As we look back over the past year, we celebrate the success and continued expansion of our Behavioral Health Program to school-aged refugee and immigrant youth. This program reduces barriers and improves access to care for children and teens from low- to moderate-income families.
One illustrative success story is [William]. William was getting bullied at school. Combined with past trauma from his migration journey, he was beginning to harm himself and have suicidal ideation. Because of private donations from people like you, our therapists were able to work with William in individual therapy and psychoeducation groups. As a result, William was able to learn to establish boundaries, strengthen social skills, build a support group, and utilize mindfulness-based coping strategies. Over time, the severity of his symptoms decreased, reflecting his resilience and the progress he has made.
Thanks to private donations this past year, AAU was able to increase capacity in our Behavioral Health team by hiring an additional therapist trained in youth and adolescent clinical services and trauma-informed care. Due to this increased capacity, our team was able to reduce barriers to care by offering individual and group mental health services ad partner sites including Sunnyvale Afterschool Program and Utah International Charter School (UICS). By providing services where clients already are, logistical barriers, such as transportation, and cultural barriers to services were diminished allowing higher engagement of youth in low threshold, trusted environments.
A total of 76 youth directly accessed individual and group services and 426 individuals indirectly benefitted through outreach, psychoeducation, and community-based supports this past year.
If you would like to partner with us to continue impacting youth like William, Donate Now.
