Black Men Heal delivers mental health to Black men in Philly and beyond

Victoria Restored Minds provides therapeutic and emotional support to people facing mental health challenges. With its team of counselors, therapists, and psychologists, VRM has provided counseling, therapy, and general support to about 2,000 people.

Sources of Strength is a student-led mental health prevention program operating in about 35 Maine middle and high schools, coordinated by NAMI Maine and the state CDC. The program trains peer leaders to act as "connectors" who listen to struggling classmates and guide them to trusted adults before problems escalate. Students report that peer support makes it easier to discuss struggles with someone experiencing similar pressures.

Outback Mind operates community-based, peer-led men's circles across rural and regional Australia where local men facilitate regular gatherings that teach emotional literacy and create safe spaces for men to express emotions. Last year, up to 2,500 men attended these circles and reported feeling more capable of processing emotions they’d previously ignore.

Music therapy is helping teens identify, verbalize and cope with their emotions, and is emerging as a solution to bridge the gap in the national shortage of adolescent mental health professionals. Michigan State University alone has credentialed more than 9,000 music therapists since the degree program emerged in 1944. Studies show that when used in conjunction with medical treatement and traditional talk therapy, music therapy can improve health outcomes and reduce levels of depression and anxiety.

Phola uses narrative therapy practices to empower women to overcome gender-based violence by sharing their stories and connecting with others. Participants report that Phola has helped ease their anxiety and depression and has given them the strength to leave harmful situations at home. The project began in 2016 and the Phola methods are now used in 40 countries.

Working on Womanhood (WOW) works to build confidence, self-awareness, community and healthy coping mechanisms among Black and Latina girls in sixth to twelfth grade. WOW offers easily accessible group therapy in schools and is led by Black and Latinx social workers who can provide culturally relevant care to youth in need. WOW serves 350 students in one school district and surveys show that participants are less depressed and anxious and exhibit more self-confidence.

The Network for Empowerment and Program Initiatives (Nepi) helps former child soldiers who struggle with mental health and drug abuse to address and heal from their traumas through cognitive behavioral therapy. The group also provides $200 cash transfers to help participants get back on their feet after completing the Sustainable Transformation of Youth in Liberia (Styl) program, which has helped tens of thousands of young men.

Since 2018, the TAPS Ukraine branch has been helping to connect families experiencing the death of a loved one in the military. The organization has held hundreds of events to help people learn how to live with loss and currently has a group of 60 specialists trained to provide psychological support to those who are grieving.

The Cash + Trauma-informed Psychosocial Support program provides mental health resources and financial support to children who lost their parents due to COVID-19. The program has trained more than 130 social workers to improve access to counseling services and spread awareness of the resources available to those in need. Since forming, more than 13,000 children have been helped through the program.

In Uganda, an initiative known as StrongMinds is helping low- and middle-income women deal with depression. To address the shortage of psychiatrists in the region, StrongMinds trains former patients who have completed 12 weeks of group therapy to be facilitators who make home visits.