Elevated Minds: Youth Mental Wellness

Health care access

Long Beach

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Children and teens in Long Beach face life-threatening mental health risks and systemic barriers—especially young people of color experiencing crisis. In low-income regions, youths face inequitably high rates of hospitalizations and deaths due to mental health and substance use health issues. 20% of unhoused youth cited mental health challenges as a cause of their homelessness (LB DHHS, 2023; 2024 PIT Count).
“You don’t have to go through things alone," one teen learned. Yet, many at-risk youths are disconnected from mental health care systems, lacking insurance and social support (CHCF, 2022). 1736 FCC serves students struggling with suicidal thoughts and using drugs and alcohol to cope with abuse, homelessness, and other dire circumstances. Due to exclusionary federal policies and budget cuts, more youths will face immigration trauma and eliminated school-based resources. Young people urgently need equitable access to culturally responsive, comprehensive wellness services to thrive.

Elevated Minds is a new initiative in Long Beach to increase access to comprehensive, culturally responsive mental health and substance use prevention and intervention services for youth. Launched in fall 2024, it empowers youths and transform how systems serve them by integrating care into schools and communities. We serve BIPOC, homeless, and low-income youths, grades 6-12. Many are uninsured and in crisis. We partner with LB DHHS, LBUSD and its center for unhoused students, and local agencies.
The program removes systemic mental health care barriers by meeting youths “where they are”—whether at schools and community sites or in their health journey. We tackle core issues, as trauma and social identities—like race or housing and immigration status—often intersect to impact mental wellness. Bilingual/bi-cultural youth counselors and a therapist—some with lived experience—provide outreach, case management, counseling, and referrals to housing, legal, and other services. We use Positive Youth Development, building upon strengths to foster resilience, connection, and success. We create safe spaces where youths can engage in wellness activities, like peer groups, life skills workshops, prevention education, and crisis counseling.
We will expand access to mental health care and lay the groundwork for future scaling through:
1) School and community outreach
2) Culturally sensitive wellness activities
3) Collaboration with LBUSD, partners, and youth to refine/co-design services

We view short-term success as connecting 120 at-risk Long Beach youths to comprehensive, culturally responsive wellness services. Our goal is to increase access to free mental health care to help youths improve well-being, prevent substance use and crisis situations, and develop resiliency. We will continue to bolster our framework to eventually scale this initiative city and countywide by strengthening collaboration with LBUSD, LB DHHS, partners, and students, and seeking new funding.
Long-term, we intend to improve other school districts in LA County by building a replicable, proven program model that all schools and social services agencies can employ. By embedding preventive and intervention-based services directly into schools and communities, we seek to transform how public systems reach and engage our most vulnerable children and teens. Through these actions, we will remove systemic barriers and ensure young people receive equitable access to the care they deserve.