Arts-based suicide prevention and intervention for youth (in-patient and outpatient)

Support for youth experiencing homelessness.

Transitioning youth support 

Parenting partners with daycare services

Peer to Peer mentoring

Arts-based social and emotional learning--mindfulness coping skills 

Fine Arts and emotional literacy 

Performing arts therapies 

Healthy living skills (cooking, shopping, health fitness, sex Ed, healthy relationships, interpersonal and intrapersonal communication)

Family coping services 

Support groups for youth and families, foster families, substance use support, dialectical behavior groups, focus forward schools (partner project to integrate all programs and training with public schools)

Positive youth development

Restorative practices

Safe zone training

Crisis prevention and intervention training and application

Cultural sensitivity programs

Internship opportunities for nursing, psychology, social work, and arts therapists, higher education candidates

Clinical therapy sessions

The majority of marginalized and underserved children in Pueblo come from the Y ZONE. (East Side, West Side, Bessemer neighborhoods). The cultural demographic being Chicano-

Latino-Mexicano and African American; predominantly working poor or subsidized. These communities are without supermarkets, left to shop at ‘dollar stores’ or convenience stores resulting in no health equity or limited public transportation. 

The public schools are inadequately staffed for mental health care.  Many of the children are in single mother homes or raised by grandparents who tend to many siblings.  Sports and arts programs are limited to what can be accessed through services at Boys & Girls Clubs and are always being cut or understaffed in their schools. 

Youth on youth crime is at levels above the state average.  

Opportunities for cultural development and professional self development are scarce and many of these neighborhoods have a high population of homeless and mentally ill adults living on their streets.  The environment is not always safe for these children and the presence of a peace officer--law enforcement is minimal if non-existent. 

The crisis for care in Pueblo only addresses reactive measure for a child that is already in peril of behavior problems, self harm or suicidal ideation.

We envision the CATCH Youth mental health and wellness center focusing on the integration of ‘arts based safe messaging and therapies,’ providing the groundwork for a vocabulary to aid children in creative skill building towards self worth, resilience, and creative expression; critical elements to mental health stability. 

The cycles of poverty and colonization has kept these families from any real life experience outside of these oppressive environments. Being subjected to living in food deserts, depression, addiction, crime, and poor educational opportunities have created the perfect storm for a hopeless future that CATCH Youth intends to mitigate with programs of self discovery and resilience. 

There is strong evidence that the arts create the points of entry to assist children in flourishing in self esteem and be successful students.

Our research and data from student retention and success has been documented from The Arts Academy @ Pueblo County High, an integrated arts and humanities program. 

The marriage of the arts and mental health awareness and messaging will address the deficit that children are experiencing in an environment that provides creativity and authentic voice for selfcare.