Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing
Youth Mental
Health & Wellbeing
Global
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK)
DRK finds, funds and supports exceptional leaders with innovative and highly impactful ideas that have the potential to scale. DRK provides unrestricted capital, and, most importantly, provides rigorous, ongoing support by joining the board of directors and partnering with the leader to help build capacity in the organization and scale their impact. In particular, Enlight Foundation supports DRK’s selection of mental health and wellbeing-focused organizations.
Force of Nature
Force of Nature is a youth organization that helps young people turn eco-anxiety (climate change-related anxiety) into agency and develop the skills to become powerful climate advocates. In their flagship training program, young people develop public speaking skills, learn to advise influential figures such as corporate leaders, and gain the ability to lead training programs for their peers. Force of Nature also produces research, resources, and campaigns that enable people of all ages to understand and act on their eco-anxiety. Their programs are creating the next generation of activists who are prepared to catalyze climate action.
Koko
Koko’s AI technology intervenes when young people encounter potentially harmful content online. They partner with major platforms like TikTok and Tumblr to intercept harmful content, and then redirect users to evidence-based interventions like helplines, peer support groups, or self-help courses that can be accessed with a single click. They work across 50+ countries.
Safe Online for Mental Health
Safe Online for Mental Health is a new global initiative within the Fund to End Violence Against Children, which was launched in 2016 alongside the UN Secretary-General. It is currently the only global entity focused solely on Sustainable Development Goal 16.2 that aims to end all forms of violence against children by 2030. Safe Online is collaborating with the World Health Organization to implement the first-ever global guidelines aimed at protecting young people’s mental health online. Safe Online will be responsible for raising and deploying $100 million in grants to scale trusted solutions for digital mental health and for mobilizing the partnerships required to implement the guidelines worldwide. This work hopes to lead to a cooperative, global effort to implement online guidelines, reform policy across countries, and enable tech solutions to meet young people’s needs globally.
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the preeminent global health organization responsible for everything from guiding government health ministries to providing direct healthcare in local communities. The Department of Mental Health, Brain Health, and Substance Abuse oversees all of WHO’s mental health-related activities. WHO is now developing the first-ever global guidelines that outline how to promote and protect young people’s mental health online. As the global health authority, WHO’s guidelines would be used and trusted by governments in a majority of the world’s countries to truly impact youth worldwide.
Multi-region
Artolution
Artolution uses art as a tool for social change and healing. They provide collaborative art-making experiences in communities affected by conflict, displacement, and trauma to foster collective healing. Their approach involves working closely with local artists and youth to create murals, sculptures, and other art forms that reflect and address the issues facing their communities. Such forms of art-making have been found to be an effective way to help young people process their experiences and create a sense of community in their new environments. They work in Uganda, Bangladesh, Jordan, Colombia and the US.
Ember
Ember is a regranter focused on mental health at the local level that works across Africa, Asia and Latin America. They select locally-led mental health initiatives and mentor them over a 12 to 24-month period, providing funding and in-kind support based on the specific organization’s needs (e.g., strategy, communications, impact evaluation, etc.). The supported organizations provide accessible, high-quality mental healthcare to underserved communities.
EMpower
EMpower is a regranter focused on mental health at the local level that works in India, Turkey, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. They invest in locally driven organizations using a trust-based, long-term, and flexible funding model. The organizations they support focus on three essential elements for young people’s success: inclusive learning, economic well being, and safe, healthy lives. The mental health grantees who EMpower funds provide psychosocial support and programs to build young people’s resilience and self-esteem, as well as critical thinking, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and stress management skill sets.
Grassroot Soccer
Grassroot Soccer uses soccer as a tool to address the holistic health of young people and empower them with lifesaving health information. Their dedicated mental health program, MindSKILLZ, is a 12-session curriculum that addresses sensitive topics like stress, anxiety, depression, and emotional regulation. Through the sessions, young people learn coping mechanisms and are encouraged to break down the stigmas surrounding mental health. Grassroot Soccer runs their MindSKILLS program across several African countries and partners with governments and local health organizations to expand the program’s reach.
Girl Effect
Girl Effect supports adolescent girls and young women to make informed choices and changes in their lives, enabling them to take control of their bodies, health, education, and futures. They work with various stakeholders, including girl researchers, creators, champions, and advisors as well as technical experts, partners, and government structures, to inspire girls, co-develop solutions, and connect them to support and services for improved health, education, and livelihoods. One suite of tools they are developing is AI chatbots to support girls’ sexual/reproductive health as well as their mental health and wellbeing.
Healing Together
Healing Together trains community leaders like health workers, educators, and youth workers on mental health and healing practices to disrupt cycles of trauma and harm, and better support young people. They train these leaders with skills in trauma-informed mental healthcare, emotional first aid (addressing emotional injuries when they occur so they do not become more damaging long term), and building community resilience. Participants who complete the training gain the skills needed to support individuals who have experienced trauma, recognize the link between the body and mind in stress management, and create a safe and supportive environment. They work in Uganda, Nepal, and the US.
Luta Pela Paz
Luta Pela Paz uses boxing and martial arts—in combination with programs focusing on education, employability, mentorship, and personal development—to empower young people in communities affected by violence. Luta Pela Paz’s primary initiative is their Community of Care program, which trains young people to act as champions for good mental health and share mental wellbeing educational content with their peers. The program also trains school professionals in communities with high levels of violence to provide mental health support and advocates for increased government investment in mental health support for low-income, high-violence communities. Luta Pela Paz works in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Cape Verde.
WorldBeing
WorldBeing focuses on delivering evidence-based resilience and wellbeing training to marginalized youth (particularly girls and young women) in low- and middle-income countries. They also train teachers to embed social-emotional learning programs into school curriculums. Through weekly sessions in schools, young people learn skills to strengthen their resilience, wellbeing, and overall health, helping youth thrive despite challenging circumstances.
Asia & Australia
Labhya
Labhya integrates wellbeing and social-emotional learning programs into public school systems in India. These programs equip young people with essential skills like resilience, empathy, and relationship building, while also addressing mental health challenges like anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Ultimately, the programs assist in enhancing overall academic performance. Labhya collaborates with governments on program implementation, with the aim of improving the emotional resilience and learning capacity of millions of vulnerable children.
Orygen
Orygen is dedicated to transforming youth mental health through pioneering research, clinical services, and policy advocacy. The organization focuses on early intervention and treatment for mental health issues like psychosis, depression, and anxiety in young people. They also emphasize digital mental health solutions, education, and partnerships with youth to shape better mental healthcare systems. Their Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Australia Youth Mental Health Fellowship trains young people in low- and middle-income countries to become mental health advocates and provides them with support, expert mentoring, and peer networking. Ultimately, Orygen’s work aims to empower young people to recover and thrive as they transition into adulthood.
Our Herd
OurHerd is a storytelling app that empowers young people to safely share their personal experiences of mental health challenges through a monitored platform. By encouraging peer-to-peer storytelling, the platform fosters community and helps young people who are experiencing these challenges to feel less isolated. The platform also amplifies youth voices to inspire positive change in mental health systems; OurHerd uses AI to capture quantitative and qualitative data that is then shared with decision-makers in government and mental healthcare systems, allowing the voices and perspectives of young people to be integrated into policy change and mental health services.
North America
As We Are
As We Are is a nonprofit organization in the process of developing a mobile app to offer evidence-based mental health and wellbeing support that speaks to the unique developmental and cultural needs of young Asian Americans. Their mission is to support young Asian Americans to feel accepted and to know within that they are whole as they are.
Black Girls Smile
Black Girls Smile supports the mental health and emotional wellbeing of Black girls and young women. The organization provides access to a range of resources (such as mental health education, access to therapy, wellbeing workshops, and safe, supportive community spaces) specifically aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by Black girls and young women. Through their programs, Black Girls Smile helps participants navigate their mental health journeys and build a strong, resilient foundation for their futures.
Children’s Health Council (CHC)
Children’s Health Council’s mission is to transform young lives by providing culturally-responsive best-in-class services for learning differences and mental health to families from diverse backgrounds regardless of language, location or ability to pay. This includes in-person services in the Silicon Valley region as well as a robust online resource library accessible to all.
#Halfthestory
#HalfTheStory is empowering the next generation to build healthy relationships with technology by educating youth on better digital habits and training them to advocate for policy changes that will make for a safer digital future. Through educational programs, advocacy, and community initiatives, they help teens understand the impact of their digital habits on their mental health. Specifically, their flagship program, Social Media U, helps teens balance tech use with emotional health. The organization also advocates for digital wellbeing as a fundamental right.
HopeLab
Hopelab is a social innovation lab and impact investor that supports the mental wellbeing of adolescents ages 10–25, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth. As a regranter, Hopelab collects funds from donors and distributes them to a diverse set of organizations working at the intersection of youth mental wellbeing, technology, and social media. Their Responsible Youth Technology Power Fund supports youth-led projects that shape how technology impacts society, emphasizing ethical tech use, digital rights, and inclusion. The Responsible Youth Technology Power Fund aims to empower young people and their communities to take part in shaping the future of technology.
ICONIQ Impact Education and Economic Mobility Co-Lab
This is a $56 million philanthropic fund supporting organizations that are working to close the opportunity gap in the United States by: (1) providing more equitable career pathways for marginalized young people, (2) supporting mental health to spur academic and professional success, and (3) equipping underserved families with social, educational, and professional support.
Inseparable
Inseparable builds movements that advocate for evidence-based policies and expand access to mental health support in the United States. The organization provides governors, as well as state and federal legislators, with research, testing, polling results, and legislative guides to help implement data-driven policy change. Additionally, Inseparable releases reports with state-level data and conducts public opinion research to ensure lawmakers, advocacy groups, and activists have the information they need to create effective, inclusive policies. Finally, Inseparable facilitates networks of policymakers and activists, ensuring that supportive cohorts of peers can build momentum collectively.
Roca
Roca, Inc. focuses on disrupting the cycle of incarceration and poverty for young people. The organization provides direct mental health support (based on proven cognitive behavioral therapy approaches) to those impacted by urban violence in the United States. Roca, Inc. also equips the institutions that surround young people—like police forces, child protective services, and court systems—to effectively support the mental health challenges they may face.
Weird Enough Productions
Weird Enough Productions uses comic books that feature a cast of diverse superheroes (in combination with a classroom curriculum) to teach young people how to manage their emotions and become informed consumers and creators of media. Their Get Media L.I.T. (Learn, Inquire, Transform) program helps young people develop the skills to critically assess digital content and combat misinformation and media stereotypes. “Learn” introduces concepts like modeling healthy emotional expression and developing social media savvy. “Inquire” promotes critical thinking around how social media affects emotional wellness, media’s impact on popular beliefs, and detecting falsehoods online. “Transform” encourages students to apply their knowledge to their own media creation and civic engagement.
Africa
Strong Minds
StrongMinds provides adolescents and women from under-resourced communities across Uganda, Zambia, and Kenya with free, in-person group therapy focused on treating depression. Over six sessions, trained counselors help participants identify their underlying triggers of depression, examine how their interpersonal relationships and depression symptoms are linked, strategize solutions to their problems, learn coping mechanisms, practice interpersonal skills, and identify support structures that they can continue to lean on after therapy has ended. StrongMinds also offers phone-based approaches to depression treatment, integrates their therapy programs into schools, and implements their programming through partner organizations—all of which increases the reach and scalability of their model.
War Child
War Child offers comprehensive mental health support to young people affected by war, including sports-based group therapy and community training to identify and assist those struggling with mental health challenges. War Child also focuses on children’s rights overall (including the right to learn and the right to have food, water, and a safe home) as these are inextricably linked to young people’s right to mental health. They apply pressure on governments and other influential actors to maintain these protections. War Child provides support in conflict zones including Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.
Waves for Change
Waves for Change provides an evidence-based surf therapy program for young people experiencing trauma and poverty. The program combines the health benefits of surfing with activities that support the mental health and wellbeing of young people. Participants develop skills to help them foster healthy relationships, understand and manage their emotions, and build resilience. Waves for Change works in South Africa, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and South Sudan.
Europe & Middle East
AMNA
Amna is a refugee-led organization committed to training community organizations and individuals on how to deliver therapeutic care and create safe spaces for people impacted by conflict and displacement. Amna establishes community hubs in regions with large refugee populations, supporting local partner organizations through grants and up to three years of training on trauma-sensitive therapeutic care. Separately, they train local governments, international nongovernmental organizations, educators, teachers, legal professionals, social workers, and health workers to integrate mental health knowledge into workforces. Their work creates safe spaces for emotional recovery and provides tools for rebuilding resilience, managing stress, and fostering a sense of belonging for displaced populations.
Reclaim Childhood
Reclaim Childhood is an organization dedicated to empowering young girls and women through sports and play. Their programs create safe and inclusive spaces for refugees and local girls living in Jordan to engage in physical activities, strengthen their self-confidence, and build cross-cultural connections. Each weekly sports practice combines learning a specific sports skill with learning a social skill, like communication, bullying prevention, and leadership. Mothers are heavily involved in the programs to encourage full-family participation in physically and mentally healthy lifestyles, and the coaches are all refugee women.