Open Hearts. Healthy Minds.
At RYC, we elevate and prioritize the importance of mental well-being.
Rye Youth Council (RYC) provides comprehensive Mental Health prevention programs, youth counseling, and parent support to help youth and families in the Sound Shore community thrive.
This past year, support from individuals like you fueled our ability to help local youth thrive through prevention and intervention programs offered at no cost, such as:
- RYC Restore, which delivers low-to no-cost mental health counseling to youth ages 5-22, strengthening their self-competencies to navigate life’s many challenges and develop a path forward with new skills and perspectives.
- Over 200 youth have received care during more than 1,700 individual sessions.
- Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Depression Awareness & Suicide Prevention programs in local high schools and middle schools that elevate youth voice and empower more than 90 students to create awareness, decrease stigma, and increase help-seeking among their classmates and peers.
- Mental Health, Substance Use & Suicide Prevention training, completed by more than 80 educators, parents, and caring community members, to learn how to recognize warning signs and symptoms and connect a young person to appropriate care.
- Student-athlete wellness workshops that helped hundreds of high school athletes and their coaches gain positive coping skills and performance strategies for use on and off the field.
- Social-emotional Learning workshops for more than 300 elementary, middle, and high schoolers in Rye and at The Carver Center to strengthen their self-esteem, self-confidence, self-awareness, and good decision-making skills.
- Intergenerational connection between teens in our Grandfriend Club and local senior citizens that foster cross-generational empathy and a sense of belonging.
- Teen Camp Counselor Training that helped more than 70 teens gain confidence and strengthen their emotional intelligence, leadership, self-awareness, and professional communication skills necessary to manage and support young campers throughout the day.
The need for youth mental health support has never been greater. Every counseling session, workshop, and connection made with a young person is possible because of you. Over 70% of RYC’s funding comes from local donors. Your contribution ensures that we can:
- Sustain, improve and expand our youth mental health and wellness initiatives in Rye and beyond.
- Offer accessible, high‑quality clinical and educational programs and support services for youth, parents, and educators, with no one turned away for financial reasons.
- Continue our vision for a future where every child has the support to develop the social and emotional competencies necessary to thrive and succeed.
Peace, health, and happiness to you and yours.