Brown: Listing all of the ‘whys’ of getting involved with Youth First

Youth First is an Evansville-based organization that has grown exponentially since its founding in 1998 by Dr. William Wooten, then medical director of an addiction treatment center, who was seeing a growing number of children and adolescents with increasingly complex problems.

He had the foresight to view prevention as the best cure and that the place to start was in the schools in Evansville and surrounding communities.

In the 26 years since, he has dedicated his time, talent, and resources to help create what has become a lifeline for thousands of young people who would otherwise fall through the cracks of a system that didn’t know how to help the kids with unspeakable problems at home, with shame so debilitating they were isolating and unable to function, with drug abuse starting as young as second grade, with paralyzing anxiety that subjected them to bullying when they did attend school, with violent outbursts that caused suspensions from school, and the list goes on.

Today, under the leadership of President and CEO Parri Black, Youth First partners with 125 schools in 14 counties in southwest and near-central Indiana to give over 52,500 students and their families free, easy access to licensed mental health professionals, primarily master’s level social workers, placed directly in schools.

That last part needs underscoring: clinically trained and closely supervised professionals are embedded in schools. Their purpose is to strengthen student mental health through one-on-one counseling, mentoring, small group support, links to resources, and parent/
teacher engagement.

Every year, throughout the school year, they help young people cope with challenges, manage emotions, pursue their education, and become healthy, productive adults. They provide evening programs for families to learn how to support their children and to support each other in their journeys toward mental health.

“It literally saved my daughter’s life and provided me with a sounding board and a helping hand during the rough patches when I didn’t know where to turn,” shared one parent.

“I am now someone who knows that my anxiety doesn’t have to define me, nor does it have to hold me back from anything I want to do in life,” said a student helped by Youth First to reach her full potential.

As for me, I’ve been a member of Youth First’s School and Government Committee since being asked to join three years ago and on its board of directors for the past two years. At least once annually, every member is asked the same question: “What’s your Why?” meaning “Why serve Youth First?”

My “why” has multiple answers:

I began my career in education and have never strayed too far from the classroom.

With a minor in Psychology from IU I’ve always had an interest in human behavior and why people do as they do.

Having served six years on JLAP’s Board I understand the importance of mental health for law students, lawyers, and judges, and that the earlier the start toward wellness, the better for all.

My four grandchildren are or will become students in schools served by Youth First.

I easily relate to struggles with mental health. My maternal grandmother, her niece, a first cousin, and my nephew have all dealt with serious mental health issues.

As a trial court judge I saw the devastating effects of substance abuse on families, and that jail was often the only housing option for mentally ill criminal defendants.

As an appellate court judge I read countless appeals involving violent crimes and domestic abuse and often wonder whether those tragic events might have been avoided had mental health care been readily accessible and free in the schools these people attended as children and adolescents.

Of course, Youth First could not do its work and could not have expanded as it has from a handful of schools in Evansville to 125 schools in 14 counties without funding, a large part of which comes from the generosity of individual and corporate donors, school partners, and also government grants including from the state Division of Mental Health and Addiction.

The importance of these dollars cannot be overstated. It is unknown exactly how many youth suicides have been prevented or how many children have not used drugs or how many have not gone on to commit crimes.

What is confirmed, though, is that Youth First intervened in 530 life-threatening situations in schools last year, mostly for suicidal ideation, and connected students to the lifesaving support they needed.

Through its evidence-based prevention programs, with tracking of student progress and outcome measurements using an independent evaluator, Youth First can also report these statistically significant findings for:

Improvements in children’s hope, communication, coping skills, decision-making, mood management, parent/child bonding, resiliency, and school bonding;

Reduction in anxiety, anger, defiant behavior, depression, classroom disruption, disengagement, family conflict, low self-esteem, and school absence;

Improvement in homework completion, classroom participation, and peer interactions;

Support of academic progress with 99% of the 3,913 students on last year’s caseload advancing to the next grade level or graduating, and 93% of the graduating seniors leaving school with college or career plans.

So those are also my whys. Youth First works. It deserves our attention as lawyers and judges because it works. We are all either parents or grandparents and/or in our profession we have so many reasons to be concerned about the mental health of our children.

It is my hope that the successes of Youth First’s model can be expanded or replicated throughout our great State so that through prevention, lives and resources can be saved.

Because if we ignore mental health, we lose our children.

To learn more, visit youthfirstinc.org or call 812-421-8336.•

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Elaine B. Brown is a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals and a member of the Youth First Board of Directors.