The Innovative Youth Mental Health Corps empowers young people

As the mental health crisis continues to affect youth across America, a brand new program goals to satisfy them where they’re by training young people to assist their peers.

Natalie Santiago, a key figure within the creation of the Youth Mental Health Corps, expressed pride in being a part of an initiative that she felt could be invaluable during her own difficult upbringing. Growing up with an abusive, drug-addicted father and a grandmother who struggled to make ends meet and encouraged her to “pray about it” when she struggled with mental health obstacles, Santiago sees the Corps as an important resource for today’s youth. reported.

Santiago was capable of overcome adversity and pursue a profession in education, philanthropy and public service. She held positions on the Department of Education and the Department of Labor under President Barack Obama. She most recently served within the Office of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy under President Joe Biden.

Today, she helps young people take care of the growing pains that ultimately influence how they seem on the earth.

“Here I am, 54-year-old me, asking: What would 16-year-old me love?” – Santiago recalled. “How can we help children who may be uninsured or don’t have access to therapy, or whose parents don’t know how to access services? How do we ensure that these children can get help?”

These reflections led to her helping launch the Youth Mental Health Corps. The program, scheduled to launch in fall 2024, will span 4 states and can aim to handle the youth mental health crisis, which Surgeon General Murthy calls “the defining public health issue of our time.”

According to 2021 Surgeon General’s Recommendations on youth mental health, “1 in 3 high school students reported persistent feelings of hopelessness, and the second leading cause of death for youth aged 10 to 14 is suicide.”

The first-of-its-kind initiative, supported by AmeriCorps, the federal agency that governs volunteerism and national service within the U.S., will “recruit young volunteers to work to help other young people struggling with mental health issues.”

Volunteers will receive training together with state-specific behavioral health credentials that can help them work for a yr or two, depending on their preferences, alongside schools, nonprofits and community organizations whose mission is to attach youth with other people of support the mental health they need. Participants will even receive a stipend to cover work-related living costs.

According to Santiago, “This program won’t only meet the mental health needs of young people, but will even help increase the variety of young people pursuing studies and careers in fields resembling social work and psychology.

The program, also supported by funders including the Schultz Family Foundation, Pinterest and America Forward, will launch in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas. The goal is to expand to 11 states by fall 2025, especially those with large Latino populations, including California, New Jersey, New York and Utah.

“The reality is that the crisis of lack of access to mental health services for Black and Latino youth has been going on for decades,” said Kiara Alvarez, an assistant professor on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Now that there has been more attention and openness to talking about young people’s mental health, we are sort of making up for the crisis that has been going on all this time.”

Individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 with a highschool diploma are encouraged to use to serve within the Corps. Part-time or full-time work will even be available for those interested.