Let’s Erase the Stigma: Saving kids today from tomorrow!

How much does a secret weigh?

Every time we see a teen suicide, bullying incident, eating disorder, or youth tragedy in the news, it breaks someone's heart--like yours or mine--as we wonder, how can we help? But far more telling than what we see in the headlines is what remains unspoken. One family is thinking, "We never saw this coming." One teacher is thinking, "That happened here, too." One friend is thinking, "I hope it wasn't my fault." One leader is thinking, "Good thing we don't have those problems here." One health care provider is thinking, "We did the best we could." And thousands of kids are thinking, "I'm going through the same thing...but I can't tell anyone."

A Commitment to Measuring Outcomes

During its first academic year (2009-2010), Let’s Erase the Stigma Educational Foundation (LETS) grew from a single Club of 5 students in Los Angeles to more than 40 members. During its second year, LETS grew from 1 LETS Club of 40 students in LA, to a national movement of more than 400 kids in 15 LETS Clubs across 6 states; with projected growth continuing at least at this rate throughout their third year. Throughout this growth, we’ve been especially interested in the stories shared by LETS Club members as they explain how they have reduced stigma in their schools while addressing issues like bullying, teen suicide, eating disorders, help-seeking and treatment, and other stigmatized mental health concerns in their communities. We wanted to hold our children’s charity accountable for making real change through evidence-based best practices, and we recognized that LETS is an opportunity to learn more about about the science of children and stigma. In order to truly help, we decided to prioritize the study of our youth-based LETS Club model, launching our pilot study in May, 2011.

outcomes

Let's Erase the Stigma:
An Educational Foundation with Kids Saving Kid

Let's Erase the Stigma Educational Foundation (LETS) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) children's charity dedicated to erasing the stigma of mental illness by funding and developing educational programs, mentoring opportunities, and research possibilities designed to empower youth to change the perception of mental illness. LETS Educational Foundation establishes LETS Clubs in schools and community centers where members discuss stigma, learn about mental health, plan their own stigma-erasing projects, and lead peer-to-peer education.

LETS prioritizes prevention and early education by empowering youth to openly discuss mental health concerns faced by their generation and by their communities. Stigma is the number one reason why individuals with mental health concerns do not seek treatment (and when they do, delays of ten years or more are all too common)--in answer, LETS Educational Foundation has created a resource for student-led initiatives that erase this stigma before it forms. The LETS Club design is an elegant, easily implemented model that bypasses barriers of stigma because it's "just a club." Inviting kids to talk in a place as informal--and as fun!--as a LETS Club raises mental health literacy before costly crisis intervention services are needed.

LETS creates community responsiveness to youth-led initiatives, inclusive of underserved cultural populations, Transitional Age Youth, foster students, LGBT youth, low-income families, and kids with mental illness--helping diverse populations overcome barriers to access.