The People's Money (2022-2023)
Your Money, Your Community, Your Voice.
Changes at "Strengthen Mental Health Programs for 9-13 Year Olds"
Scope
- +Brooklyn
Title
- +{"en"=>"Strengthen Mental Health Programs for 9-13 Year Olds"}
Body
-
+["
Implementing Organization: Brooklyn Bureau of Community ServiceOrganization’s Website: https://wearebcs.org/ (External link)
Project Funding Amount: $250,000
Project Description:
\"Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Brooklyn Community Services (BCS) has witnessed the compounding consequences of trauma and social isolation on youth, impacting their education and mental health. Our youth have experienced devastating learning loss and trauma against the backdrop of the pandemic and we are seeing higher rates of incidents relating to mental health challenges, suicidal ideation, frustrations from educational struggles and behavioral concerns in all of our after-school programs, both in DOE schools and in NYCHA community centers. With this project, BCS proposes to create a Mental Health Department for our middle schools and community centers, adding 2 Masters-level Social Workers to support our current programs, students, and staff. The target population for this program is youth (ages 9-13) we serve through our after-school and community center services. BCS will provide program activities in three areas over the next year through our newly hired Social Workers:
1. Lessons and workshops for 500 middle school aged students, centered around mental health and wellness, emotion regulation strategies and building positive peer relationships.
2. Staff development, lesson planning and training for approximately 100-150 staff members. The newly hired Social Workers will train and work with staff to help them best support their program participants, gaining knowledge about social-emotional learning and how to deal with behavioral issues.
3. Workshops and service referrals for parents of afterschool students. Our new Social Workers will be able to facilitate conversations about what’s going on at school and at home, and provide appropriate service referrals to build stronger and healthier families.
By creating a strong mental health foundation and inclusive support system, youth ages 9-13 will adjust and fare better in a post-pandemic world and BCS will be able to support the goal of destigmatizing mental health for youth and communities. BCS believes that stronger and healthier youth make for stronger and healthier communities.\"
"]
