A Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Have you ever had an idea that keeps rattling around in your head until suddenly your idea to make a grilled cheese sandwich with 2 kinds of cheese becomes a grilled cheese themed amusement park? Atlas is a lot like that for Annie and I. We began this endeavor by thinking of simple ways to help teenagers, but the conversation keeps going and growing into big ideas. We have to start somewhere, though, and I thought it would be helpful to discuss where we see Atlas beginning and what we envision Atlas being able to achieve.
The first goal of Atlas Youth Outreach is to bring mental health groups for teenagers into Jefferson County and make them accessible to all young people who may benefit.
The catalyst for Atlas, the bread and cheese if you will, were discussions about where to find group therapy for our teenage clients. Jefferson County isn’t without mental health services, but if you’re seeking to get additional help for a client with a traumatic history, or a place to learn from peers about control over anxiety, or simple support for youth who have just been placed in the foster care system you most often have to look outside of the county. That usually means looking north, to St. Louis, which holds it’s own challenges for residents of Jefferson County. A teenager looking for a group about depression, who is living in the southern most part of Jefferson County, may have to travel thirty or more miles to participate in those services. That distance can be financially infeasible for a family with a lower income who will need to conserve gas to drive to work. To arrive on time to a group at that distance teens might also have to leave school early, miss extracurricular activities at school or skip dinner leading to more stress. Even if time and money are not a barrier to the family they may not be eligible for the group as many groups have caveats to enter, such as “teens who live in St. Louis County”, “teens involved with the Juvenile Justice system”, or “teens with a recent hospital admission.”
The second goal of Atlas Youth Outreach is to build up more support groups for teenagers going through life transitions.
This is where the sandwich starts to grow. As we began our own, informal, assessment of the needs of the young people in the area we saw needs that were peripheral to mental health. While peripheral these needs were also essential to the mental health of a young adult. For example, young people with college ambitions but no support system who are struggling to complete a FAFSA application. A youth coming out as gay or trans needing a community of people to connect with. Teenagers experiencing the sudden loss of a loved one. The list goes on. There’s so much more than just American cheese.
The third, and long-term, goal of Atlas is to create a drop-in center for teenagers to come and access assistance for any need they might have.
Eventually we saw a need for something central for teenagers to turn to when they needed help. Any kind of help. Or maybe just a place to go to talk, or do homework, or be validated in their pursuits…and so why not just build the theme park.
It’s ambitious, but we know it’s also achievable with the right kind of support. That support can be you. If you’ve read our story and heard our goals and have an interest in improving the lives of teenagers in Jefferson County we encourage you to visit our website, follow us on our social media, and if at all possible donate.
Thank you for your support,
Jeff Elden, MA, LPC
Founder, Executive Director of Operations
