Rite Aid Healthy Futures launches youth mental health program

Rite Aid Healthy Futures has committed $1.25 million in grant funding to six leading youth mental health organizations, joining the response to a generational crisis that has ravaged communities and highlighted the need for increased investment and attention.

Working with and learning from the top leaders of youth mental health, Rite Aid Healthy Futures will support Active Minds, The Trevor Project, The Steve Fund, The JED Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and McLean Hospital in Boston. The organizations’ work areas cover the mental healthcare continuum, spanning awareness, education, prevention, support, crisis care and recovery services.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 6 youth in the United States experience a mental health condition yearly—yet only half receive treatment. In particular, the grant funding aims to protect racial and ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ populations that experience higher rates of mental health challenges, often due to environmental factors beyond their control, systemic discrimination and disproportionately elevated levels of stigma around mental health and seeking care.

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“Mental health represents a public health crisis and social justice issue for this generation. Our collective response will be a defining moment for our nation and our children,” said Matt DeCamara, executive director of Rite Aid Healthy Futures. “Connecting kids of all backgrounds with relevant mental health care resources is not just essential, it’s lifesaving. Working together we can ensure kids everywhere have healthier tomorrows.”

Grant funding will support school and community programs in states with a significant Rite Aid presence—California, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. The grant underwrites a range of opportunities, including learning programs, peer groups, youth champions, crisis hotlines, clinical care and more.

Specific projects include:

• The Steve Fund: The nation's leading organization focused on supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color; The Steve Fund will launch a new initiative to support, inspire and empower young people of color with a geographic focus on New York and California. Grant funding will help expand The Steve Fund’s resources for young people of color and their family, as well as support nonprofit partnerships focused on youth mental health.

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“Notwithstanding intergenerational racial trauma, the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath has presented a new set of intense and sustained challenges to our nation's minoritized populations,” said Evan Rose, president of the board of directors of The Steve Fund. “This partnership will bring together expert-backed tools for building hope and resilience, technical assistance and capacity-building resources. As a result of this work, many more young people of color across the United States, their families, caregivers, peers and the institutions that support will be engaged in effective learning opportunities and experience increased access to culturally relevant mental health services, programs and resources.”

• McLean Hospital: A leader in psychiatric care, research and education, McLean Hospital is the largest psychiatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and a member of Mass General Brigham. Funding will support the Boston area hospital as it pilots a foundational support group for parents of children with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders and increases resources for teens who may be experiencing emotion dysregulation, suicidal thoughts or self-harm urges. Given that many mental health conditions remain undetected and untreated among youth, McLean also will use grant funding to continue its CARE Initiative. This measurement-based care approach that provides all patients receiving care at McLean’s Child and Adolescent Division a standardized mental health assessment designed to improve diagnosis and ultimate outcomes.

“CARE stands to be the first major effort to advance a standardized approach to youth mental healthcare, the foundation for improved quality and better outcomes,” said Daniel Dickstein, Hall-Mercer endowed chair in child and adolescent psychiatry and chief, Nancy and Richard Simches division of child and adolescent psychiatry at McLean Hospital. “Half of all mental health conditions start by age 14, though most cases remain undetected and untreated. Despite knowing much about mental health conditions affecting children, many speculate the lack of standardized approaches to patient care contribute to poor outcomes. Through the CARE Initiative, McLean Hospital hopes transform care in our child & adolescent division, making it a role model for programs across the country.”

• The Trevor Project: As the nation’s leading crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ young people, The Trevor Project provides 24/7 crisis support services, connecting LGBTQ young people with trained counselors via text, chat or phone. Support from Healthy Futures will help fund The Trevor Project’s crisis services team, strategic initiatives to increase the sustainability of service, an increase in volunteer capacity and continued integration with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988.

“We must address our nation’s mental health crisis, especially among LGBTQ young people. The Trevor Project’s new 2023 U.S. National Survey finds that 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year—and young people who are transgender, nonbinary and/or people of color reported higher rates than their peers,” said Adam Disler, vice president of corporate and institutional partnerships at The Trevor Project. “This initiative will provide much-needed investment to marginalized communities and help us empower more LGBTQ young people to lead the happy, healthy lives they deserve.”

• Active Minds: Celebrating 20 years of impact, Active Minds is the largest nonprofit in the United States, mobilizing a network of youth and young adults to change the culture around mental health. Through award-winning programs and services, Active Minds empowers a new generation to speak openly, act courageously and change the everyday conversation about mental health. In the summer of 2022, Active Minds committed to expand its proven peer-to-peer model to 1,000 new K-12 schools in the next 1,000 days. Funding from Healthy Futures will help build Active Minds’ Your Voice is Your Power resource hub, including a digital content series and set of easily usable resources to provide the skills and tools for K-12 youth to grow as mental health advocates and leaders in their school communities. Funding also will specifically bring Active Minds’ proven peer-to-peer model to 15 high schools in Detroit, Oakland and Los Angeles. Both initiatives hold the potential to reach 7,500+ with mental health resources.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: With two-thirds of youth experiencing a traumatic event by the age of 16, BGCA has set a goal for 100% of its clubs to be trauma-informed by 2026. Funding from Healthy Futures will support BGCA’s related efforts in New York City, including training staff to identify signs or symptoms of youth in distress, creating and implementing trauma-informed plans, and launching or accelerating services tailored to local needs.
• The Jed Foundation: JED is the nation’s leading nonprofit protecting emotional health and preventing suicide for teens and young adults. JED has recently partnered with AASA, The School Superintendents Association, to pilot the District Comprehensive Approach, a program that provides pre-K-12 school districts with an evidence-based framework—combined with expert support, best practices and data-driven guidance—to protect mental health and prevent suicide for millions of students. Funding will support the partnership and enable JED and AASA to engage school districts across the country, starting in Detroit and rural Ohio.

In 2019, before the impact of the pandemic, 40% of Hispanic high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks in a row, the highest level within 20 years. Research also shows that reported suicide attempts were higher among Black students than many other racial or ethnic groups, while people who identify as LGBTQ+ attempt suicide at rates four times higher than their straight and cisgender counterparts.

In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry warned that the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing racial inequities only exacerbated the youth mental health crisis. Those organizations labeled the youth mental health crisis a national emergency and called for state and national approaches to improve access to quality mental healthcare. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy has since echoed that call, prioritizing adolescent mental health.

Rite Aid Healthy Futures grant comes through its Empowering Children signature initiative, which aims to support youth as they unlock their full potential and go on to thrive. Based on learnings and impact, Rite Aid Healthy Futures plans to expand the youth mental health program in 2024 and beyond.