EmpowerU Youth Mental Health Learning Model
We are proud to share something we’ve been working toward for years. The EJS Project and ReableU have officially published the EmpowerU Youth Mental Health Program: A Learning Model for Communities. This is a free resource designed to help youth-serving organizations build the foundation for an integrated mental health program in their own communities.
This guide was born from our own experience, missteps, breakthroughs, and the young people who trusted in our team to show us what they needed. The responsibility for youth mental health belongs to all of us.
The Guide
Depression
Unmet Mental Health Needs
Anxiety
Suicidality
(*Sources: HRSA/National Survey of Children’s Health; CDC; NAMI)
Why we created this guide:
A mental health initiative cannot take hold without first building a restorative community space. This is a deliberately designed environment that fosters healing, connection, and accountability through restorative practices. These communities prioritize relationship-building, conflict resolution, and collective well-being, often integrating principles of restorative justice, trauma-informed care, and social-emotional learning.
“Like any meaningful effort, if there is not a firm foundation, the building will eventually crumble. For a mental health support system to take hold among at-risk youth, that foundation is a restorative space community.”
Emanuel “Dupree” Jackson, Jr., EJS founding director
Since we first launched in 2023, EJS youth have realized the following positive outcomes:
- A stronger understanding of mental health
- Engaged in meaningful and stimulating interpersonal growth activities
- 77.9% reported they have at least one person who they feel loves them
- 74.6% reported they have at least one person they feel they can trust
- 61.1% are hopeful about the future
“What I like best is I’ve been heard in getting help. I can use my voice to ask for what I need. Circles helped me open up a little bit to express how I feel. I’m still in my shell, but I’m coming out a little. And since I got the help I need, my grades went up from an F to a B.”
La’Karia, EJS Project Student, Age 14
Implementation Support
Together, we offer this learning model not as a one-size-fits-all solution, but as a framework.
We know that a guide is a starting point, not the finish line. We encourage you to take what resonates, adjust what needs refining, and always center the voices and needs of the young people you support.
If your organization is interested in implementing the EmpowerU model and would like to talk through what that looks like in your community or organization, we’re open to connecting with you!
The EJS Project team is available for consultation calls with youth-serving organizations that want guidance on getting started, building their team, or adapting this model to their unique context. We would love to hear from you.
Acknowledgements
The EmpowerU Mental Health Program and this learning model were made possible with the generous support from the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation and funding from the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County. This guide was developed in partnership with ReAbleU Therapy, founded by Darius Murray, LMHC.
