CHICAGO (WLS) — Growing up in some of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods isn’t easy.
“You have to know what to do and what not to do,” said Kaitlyn Stewart, 16, of Englewood. “You must let your parents know where you are at all times.”
“When a car drives past them, they have to turn their heads and just make sure nothing is about to happen,” explains Pha’tal Perkins, founder and executive director of Think Outside Da Block.
This kind of daily stress can take a toll both physically and mentally. This is where Getcha Mind Right comes in. The program provides professional mental health therapy to Chicago teenagers growing up in violent neighborhoods.
“They wouldn’t have access to a private clinic under any other circumstances and so I wanted them to have a first-class experience and introduce them to therapy,” said Dr. Nyela Malone, CEO of Lotus Healing.
For some of the young people, opening up takes time.
“When I first came I was shy to speak and after a few weeks I got better and got new coping mechanisms,” said 14-year-old Mikel Robinson.
The need for healthy and productive coping methods is something that those at Getcha Mind Right understand firsthand. The organization is run by Perkins and the group Think Outside Da Block. Perkins was born and raised in Englewood.
“By the time I graduated high school, I had lost 9 friends to violence and two to suicide,” Perkins said. “There was never any mental health services or counseling or anything that was offered to me or my peers, so I had to learn how to deal with it, how to get through it, how to grow through it, on my own .”
That’s why Perkins has the teenagers meet twice a week. Group therapy on Mondays and Saturdays, more hands-on activities. Recently, some of the children took center stage at the Englewood Peace Fest.
Ashiya Williams, 16, joined the other girls for a poetry recital reading “Even when I fall I always get up. Wanna know why? I’m just a little black girl, strong enough for you, strong enough for me, strong enough for everyone And I want the world to see that I’m just a little black girl in a big crazy world.
But at the end of the day, the children are proud of their roots and above all of their neighborhood.
“Growing up in Englewood is kind of complicated, but it’s home, it’s love.” said 16-year-old Nylah Burley.
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