AUTHOR=Ballard Parissa J. , Daniel Stephanie S. , Anderson Grace , Nicolotti Linda , Caballero Quinones Elimarie , Lee Min , Koehler Aubry N. TITLE=Incorporating Volunteering Into Treatment for Depression Among Adolescents: Developmental and Clinical Considerations JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.642910 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.642910 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=

Volunteering, or taking part in unpaid work for the benefit of others, can be a powerful positive experience with returns to both individual well-being and community projects. Volunteering is positively associated with mental health in observational studies with community samples but has not been systematically examined as a potential part of treatment interventions with clinical adolescent samples. In this manuscript, we review the empirical evidence base connecting volunteerism to mental health and well-being, outline potential mechanisms based in the theoretical literature from developmental science, and discuss the existing clinical approaches that support community volunteering as a part of treatment. Drawing on this review, we propose that including volunteering as a component of clinical treatment approaches for adolescent depression can be a powerful intervention for adolescents.