Youth Mental Health Awareness

We are proud to announce this year’s Art of Fitness 2022 beneficiary:

Visit PPAL

CAT Studio & the Art of Fitness 2022 are proud to support awareness funding of Youth Mental Health foundations & organizations. Statistics show that; while most youths are healthy, physically and emotionally, one in every four to five children in the general population meet the criteria for a lifetime mental health disorder.  “Far too many young people are struggling with their mental health and unable to get the support they need. We all have a role to play in supporting youth mental health and creating a world where young people thrive.”

Learn about Surgeon General Priorities

Our Aspiring Advocate

My name is Tracy Blake. I am an OG (original girlfriend) contributor and student at CAT Studio. I am also the mother of a child who struggled with Mental Health Wellbeing for much of their childhood. It was a complex, unfamiliar, and often unaided road.

Most people do not realize that until recently not all youth have access to the same mental wellness services. In MA for a child to qualify for any additional services other than in-office therapy or inpatient hospitalization, they needed state insurance. If you did not meet income guidelines the qualifying event to apply is a patient (hospital) stay.
After the qualifying event, the process was long and cumbersome. Families would often be living in trauma while going through the process. The system was reactive and NEEDED to be proactive. I am happy to say a new law passed just this August has begun to change the process and system.

Along my family’s journey, I decided when my child was a stable young adult, I would make advocating for all minors to qualify for all services regardless of state or private insurance my mission.

I am incredibly blessed to say that time is NOW. I am forever grateful and thankful to Jess Williams and CAT Studio for bestowing me the first opportunity to bring awareness for more accessibility to mental health wellness for ALL youths and giving me the honor of choosing PPAL -Parent/Professional League as this year’s beneficiary. They are a Massachusetts grassroots organization.

 PPAL has been chosen for several reasons:

https://ppal.net/about-mission/

  1. They not only provide support – they advocate for the system change. They play a role in the new MA  law ” Addressing Barriers to Care” which will begin to relive some of the difficulties in obtaining services in MA. See link : https://healthcarenews.com/whats-in-massachusetts-new-wide-ranging-mental-health-law/
  2. They are not a government or national agency. This was very important because part of the awareness we are advocating for is to remove the need through government agencies for mental health support. 
  3. They are the only MA coalition we have found that provides support and guidance when a parent has to file a CRA (child requiring service) in the court system. Which Tracy had to do on her own when she needed program placement for her child. 

Resources

The agencies listed below; along with their websites we would like to bring more awareness to:

In the News