Written by Tanya Terry
Featured photo: Left to right: Crystal Cederna, associate professor and clinical psychologist in the C.S. Mott Department of Public Health and Shaquandra Robinson, research manager for Project THRIVE. Photos of C.S. Mott Department of Public Health
Rates of depression and anxiety for Genesee County residents surpass national averages.
Crystal Cederna, associate professor and clinical psychologist in the C.S. Mott Department of Public Health, said that rates of children’s mental health challenges have been going up nationally since before COVID. She added that this is particular true of anxiety and depression rates.
“In Genesee County, specifically, we have the added challenges of things like the Flint Water Crisis, violence and additional environmental challenges, economic hardships…All of those things compound the challenges that kids face – and increase risk for mental health difficulties.”
Shaquandra Robinson, research manager for Project THRIVE, said that when working with youth, she and others have noticed that kids are experiencing a lot of mental health challenges due to the Flint Water Crisis. These can be issues with family or at school. According to Robinson, COVID has also played a major role.
Cederna pointed out there is a shortage of mental health providers nationally and in Genesee County. She said with the growing number of children and teens experiencing mental health challenges, more workforce is needed to address issues.
“Any projects or programs that expand access to mental health care- quality mental health care, culturally responsive mental healthcare – is going to help the community,” Cederna added.
Robinson shared that as a non mental health professional herself, being able to receive and get resources to be able to distribute within community has been helpful.
“I have had the pleasure of being able to go out in community outreach and engagement and provide the resources given to me by the professionals,” she said. “…That has been able to help aid with individuals that are going through mental health challenges.”
Robinson shared she has connected youth to resources electronically and helped them get connected to GHS (Genesee Health System) locally.
Genesee Health System (GHS)is a public mental health provider that has provided services to Genesee County residents for nearly 60 years. GHS provides services using evidence-based practices to those with serious mental illness, intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders, as well as to others struggling with their mental health.
“The earlier we recognize problems and intervene, the less specialized we need to be in mental health to address it,” said Cederna. “So, part of the goal of Project THRIVE is to train non mental health professionals in evidence-based, culturally responsive interventions that we can do earlier on to try to prevent issues from getting worse, to reduce where issues already are, etc.
“In addition to that, we can also train and expand the workforce.” Cederna added.
Two interventionists, or non mental health professionals, will be trained through Project THRIVE. Those interventionists will then make available to the community, through Church Without Walls Ministry, the Project Thrive programming.
“They will be trained by doctor level specialists in the interventions that they’re learning,” stated Cederna.
“Specifically, behavioral activation is an evidenced based intervention for anxiety, depression and a host of other mental health difficulties,” she added. “It’s been shown to be effective with kids, with teens, young adults and beyond. It’s just like a superhero of an evidenced-based treatment.”
According to Cederna, behavioral activation has also been shown to be extremely beneficial for those who have experienced trauma.
Cederna described behavioral activation as a “behavioral approach to addressing difficulties with thoughts and feelings that focuses on supporting people and identifying what their values are.” It is not subjecting another’s values onto the individual who having the mental health challenges. It does involve identifying activities that align with the individual’s values, as well as engaging in those activities on a regular basis. The result will ideally “values based living” and “engagement, community and connection.”
According to Cederna, the goal is to take behavioral activation, keep the central parts of it that are known to work the same, but work with community to adapt the parts that are adaptable. to make it more culturally responsive and locally-tailored.
“We’re going to pair that with a systems navigator, which is an intervention where we’ll identify by individual teen and family what some of their environmental challenges are that they’re facing, and for those that are changeable support them in getting to the resources they need to address it,” stated Cederna.
Cederna said, therefore, Project THRIVE will aim to give mental health and life skills to flourish, while also addressing underlying root causes and contributors.
It will be held in a space participants are already regularly going to, at times where church programming is already happening. The interventionists will be selected by Cederna working with Martez Warren, senior pastor of Church Without Walls Ministries. So, they will have affiliation with the church. It therefore is intended to help those without reliable transportation to get mental health services, who are uncomfortable getting traditional mental health services because of stigma or those who mistrust healthcare institutions to get the help they need.
Project THRIVE will be funded by a two-year $250,000 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. It was one of a few selected programs across the state of Michigan to be awarded, as the process to receiving the funding was highly competitive.
The monies will fund payment of community members for time contributing to the development of the program, as well as faculty time, training of the interventionists, the program evaluation and running of the actual program
Cederna said the development of the program begins November 1 and will run for one year. During that time, the program will be built, and the interventionists will be trained. The programming is expected be available to teens in the community around January of 2027.
