Support youth's mental health-social reintegration

Dear Friends at GlobalGiving, 

We would like to start by thanking our friends at GlobalGiving for your unwavering support for Children Change Colombia. This platform and the different donors involved have been essential as we continue our journey of working to improve the lives of children, young people, and communities throughout Colombia. Your generous support is helping keep at-risk children safe from the dangers in their communities, and is allowing them to develop important lfie skills and strengthen theri capacities to build positive futures for themselves. 

One of our key projects is: 'Youth Reintegration into Society: A Community-Based, Narrative Approach Towards Mental Health'. This project is executed and condcuted alongside our incredible partners, TDJ and CRAN, with whom we have been working with for 10 years. This project has been designed to last for three years - it is about to go into its second year of implementation in Colombia. The project offers a novel approach to youth mental health: a community-based, narrative approach to psychosocial care, trauma, and reintegration is employed, which helps at-risk children and young people gain access to the resources and skills needed to deal with previous traumas and stigmas, in turn preventing the repetition of dangerous patterns of behaviour. 

The need for this project remains apparent. Systemic violence, poverty, and marginalization have created and encouraged dangerous cycles of child recruitment into armed groups. A 2023 report from the command of the Armed Forces of Colombia indicated that, that year, 411 children and adolescents were recovered from illegal groups that had conscripted them into their ranks. Children in this situation lose their childhood: they lose their possibilities of recreation, fun, learning, and family time. Additionally, survivors' reintegration is often marked by fear, mistrust, anguish, dread, difficulty in assuming new challenges, loss of autonomy and other challenges that affect their behaviour and mental health. This is due to their uncertainty towards an unknown environment, as they have never been fully integrated into their communities. These children often feel displaced, uprooted and isolated which can cause emotional crises, anxiety and depression.

The overall purpose of this project is to enhance children's positive bonds within their communities and change situations of vulnerability and criminality through the use of narratives of resilience, creating protective and healing environments. In its first year, the project benefitted 750 children and young people. As we go into the second year of this project, we will continue to execute dynamic activities that prioritize youth's mental health and well-being through initiatives such as psychosocial sessions and arts-based, creative activities. We are excited to see how this project can continue to develop and continue to reach more and more children, families, and communities. 

Thank you again for your ongoing support!