Kids Mental Health Foundation

Programming and Distribution - The primary activities include the development and distribution of children's mental health resources. Kids Mental Health Foundation provides lesson plans, curricula and other content packages to community partners, including school districts, churches and youth-serving organizations, which in turn use and further distribute these resources throughout their communities to educate and raise awareness about children's mental health. In addition, The Kids Mental Health Foundation offers numerous electronic resources for parents and advocates through its website, including articles, guides and curriculum that can help address children's mental health needs, and articles on a variety of mental health topics. Content is promoted through its website, as well as social media accounts, an electronic newsletter, distribution partners and a learning management system. To further reach families, concentrated effort has been put in place to redesign the website to more engaging and informational, and resources are now available in Spanish . Since 2018, the program has provided educational materials to more than 24 million people nationwide. Educational materials are evidence-informed and developed year-round with insights from the 1,000+ behavioral health professionals at Nationwide Children's Hospital, one of America's largest providers of mental health services. All development is overseen by the Executive and Associate Clinical Directors, both who are practicing child psychologists. The team also uses the support of other mental health experts depending on specific topic areas. The materials are then used by community nonprofit partners, national organizations, educators, coaches, corporations, health care organizations, families and advocates across the country. Surveys to e-community members and educators who receive mental wellness kits help assess needs for topics and feedback regarding usefulness of resources. Surveys for community audiences following presentations and tabling events for feedback regarding helpfulness and relevance. With the teacher kits, 92.3% reported that they observed a change in students' behavior because of the skills gained from the kits, most noticing an increase in compassion and empathy.

Social Impact - In addition to the provision of educational resources, The Kids Mental Health Foundation seeks to bring awareness to mental health and wellness and help break stigmas through media outlets, presentations and conversations. The Kids Mental Health Foundation is part of the Mental Health Coalition and the MTV Storytelling Coalition and shares best practices with them. In 2024, the Kids Mental Health Foundation participated in several national events, including National Eating Disorders Awareness Day at the United Nations; Stop Stigma Together in Salt Lake City, Utah; the Hollywood and Mind Summit in California; and Wellbeing at Work Day in New York City. The Kids Mental Health Foundation and Mental Health Storytelling Coalition hosted a panel to discussing changing the narratives in children's mental health in entertainment and media. This also marked the launch of the children's section of the Mental Health Media Guide, developed by The Kids Mental Health Foundation. The Foundation also partnered with the CAA Foundation to host a panel about children's mental health on World Mental Health Day and a Kids' Mental Health Day event at a popular mall in Los Angeles to spread awareness of resources. The Kids Mental Health Foundation also uses the megaphone of the entertainment industry to promote children's mental health through social media - Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Licensing - The Kids Mental Health Foundation is the leading organization promoting mental health for children in the United States. To achieve its vision to build a world where mental health is a vital part of every child's upbringing, more than 1,000 mental health professionals and researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital, in partnership with other trusted experts, provide real-world knowledge and expertise to power the Foundation's free educational videos, guides and curriculum. Launched in 2018 as The On Our Sleeves Movement for Children's Mental Health, the organization expanded its mission as The Kids Mental Health Foundation to reflect the belief that emotional and physical wellbeing should be treated the same. To date, more than 24 million people have engaged with the Foundation's materials, empowering parents, caregivers, educators, coaches and employers as the guiding force for children's mental health all across the United States.