PROGRAMS
Community Violence Intervention Program
Mindset Kidz partners with community based organizations, social service providers, and law enforcement to support disconnected youth and families in Person and Caswell counties who are have been impacted by community violence. Our goal is to prevent and disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation, and establish relationships between individuals and community assets to deliver services that address trauma, provide opportunity, and improve the physical, social, and economic conditions that drive violence in marginalized communities.
Mind Your Mental
Mindset Kidz facilitates the “Mind Your Mental Health” workshop each summer for rural and marginalized youth. The goal of this six week program is to fully engage youth within rural communities to learn about and discuss key topics on mental health to dispel the stigma surrounding these issues. Students are able to hear from trained, mental health professionals about the causes of anxiety, depression in youth and discuss ways to cope with COVID-related grief. Youth are provided with mental health resources, toolkits, and project based learning opportunities that increase healthy coping skills and connect them with peer support.
Promoting Employment Opportunities for Survivors of Trafficking (PEOST) Initiative
The Promoting Employment Opportunities for Survivors of Trafficking (PEOST) Training and Technical Assistance Project, in cooperation with Futures Without Violence, works to increase access to quality educational and employment opportunities for survivors of gender-based violence with an emphasis on the unique needs of survivors of human trafficking. PEOST provides, resources, training, and technical assistance opportunities to victim service providers, with a special emphasis on workforce development for survivors of violence in order to:
foster and/or strengthen partnerships between and among victim service providers, local workforce development programs, and educational institutions;
build the capacity of victim service providers and workforce development programs to enhance services to promote greater access to quality employment opportunities for survivors of trafficking; and,
develop economic empowerment programming that supports resilience and prepare survivors of trafficking for success when pursuing their education, training, and employment goals.
SMART Program
The SMART program uses a holistic and collaborative approach to provide supportive services and resources to youth in Person and Granville Counties who have lived experience in juvenile justice, family violence, and/or child trafficking. Since transportation creates additional challenges for serving youth in these communities, our organization coordinates transportation services for enrolled participants to attend SMART workshops, educational programming, outreach events, and counseling sessions.
SMART program participants are referred from local youth-oriented service providers, educational centers, juvenile justice, and DSS. SMART Project Director will work with community partners to plan and implement youth focused outreach events to connect with youth who would benefit from the program.
In addition to outreach, SMART ensures all participants are receiving educational support as needed.
Mindset Kidz’s licensed therapist and counselors provide individual, family, and group mental health services to enrolled youth. Since SMART’s targeted rural counties have less access to mental health services, providing access to free/low-cost counseling for youth is vital to their continued success in the program.
Workshops and counseling sessions are offered to participants on topics such as grief, trauma, dating violence, anger, healthy coping-skills and more from professionals with experience working with at-risk and justice-involved youth.