Creating Mental Health Outreach Programs

Led by the Brownsville Community Justice Center, an operating project of the Center for Justice Innovation, the Creating Mental Health Outreach Programs in Brownsville will closely collaborate with local mental health clinics, mental health professionals, and community organizers to create a new youth-led mental health referral process in Brownsville, Brooklyn. By furthering residents’ access to mental health services and resources, the Justice Center aims to support Brownsville residents in obtaining healthy pathways to address interpersonal relationships and relationship with self; and violence, trauma, and quality of life conditions that intertwine with mental and physical health and to ultimately increase residents’ overall quality of life.

The youth-led mental health outreach program will increase residents’ access to comprehensive mental health education, mental health services, and immediate crisis support to meet the needs of community members. Mental health concerns in Brownsville are deeply intertwined with community trauma, personal trauma, and the cycle of violence. The program will first focus on identifying the baseline level of understanding that residents have surrounding mental health resources in the community along with their level of bias associated with obtaining mental health care then will work to inform residents of the existing mental health services and resources in the community. This will include the creation and distribution of a community needs assessment resource map which will serve as an easily accessible point of reference and resource for furthering mental health access and education in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Implementing Organization: Justice Innovation Inc. dba Center for Justice Innovation

Website: https://www.innovatingjustice.org/programs/brownsville-community-justice-center

Funding Amount: $50,000