Photo by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash
As we continue to shed light on mental health issues in May during Mental Health Awareness Month, Step Up For Mental Health’s goal in 2022 is to expand our reach and access to mental health resources for children, teens and young adults. More than ever, children are affected by mental health in the home, in school and in their communities. They are dealing with poverty, gun violence, cyberbullying and more—plus the trauma of the pandemic. We believe it’s not only important to assist the families we serve with access to information and resources, and move them forward to have healthy lives in their times of need, but also to support the children in the home that are affected by mental health stressors.
This is why we have stepped up our support for youth mental health this year. We continue to partner with like-minded government programs, nonprofits and communities—so that we can do the work it will take to have healthy young people in society.
Learning About Childhood Trauma and Helping the Next Generations
I know all too well what it’s like dealing with youth mental health in the home. As a child of a parent with a serious mental illness—who had to serve as a caregiver growing up—it was quite difficult to navigate school and studying while taking care of my mother. Plus: dealing with bullying, poverty, and a host of mental health-related issues that families who are dealing with these childhood traumas face. We owe it to our children to make sure they have the tools to cope with everyday stressors, as well as things out of their control while helping them face what is to come.
Working with Community Partners and Leaders to Make a Difference
We are so excited to see the White House kicking off the Youth Mental Health in Action campaign to deal with the topics of mental health not only for families and caregivers but for children who need support. It’s time we remove the stigma and boldly move into talking about mental health as early as possible to our loved ones so that they can be educated in understanding the complexities families face.
“Build a national certification program for peer specialists. The Biden-Harris Administration will convene stakeholders, launch development, and support implementation of a national certified peer specialist certification program, which will accelerate universal adoption, recognition, and integration of the peer mental health workforce across all elements of the health care system.” —the White House
Step Up For Mental Health’s goal is to find all the mental health programs our government is trying to tackle and try to give some insight into the things we as a nonprofit need to shed a spotlight on—one of them being peer support. We are excited that now more than ever, leaders are understanding how important our work is to families who DO NOT have access to therapy, or those who can’t afford it or don’t trust it because of past experiences in the healthcare system. We as Peer Support Facilitators supporting families through our helpline continue to find ways to aid the families we serve. It takes all of us. Professionals clinicians and peer support programs like Step Up For Mental Health make the different families and communities need.
Things We Are Doing to Support Children Through the Step Up For Kids Program
- Giving important tools like writing and drawing journals to families we serve who have kids ages 8-17 years-old.
- Working with other nonprofits like DreamWakers to share our knowledge about mental health via therapist and peer support in the classroom.
- Created interactive content infographics to assist kids in coping skills and mindfulness practices to relieve stress, anxiety and depression.
- Reading books to children via YouTube videos for families to learn more about emotions and what children may be feeling. This helps kids learn about mental health in a friendly, fun, and educational way.
- Peer Support Groups for young people 18-24 so that they can have a safe place to talk to their peers.
- One-one peer chats and mentoring to help with school or life. (Parental approval required)
We will continue to grow our Step Up For Kids program and follow the data that continues to shape our programming now and into the future.
