First-of-its-kind youth mental health corps trains young people to help their peers

Growing up in Philadelphia, Nancy Santiago lived in what she described as “difficult circumstances, with a wild situation on my hands. And every time I went to ask for help, there was none.”

Her drug-addicted father was abusive, while her grandmother ran a speakeasy to help support the family. When Santiago had problems, her evangelical relatives told her to “pray for him.”

However, her challenging upbringing led her to a career in education, philanthropy and public service, including positions at the Department of Education and Department of Labor under President Barack Obama and most recently at the Office of US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy under President Joe Biden. .

It was there that Santiago, reflecting on her experiences, began to think about youth and mental health. “Here I am, the 54-year-old, saying, what would the 16-year-old me have wanted? she said. “How do we help kids who may not be insured or have access to therapy, or with parents who don’t know how to access services? How can I create a way for these kids to get help?”

Now Santiago has helped create the Youth Mental Health Corps, a first-of-its-kind initiative that will launch this fall, initially in four states, to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis. This innovative program will recruit young volunteers to work to help other young people struggling with mental health issues. Volunteers who sign up will receive training as well as a state-specific behavioral health credential.

Corps members will work for a year (or two, if they choose) with schools, community organizations or non-profit organizations, aiming to connect other young people with mental health support. They will also receive a living wage for their work.

The public/private partnership is supported by AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national volunteerism and service, and by funders such as the Schultz Family Foundation, Pinterest and America Forward, a nonpartisan initiative of New Profit, a national fund of entrepreneurial philanthropy.

Santiago explained that this program will not only serve the mental health needs of young people – but also help increase the pipeline of young people pursuing studies and careers in fields such as social work or psychology.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy calls youth mental health “the defining public health issue of our time.”

Michael D. Smith, CEO of AmeriCorps, said he was thrilled to be launching the Youth Mental Health Corps on the 30th anniversary of President Clinton’s inauguration of the first class of Americorps members in 1994. “What I love about AmeriCorps it’s that we haven’t stayed. We are not the status quo. We are able to respond to the biggest challenges of the day – and there is potentially no bigger challenge facing our young people right now than the youth mental health crisis,” Smith said.

Smith pointed to figures from the 2021 Surgeon General’s Council on Protecting Youth Mental Health, such as the fact that 1 in 3 high school students reported persistent feelings of hopelessness and that the second leading cause of death for youth among 10 and 14 years old is suicide. .

Smith noted that it hasn’t been a problem, despite the partisan political climate, bringing states on board with the Corps. “National service is a place where people come together across party lines,” he said. “We have a strong bipartisan tradition of service and civic engagement and supporting the work that AmeriCorps does. And so, this is not a blue state or a red state issue, it’s not one side or the other.”

The Youth Mental Health Corps will launch this fall in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas. By the fall of 2025, it will expand to 11 states, including some with significant Latino populations such as California, New Jersey, New York and Utah. Anyone between the ages of 18 and 24 with a high school diploma can apply to serve in the Corps, which will have part-time and full-time opportunities available.

Lack of access affects Latino and Black youth

The initiative comes as mental health issues in the Latino community have drawn concern from lawmakers and experts. The rising rate of Latino suicide has worried community leaders, as Latinos lag behind other racial and ethnic groups in accessing mental health care. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that more than half of Latino youth ages 18 to 25 with serious mental illness may not be receiving treatment.

“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, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Now that there’s been more attention, more openness to talk about youth mental health, in some ways we’re approaching a crisis that’s been here all along.”

According to Alvarez, Latino youth experience many of the same mental health stressors as other American youth — issues related to family, friends and romantic relationships — but also face a variety of other challenges.

“For Latinos specifically, there are challenges with experiencing discrimination, with experiencing a sense that the U.S. is closed to Latinos and negative portrayals of Latinos in the media … It affects their sense of worth and their sense of how they are seen by the people around them.”

Immigrant youth, and the children of immigrants, often have to face an uncertain future or worry about parents who may be at risk of deportation. Studies have shown that Latino youth living in states with anti-immigrant policies were associated with higher odds of chronic mental health conditions.

Many Latinos still feel a stigma around seeking mental health care. “There’s this worry that other people will see you as ‘loka’ or ‘mal de la mente,’ or parents worry that they won’t be seen as good parents,” Alvarez said.

The complicating problem, she pointed out, is that sometimes Latinos trying to access mental health care encounter services that are not designed in culturally competent ways; some Latinas report encounters with therapists that leave them feeling ashamed, judged, or misunderstood.

Young man helps youth with stressors ‘similar to what I’ve faced’

Nelly Grosso is a junior in Denver who is part of the inaugural class of the Youth Mental Health Corps. Originally from Argentina, she has worked with Colorado Youth for a Change, which she describes as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” especially “because many of the obstacles and stressors my students face are similar to what I was faced with. faced when I was in high school.”

Grosso has worked primarily with youth who are immigrants or first-generation Americans. These high school students in her caseload are relatively close in age to her, so she found it easy to connect with them culturally, musically, and even through TikTok. She helps students with their academic work, access mental health services, or sometimes, “just like someone they can talk to, be a listening ear.”

Grosso plans to earn a bachelor’s degree and then pursue a master’s in social work. “As first-generation Americans, I feel like our voice is often pushed to the side. But I’ve learned how to use my lived experience to show that I matter and that my experience matters.”

Recently, on the last day of school, Grosso was cleaning her office when she heard footsteps running down the hall. It was one of the students in her charge who ran around the school on the last day of term to find him, to make sure he said goodbye. Grosso was moved to learn how much of an influence she had on him.

“In my high school experience, I didn’t really think anyone cared that I was there,” Grosso reflected. “So for me to be able to show other students that I care about them, that I’m checking up on them, it’s important… I can tell them, ‘I want to see you. I’m so glad you’re here at school.’ And that’s healing for all of us.”