The Problem

The CDC reports that 1-5 adolescents experience a mental health disorder yearly. This is roughly 8.4 million adolescents U.S.-wide. Yet, of these adolescents, only 20 percent receive care from a healthcare professional. In Baltimore City, this is roughly 10,000 youth who do not seek the care and coping skills they need to counter stress and reach their full potential. In underserved communities, resources are slim, and the mental health stigmas perpetuated cause youth not to seek the professional help they may need, which contributes to underdeveloped coping skills.

Immediate and long-term implications: 

Lack of coping skills leads to poor school performance and illicit drug use, which increase dropout rates – lower lifetime income achievement and reduce life expectancy resulting in long-term wealth and inequality.

Why current interventions fail or are not ideal:

There is a cultural norm that stigmatizes mental health help-seeking behaviors in the communities we serve. Unfortunately, the mental health care system is not designed to change this norm such that at-risk youth seek mental health care when needed. In addition, many mental health resources are reactive and are not equipped to address stigmas in a culturally competent way to adequately reach and positively impact at-risk youth.

Our Solution

PCI does not intend to replace formal mental health programs; instead, we seek to complement them. So rather than mental health being a dark place to discuss negative emotions, our workshops are focused on shining a light on mental wellness. This approach encourages youth to open up about their emotions, thus helping to dismantle mental health stigmas faced in underserved and BIPOC communities, which in turn affects their coping behaviors.

PCI provides an evidence-based mental wellness program designed for at-risk youth, offering improvements in:

  • Prevention: Provide youth with preventative mental wellness coping techniques to increase mental resilience to maintain their mental health during and after stressful events, ultimately reducing the prevalence and severity of adverse mental health events.

  • Accessibility: Increased access to mental wellness resources in a culturally relevant community-oriented workshop environment and provide coping strategies to those who may not seek formal mental health services. 

  • Reduce Stigmas: We create an immersive and educational environment for youth to interact with their peers and develop deep, empathic social relationships that reduce stigmas.