June 5, 2026

Across North Carolina, many Boys and Girls Clubs are providing supportive mental health services to children at no cost in trusted community spaces. Their holistic, family-focused approach can serve as a model for other youth-serving organizations. As part of a series of CARE4Youth webinars highlighting local systems for supporting youth, Carolina Across 100 recently highlighted how Boys and Girls Clubs are increasingly offering resources to navigate youth mental health needs. 

What is a Boys and Girl's Club? 

Boys and Girls Clubs (BGCs) are non-profit organizations whose mission is to enable all young people to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens. With their first clubs starting in 1860, the organization is over 160 years old. 

The organization serves children ages 6 to 18 in after-school and out-of-school programs. Programming is offered in schools, military bases, native lands, public housing, shared spaces like churches, and club buildings. The clubs provide safe and inclusive environments, meaningful programs and experiences, and supportive mentoring relationships. 

There are 26 different BGCs in North Carolina, with 124 sites. Each club is different – they offer sports leagues, fitness competitions, robotics teams, homework help and tutors, leadership clubs, volunteer opportunities, public speaking, visual and performing arts, college visits, career exploration, resume help, nutrition education, meals, financial literacy, workforce certifications, and more.  

The North Carolina Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs is a state-wide organization that brings individual clubs together for collective programming and initiatives, amplifying the voices of the local organizations through funding, partnerships, and professional development opportunities.  

Expanding the Focus: Providing Mental Health Services 

To serve the holistic needs of young people they serve, BGCs have expanded their focus to address the mental wellbeing of children. Eight clubs employ mental health professionals in their organization, and an additional three have contracted with organizations to provide support. By beginning to provide mental health services, existing club staff received support of training mental health professionals to support children in need of care. This level of support has shifted club cultures to be one that is focused on health and wellbeing. 

They do this by: 

• Training staff to respond to mental health challenges. By equipping team members to identify and respond to mental health concerns, club staff are able to offer needed support for the children they serve. 

“They [Club staff] feel supported, that they’re learning techniques for managing difficult behavior… the club culture is really changing to focus more on mental health… and ultimately, that creates a better environment overall for our kids.” – Madison Poupard Reed, MSW 

• Using their trusted relationships to proactively provide additional support. Club staff are aware of when children are experiencing traumatic events, such as becoming homeless or losing a family member. They proactively provide support to help young adults navigate these challenges.  

• Tailoring services based on individual children’s needs. All children can participate in large-group activities through the BGC. As needed, children can also participate in small group and individual support services.  

• Providing services in a trusted location. Parents and children alike can sometimes be intimidated when seeking services in clinical locations with staff they do not know. By offering mental health services in a setting that people know and feel comfortable in, the clubs address this barrier and make services more accessible. By providing mental health services at Clubs, parents don’t have to take time off work to take their children to another location, and kids don’t miss time in class.  

“There can be] a lot of mistrust in formal healthcare systems… it’s important that we’re doing this in our clubs because people are just more open to it.” – Madison Poupard Reed, MSW 

• • Coordinating with other youth-serving organizations. If a child would benefit from services outside of what the clubs provide, the club helps connect them to additional services Because club employees have trusted relationships with kids and families, when challenging events occur, they are able access services. 

• Providing services at no additional costs to families. BGCs operate by charging annual dues of between $5 and $250 per year. Regardless of what services children access, their insurance coverage, or the number of services received, there is no additional fee to their families. 

Improving Outcomes for Children  

As a result of this increased focus on mental health, BGCs have already started to see promising improvements for children. According to BGC staff, club kids have become more willing to share what they are going through over time as they become more comfortable sharing challenges or negative feelings. 

Children are also voluntarily taking on leadership roles within their clubs. A BGC representative on the webinar reported shared the story of one child who had previously been having behavioral challenges in school and took advantage of the clubresources. After receiving help developing social-emotional skills, the child wanted to start his own club, sharing that he wanted to help his peers who had gone through the club programming learn how to be peer leaders within their friend groups.  

Efforts like these are paying off. Every year, BGCs survey kids to find out how they feel about their club and themselves. In 2022: 

• 72% of club youth are able to stay calm when they're stressed. 

• 83% show impulse control by thinking about what might happen before making a decision.  

• 91% understand how their feelings influence their actions 

• 92% show resilience when something goes wrong in their lives by trying to figure out how to do better next time.  

Lessons Learned 

The Boys and Girls’ Clubs’ work to expand mental health supports provides helpful lessons for other organizations who engage with young people and want to improve their mental health. These include: 

 Start small and learn what works, and then scale up. 

• Ensure your staff have the proper training and preparation to provide mental health services  

• As you are training staff, check in on their mental health as well. Learning how to support kids and young adults through challenging circumstances is challenging, and staff need to feel supported so their wellbeing is maintained as they become trained.  

• Ensure proper follow-up. Once families have been informed that their child may benefit from certain mental health services, it is important that they receive all the information necessary. 

• Provide varied and flexible methods for youth to engage with services, so they can find what works best for them. 

Special thank you to and Heather Brosz White, MPA, BA, Kyler Daniels, LCSW, MSW, and Madison Poupard Reed, MSW for their partnership to provide an overview of North Carolina Boys and Girls’ Clubs and the North Carolina Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs. You can watch the webinar recording below:

Community-Driven Approaches for Resilient and Empowered Youth (CARE4Youth) is a three-year commitment to implement community-based strategies to improve youth and young adult mental health launched by Carolina Across 100 and the Foundation of Hope Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program (CHAAMP) in the UNC Department of Psychiatry.  

Carolina Across 100 is a five-year initiative, coordinated by the ncIMPACT Initiative, seeking to support community-driven recovery and build sustainable efforts in all 100 counties by providing human resources, data insights, coaching, facilitation, coordination efforts, and program design. CARE4Youth is the sixth program in this larger initiative.  

The ncIMPACT Initiative coordinates Carolina Across 100. ncIMPACT is a statewide initiative launched by the UNC School of Government in 2017 to help local communities use data and evidence to improve conditions and inform decision making. Visit ncimpact.org.