Description/Overview: Background: Overweight/obesity in adolescents and adults is a major public health problem across the United States that results in adverse physical, mental health, and academic outcomes (Melnyk et al., 2013). Studies have long recognized the importance of parents in being agents of change for their children’s healthy lifestyle behaviors, but it is currently unknown if children and teens can act as agents of behavior change for assisting their parents with improving their healthy lifestyles. It is critical that healthcare providers are aware of and implement evidence-based interventions that exist to enhance healthy lifestyle behavior change in adolescents and their parents. Aim: The purpose of this symposium will be to present the evidence on cognitive-behavioral skills building as an intervention that has been successful in promoting healthy lifestyle behavior change in adolescents and their parents. Lessons learned from conducting healthy lifestyle behavior change research in high schools with adolescents will be highlighted along with implications for clinical practice and future research. Overview of Papers in this Symposium. The purpose of the first presentation in this symposium is to describe the healthy lifestyle behavior changes that occurred in parents and families of high school teens who were participating in a randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of a 15-session cognitive-behavioral skills building program (COPE: Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment Healthy Lifestyles TEEN) on the teens’ physical, mental health, social skills and academic outcomes. The second presentation will discuss cognitive-behavioral skills building as a technique for changing healthy lifestyle behaviors to promote physical and mental health and describe evidence of use of cognitive-behavioral change strategies after a physical and mental health promotion intervention (COPE). The third presentation will delineate some practical factors inherent in conducting successful healthy lifestyle intervention research within school settings with adolescents.