Mental Health & Wellness
Mount Sinai Adolescents Health Center – New York, New York

Chris Schroeder, Recovery and Addiction Expert and Jill Brown, CEO of Generation Text Online provide professional learning to staff psychologists, counselors and social workers at Mount Sinai Hospital. This professional learning provides the research and data surrounding stress, trauma and addiction and equips health professionals with a philosophy and approach for mental, emotional and social wellness in order to live happy, healthy and successful lives. The Generation Text Online Framework provides a systemic structure to hospitals, school communities and community-based organizations in order for them to provide the support for young adults and adolescents with social and emotional intelligence and the opportunity to practice those skills in real-life, for real problems, real time.
This approach is designed for scalability and sustainability within any existing community.
How Generation Text Online aligns with Mt. Sinai Adolescent Center
- ALL kids deserve the right to be healthy and to learn how to maintain health and wellness
- Adolescents are at an age of transition. They are developing and adopting healthy or unhealthy behaviors based on their life situations this far
- Building a trust in a relationship with a health provider that can provide valuable insight into how all aspects of health are connected
- Providing a space for building trusted relationships by allowing them to open up and share
- Providing an opportunity to diagnose mental disorders
- Provide interventions for high-risk behaviors or negative coping strategies
- Best practices for creating a welcoming space and using technology to increase retention and engagement
- Provide a framework (blue print or road map) for specific needs
Benefits of adopting the Generation Text Online approach:
- The impact of mental health and wellness provides life-long benefits.
- Focused on adopting healthy behaviors
- Providing the resources to healthcare providers, health care agencies, child welfare and juvenile justice systems, community groups, schools and families.
- Seeking to understand before attempting to fix the problems. directly from the young people themselves – what they need
- Improving or expanding services/add new elements
The Generation Text Online Framework provides a systemic structure to school communities, community-based organizations, and hospitals to equip adults, adolescents and children with mental health and wellness practices and resources and the opportunity to practice those skills for real problems, in real-life, and in real time.
See an excerpt here
Early Warning Signs of Mental Health Issues
From mentalhealth.gov
- Eating or sleeping too much or too little
- Pulling away from people and usual activities
- Having low or no energy
- Feeling numb or like nothing matters
- Having unexplained aches and pains
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual
- Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
- Yelling or fighting with family and friends
- Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
- Having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head
- Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
- Thinking of harming yourself or others
- Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school
Next Generation Mental Health Symposium
The Hope for Depression Research Foundation recruited Jill Brown, to sit side by side with some of the top experts in mental health and wellness in the country for a panel discussion at the Next Generation Mental Health Symposium in New York City in June of 2019.
Adult mentors lead and facilitate small groups

How does a community support the mental health and wellness of their adolescents and young adults and at the same time meet them where they are at?
The Generation Text Online framework provides caring adults/mentors with a 21st Century approach that provides real-life emotional, social, and psychological skills, for real problems, in real time.
The Mental Health and Wellness framework provides mentors and adult leaders with the training to develop small groups where adolescents and young adults can build connectedness and a foundation built on trust. Leaders facilitate discussions and guide participants in social and emotional intelligence skills and mental health and wellness. Mentors/caring adults are trained in a 6-module framework and meet weekly with their small groups to focus on the needs of each participant. Effective mental health and wellness frameworks are flexible enough to meet each person where they are at.
Mental Health and Wellness
There are 4 components to mental health.
- Psychological
- Emotional
- Social
- Physical
To achieve mental health and wellness, an individual must possess specific and focused skills from each of these areas.
See an excerpt here
Welcome to our Mental Health and Wellness Community
What people are saying
Video: College Students
College Students Struggle with many issues and Need supports
Read MoreVideo: Professional Learning/Training
See how a professional session goes.
Read MoreVideo: Small Groups in an Urban High School
Managing Emotions to decrease suspensions
Read MoreVideo: Small Groups in an Urban High School
Managing Emotions to decrease suspensions
Read MoreVideo: Small Groups with High School Juniors College Prep
Hear about their experience in their own words.
Read MoreVideo: Small Groups with High School Juniors
Each mentee got exactly what they personally needed
Read MoreVideo: Small Groups with Emerging Adults College Students in a Summer Internship Training
Hear from College Students participating in our programs
Read MoreValuable insight and understanding
Ultimately, the skills have a direct impact on decision making, self-advocating, communication efforts, and positively effecting relationships.
Read MoreStudents feel heard – with good results!
Working with students in a small group gives me the opportunity to understand my students more deeply on a social, emotional and academic level.
Read MoreAn absolute joy!
It was so inspiring to watch you all doing what you are passionate about. Thank you for a wonderful experience.
Read MoreBuilds rapport and relationships from an empathetic perspective
The GTO approach has resulted in students understanding one another more effectively as well as teachers understanding their students and the motivations that drive their behavior to learn and behave most effectively.
Read MoreThis is good stuff and it is definitely powerful in the way that changes students’ lives.
It was awesome to share the info with our folks in Nebraska schools and colleges! You have every right for your heart to grow big. This is good stuff and it is definitely powerful in the way that changes students’ lives. I’m proud of you, Jill, and proud to know you!!
Read MoreMentors leave lasting impressions on students’ lives!!
Jill, I agree that mentors leave lasting impressions on students’ lives!! Your company does great work!
Read MoreSmall Groups are so beneficial
Attending small groups every week has been such a benefit to my life. In our small group we have an opportunity to release stress and anything we are overwhelmed with by sharing it with everyone.
Read MoreI would 100% recommend it
Being in Gen Text small groups in high-school has many beneficial aspects. I would 100%, recommend it to other students considering the various benefits in people skills.
Read More