Program provides professional mental health therapy for Chicago teens from violent neighborhoods

CHICAGO (WLS) — Growing up in some of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods isn’t easy.

“You have to know what to do and what not to do,” said Kaitlyn Stewart, 16, of Englewood. “You have to let your parents know where you are at all times.”

“When a car drives past them, they have to turn their heads and make sure nothing is set to happen,” explains Pha’tal Perkins, founder and CEO of Think Outside Da Block.

That kind of daily stress can take its toll both physically and mentally. That’s where Getcha Mind Right comes in. The program provides professional mental health therapy to Chicago teens growing up in violent neighborhoods.

“They wouldn’t have access to a private practice doctor under any other circumstances, so I wanted them to have a first-class experience and introduce them to the therapy,” said Dr. Nyela Malone, CEO of Lotus Healing.

For some of the young people, opening up takes time.

“When I first came I was shy to talk and within a couple of weeks I got better and got new coping mechanisms,” said 14-year-old Mikel Robinson.

The need for healthy and productive coping methods is something that those at Getcha Mind Right understand firsthand. The organization is run by Perkins and the group Think Outside Da Block. Perkins was born and raised in Englewood.

“By the time I graduated from high school, I had lost 9 friends to violence and two had committed suicide,” Perkins said. “I and my peers were never offered mental health services or counseling or anything, so I had to learn how to deal with it, how to get over it, how to grow, on my own.”

That’s why Perkins has the teens get together twice a week. Group therapy on Mondays and Saturdays, plus practical activities. Recently, some of the kids took center stage at the Englewood Peace Fest.

Ashiya Williams, 16, joined other girls for a poetry reading: “Even when I fall, I always get up. Do you want to know why? I’m just a black girl, strong enough for you, strong enough to me, strong enough for everyone”. of us. And I want the world to see that I’m just a little black girl in a big crazy world.

But at the end of the day, the children are proud of their roots and, above all, of their neighborhood.

“Growing up in Englewood is a little complicated, but it’s home, it’s love.” said Nylah Burley, 16.