Dealing with the Mental Health Awareness stigma

Our program harnesses technology to provide youth with mental health resources and skills to navigate and reduce adverse experiences.  We do this by providing a forum to connect youth, community mentors, and behavioral health specialists. Through intergenerational mentoring, we help young people find connection in a post-Covid world. 

The goal of our program is to improve access and to grow awareness of mental health resources that will aid in breaking cycles of violence & mental health disturbances in the community. 

We focus our programs and services in working-class communities with underserved populations in Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, and Cathedral City, where respectively 5-8%, 6-18%, and 10% of families with children live below poverty. Roughly 1 in every 10 Riverside County residents living below poverty resides in one of the mentioned areas. We focus our program on the communities in areas with median income levels that range in the levels of lower $25k-27k and $31-37k.  

For many local communities, poverty is higher and mental health remains a struggle that is hard to overcome, especially as professional treatment is often something only affluent families can afford. 

To spread mental health awareness among youth, we have partnered with local Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs organizations. 

Using the data from Desert Healthcare District showing a profound difference in access to mental healthcare among racial and ethnic minorities as well as LGBTQ+, disabled, and economically insecure communities. More than 60% of local mental health providers surveyed said there was a high need for mental and behavioral health services for the Hispanic community, and 47% said the same for the Black community.