Community Reachout Club Presents $20K to PEI Kids Mental Health Services

Amazing.

 Awesome.

This is how Fifth Formers Jane Rubenstein and Liza Strong described the feeling of delivering a $20,000 check on behalf of Lawrenceville’s Community Reachout Club to PEI Kids, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and maintaining a safe environment for all children.

Rubenstein and Strong are co-presidents of the club, which researches local non-profits, solicits and reviews grant proposals, and awards a donation. Club members met throughout the year to decide what issue they wished to support and agreed upon teen mental health. They next researched local agencies that offer support, sent out requests for grant proposals, and ultimately interviewed the executive directors of two non-profits. Both finalists were impressive, but Strong said it was PEI Kids outreach abilities that pushed them to the top.

The funding, provided by Bridge Stuart ’66, will support PEI Kids' teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) program for the 2024-25 school year. Through this project, PEI Kids will provide tMHFA training for entire grade levels (9th, 10th or 11th grade) at Mercer County (N.J.) high schools. For the 2023-24 school year, PEI Kids provided the training at three Mercer County schools -- West Windsor Plainsboro North, West Windsor Plainsboro South, and Hopewell high schools -- delivering 228 workshops for approximately 1,015 students.

PEI Kids’ Executive Director Roslyn Dashiell explained the impact of Community Reachout’s funding this way, stating, “This funding is a real game-changer for our community. Cost can be a barrier for some school districts wishing to receive the tMHFA program. The funds from Community Reachout club will enable us to expand our work to reach additional Mercer County schools and students who have requested the training by greatly subsidizing the cost or enabling us to provide the program free of charge altogether.”

tMHFA is an evidence-based training program that teaches teens how to identify, understand, and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health, suicide risk, and substance abuse challenges among friends and peers. Each training consists of six 45-minute workshops delivered over a six- to-eight week period.  After completing the program, student participants receive a national certification from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing acknowledging their skills as a mental health first aid responder. PEI Kids’ tMHFA team is composed of the Director of Prevention Services and five experienced program facilitators certified in tMHFA instruction by the National Council.

The training guides teens on how to serve as a bridge – not a counselor - between adolescents needing mental health support and professional help. “Students struggling with mental health issues are likely to go to a friend first for help,” said Rubenstein. “The tMHFA training helps you know what to do, what to say, and who to contact for expert assistance.”

Rubenstein said club members appreciated this opportunity to learn about the work behind philanthropic giving. “Every Lawrenceville student should graduate with a sense of how to give so that if you find success in any field, you are able to do the proper research to give wisely,” she said. Strong (who also serves as the Student Council’s Community Service Representative) concurred, thanking Stuart for the “incredible opportunity that I don’t think I could have really had anywhere else. [Mental health] is such an important topic and something that the club is really happy about donating toward. Being able to make such a big difference is amazing. We’re super, super grateful to Mr. Stuart for his support of the club.”

For additional information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.