Fact Sheet: Surgeon General to Speak at Youth Mental Wellness Now! Summit and Applaud Commitments in Response to His Call to Action on Youth Mental Health Crisis

(Los Angeles, CA) – Today, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy joins youth leaders, celebrities, community organizers, and others at the California Endowment's Youth Mental Wellness Now! Summit celebrating new momentum gained in the work towards protecting the mental health of young people across the country since issuing his national call to action to safeguard and enhance youth mental health across the country.

In December, Dr. Murthy released the Surgeon General's Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health, calling for a swift and comprehensive response to the youth mental health crisis further exacerbated by the pandemic. The advisory provides recommendations that individuals, families, community organizations, technology companies, governments, and others can take to improve the mental health of children, adolescents, and young adults.

Today at the summit, the Surgeon General will highlight new commitments from key stakeholders from across the technology, media, entertainment, philanthropy, and non-profit sectors, diving into the substance and applauding their action in response to the advisory.

Dr. Murthy will also moderate a fireside chat titled Our Existence is Resistance: How Youth Survive & Thrive with Kendrick Sampson, an actor, activist, and philanthropist best known for his roles on Insecure, The Vampire Diaries, and How to Get Away with Murder, and Jordyn Woods, a model, actress, and mental health advocate. They will be joined in conversation by California-based youth leaders including Xochitl Larios from Communities United For Restorative Youth Justice, an organization dedicated to empowering young people to become community leaders and interrupt cycles of violence and poverty, and Ja'Nell Gore from YR Media, a non-profit network of young journalists.

About the Youth Wellness Now! Summit hosted by The California Endowment, in partnership with The Steve Fund, California Children's Trust, Youth Organize! California, YR Media, and Revolve Impact: Working with local grassroots organizations and bringing together influencers and mental health experts, the goal of the Youth Mental Wellness Now! Summit is to leave the two-day convening with tangible strategies and ideas that can be implemented immediately so that young people feel seen, supported, and heard. This event will bring together youth from diverse backgrounds and stakeholders from various sectors to hold a national conversation about youth mental health.

Together, the actions announced today represent major steps forward to address the mental health challenges that young people have faced since the Surgeon General called the nation to action on this issue, including those that have existed long before the pandemic. Impacts of today's commitments include:

• Improving and expanding access to mental health services;
• Increasing funding for and implementation of research, prevention, promotion, and early intervention programs and approaches;
• Increasing mental health support for young people who utilize digital technologies; and
• Amplifying youth voices and building storytelling and culture awareness.

FACT SHEET: Commitments Announced Today in Response to the Surgeon General's Call to Action on Youth Mental Health Crisis

Following the Surgeon General's call to action on youth mental health, technology, entertainment, philanthropy, non-profit, foundations and other organizations are announcing 75 new commitments from more than 30 organizations to promote and support the implementation of the recommendations identified in the advisory and help drive long-term impact. Commitments announced today are listed below:

American School Counselor Association (ASCA)

• The September/October issue of the ASCA School Counselor magazine will focus entirely on mental health and how school counselors address this need through school counseling programs and collaborative work with school staff, families and community agencies.
• A special issue of the Professional School Counseling journal focused on trauma will be released in July.
• The ASCA annual conference in Austin, Tx July 9-12 will offer 29 sessions about student mental health needs. ASCA is on track to have more than 5,000 in person attendees and 1,500 virtual attendees.
• There will be several webinars in 2022-2023 that will address how school counselors address student mental health needs.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation

• To help spur action, the Foundation is announcing that its annual KIDS COUNTÒ Data Book will focus on youth mental health. The Data Book, featuring national and state data and rankings as well as policy recommendations, will be released August 8 by the Casey Foundation and a network of state-based children's advocates representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This report is an important component of the Foundation's support for policy advocacy to advance bipartisan efforts to improve access to mental health services for young people. Informed by young people, Casey supports solutions that meet the needs of children and youth where they are, with an emphasis on evidence-based prevention as well as trauma-informed and culturally competent care. In addition, the Foundation newly commits to sharing mental health and wellness best practices with Casey-funded programs, connecting grantees to relevant local resources, adding new mental health and wellness components.

The Black Sheep Agency

• The Black Sheep Agency, a cause driven brand strategy and creative agency, will be designing a youth centered branded campaign meant to destigmatize conversations around youth mental health as well as promoting positive and evidence-based behaviors for young people to take around mental health.

Calm

• Calm's “Calmest Day of Pride” is providing the LGBTQ+ community and allies with an alternative way to celebrate Pride centered around mindfulness, mental health and self-acceptance, including:
  • All-new six part in-app meditation series with Lama Rod Owens called, “Coming Out” exclusively available on Calm starting today, June 15th.The series offers stories, practices, and tools to navigate the challenges and celebrate the joys of moving through the world as authentic and queer.
  • Instagram Live conversation with Lama Rod Owens and award-winning educator and author Blair Imani discussing mindfulness and meditation, LGBTQ+ self-acceptance and the importance of prioritizing mental health.
  • Social campaign featuring #CalmingOut: Stories of Self-Acceptance in partnership with the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which provides funding to LGBTQ+ centers and grassroot organizations across the U.S. and Canada through their community grant program. The videos highlight the tools and resources that helped LGBTQ+ leaders when they first came out and tips on how to look after your mental health in the process. As part of the partnership, Calm is donating $10,000 to the Tegan and Sara Foundation, and previously donated subscriptions to teens in states where anti LGBTQ legislation is currently being considered through their community grant program.

The California Endowment (TCE)

• TCE is committing $1 million in new funding towards youth mental health campaign and coalition building. As part of this commitment, TCE will host convenings to bring together philanthropy across the country and activate young people towards destigmatization and increased access for youth mental health services.

Casey Family Programs & American Academy of Pediatrics

• Casey Family Programs, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a bipartisan coalition of First Spouses from multiple states have committed to host a convening with youth and subject matter experts focused on mental health among children and youth involved with the child welfare system. The goal of this convening is to identify solutions and strategies to strengthen mental health services and supports for these children and youth.

Challenge Success

• Fall Conference Kick-Off Events: Focus on Supporting Youth Well-Being: September 16, 2022 in Palo Alto, CA and September 30, 2022 in Boston, MA. Along with the 200-300 students, school staff, and families who will be at the conference, Challenge Success commits to opening these kick-off events free of charge to all local (Bay Area and Boston-area) youth as space allows.
• Challenge Success Student Data Report on Student Emotional & Physical Health, Sense of Connection & Belonging in School, & Engagement in Learning: Challenge Success commits to sharing the results from over 200,000 students surveyed in middle and high schools across the country in the past several years on issues related to their emotional and physical health and well-being, sense of belonging and connection in schools, and engagement in school and learning. Challenge Success will widely distribute the report to their networks including but not limited to, media outlets and members of the Challenge Success email lists and social media.
• Student “Fishbowls”: Challenge Success commits to conducting a series of fishbowl focus groups with a diverse group of middle school and high school youth to better understand what students believe schools can do to support their well-being. Challenge Success will share audio/video/text of what is learned from these youth with the U.S. Surgeon General's office and their networks.
• Webinars for adult stakeholders who work with youth: Challenge Success commits to leading 2 free, open to the public, webinars on strategies for increasing youth well-being and mental health, including an overview of current research on youth well-being and ways to increase student belonging, healthy adult-student relationships, student voice, and positive coping strategies.
• Tools to Amplify Youth Voice: Challenge Success will continue with its work to develop specific tools to amplify youth voice and agency in school-based solutions to improve youth well-being and make an additional commitment to train youth and adults in over 30 schools next year to use these tools to promote effective policy and practice changes.

COMMON SENSE MEDIA

Common Sense Media is making the following new commitments around youth mental health.

• New Common Sense Research study that looks at how tech platforms risk and/or support youth mental health (e.g., body image, cyberbullying, building connections with friends).
• Advice Content (in English & Spanish) to help parents / caregivers support youth.
• A Media Outreach Campaign including events and convenings with youth from across the country, authors, experts, media leaders, celebrity activists, health professionals and more around the role of social media and tech platforms to raise awareness and focus on de-stigmatization and the role of social media and tech platforms.
• School Engagement Campaign leveraging its reach into 73% of US K-12 Schools including 89% of Title 1 Schools to distribute lessons and resources in Spanish and English to help youth achieve healthy media balance and navigate social media and its impact on their mental health
• State and Federal Advocacy efforts in support of more research, tech reforms or interventions that aid youth mental health, and platform accountability.
• Partner Activations with leading tech and media companies to distribute public service messages and other campaign content in support of youth mental health.

Creative Arts Agency (CAA) Foundation

• CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the agency, is committed to supporting the Office of the Surgeon General's Advisory on Youth Mental Health by convening and engaging its network of storytellers, influencers, and community partners to help drive a national conversation and build a movement around mental health and wellness.

The CW

• The CW is answering the United States Surgeon General's call to tackle the number one issue facing America's youth: mental health. Given its enormous broadcast reach in 96% of America's households, its more than 100 million social media followers with the highest engagement of any broadcast network, and its particular connection to young people, The CW is uniquely positioned to use its platforms and the power of storytelling to help increase awareness of the problem and be part of the solution.  The network will be launching a new initiative focused on mental health in fall 2022. The CW is committed to developing storylines across its programming to inform and support audiences. They will collaborate with advertisers and affiliates to bring the effort to local communities across the country. Using the network's expansive social media reach, The CW will also engage directly with viewers and share content, resources and action plans.

Edmentum

• Edmentum is committing to provide mental health and wellness curriculum and support services to 250,000 students and 100,000 educators over the next three years.

Ever Forward Club

• The Ever Forward Club is committed to expanding their Million Mask Movement and the use of their Millionmask.org real-time tool, which was created to face the growing mental wellness issues created by virtue of the pandemic and shelter in place time and identifies teens' emotions and feelings in real-time. Ever Forward is committed to sharing data collected through this program with schools to help school administrators, teachers, and counselors to address students' social-emotional issues in their schools.
• Will expand offerings of the 'Taking Off the Mask' workshop which helps create a safe space for individuals and groups to engage in an uncommonly open, honest dialogue, deeply reflect, and connect with each other as a community to create more meaningful connections, healthier communication, and deeper engagement. The workshops have been delivered to thousands of individuals across the globe and resulted in the collection of over 60,000 'masks' and counting in the pursuit of the #MillionMaskMovement.
• Will expand social-emotional learning offerings through the SEL Academy, which is a 15-month program created as a response to help male teens learn coping skills, and social-emotional language development to overcome challenges dealing with COVID-19. In its second year, the program continues to grow and now has two cohorts. Program activities include group mentoring, learning new skills including goal setting, presentation, improving their self-confidence and academic performance, and becoming their most authentic selves. All this work is to create a cohort of young men who become leaders of Peer Mentoring Clubs at their schools.
• Will expand PEER Mentoring Clubs, a student run club on high school campuses, where teens can build their self-confidence and gain leadership skills. Peer Mentoring Club student leaders will become members of an Advisory Council who meet monthly to share best practices, resources, youth advocacy practices and participate in an annual summit.

FAST

The Funders for Adolescent Science Translation (FAST) is a network of funders working to elevate the science of adolescence and highlight how policies, systems, and practices should better work and align to help young people live and thrive. FAST is deeply committed to equity and is dedicated to ensuring that all youth can embrace the opportunities for discovery and growth.  Furthermore, FAST is committed to convening stakeholders across multiple systems to ensure that mental well-being is an integrated part of work with youth across systems such as child welfare, education, health, justice, workforce development and housing.

• Specifically, FAST will work to identify core partners who knit mental well-being into systems and policies outside the health system, to ensure that youth needs are met in a holistic way.
• FAST will expand its efforts to lift up youth voice as well as youth narrative and storytelling, by convening media leaders, journalists, and other stakeholders to help ensure that the full lives of young people including their mental well-being – and the opportunity that this stage of life provides – become a more visible framework in our culture.
• Finally, FAST will continue and expand its efforts in overall narrative change work, to help advance belonging, inclusion and build more supportive communities to foster the mental health and well-being of youth and young adults.

Friends of the Children (Friends)

Nationally:

• Friends of the Children provides paid, professional mentoring supports to youth for 12+ years, no matter what. Friends of the Children is committed to expanding access and reducing barriers to mental health services by destigmatizing mental health care and making direct connections to culturally-responsive providers; increasing engagement in mental health services by practicing skills with youth outside the therapeutic context – at home, at school and in the community; and expanding capacity of the existing system of care by providing trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health interventions - guided by clinicians - allowing clinicians to extend their reach.
• Friends of the Children is growing our partnerships with Tribal communities across the country. In response to the high prevalence of mental health challenges among Native youth, Friends is developing research-informed and culturally attuned adaptations of program materials and training to ensure services are grounded in the diversity of language, traditions, values, and strengths of Native communities. Friends is also integrating mental health and healing supports unique to Native communities into the training for Friends and program staff.

Los Angeles specific:

• Friends of the Children – Los Angeles (Friends LA) is working at the intersection of child welfare and mental health in the Antelope Valley. Friends is expanding its training and clinical support for paid, professional mentors to increase the number of children and young people impacted by the child welfare system receiving evidence-based mental health and trauma mitigation services. The two-generation approach recognizes the need to include caregivers as part of their healing and wellbeing focus. 93% of families who were previously at risk of involvement with the child welfare system have had no contact with the system since entering the Friends LA program.

Google

• Search
  • Suicide hotlines
    • YouTube will partner on the rollout of the 988 lifeline and ensure that Search users are aware of this resource once it becomes available.

Healthy Gamer Foundation

• Creator ambassadors partner with top content creators to add meaningful representation and consumable content to youth mental health discussions through a Creator Ambassador Team via the Healthy Gamer Foundation
• Advocacy campaigns that mental health is more than just depression and/or using technology for good (community, connection, friendship)
• Governance within the gaming industry by partnering with top game development engines to promote pro-social, anti-toxic behavior online
• Mental health curriculum for middle and high schools to help young people identify and take necessary measures earlier in an effort to prevent more serious mental health effects later in life

The Joy Coalition

• The Joy Coalition is prioritizing the urgent youth mental health crisis among its slate of TV and Film projects that it is developing in partnership with Endeavor Content. It is committed to content that highlights and de-stigmatizes issues of mental health for today's youth, with the goal of alleviating the epidemic of loneliness, anxiety and fear young people are enduring. Through deep partnerships with mental health experts and academics and UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers, the Joy Coalition will build curricula & activations alongside our content that offer young people, educators and parents the access and guidance they need.  The Joy Coalition will not only create content and conversations, but community and solutions.

The Kresge Foundation

Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE): CCCSE is a service and research initiative at the University of Texas' College of Education providing institutions and policymakers with research-informed data to promote improvements in student learning, persistence, and attainment. CCCSE disseminates one of the most comprehensive and largest community college surveys to more than 950 institutions.

• The Kresge Foundation is in the process of approving a two-year grant to CCCSE for $275,000 that will enable them to create mental well-being modules as part of their 2022 Survey of Entering Student Engagement and 2023 Community College Survey of Student Engagement. This will provide a valuable source of direct data on community college mental health state and needs.

Mainstay

• Mainstay commits to expanding its behaviorally intelligent conversational AI platform, developed in partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and already used by colleges and nonprofits nationwide to help students practice wellness and self-care, to support 5 million students by 2024.

META

Increase Mental Health Support for Young People Who Utilize Digital Technologies
Supporting Teen Well-being on Instagram

• Instagram will be rolling out new 'nudges' on Instagram Explore that are designed to encourage teens to make their time on Instagram more supportive and intentional.
  • With these nudges, teens will now see a notification that encourages them to switch to a different topic if they're repeatedly looking at the same content topic on Instagram Explore.
• Instagram will be working with young creators to encourage people to use its 'Take a Break' feature. Instagram launched 'Take a Break' a few months ago to give people a way to remind themselves to take time off Instagram.
  • Instagram initially sent teens a notification to turn the feature on when they'd been scrolling in Explore for a period of time. Now, Instagram is rolling out new notifications – featuring young creators like @foodwithsoy, @abraxas, and @mayasideas – that will show up in Reels.
  • The reminders include tips from creators on how they take a break and why it's sometimes a good idea to get off social media for a bit and will help encourage and support young people.

Providing Parents with More Parental Supervision Features across Meta

• Meta is rolling out parental supervision tools in virtual reality for its Quest headsets. With these updates, parents and guardians can:
  • Monitor how much time their teen spends using the Quest headset and view who their teen is friends with.
  • Receive notifications when apps are purchased and downloaded, as well as the ability to block and unblock Quest apps, including internet browsers.
  • Control which devices their child's Quest headset is linked to.
• Meta is building new resources for parents and guardians navigating their VR experience through a Parent Education Hub
  • This includes a Parent's Guide to Meta's VR Parental Supervision Tools by ConnectSafely, providing context about parental supervision tools and why to use them, communicating with teens about their VR use, and helping them understand the limits of parental management tools
• Meta is adding more tools to its existing Instagram parental supervision controls, including:
  • Parents and guardians will now be able to send invitations to their teen to initiate supervision to support their teen's Instagram experience.
  • They can also set “scheduled breaks,” which are specific times during the day or week when teens cannot access Instagram. This means a parent or guardian could schedule breaks for study time, dinner time, or bedtime, for instance.
  • Parents and guardians will now receive more reporting insights when their teen chooses to share that they've reported an account or post.
• Meta will also continue to add more resources to its Meta Family Center so teens and their parents and guardians can access educational information on creating and managing emotional well-being, cultivating resilience and dealing with things like bullying on Meta platforms.

Amplify Youth Voices, Build Storytelling, & Culture Awareness

• Meta is empowering creators through funding and education to share more content on Instagram that inspires young people, strengthens their self-image and supports their well-being.
  • The program will be supported by an Expert Steering Committee, composed of select external researchers, thought leaders and digital content experts. These experts will provide guidance on evidence-based language that strengthens emotional well-being and self-image, how to create responsible content online, and how creators can look after themselves and their communities.
  • These creators will develop content to raise awareness around key cultural moments, such as BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month and the rollout of 988.

Improve & Expand Access to Mental Health Services

• Meta is investing $1M to connect tens of millions of Americans with expert partner mental health resources across Facebook and Instagram. Over the next few months, Meta will work with mental health organizations – including organizations that serve particularly vulnerable communities, such as young people, veterans, BIPOC, and clinicians – and support them with $1M in ads funding and tools to scale access to their mental health services across the U.S.

The Miami HEAT

• In response to U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy's call to action in support of youth mental health advocacy, The Miami HEAT, along with Florida Blue, Mindful Kids Miami and Miami-Dade County Public Schools will again be committing to support its Mindfulness Champions initiative for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. As part of the initiative in 2021, the Miami HEAT in its work to mainstream the conversation and eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health, funded mindfulness training of one Mindfulness Champion (teacher) at each of the 354 Kindergarten – 12th grade public schools in Miami-Dade County, the 4th largest school district in the country, with the purpose of giving students and faculty additional skills and resources that will help them achieve a healthier and more resilient state of mind. According to research, mindfulness has proven to be an integral practice in helping to manage stress, depression and anxiety in youth and adult populations alike.

Mightier App

• Access to Children's Mental Healthcare
  • Medicaid waivers are offered in every state through the various state legislatures. Most states have waivers to support developmental and physical disabilities and less than 25 states have waivers to support serious emotional disturbance (SED)
    • Mightier will work with the Children's Long Term Support Waiver in Wisconsin to fund community support and services for children who have substantial limitations in their daily activities and need support to remain in their homes or community.
• Commitment to Public School Systems
  • Mightier is continuously interested in learning and expanding to reach more kids and families. While Mightier is currently an in-home program to support kids' emotional learning, many kids may have more support and opportunity for programs like Mightier within a school environment.
  • Mightier is partnering with Lowell Public Schools (in MA) to pilot how Mightier works in a school environment in two capacities:
    • Day school - serves children pre-k through 8th grade with an Autism diagnosis
    • Adjustment Programs - Sub-separate classrooms (12 kids per room) in the main school building for kids who have IEPs for social-emotional disabilities. (Key areas would be 5th and 6th-grade classroom and 7th and 8th-grade classroom).
• Research and Clinical Trials
  • Mightier is committed to advancing children's mental health via clinical research and trials. Mightier's biofeedback games were developed & tested at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The technology behind Mightier has been tested in four trials, including two double-blind, randomized controlled trials. Mightier has teamed up with Magellan Health to study how video-game-like therapy can improve emotional regulation for children, thanks to a $2 million National Institute of Mental Health grant.

MSI

• MSI will provide in-kind space in the Library Journal &/or the School Library Journal to promote the Surgeon General's message, along with resources for public libraries and schools to address youth mental health.

National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)

NASSP recognizes that supporting the mental health needs of our children is essential to ensure they can thrive and grow.

• For this reason, NASSP has created the first ever Student Leadership Network on Mental Health, led by National Honor Society students, to provide an opportunity for student leaders from across the nation to engage with their peers and address their needs. In November 2023, NASSP will be convening this Network, along with their NHS Adviser and/or school leader, the 2022 NASSP State Principals of the Year and the 2022 NASSP State Assistant Principals of the Year to work together to plan for meaningful change around wellbeing for their school communities. The convening will include a Symposium on Mental Health and Wellbeing on the morning of November 12, convening educational leaders and other organizations to hear directly from students on their needs and challenges; highlight best practices and success stories; and workshop possible solutions to implement moving forward.

National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH)

• Commits to offer 200 free registrations to youth leaders/attendees for the 2022 Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health. The conference will be held virtually on October 13th and 14th, 2022 and will bring together thousands of leaders and front-line workers from the youth behavioral health and education workforces, researchers, family members, advocates, and other stakeholders in the school mental health field to share the latest research and best practices. The conference emphasizes a shared school-family-community agenda to bring high-quality, culturally responsive, and equitable evidence-based mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention to students and families as part of a multi-tiered system of supports.
  • NCSMH will also commit to hosting a virtual youth forum during the conference where youth can share and prioritize actions to advance comprehensive school mental health in the nation and in their local communities.
• Commits to support youth advocates for school mental health policy change via our “youth spotlight” section of the bi-monthly NCSMH newsletter.
• Commits to partner with YouthMOVE National in their efforts to support youth as advocates for advancing school mental health, including via the collaboratively developed website - https://schoolmentalhealth.youthmovenational.org/.
  • Equip youth advocates with resources, information, and advocacy tips to create positive changes in schools. Calls on youth advocates from across the country to advocate for policy in four key areas: mental health education, mental health training for teachers and school staff, mental health programs & services in schools, and restorative justice in schools.

Pinterest

• Youth Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing Philanthropic Commitment: The challenges and opportunities surrounding youth mental health is a core focus of Pinterest's philanthropic strategy to advance emotional wellbeing around the world. As a result, Pinterest is designating over a third of its $10M commitment to advance emotional wellbeing to support nonprofit organizations and NGOs specifically focused on, and dedicated to serving, youth.
• Updating and Expanding Compassionate Search: Pinterest will update and expand its compassionate search feature to new international markets to reach more people, including youth. Initially launched in 2019, Pinterest's Compassionate Search feature offers a collection of interactive activities to help Pinners safely access supportive resources to improve their mood if they are feeling stressed, anxious, sad or trying to manage difficult emotions. Currently available in 12 countries (including the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Singapore, India, the Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Brazil and Germany), this year the feature will roll out to 11 more countries in the coming weeks, including France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
• Measuring and Building a Nourishing Product Experience: In the next year Pinterest will identify new mechanisms to measure the health of its content ecosystem and Pinner experience. Pinterest also has product teams dedicated to trust and safety, inclusive product, and emotional wellbeing — all focused on one clear mission — to ensure all people, including youth and young adults, that use our product feel safe, seen, and supported in their pursuits.
• How We Feel App Partnership:  Pinterest employees are providing in-kind volunteer support to The How We Feel (HWF) Project - a new app designed to help everyone better understand their emotions. It was created in partnership with Dr. Marc Brackett and his team at the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence, including Dr. Robin Stern and Dr. Zorana Pringle. How We Feel's mission is to help individuals spot patterns in their emotions as they appear over time, learning new ways to help themselves in the moment. The HWF technology team includes a volunteer group of current and former Pinterest employees.
• Continued Support for the MTV Mental Health Youth Action Fellows: As a follow-up to the MTV/White House Mental Health Youth Action Forum in May, Pinterest will be continuing our support for these Youth Fellows with a financial backing of $5,000 per Fellow to support bringing their content to life on the Pinterest platform for other Pinners and Creators to access.
• New Mental Health Content and Creator Partnerships: Pinterest has worked with 100 creators and experts in the mental health and wellness space, which brought to life hundreds of high-quality short-form videos (Idea Pins) around the themes of emotional wellbeing, digital wellness, and living with intention both online and offline. All these resources can be found on the Mind Your Wellness Pinterest Board.  Among our major advocates and participants were actresses Marsai Martin and Charithra Chandran of the acclaimed television series Bridgerton. Additionally, Pinterest is launching and amplifying a series called Creator Originals which showcases 22 creators and episodes across a range of topics. One series is dedicated entirely to mental health and emotional wellbeing and featuring renowned content creators such as Morgan Harper Nichols and Lavendaire.
• Public Policy Advocacy: Pinterest will support legislation to improve mental health outcomes and build a more positive and inspiring Internet.

Pivotal Ventures

Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, provides funding and support to organizations that take a health equity approach to adolescent mental health. Their approach to mental health support centers on the urgent needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ youth and young people of color and Pivotal Ventures is committed to expanding that work with the following new projects:

• Supporting equity-focused mental health data. MTV Entertainment and Pivotal Ventures, with support from the AAKOMA Project, have committed to multi-year effort to research and report on youth mental health.  This annual data report will create a new standard for tracking youth emotional health, uplifting equity, that can be disaggregated to efficaciously describe differences by age, demographics, geography, and identity. MTVE and Pivotal Ventures are committed to funding a standardized national data pipeline that tracks the social, emotional, and mental wellbeing of young people in the United States every year. The creation of this annual Youth Mental Health Tracker will serve as a reliable measure of equitable comprehensive youth wellbeing in the US that will catalyze action – from caregivers to mental health professionals to policy makers – in support of equitable, broadly relevant care.
• Providing more innovative solutions in support of digital wellbeing. Pivotal Ventures and the Susan Crown Exchange are collaborating to fund and support the HX Project (short for Human Experience) – a new concept that will help young people create a healthy and empowered relationship with tech. HX will bring key stakeholders together, as well as make new funding available for research, innovation, product design and media campaigns that align with young people's wholistic needs in successfully navigating the digital world.
• Improve and expand access to mental health care. Young people face challenges accessing affordable, culturally competent care, particularly young people of color, LGTBQ+ youth, and their families. In partnership with Inseparable, Pivotal will support the Hopeful Futures Campaign to fundamentally improve mental health policy, particularly with respect to schools.

Snapchat

• Snap will collaborate for the second year in a row to support Snap's 'Club Unity.' Club Unity is a board of young leaders that unites leading actors, dancers, singers, and athletes to support Gen Z voices; empowering them to address the generation's most critical topics. This year, Club Unity will work to equip Snapchatters with tools, strategies & role models, to help tackle mental health conversations and support their own wellbeing and will support a mental health summit in Los Angeles in the fall around World Mental Health Day, featuring the U.S. Surgeon General.

UCLA's Center for Scholars & Storytellers

• UCLA's Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) will work with partners such as Disney Branded Kids, CAA, Joy Coalition, YouTubeKids and leading showrunners to continue to offer research insights on best practices on how to incorporate mental health messaging for youth into their programming, both in scripted content and marketing materials.
• In addition, CSS will hold their second Authentically Inclusive Summit at UCLA, a gathering of entertainment thought leaders, adolescents and scholars, focused on mental health in late September 2022.
• Finally, CSS will continue to conduct cutting edge research focusing on how to maximize the power of entertainment media to positively impact adolescent mental health.

The Vistria Group

• The Vistria Group is committed to investing $250 million into U.S. providers of adolescent and youth mental health services over the next three years. This capital will help quality platforms provide more access to critical treatment for, among other things, SUD, to more communities across the U.S. in need of these services.