L.E.A.D. Center For Youth and Chris 180 are collaborating to bring a range of therapy and counseling services to L.E.A.D.’s Junior Ambassador Summer Programming. Service offerings will include assistance with facilitating groups and activities, milieu management, in-vivo coaching for counselors, light intervention/crisis de-escalation, in the moment skill building, and helping campers who may be feeling frustrated, anxious, angry, and managing other challenging emotions.
L.E.A.D. Center For Youth Junior Ambassador Summer Programming will take place June 2 – July 15, 2022 at multiple sites including the L.E.A.D. Center For Youth, Adair Park, and various baseball complexes across the metropolitan-Atlanta area. The summer baseball camp will serve up to 60 middle school boys, many who have participated in L.E.A.D.’s Junior Ambassador program in the past school year. Student-athletes will participate in a range of baseball training and games, enrichment activities, recreational activities, and core value training. This summer experience includes professional baseball coaching, transportation support and meals for all participants. The experience is provided at no cost to families through donations made in part from Georgia’s Own Credit Union and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.
“We are honored to be partnering with L.E.A.D. Center For Youth this summer to bring a therapeutic presence to their baseball camp experience for boys and young men. We’ve all experienced times in our life where learning a new skill and being open to new experiences was particularly challenging. Those situations can be incredibly formative for positive youth development, or they can be traumatic and result in shying away from new opportunities in the future. Our goal is to help youth develop skills to tolerate feeling vulnerable, attain and practice new coping skills, learn how to demonstrate good sportsmanship, communicate needs or concerns effectively, and navigate conflicts in a prosocial way. Mostly, we’re excited to have some fun on the baseball field this summer!”
– Brittney Walters, LCSW Vice President of School-Based Mental Health
“We work hard each day to be the MVP of SBYD (sports-based youth development), and with that comes the responsibility of supporting our youth’s mental health and well-being. Baseball is just as much a mental game as it is a physical one. Preparing our boys to win at the game of life requires having quality staff, coaches and quality partners. We’re excited to add Chris 180 to our amazing team.” – Kelli Stewart, Co-founder/Executive Director
Founded in 2007 by C.J. and Kelli Stewart, L.E.A.D. Center For Youth is a nonprofit Sports Based Youth Development (SBYD) organization that uses baseball to teach Black boys how to overcome three curveballs that threaten their success: crime, poverty, and racism. Recently recognized as an SBYD MVP by Hello Insight, L.E.A.D. understands that the youth they serve need layered support to help with obstacles related to racial and socio-economic systemic issues as they are guided through baseball skill development which can be a challenging sport for new learners.
Since 1981, Chris 180 has helped children, young adults, and families through mental health counseling at the CHRIS Counseling Center; group homes for abused and neglected children in foster care; adoption services; a Drop-In Center for homeless young adults; permanent supportive housing program for single and parenting youth, ages 17-24, who are homeless or have aged out of the foster care system; in-home programs; and re-entry programs that work to strengthen families. CHRIS 180’s holistic approach enables children, youth, and families to change the direction of their lives and become self-sufficient, contributing adults despite challenging circumstances.