Current Projects
The Positive Youth Development Lab is currently providing free positive parenting seminars for families with children ages 2-12 and teens ages 13-17 living in Texas. These seminars will last 60-90 minutes and be provided online by two master’s-level clinicians who are supervised by Dr. John Cooley. They are designed so that parents and caregivers will leave with some great ideas to take home and try out with their families! For more information, click here.
The Positive Youth Development Lab recently provided free cognitive-behavioral skills groups at two local elementary schools for children in grades 3-5 who were experiencing peer difficulties. Each group was run by two graduate students from the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program at Texas Tech, who were supervised by Dr. John Cooley. Skills groups were designed to teach children how to solve problems more effectively, manage their emotions, change negative thought patterns, and use healthy coping strategies. We are currently evaluating the effects of this preventive intervention.
The Positive Youth Development Lab recently provided free therapy services for children and adolescents in grades 3-8 who had been negatively impacted by bullying. Youth were matched with an individual therapist—a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program at Texas Tech who worked under the supervision of Dr. John Cooley—and received weekly cognitive-behavioral therapy. Services were tailored to each family’s goals and designed to meet each youth’s individual mental health needs (e.g., anxiety, depression, trauma, aggression, behavioral problems). We are currently evaluating the effects of this intervention.
The Positive Youth Development Lab recently partnered with two local elementary schools on a 2-year study to learn more about factors that promote positive youth development. We are currently using data from this project to examine how children’s social relationships, emotion regulation, coping strategies, thinking patterns, and health behaviors influence their adjustment over time.
The Positive Youth Development Lab is currently collaborating with the Suicide Risk and Prevention Research Laboratory on a youth suicide prevention project. Funded through a federal/state grant, this project involves two phases. For the first phase, we conducted a survey to understand pediatric health care providers’ beliefs, training, and practices when working with patients at elevated risk for suicide. For the second phase, we are currently training providers across the West Texas region on evidence-based risk screening and intervention methods to a) improve the management of suicidality among child and adolescent patients, b) create developmentally-informed safety plans, and c) facilitate healthy communication between parents/caregivers and youth to support safety in the home environment.
Psychology for Families
Dr. John Cooley recently launched Psychology for Families. The goal of this website—and corresponding YouTube channel—is to be a place where parents and caregivers can come to receive accurate, evidence-based information about youth mental health. For more information, click here.