Youth Building & Belonging Fellowship

When we picture youth mental health solutions, we probably imagine better screeners for distress, better methods of crisis response and better access to therapy and school counseling.

But research — and storytelling — suggests that's only half the story. Instead of just responding to youth distress, true youth mental health solutions should also report on what’s working to build lasting well-being. Third spaces to play. Mentorship opportunities to grow. Civic projects to lead. Communities to which young people can belong. To quote Leigh Paterson, a reporter with KUNC and former SJN fellow, "Wellness isn’t only about clinical interventions — it’s about basic needs and connectedness." And as the World Health Organization reports that one-fifth of individuals aged 13 to 29 feel lonely, the world needs storytelling on these youth mental health solutions, too.

That's the focus of the Solutions Journalism Network’s Youth Building & Belonging Fellowship — a yearlong program supporting 10 U.S. journalists to report on what’s working to build and rebuild systems for youth well-being, economic mobility and belonging.