Maryland Youth Outreach Project
The Transitional Age Youth Outreach (TAY) Project seeks to create a space within On Our Own of Maryland’s peer network of Wellness & Recovery Centers for the activities and conversations of young adults between the ages of 18 and 30. Our mission is to empower youth with mental health struggles to share their experiences and speak out about the kind of help and services they’d like to see within the mental health system where they receive care. This project hopes to foster a sense that the life experiences of young adults are full of unique insight and that they are able to reach out and touch the lives of other young adults through peer support and to advocate for a mental health system which adequately addresses their needs and honors their voices.
Click here to download the TAY Outreach Project Information Brochure.
Reader/Roadmap Submissions
Calling for Submissions!
We hope to compile a collection of expressions of experiences, in the form of poetry, memoir, art, comics (because humor helps!), editorials, interviews, or any other medium of which you can think. Submissions will be put into a publication to be distributed through-out the mental health system so we might begin the process, with all invested parties, of exploring mental illness in the way that it is actually experienced. We want to talk about madness, dreams, trauma, guilt and shame, self-harm, resilience, sex & relationships, medication, community, recovery, mania, addiction, and yes, “Isn’t insanity a logical reaction to an insane world?”
Policy Cheat Sheets for Young Adults
YA Cheat Sheet – Behavioral Health Integration and Health Care Reform
Youth Policy Involvement
There are 2 very important bills regarding national policies on youth mental health being introduced this Congress session. They are called The Mental Health in Schools Act and The Mental Health First Aid Higher Education Act. Below is a template for a letter of support which you can send to members of the House and Senate. It is a super easy way you can show your support for youth and young adult mental healthcare, or (even better) you can write your own personal letter if you choose! Simply insert your name and role in the mental health system (optional) into the letter and mail your letter of support with your favorite stamp to:
Committee on Energy & Commerce Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions 2125 Rayburn House Office Building 428 Senate Dirksen Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington D.C. 20510Letter of Support for MH in Schools & MHFA Higher Education Acts
Committee on Finance Committee on Education & the Workforce Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
Letter of Support for Youth MH Accessibility & Keeping All Students Safe Acts
Articles
What Needs to Be Done to End Youth Homelessness
by Jessica Rowshandel
Learning to Cope with a Mind’s Taunting Voices
by Benedict Carey
Drugs Used for Psychotics Go to Youths in Foster Care
by Benedict Carey
Baltimore’s Homeless Youth Make Do in a City That Doesn’t Know They’re There
by Andrea Appleton
Housing Guides for Young Adults
Young Adult’s Guide to Housing
This is a resource taken from California CASA Association. For more information visit their website at www.californiacasa.org.
Helpful Links
Maryland Coalition of Families for Children’s Mental Health – http://www.md.coalition.org
National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health – http://www.ffcmh.org
Maryland Youth Leadership Forum – http:www.dors.state.md.us/DORS/RehabResources/DORS_Spotlight/MD-YLF.htm
YouthMove – http://www.youthmovenational.org
RTC for Pathways to Positive Futures – http://www.pathwaysrtc.pdx.edu
New Lens – http://www.newlens.info
Cafe TA Center – http://www.cafeTAcenter.net
It Get’s Better Project – http://www.itgetsbetter.org
ActiveMinds – http://www.activeminds.org
TWLOHA – http://www.twloha.org
Icarus Project – http://www.theicarusproject.net
Taking Flight Youth Council- http://takingflightmd.webs.com/
Voices for HOPE- http://voices4hope.wikispaces.com
Independence NOW- www.innow.org
For more information, please contact Lauren Grimes, TAY Outreach Coordinator, at:
(Phone) 410-646-0262
(Toll Free) 1-800-704-0262
(E-mail) Lauren@onourownmd.org
On Our Own of Maryland’s TAY Outreach Project is made possible by a grant funded by the
Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration.
