MY MHD-4TY (Mental Health and Doula Peer to Peer Responders for Teens/Young Adults)

Teens who become pregnant face a different set of challenges when accessing and receiving health care services as compared to adults who become pregnant. Teens may be uncertain how to obtain health care services related to their pregnancies. They may need confidentiality, financial assistance, or information on whether they need permission to obtain certain types of health care, such as prenatal or abortion care. This issue brief addresses using /obtaining health coverage, including consent and confidentiality issues, using parent’s health insurance, public insurance options, and health coverage for newborns. It also covers specific access issues for teens in foster care and teens who are undocumented immigrants. “The mental health impact of the pandemic is much larger on younger adults,” said Dr. Shaker Saxena of The Harvard School of Public Health. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 50% of all lifetime mental illnesses develop by age 14, and 75% develop by age 24.

The peer educators support program, will share informations on the education and medical rights of pregnant and parenting teens currently in school. The resource also will offer information on where teen parents can access support resources such as, finding child care, finding support groups, financial benefits, and recommendations to stay healthy.

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

The program will help: Reduce early pregnancy,high risks pregnancy symptoms hospitalizations, mortality. Increase social support and participation in the community Decrease lengths of hospital stays and costs of services Improve well-being, self-esteem, and social functioning. Encourage more thorough and longer-lasting recoveries for teenagers and young adults affected by mental illness. Address racial, gender, sexuality, and other social identity, intersectionality in order to alleviate discrimination and privilege against gender, caste, sex, race, class, sexuality, religion, disability, physical appearance, height. teen pregnancy rates in California are declining to record lows, according to the newest data, from 2017. It shows California with a rate of nearly 14 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19. That’s the 16th lowest teen birth rate in the nation, and below the national average of nearly 19 births per 1,000 females in that age range. Arkansas ranks highest with 33.

Our mission is to create access to Reproductive Health and Mental Health education to youth and young adults. The Outreach and Education Peers will provide a weekly reporting tot the Director of Program, Adrienne Bambou DIAGNE, to compile a monthly reporting, to ensure that deliverable are met, in accordance to the grant goal. An external accounting will assure financial compliance will be met. A survey will be conducted 6 months after the project will start. Our goal is to reach 2% decreasing of early pregnancy and a 2% increase of teens enrolling in our mental health Peers to Peers education programs, after 6 months of Outreach, Education and Engagement program.

WE CAN FOUNDATION: works to build the people who will help to build bridges between various communities in our diverse society, engaging parents, families, students, schools and community partners to serve as a New Village to raise our youth to be successful citizens in a multi–cultural society and global marketplace. US-AFRICA INSTITUTE; education training and legislation. Healthy African American Families; Reproductive Health training. NAMI (National Association Of Mental Illness); Peer to Peer Mental Health training and capacitation CALTEK; IT support/training EWOEC; emotional and meditation training. Sisters DOULA training: doula and knowledge surrounding pregnancy, pre-partum, delivery and post partum Childbirth, infant training. Child development and parenting for teens/young adults