2026 Teen Mental Wellness: Empowering Minds Investment Areas
July 6, 2026
It’s not easy being an adolescent or a young adult. Not only are they experiencing physical, hormonal, and emotional changes that can be uncomfortable and confusing, but they’re also dealing with societal expectations and challenges.
According to the World Health Organization, half of all mental health conditions start by age 14. Most cases go undetected and untreated until many years later or sometimes not at all.
Adolescence is a pivotal time for young people. When we can help kids here, we help launch successful futures.
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County's Teen Mental Wellness: Empowering Minds initiative works with schools to implement a comprehensive school mental health system informed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s School Mental Health Framework. The following participating schools have committed to enhancing mental health services and resources for their students in the 2025-26 school year.
Meet the 2026-27 participating schools and organizations:
participating Schools
Brookfield Central High School
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Brookfield Central's main goals include formalized system for mental health transitions, improved mental health interventions for students, and improving culture to reduce absenteeism.
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Cristo Rey focused on comprehensive resources and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Howard Fuller focused on comprehensive resources for the second implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase for their third year.
Grafton High School
County Served: Ozaukee
Aligned Work: Grafton focused on comprehensive resources for the second implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase during their third year.
Hamilton High School
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Hamilton's main goals include improving mental health collaborative systems, enhancing prevention through peer led mental health work, and expanding mental health access for students and families.
Marquette University High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Marquette University High focused on needs assessment and resource mapping and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
Messmer High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Messmer focused on other aspects of the comprehensive resources during the second implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase during their third year.
Milwaukee Academy of Science
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Milwaukee Academy of Sciences focused on screening during the second implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase during their third year.
Milwaukee High School of the Arts
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Milwaukee High School of the Arts main goals are increasing access to mental health resources, improving student coping skills, and reducing barriers to families receiving mental health services.
Pewaukee High School
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Pewaukee High School focused on strengthening data systems within evaluation and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
Pius XI
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Pius XI focused on comprehensive resources during the second implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase during their third year.
Ronald Reagan High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Reagan focused on comprehensive resources and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
Shorewood High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Shorewood focused on needs assessment and resource mapping and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
St. Augustine Preparatory Academy
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: St. Augustine Preparatory Academy focused on needs assessment and resource mapping as well as comprehensive resources and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
St. Thomas More
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: St. Thomas More's goals are to increase mental health literacy of school staff, strengthen student resilience, and expand access to professional mental health counseling.
Tenor Journal Square High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Tenor Journal Square's main goals are improved sense of safety amongst students, staff training to properly address mental health needs of students, improve students' timely access to mental health services.
Vel R. Philips Juvenile Justice Center School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Vel R. Philips School focused on needs assessment and comprehensive resources and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
Waukesha South High School
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Waukesha South focused on comprehensive resources during the third implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase during their fourth year.
Waukesha West High School
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Waukesha West focused on needs assessment and resource mapping during the second implementation year and will remain in the implementation phase during their third year.
Wauwatosa East High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Wauwatosa East focused on comprehensive resources and will remain in the implementation phase for their second year.
Wauwatosa West High School
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Wauwatosa West focused on resource mapping and will remain in the implementation phase for their third year.
Participating organizations
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Inc.
Counties Served: Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha
Aligned Work: Catholic Charities clinic/community based mental wellness services provides bilingual clinic-based outpatient mental health services for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured youth (ages 5–21), families and adults, living in southeastern Wisconsin.
Children's Wisconsin
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Children’s School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) program delivers a full continuum of mental/behavioral health services within 16 schools in Milwaukee County, ensuring that students and families can access timely, culturally responsive care in a familiar and trusted space where they spend most of their day. Services are delivered in dedicated, private clinical spaces within the school.
Community Advocates, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Community Advocates clinic/community based mental wellness program Florecer/Flourish is a collaborative project between Escucha Tus Emociones, a well-established Latinx community-based mental health initiative, and Community Advocates (CA). Florecer expands Escucha Tus Emociones’ culturally affirming, evidence-based, and trauma-informed model to serve Latinx youth (ages 15-18) while also training and mentoring young adults (ages 18-21) to become facilitators and Peer Support Specialists.
Elevate, Inc.
Counties Served: Washington and Waukesha
Aligned Work: Elevate will provide school based universal mental health promotion programs including Peers 4 Peers, Too Good for Drugs, PreVenture, Prime for Life, and Teen Intervene. Staff and youth coordinators are trained in Mental Health First Aid and QPR as well.
Family Service of Waukesha County
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Through the school-based PATH Program, Family Services of Waukesha supports the mental wellness of students, their families, and school staff through mental health promotion, early intervention, and treatment services. Family Services of Waukesha will provide direct professional therapy services on site to students, mental health education for high school and younger students and their families and promote mental wellness among high school staff.
Jewish Family Services, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Jewish Family Services (JFS) provides school-based mental wellness services to address all three tiers of the continuum of supports including mental health promotion, early intervention, and treatment services. JFS therapists utilize Evidence-Based Practices in classroom group activities based on participating teachers’ identification of the needs of their classes to proactively build support, resiliency, and mental wellness. Parents are consulted regularly, and when appropriate, are invited to participate in family-based sessions at JFS’s outpatient clinics.
Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Inc. (LSS)
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Lutheran Social Services provides clinic and community based mental health programming that aligns with the overarching goals of improving mental health equity, access, and outcomes by integrating universal prevention, early intervention, and intensive treatment supports across schools and communities. Grounded in evidence-based and trauma-responsive practices, LSS services build a comprehensive system of care that addresses both the emotional wellbeing of students and the social determinants that influence mental health for families utilizing a novel Family Coach model.
NAMI Southeast Wisconsin
Counties Served: Milwaukee and Waukesha
Aligned Work: NAMI’s Lighthouse Project coordinators provide school-based services to respond to urgent and complex needs of students and families as they arise within the context of challenges at school. They do not provide clinical care to the impacted student, rather, they seek to support and empower the family to develop understanding to better support their youth so they can have success as a student. This service reduces barriers to care as well as the time and frustration families feel with not knowing who to call, long waiting times for services, and the general overwhelm that accompanies a mental health crisis.
Ozaukee Family Services
County Served: Ozaukee
Aligned Work: Ozaukee Family Services provides clinic mental health services. Their staff provides individual counseling, groups, and psychoeducation on a weekly basis as well as consultation and training to school staff. Individual counseling sessions will be provided on a weekly basis both in-school and at Ozaukee Family Services during the school year and throughout the summer. Parents are also included in treatment as needed.
REDgen
Counties Served: Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha
Aligned Work: REDgen’s School Chapter program is a school-based, peer-to-peer program that empowers students to build resilience, strengthen relationships, and lead mental health conversations that reduce stigma and prevent crisis. The program includes a comprehensive, evidence-informed curriculum with interactive lesson plans, hands-on activities, reflection prompts, and adaptable materials for classroom, group, and digital use. Core to the program is Youth QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) the gold standard for youth suicide prevention training programs; curriculum includes learning the warning signs of suicide ideation, role-playing, and suicide prevention resources, which research shows are the most effective ways to teach and retain help-seeking behaviors.
The Friendship Circle, Inc.
Counties Served: Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha
Aligned Work: The Friendship Circle provides clinic based mental health services through suicide prevention training, peer-led support, and awareness programming that strengthen teen mental health, reduce stigma, and increase access to life-saving resources across Southeastern Wisconsin. All programming is offered at no cost, removing financial barriers and increasing accessibility for underserved communities.
Wellpoint Care Network
Counties Served: Milwaukee and Waukesha
Aligned Work: Wellpoint Care Network delivers school based mental health programs that equips educators, students, and families with the tools to recognize, respond to, and talk about mental health in ways that foster safety, belonging, and hope. Wellpoint provides school staff mental health training, therapy at schools, and student engagement by integrating with peer led mental health programming at schools.
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