Mental health challenges like anxiety, stress, and depression are rising rapidly among children and teens. These struggles directly affect a student’s emotional well-being, academic performance, school relationships, and long-term development—creating an urgent challenge for educational communities and authorities.
Although schools have expanded mental health initiatives, most focus on broad school-wide programs or urgent, severe cases. This leaves a critical gap: students who are just starting to show signs of emotional risk. Without timely support, schools miss the window for early intervention—which could prevent more severe mental health crises and protect student outcomes.
To shift from reactive crisis response to proactive prevention, Dr. Rodrigo Rojas, a researcher at the USACH School of Psychology, is leading a groundbreaking Fondecyt Regular project. This initiative will pioneer the first adaptation in Chile and Latin America of a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at emotional risk. Beyond individual care, the study focuses on training and supporting school staff to ensure these mental health programs are implemented effectively and sustainably.
“What we found was that the competencies and motivation of those who implement these interventions are more important than contextual conditions. When professionals have the right tools and know how to apply them, they can overcome many of the difficulties presented by the school environment. That’s why it’s not enough to have an evidence-based intervention; it’s also essential to understand the best way to implement it,” the researcher commented.
In this context, the research will adapt the Unified Protocol for Adolescents (UP-A) for the first time in Latin America—a transdiagnostic intervention aimed at strengthening emotional skills common to various mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, or stress. At the same time, the team will evaluate the most effective strategy for professionals in educational institutions to implement these types of programs consistently and successfully.
“Incidents such as the one that occurred at a school in Calama, where a student committed a serious act of violence on school grounds, force us to ask whether early detection processes and timely support were in place for those showing signs of risk. Chile urgently needs to establish these types of support systems in schools,” added Dr. Rojas.
Over the course of its three-year development, the project team will adapt the Unified Protocol for Adolescents (UP-A) to Chile’s social, cultural, and educational context and subsequently implement it in schools under the Barrancas Local Public Education Service (SLEP), where its effectiveness will be evaluated through a randomized controlled trial (RCT)—a methodology rarely used in educational research in the country.
"Today, schools only react after a problem has already taken root. We want to drive a paradigm shift—identifying emotional risks early and stepping in before issues escalate," explains the USACH researcher. "The real success of this project isn't just validating a clinical model; it's equipping school communities with practical, concrete tools to support adolescents when they need it most," concluded Dr. Rodrigo Rojas Andrade.