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By Courtney Cole, WBZ-TV
BOSTON – People of color face unique challenges from their communities when it comes to mental health.
Two Boston-based organizations are working to meet the growing need for resources among teenagers.
For teenagers Youth Empowerment Center It is a place of healing.
“I can really be me, you know what I’m saying? I can be free without judgment,” said Breanna Boden, who says it changed her life. “Before I got here, mentally, I was far away, I was low, you know what I’m saying?”
Vondel Martinez said he was nervous when he first learned about the center.
It certainly thwarted many of my aspirations, many of my goals. I didn’t want to do anything. But after COVID, no problem, I’m just trying to get back into the ring of things. ,” WBZ said.
It’s not just the talk that keeps them coming back.
“They make music! They dance! They do photography, they do everything art-based to help the community! And I was like, Yo, I gotta be here!” Boden said.
The center uses art to help teenagers overcome their challenges and disadvantages and become the best versions of themselves.
“In a way, I feel like it’s giving me more purpose than I’ve had before. But it’s definitely had a positive effect on my mental health. Because I’m always at home during the pandemic, it’s not really socializing. People, all the things that happened during that time, things like that. People passing by, you know? It’s hard to be by yourself,” said Ashley Bell, another member of the center.
“It’s just that this community is so positive and uplifting and breaks the generational cycles we’ve had for so long,” Boden said.
Cycles that existed even before the epidemic began, discouraging communities of color from seeking mental health help.
of Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston He works every day to break those cycles.
“The need for mental health services has always been there,” said Andrea Swain, the organization’s vice president of program operations. The pandemic has highlighted issues around mental health.
Children of color, who live in communities with high levels of poverty and crime, face unique mental health challenges, according to a study published last year in JAMA Pediatrics.
“If you’re in a family that doesn’t know where your next meal is going to come from, struggling to put food on the table, struggling to afford clothes, struggling to find safe and affordable housing, really, youth probably doesn’t matter. And that’s what our youth are facing, chronic poverty, this societal violence, ” YouthConnect executive director Kevin Barton told WBZ.
YouthConnect It’s a Boys & Girls Clubs program that places licensed, social workers at Boston police stations to help youth and their families cope with everyday trauma.
“We pick up that phone and call them after a referral by a police officer,” Barton said. “And 84% of people say yes, which is amazing. And tells me it’s needed.”
Barton Last fiscal year, UtConnect served 537 youth and more than 1,400 of their family members.
“In terms of outcomes last year, over 90% of those with high-risk mental health issues improved more than 50%. So that tells us something. This works,” Barton said.
Now is the time for investment to match demand, so disadvantaged young people are not left to fend for themselves.
“We are not in the business of throwing anyone away. And so every young person should know that they have a second, third and fourth chance,” said Barton.
A chance to be seen, heard and known to be important.
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