These Men Are Waiting to Share Some Feelings With You

A policy adopted in Eugene’s 4J School District has been creating safe spaces for transgender students from kindergarten through high school. Gender-inclusive programs at the University of Oregon have marked the school as a national leader in LGBTQ acceptance.

In a post-war Iraq, a salon has become a gathering place for women to share their stories of trauma, and heal. “The salon is necessary. For women to continue, they need it. Women must have it.”

The Neem Foundation brings intensive counseling and 1-on-1 therapy to survivors who escaped the horrific violence of Boko Haram, a terrorist group in northeastern Nigeria. With months of aid and tough conversations, the organization attempts to reunite women and children who fled the violence with their families, many of whom shun the Boko Haram escapees.

Connecting LGTBQ+ teens with peers and adults for support can help reduce depression and the risk of suicide. Organizations like the Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center in Durango, Colorado, and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at Fort Lewis College provide safe spaces where youth feel welcome and supported by a network of peers and adults. The centers also act as social spaces where youth, parents, and their communities can come together.

For many people who were deported to Mexico after decades living in the United States, the city of Nogales provides a renewed sense of community. The city is home to the Centro de Sueños rehabilitation center, or Dream Center, a place where many Mexican individuals deported by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement find shelter, food, support, jobs, and new families. Built by a preacher from Phoenix, the Dream Center gives participants a renewed sense of hope.

In the nearly two years since Sweden broadened the definition of rape offenses to include cases in which a victim fails to signal consent, both the reports of alleged rapes and convictions have risen. During that time, 76 convictions were in cases that previously would not have been classified as rape because they lacked evidence of force, threat, or sex with an incapacitated victim. Rapes still go largely unreported to police and there's still no evidence that the new law will achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of rape.

Peer to peer programs have existed since the 1980s. These programs pair up a person with mental health illness, with one another. The concept, is relatively new in the prison systems, and is gaining traction in states like Pennsylvania.

Programs like the American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) advocate for and provide support to youth caregivers who are responsible for caring for sick, elderly, or adults with disabilities at home. AACY’s Youth Caregiver Project provides support in school and at home by offering customized services based on each student’s needs, including tutoring, counseling and even connections to food resources or school supplies. AACY serves about 600 students in 30 schools each year. Since the Youth Caregiver Project began in the late 1990s, about 2,000 youth have completed the program.

The Network for Empowerment and Program Initiatives (Nepi) helps former child soldiers who struggle with mental health and drug abuse to address and heal from their traumas through cognitive behavioral therapy. The group also provides $200 cash transfers to help participants get back on their feet after completing the Sustainable Transformation of Youth in Liberia (Styl) program, which has helped tens of thousands of young men.

The Aheza Healing Center established community-based healing spaces led by trained counselors who facilitate group discussions and provide mental health care to those struggling with PTSD. The groups offer a safe space for therapy and focus on teaching emotional regulation. Since forming in 2019, the program has helped about 5,000 people.