(PRLEAP.COM) The problem of at-risk youth is a growing one, one that requires involvement and action from a wide spectrum of resources. “Counselors, teachers, parents and others working and interacting with today’s youth, if they are to help, must have a solid understanding of the factors that young people face in making the often difficult transition between adolescence and adulthood,” said Dr. David Capuzzi, affiliate professor in Penn State’s Department of Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology and Rehabilitation Services and co-editor of the newly released fifth edition of “Youth at Risk: A Prevention Resource for Counselors, Teachers, and Parents.”

Penn State Continuing Education’s new Professional Development in Counseling Series features Capuzzi, who is also a past president of the American Counseling Association. The series—aimed at counselors, social workers, psychologists and others seeking to earn continuing education units to renew their licenses, as well as foster parents and group home directors—consists of fall and spring courses in an intensive four-day format. In the fall, “Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Counseling” will be held at the Conference Center at Penn State Great Valley (in the Philadelphia area) on Nov. 2, 3, 16 and 17. In the spring, “Counseling and Teaching Youth at Risk” (March 7, 8, 14 and 15) will be held at the Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods in Pittsburgh; “Group Work: Applications for Practitioners” (April 11, 12, 18 and 19) will be held at Penn State’s University Park campus; “Couples and Family Counseling” will be held May 9, 10, 16 and 17 at Penn State Harrisburg.

In addition, a summer institute starting May 19 offers 21 short-course workshops at six different locations across Pennsylvania and features nationally known speakers, including Penn State faculty.

Capuzzi points out it’s important that professionals gain the latest prevention and intervention methods so that they can better respond to youth before they are in trouble. “It’s vital that counselors and educators have a better understanding of how youth become at-risk and what can be done to minimize such factors and prevent the problems that otherwise are almost bound to occur,” he said.

Interested participants can go to http://www.outreach.psu.edu/cape/counseling/index.html or call 814-865-9654 for more information.

Penn State Continuing Education offers a venue for adults to return to the classroom. Continuing Education reaches more than 30,000 adult learners annually at Penn State campuses statewide. The unit also serves more than 220,000 Pennsylvania youth each year through summer academic and sport camps and other programs at Penn State campuses. Continuing Education is comprised of Conferences, Continuing Education at all Penn State campuses, Management Development Programs and Services, and Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. For more information, visit http://www.outreach.psu.edu/ce/ online. Continuing Education is part of Penn State Outreach, the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Penn State Outreach serves more than 5 million people each year, delivering more than 2,000 programs to people in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, all 50 states and 80 countries worldwide