasis on culturally responsive, youth-driven approaches. Our findings also identify critical implementation infrastructure elements for organizations successfully delivering these services—such as skilled staff recruitment and development, use of data for process improvement, supportive policies and procedures, flexible funding mechanisms, and external partnerships. The accompanying preview document provides a summary of the brief.

The core navigation practices documented in the brief can serve as a blueprint for organizations planning to implement navigation as a new practice or integrate it into existing service for youth and young adults. With sustained investment and strategic innovations, navigation programs have the potential to provide holistic support to young people, helping them transition successfully into adulthood and achieve their fullest potential.

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LACY DICHARRY, MS, MS, MBA

Lived experience. Academic rigor. Professional triumph.

Some of the world’s most successful speakers, leaders, and coaches rely on just one of these credentials in their work. Lacy Dicharry combines all three to deliver empowerment and actionable insight to every audience she reaches.

A survivor of childhood trauma and the trials of the foster care system, Lacy’s story of personal strength and resilience began at a young age. Resulting battles with mental health and addiction were to follow. To some, a story of perseverance. For Lacy, a journey to becoming the person she was meant to be.

Lacy has earned designation as a Master of Business Administration, a dual Master of Science in both Counseling Psychology and Leadership and Human Resource Development and is actively completing her PhD in Philosophy, Leadership and Human Resource Development. Her research centers on the same objective that forms the foundation of her career as both a speaker and workforce champion: revolutionizing leadership.

Lacy’s approach to leadership development fosters an environment where culture and collaboration flourish, creating a workplace where every voice is represented. She has been instrumental in transforming corporate environments, youth engagement efforts, and advocacy programs. She has worked across the U.S. and internationally in a variety of high profile roles, bringing innovative solutions to high stakes challenges.

In concepts including transformational leadership and healing-centered leaders, Lacy Dicharry lives to empower others to transform the way they live, the way they lead, and the world around them.

Lacy has dedicated her life to becoming a force for positive change in organizations around the world. Lacy is a fearlessly authentic leader, speaker, and individual. By sharing her challenges, her experiences, and her transformation with the world, Lacy connects with her audiences in a way nobody else does, because she brings to her work what nobody else can.

Marita Brack is the Associate Director for Psychology within NHS Education for Scotland, and has worked as a Clinical Psychologist for 25 years. Her clinical work has principally been within specialist mental health services for children, young people and their families, both in Scotland and Australia. Marita has also worked within university settings in relation to the training of Applied Psychologists, and was the Clinical Practice Director on the MSc in Applied Psychology for Children and Young People, delivered in partnership between the NHS and the University of Edinburgh. Marita joined NES in 2010 as the Head of Programme for the Parenting and Infant Mental Health workstream, within the Psychology Directorate, and through this role has led on the development and implementation of several strands of work, including the Psychology of Parenting Project (PoPP), the NES Infant Mental Health training plan, the Early Intervention Framework, and most recently Marita has been co-leading on the implementation of the Enhanced Psychological Practice-Children and Young People certificate level course that has been created within NES. Marita has a long-standing interest in early intervention and prevention approaches to strengthening mental health and wellbeing, evidence-based parent-child relationship interventions and public health.

Category A – The UNC School of Social Work is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UNC School of Social Work maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

NBCC ACEP #6642: UNC School of Social Work (SSW) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP #6642. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. UNC SSW is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Continuing education activities vary in the number of NBCC hours awarded based on the length of the program. See individual programs for specific CE credit information.

UNC SSW, #1406, is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. UNC-SSW maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 8/10/2022 to 8/10/2025. Continuing education activities vary in the number of social work hours awarded based on the length of the program. See individual programs for specific CE credit information.