The early ideas for the organization began over two decades ago when the founder, an educator at the time, quickly recognized the overwhelming need for and lack of mental health and counseling resources in schools. She noted that many of the challenges that surfaced in the classroom were not academic in nature and the stressors students faced within and beyond the school boundaries needed to be adequately addressed from a more systemic approach.
She went on to earn a master’s degree in counseling and obtained post graduate training in family systems, trauma, and neuroscience. Having spent years as a counselor in both nonprofit agency and private practice settings, the ideas to connect schools and communities with the mental health resources needed to impact lasting change began to materialize into a concrete, achievable plan.
Today the organization is a collaboration of leaders in the field of mental health and wellness including professionally licensed marriage & family therapists, mental health counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists along with educators, parents, students, community leaders, and activists committed to volunteering their expertise and time to communities and schools through programs and outreach efforts designed to increase mental health awareness and education.
