The students and participants of Greater West Town Project (GWTP) face numerous barriers to succeeding in education, securing and maintaining employment, and building wealth. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, GWTP has heavily invested in wraparound services to ensure our participants’ success, including stipends during job training, emergency financial assistance, and hiring a full-time social worker. While these efforts have greatly improved the wellbeing of our participants, there remains additional needs in our West Side community, especially around mental health care.
Towards that end, GWTP partners with BUILD to offer both intensive one-on-one and group therapy services. With locations in Austin and Humboldt Park, BUILD works to enact its mission to inspire hope and offer opportunities so youth facing systemic obstacles can achieve positive futures. Starting in 2021, BUILD launched their Mobile Mental Health Program and began serving participants at GWTP. Amanda Cimaroli, Community Mental Health Manager, in an interview for this blog said, “The idea behind [BUILD’s Mobile Mental Health Program] was to make mental health services more accessible and normalize getting support and help.” Accessing mental health care can be particularly challenging for residents on the West Side who may not have reliable access to transportation or flexibility in work and family schedules to consistently attend mental health services.
In their partnership with GWTP, BUILD offers regular mental health workshops on-site. Workshops cover a range of topics including community violence, trauma, and grief to build an understanding and appreciation of mental health care. “When you give young people the words for what they’re going through they can better cope,” said Amanda. When asked about what stood out among GWTP participants during workshops, Amanda noted, “[GWTP participants] are engaged, they take notes, and they take the information they learned and they implement it into their real life.”
Going forward, BUILD is looking to continue growing and offering services to youth across Chicago. They seek to create more partnerships, like the one with GWTP, to meet clients where they’re at. GWTP’s partnership with BUILD has been critical to the success of participants. As Amanda said, “[Participants] are already on the path towards making their lives better through GWTP programs, and BUILD helps to make that journey a little easier and overcome any challenges along the way.”