Children's Institute & Partners Launch Mental Health Awareness Campaign

Children’s Institute, Partners for Children South L.A., St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, Watts Leadership Institute and a network of Watts-based nonprofit organizations, announced the launch of You Good?, a bilingual mental health awareness campaign centered in South Los Angeles.

Launching during Mental Health Awareness month, the campaign’s goal is to familiarize residents of South Los Angeles with signs of trauma and destigmatize discussions about self-care, emotional well-being and counseling. Additionally, the campaign will help connect individuals and families to resources and supportive services within the coalition of trusted partners.

The campaign was created with community input from stakeholders, focus groups and CII’s Community Wellness Advisory Committee (CWAC), made up of community residents and providers who volunteer their time to support the well-being of the community through outreach and wellness initiatives.

“The past year has been incredibly stressful — the pandemic, job losses, isolation and social unrest have all contributed to an unprecedented need for emotional support,” said Ginger Lavender-Wilkerson, LMFT, Clinical Program Manager at Children’s Institute. “There are long-term consequences when traumatic experiences go unaddressed, and we want to ensure that our community is connected to resources that support healthy and hopeful futures.”

Designed as a question, You Good? seeks to engage with the audience and start a conversation, while the tagline — “It’s okay to say you’re not okay” — creates space for an authentic answer. The campaign features multiple colorful and high-impact creative components including a Spanish  and English website, print and digital ads and outdoor placements including murals. All materials focus on emotional well-being and encourage outreach for free support services including counseling, preschool, employment and financial resources, health care, housing supports, parenting groups and more.

The campaign is funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health as part of a four-year grant focused on residents of South Los Angeles (in a subsection of Supervisorial District 2) who are currently experiencing or are at risk of trauma from factors including COVID-19, racism and poverty.

Visit the campaign website at yougood.la and follow on Facebook, Instagram  and Twitter.