ORLANDO, Fla. — AdventHealth is awarding $1.2 million to projects and nonprofits in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties that are focusing on people with mental and behavioral health challenges.

What You Need To Know

  • AdventHealth is awarding $1.2 million to nonprofits in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties
  • The money will go to nonprofits addressing mental and behavioral health challenges
  • New Image Youth Center is a current grant recipient, and is filling this gap in services in a mobile way

According to the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment from the Central Florida Collaborative, one of the greatest issues facing residents in these counties is access to mental health care services.

The hospital says that’s why they selected mental health as a priority for the 2024 funding cycle.

Data from that assessment reveals:

  • Nearly 30% of Florida middle and high school students report feeling sad and hopeless for over two weeks.
  • Over 12% report self-harm behaviors within the past 12 months.

New Image Youth Center is a current grant recipient, and is filling this gap in services in a mobile way.

Shanta Barton-Stubbs has found a creative way to mobilize and expand play therapy, mental health and mentorship in underserved areas across Orange County.

“We’ve done some group therapy on here, we’ve done some moments of reflection,” said Barton Stubbs, executive director of NIYC and licensed therapist specializing in play therapy.

Their activity bus has been operating for the last year and a half. The nonprofit received a $300,000 grant from AdventHealth for three years to operate one of their after-school programs in a unique way.

“It’s like a classroom on wheels, a safe space classroom where we’re able to roll bring our goods to other hoods,” said Barton-Stubbs.

D’Adrick Williams does well one-on-one or working with small groups. Barton-Stubbs says this gives him an opportunity to have his own moment of expression. Play therapy is a big part of it, but also social emotional games.

“Waves can be calm. When they first start off they’re rough, really rough, but as they get closer to shore they calm down,” said Williams.

In 2004, Barton-Stubbs saw a need to create the nonprofit. She says there was a void in the Parramore community, and not a lot of youth programing.

“I saw kids who were outside playing a dangerous game, and they had no supervision, and really the reason why they were doing that is because they were bored,” she said.

She invited them inside her dad’s church to play monopoly.

“That one game of monopoly began to build a positive rapport with the kids and those four kids began to come back the next day with more kids,” said Barton-Stubbs.

AdventHealth says finalists will be notified in November, and the grants will be disbursed in January.

Barton-Stubbs says they’re looking for opportunities to continue their bus activities as this will be the last year they get money from AdventHealth.

You can see the bus on a weekly basis on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Pine Hills, Oakridge, and at times, in Parramore and Holden Heights.

AdventHealth’s executive director of community advocacy, Andrew Mwavua, said in a statement in part: “As a not-for-profit health system, our priority is investing back into the community to ensure Central Floridians thrive — body, mind and spirit.”