UMatter @ Lifetown
When teens face mental health challenges, they turn to someone who will listen to their concerns – and oftentimes, that will be a trusted friend. Lifetown’s UMatter program builds on these peer relationships by adding knowledge to promote suicide prevention and strengthen mental health support. It provides teenagers with skills and resources to identify, support and direct friends struggling with mental health issues to a professional.
From 2022-2024, HFNJ awarded three grants totaling $195,000 to create and launch a UMatter program at the Lifetown / Friendship Circle in Livingston, NJ, based on best practice models which have proven successful elsewhere.
UMatter quickly established itself as an important and trusted source for mental health awareness and training in the Greater MetroWest Jewish community. Among the programming provided to the community through UMatter:
- safeTALK, an evidence-based universal suicide prevention curriculum, which reached 70 teens in the final year of HFNJ’s funding.
- Mental Health First Aid training, which gave trainees the skills they need to identify and safely respond to signs of mental health conditions.
- Programming and guest speakers that helped parents increase their skills at non-confrontational intervention to be better equipped to support their children.
- Monthly TeenTALK sessions led by a mental health professional. In each session, around 12 high school teens gathered for an open and supportive dialog that fostered mental health awareness.
- A partnership with Golda Och Academy to create a UMatter chapter on campus.
All told, Lifetown staff estimate that more than 500 individuals participated in UMatter programming over the three years of HFNJ’s support, and 80 teens and families have reached out and received individualized support and guidance through the program. It has become a lifeline for early intervention and prevention of mental health challenges.
Now that it is firmly established as a vital resource for the community, UMatter will continue at Lifetown after HFNJ’s funding, and the program has become sustainable through the generous contributions of other donors.