Primary Prevention in Practice: Evaluating the Erika's Lighthouse High School Program
A peer-reviewed quasi-experimental study published in Advances in Social Work evaluating the efficacy of the Erika's Lighthouse 50-minute classroom program on adolescent depression literacy, adult trust, and help-seeking behaviors.
Key Takeaways
- Proven Knowledge Retention: At a 6-week follow-up, high school freshmen who completed the Erika's Lighthouse program retained a statistically significant amount of new information regarding depression symptoms and warning signs.
- Increased Willingness to Seek Help: Participating students showed a statistically significant increase in their willingness to approach trusted adults at school when facing mental health distress.
- Belief in Adult Support for Peers: Students demonstrated a dramatic increase in believing that adults are effective resources to help a suicidal peer.
- Feasible Tier 1 MTSS Solution: The evaluation confirms that a brief, 50-minute universal classroom program provides high-impact primary prevention without overburdening school schedules or budgets.
Why This Matters
School social workers, counselors, and administrators often face heavy caseloads and tight scheduling constraints, making multi-session prevention programs difficult to deliver universally.
This study provides empirical backing for a turn-key, low-barrier model:
- High Impact, Low Time Commitment: Demonstrates that a single 50-minute class period can produce statistically significant, lasting changes in adolescent mental health literacy and help-seeking norms.
- Authentic Youth Voice: Highlights that unscripted, authentic peer stories resonate deeply with high school students, breaking through stigma more effectively than traditional lectures.
- Turn-Key MTSS Tier 1 Integration: Offers school mental health professionals an evidence-informed tool to fulfill primary prevention goals without financial or excessive training barriers.
Erika's Lighthouse Works
The evaluation measured changes using two standardized psychometric scales alongside a depression knowledge assessment tool:
| Measured Outcome | Key Result |
| Depression Knowledge | Intervention students retained significantly more knowledge on symptoms, stigma, and coping strategies. |
| Symptom Identification | Significantly higher ability to list symptoms, identify warning signs, and explain how stigma prevents help-seeking. |
| Help-Seeking Intent | Students were significantly more likely to view school staff as approachable resources when upset. |
| Trust in Adults | Students developed a stronger conviction that adults can meaningfully assist a peer in crisis. |
The Authors
This study represents a research collaboration between school mental health scholars at Loyola University Chicago and clinical social work leadership at Erika's Lighthouse.
| Researcher | Role / Affiliation |
| Michael S. Kelly, PhD |
Lead Researcher — Professor, School of Social Work, Loyola University Chicago |
Access the Paper
Citation: Kelly, M. S., Freed, H., Kubert, P., & Greibler, S. (2018). Depression Education As Primary Prevention: The Erika's Lighthouse School-Based Program For High School Students. Advances in Social Work, 18(4), 1206–1217.
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