My name is Rebecca Kamins, and I’m a licensed certified social worker and the Senior Well-Being Coordinator at Hyde Square Task Force. I work with Afro-Latin youth, and what makes our approach special is that we’ve embedded mental health support directly into youth development programming. By doing that, we’ve removed some of the intensity and stigma that can make mental health feel scary or clinical.
A lot of my motivation comes from my own mental health experiences. My mom was a social worker too, so I grew up in a home where therapy and emotional well-being weren’t taboo. That lack of stigma shaped me. It showed me how powerful it is when mental health is normalized. However, this normalization is far less common in communities of color, and that difference really drives me.
What I try to lead with most is joy. I want every young person to feel that I’m an adult they can trust, feel safe with, and even be silly around. When those walls come down, real healing can happen. My goal is to make mental health something they don’t fear, but something they feel belongs to them.
A lot of my motivation comes from my own mental health experiences. My mom was a social worker too, so I grew up in a home where therapy and emotional well-being weren’t taboo. That lack of stigma shaped me. It showed me how powerful it is when mental health is normalized. However, this normalization is far less common in communities of color, and that difference really drives me.
What I try to lead with most is joy. I want every young person to feel that I’m an adult they can trust, feel safe with, and even be silly around. When those walls come down, real healing can happen. My goal is to make mental health something they don’t fear, but something they feel belongs to them.