Supporting and Protecting
Young, Brilliant, and Complex Minds

The young people we aim to help tend broadly to think, learn, and process differently from their peers. Frequently they demonstrate precocious skills inside and outside of school while also experiencing a latency in certain critical developmental functions, particularly related to communication, emotion, and self-regulation. These gaps, widening through adolescence, can leave young people isolated with certain traits that undermine their mental health. Some examples include rigid thought patterns, rejection sensitivity, and negative urgency.

Young people often experience these traits without the full complement of symptoms that lead to a developmental disorder diagnosis. If and when there is a diagnosis, most often these individuals are identified as living with ADHD. The set of traits we are most concerned with collectively create a significant risk of depression, anxiety, and even self-harm for the young person. Very rarely is this risk identified, and never has it been effectively quantified.

Even when well-resourced, young people with this complex intelligence can struggle to develop resilience and self-compassion through adolescence and early adulthood. Few of the counseling and clinical tools we possess are designed for this population, and, depending on geography, a large cohort of young people might not be able to access qualified mental health treatment at all.

The variability and sophistication of youth suicide prevention work in clinical, educational, cultural, and public health settings in the United States is remarkable. We are proud to work corollary to such efforts by focusing on this subset of the youth population whose risk factors are disproportionately high. Research into the developmental pathways of these young people is rapidly evolving but, given the risk to these children, hugely underfunded.