RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The expansion of Everyday Strong, a youth mental health initiative run by United Way Greater Richmond and Petersburg, will ensure more adults across Central Virginia can provide emotional support to youth. Everyday Strong first came to Virginia in 2023, and in August, the p rogram received $25,000 from HCA Virginia to expand. It's designed to give adults tools to help the youth in their lives navigate mental health challenges. “Students need help, young people need help, and frankly so do their parents," said Aliyah Karner, Healthy Community Director for United Way. "We’re seeing similar rates of reports of challenging mental health situations from both young people and the folks that are their caregivers.” According to The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, in 2023, 47% of students in public middle or high schools in the commonwealth reported experiencing a mental health need. Among those students, 48% said they don't have an adult they can go to for help. The trainings offered by Everyday Strong are tailored to help each adult spot emotional challenges in the youth they are around. During the hour-long sessions, trainers from United Way and its partners, like Greater Richmond Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN), walk the participants through situational role plays and provide simple, everyday tasks to build emotional safety. “We’d like to address some of the issues that we see as a community before it gets to the point where we’re needing to have students be seen in the emergency room," Karner said. Over the past three years, nearly 1,500 adults have been trained through the initiative. Karner said the results have proven to be successful. “When they do put it into practice, they are noticing changes. So that might not mean that a mental health challenge is completely fixed, but they feel more confident about approaching those conversations with the young people they care about," Karner explained. Now, the program is using participant feedback and the new grant money to revamp its trainings and further community partnerships. Sessions take place online and in-person. Sign-ups are on the Everyday Strong website. ...read more read less