Cynthia Germanotta's Picks: Mental Health Resources for Teens
As president and co-founder of the Born This Way Foundation and Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health for the World Health Organization, Cynthia Germanotta has made it her mission to support the mental health and well-being of young people. She and her daughter, Lady Gaga, founded Born This Way in 2012 to promote kindness, self-acceptance, and emotional well-being by matching teens and young adults with resources around health, body image, substance abuse, gender and sexual orientation, sexual abuse, and more. They also recently published Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community, a collection of stories of how young people have battled bullies, broken down barriers, and practiced self-love. While the book contains over 90 resources to address mental health topics like mindfulness and self-care, Cynthia has highlighted several of them here.
Of the websites on this list, Cynthia notes, "From our research, we know that almost half of all young people ages 13 to 24 do not know where to go when it comes to mental health resources. It is because of statistics like this that my daughter and I founded Born This Way Foundation with the mission of building a kinder and braver world. Channel Kindness takes us one step closer to achieving our mission. At the end of each story in the book, we highlight organizations and nonprofits that are focused on supporting youth so that they can not only survive, but thrive in their everyday lives. We hope readers who are struggling feel empowered to reach out to one of these groups and nonprofits, connect with communities that love and appreciate who they are, and get the help they or a loved one may need." For more from Cynthia Germanotta and the Born This Way Foundation, check out Channel Kindness, visit the Born This Way Foundation, or find Cynthia on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.