Shauna Barnes, Thrive mental health manager, leads a mental health Jenga activity with teens at Crossroads Community Services, while guiding a conversation about life stressors and healthy coping skills. The session was part of the YES YOU CAN! summer program, which included afternoon mental health and wellness activities at YMCA teen camp. Each morning, participants volunteered at Crossroads, a community service organization and food distribution center, before attending afternoon camp.

This summer, Grant Halliburton Foundation joined forces with the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas and a coalition of leading mental health organizations to launch YES YOU CAN!, a pilot initiative aimed at building resilience and promoting emotional wellness among youth across North Texas.

Launched in June, the program brought together the expertise of Grant Halliburton Foundation, Metrocare Services, Momentous Institute and UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth to deliver coordinated mental health support to nearly 600 participants across select YMCA programs in North Texas. These included the Y’s Summer Learning Academy, teen camps and Kamp K’aana, a two-week overnight camp designed for children above a healthy weight.

Made possible with support from Lyda Hill Philanthropies, the Hersh Foundation/Ken Hersh and Regen Horchow and The Bette Rathjen Foundation for Emotional Health, YES YOU CAN! provided mental health programming through a multi-faceted approach:

Counselor Training: YMCA staff received training and tools from Grant Halliburton Foundation and fellow partners to help them better support the emotional needs of campers.
Camper Programming: Children and teens participated in activities designed to strengthen mental wellness, emotional literacy, and resilience.
Parent Resources: Families received helpful tools and guidance to continue supporting their children’s mental health at home.
Professional Support: Metrocare Services provided licensed mental health professionals both on-site and virtually to ensure timely access to expert care.

For the Foundation, the program was an opportunity to extend reach and impact through collaboration, demonstrating how local organizations can come together to build stronger support systems for youth mental health.

YES YOU CAN! wraps this month, but the relationships built and lessons learned from this pilot will inform future efforts to expand and replicate the program in other communities.