LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada ranks last in the nation for youth mental health and access to care, according to the 2025 State of Mental Health in America report. A Nevada-based organization is now stepping in with a program designed to give teens the tools they need to cope.
Hope Means Nevada has created Teen Hope Academy, a five-session program designed to help teens navigate daily stressors and emotional challenges.
WATCH | How a local program is helping teens cope with mental health struggles
The sessions are meant to be watched in a small group setting, where participants learn about mindfulness, emotional regulation, and building stronger relationships. After each session, teens can take part in a group discussion about what they learned.
The goal is to help teens recognize they are not alone in their struggles and to encourage open conversation.
Janna Velasco, executive director of Hope Means Nevada, shared more with us about the program.
"Everyone has struggles with their mental wellness every single day. It's, um, dealing, you know, what am I feeling today and how is that going to affect my actions. So teaching them to have a toolkit within their own hands where they understand the effect that emotions have on our actions on a daily basis. And when they start to feel stressed, worried, concerned, or certainly overwhelmed, that they push a pause button and use one of the tools in the mindfulness segment to regulate themselves before they take any action," Velasco said.
The program is currently wrapping up for eighth graders at Tina Middle School, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
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