Youth mental health support is receiving a significant strengthening from a new national service program that connects young adults with students in the most need but frequently overlooked. The Youth Mental Health Corps (YMHC), currently in its second year, has further extended youth mental health support to 11 states by placing 600 near, peer members in schools and community sites with limited access to care.
Initial assessment data from WestEd indicates that the model is successful. Students at schools where Youth Mental Health Corps members work are showing fewer behavioral referrals, better attendance, and more cases of students seeking youth mental health support proactively. Rather than waiting for a crisis situation, teens are going to corps members with issues such as anxiety, family stress, relationship challenges, and academic pressure to talk about.
What distinguishes this youth mental health support is the near, peer method. Corps members can generally be found in their early twenties, and quite often they share the same backgrounds and have similar lived experiences. This lowers stigma and youth mental health support becomes more like talking to a big brother or sister than a professional who is far away. A majority of students say that this has been the first time they have felt safe enough to admit how bad things really are.
The program is a pipeline to employment as well: corps members are given training, mentorship, and hands, on experience that open doors to careers in counseling, social work, or education. Utah, among other states, points out that youth mental health support via service corresponds with the values of local community and civic engagement.
With adolescent mental health problems increasing, the YMHC model demonstrates that expanding youth mental health support does not necessarily entail more clinics; it can begin with human connection, training, and adults being present where the youth areschools, afterschool programs, and community centers.
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