by Aziah Siid
Spotting anxiety and depression isn’t as easy as it seems in movies or on television. Young people in emotional distress don’t always turn to drugs or alcohol abuse. A K-12 student may or may not be wrestling with the fallout from major events like a school fight or an abusive parent.
That can make it tricky to read depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues in young people. And with schools lacking sufficient resources, getting them help is challenging.
Fortunately, there are a range of nonprofit, community-based organizations working literally around the clock to give them the support and emotional tools to work through their troubles. Here are a few of those resources.
The Jed Foundation
For teens and young adults still learning to process their emotions, describing how they feel can be difficult. That’s why The Jed Foundation, a youth suicide prevention nonprofit, provides an easy-to-use mental health check-in web page that breaks down emotional health in basic language.
The website prompts users to click on buttons to answer simple “I’m feeling” and “I’m experiencing” questions. The answers — “Grief and Loss,” “Trauma,” “Relationship problems,” and even “Political Anxiety” — guide young people to the resources they need to deal with their issues.
Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM)
Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective describes itself as ”a nonprofit composed of advocates, yoga teachers, artists, therapists, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, psychologists and activists committed to the emotional/mental health and healing of Black communities.” A coast-to-coast network, BEAM hosts monthly, in-person healing circles in Los Angeles and Atlanta and coordinates with networks to provide funding for events and in-person training in cities across the country.
Through their work — and a roster of Black therapists, healers, wellness practitioners, community leaders, and mental health professionals — BEAM helps build ecosystems of mental health care for Black and under-served communities. The organization trains, funds, and resources alternative wellness and care systems for youth.
Black Girls Smile
Research shows young Black girls are struggling emotionally: the Black adolescent suicide rate surpassed that of whites for the first time and is increasing faster among girls than any other racial group. To help stem that trend, Black Girls Smile Inc. focuses exclusively on the well-being of young Black women through culturally and gender-responsive programming, innovative initiatives, and connections.
Since its inception in 2012, BGS has grown to support more than 10,000 Black women and girls nationally through mental health literacy programming, intersectionality workshops, and therapy scholarship programs.
AAKOMA Project
Working on students’ mental health while creating an inclusive space for young people of color to embrace their most authentic selves is at the center of the AAKOMA Project.
With a focus on self-awareness, self-esteem, and consciousness about prioritizing mental health, AAKOMA provides accessible tools to young people and their caregivers. The organization also trains youth advocates in suicide prevention. It pushes mental health researchers and research institutions to factor in race and change systems to be more accommodating of young Black people.
The Trevor Project
Nearly 4 in 10 LGBTQ+ young people have seriously considered suicide in the past year, a worrying sign of a mental health crisis among queer students, especially those of color. The emotional distress has been exacerbated by anti-gay and anti-trans legislation in states like Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.
In response, The Trevor Project offers 24/7 crisis counseling for gay, lesbian, and transgender youth, as well as suicide prevention training and peer-to-peer support groups and counselors. They also produce research on the emotional state of queer young people, advocate for their inclusion in public policy and educate the public on the need to support LGBTQ+ young people by building a safer, more inclusive world.
