North Carolina Youth Mental Health Action Plan
Meeting Young People’s Needs
PROJECT TEAM
PROGRAM RESOURCES
Plan Steering Committee Members
Press Release: Changing Minds Launch Event
Changing Minds Event Video
CaroNova Foundational Work: Youth Mental Health
CaroNova Program: Mental Wellness Through Schools
Program Overview
CaroNova is supporting and aligning treatment providers in advancing best practices to prevent and treat opioid use disorder and scaling them across the Carolinas.
The planning effort was launched in collaboration with state government leaders, healthcare experts, philanthropic organizations, and community partners with initial statewide funding provided by Blue Cross NC and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.
Purpose
The national youth mental health crisis extends to North Carolina, where nearly one in five North Carolinians ages three to 17 are unable to access needed mental health care. The crisis is complex and—despite the urgency of unmet mental health needs—there is a lack of alignment around shared vision, outcomes, and resource allocation.
The North Carolina Youth Mental Health Action Plan Steering Committee (PSC) was formed to address this multi-system, multi-stakeholder problem. With an explicit focus on early intervention (youth) and the upstream drivers of healthy and resilient communities, the PSC will lead the development of a Youth Mental Health Action Plan to build a system that supports North Carolinians’ well-being through all life stages.
Strategies
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Youth Engagement: We are designing with—not for—North Carolina youth. Our holistic strategy focuses on four levels of engagement—cultural, advisory, strategic, and local—where it is critical to weave the youth perspective in.
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Youth Design Day: CaroNova and the PSC are planning an August event to invite up to 40 high school-aged youth recruited from existing youth councils and organizations to engage them in a human-centered workshop and leverage their voice to determine the guiding principles and core values for the NC Youth Mental Health Action Plan.
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Plan Steering Committee: The PSC has sole responsibility of guiding the entire body of work, subsequent recommendations and any outputs for this project. It is facilitated by CaroNova and comprised of subject matter experts and industry leaders from across North Carolina.