Launch 2025
PLAYWISE: Engaging Young Minds is a comprehensive school based program promoting preventative treatment to address the rising mental health service needs of children in low-income and low-resourced communities. The cornerstone of this program is paraprofessionals from the same communities who are trained and supervised to work with children in a non-directive play therapy. It will provide a supportive and effective environment for young children to work through stressors and trauma in a safe, accessible setting.
PLAYWISE helps schools proactively identify and address early-onset mental health issues, targeting the increasing levels of youth anxiety, depression, PTSD, and loneliness in the post-pandemic era (Smith et al., 2022). By offering on-campus play-based therapy for low-income students, schools can bridge the gap in mental health service access (Johnson & Lee, 2021) and foster a supportive, collaborative community among students, parents, teachers, and therapists to increase children's well-being (Doe & Brown, 2023).