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AIM is bridging the gap between research and access to care for youth struggling with their mental health by finding, funding, and implementing evidence-based treatments, empowering youth to discover their own mental health solutions, and training caring adults to create safe communities where children can grow and thrive.
AIM Ideas Lab is about elevating the teen perspective in mental health research. Teens gather in cohorts of 10-15 to learn and conduct their own mental health research. The Ideas Lab provides a unique opportunity for high school students to help drive youth mental health research because their voice matters and their perspective is vital to finding solutions.
The AIM Design Challenge engages hundreds of youth artists each year to create display ads that can provide hope to someone struggling with mental health. The encourages youth to speak up and seek help, or an ad might encourage others to be empathetic.
AIM is partnering with Mental Health Connect to provide “Mental Health First Aid Training and Certification” for caring adults, including parents, teachers, counselors, first responders and health care providers. This training will ensure that youth are surrounded by trained individuals who are prepared to recognize and respond to signs of mental illness, substance use disorders and other mental health crises.
We are building a movement with a positive, forward-thinking focus. Our annual AIM for Awareness Ad Contest and Walk and Rally help to raise awareness simply by talking about youth mental health.
AIM is not disorder* or institution-specific, which means that we fund the search for cures for all mental disorders in youth, and find the best, cutting-edge research teams and individuals, regardless of where they are based.
Our purpose touches lives in a very personal way, and gives hope to children and families facing the struggles that mental health challenges bring.
*Youth mental health disorders include, but are not limited to, ADHD, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, OCD, autism spectrum disorders, and eating disorders. We also address the bi-products of some of these brain disorders including addiction, self-harm, and suicide.
AIM Youth Mental Health is bridging the gap between research and access to care for youth struggling with their mental health by finding and implementing evidence-based treatments, empowering youth to discover their own mental health solutions, and training caring adults to create a safe holding place for youth in crisis. Our vision is simple: a world of mentally healthy youth.
Our vision is simple: a world of mentally healthy youth.
We AIM to Bridge the gap between research and practice: AIM’s investments in Clinical Science and Equity – Implementation Grants have discovered groundbreaking youth mental health solutions. Among them: early interventions for treating anxiety in preschoolers, predicting suicide, and family-centered approaches to support teens with eating disorders. Now, with this body of knowledge, AIM is focusing on taking tested treatments out of the lab and into communities where and when youth need it.
We AIM to Empower Youth: The AIM Ideas Lab trains high school students to design and conduct their own scientific peer-to-peer youth mental health surveys, analyze their findings, and make recommendations for youth-driven solutions. In the 2022 Monterey County, CA pilot, the youth researchers discovered that teens lack an adult in their lives they trust enough to go to when they have a mental health challenge or crisis. The sad truth is that we know that the #1 protective factor for youth mental health is a trusted adult.
We AIM to train adults to support youth: AIM trains adults in youth mental health first aid – teachers, parents, police officers, nurses, and coffee shop baristas -toward the vision that every child and teen would have not only a trusted adult to go to, but also an adult who is trained with skills and knowledge about what to do and what to say. Someone to support them during the time it takes to access professional treatment.
We AIM to complete the circle of care: When that trusted adult – trained as a mental health first aider – helps a youth find treatment, we AIM to complete the circle and ensure that the clinician is trained with evidence-based tools to treat the specific mental health challenge the young person is suffering.
We AIM to create communities where children, teens, and young adults can thrive and grow into healthy, happy adults.
1 in 5 of today’s youth have, or will have a serious mental illness.
We AIM to stop the silence around youth mental health by raising awareness and funding groundbreaking research, so we can begin to find real solutions for the youth of today.
Support AIM for Youth Mental Health.
