Hidden Problem, Community Solution
HIDDEN PROBLEM AND BIRTH OF A COMMUNITY RESPONSE
Seventeen years ago, a group of concerned Lexington parents sponsored a forum with a panel discussion in Cary Hall called, “Over Stressed and Under Pressure Youth” in response to the alarming numbers of LHS students who reported seriously considering suicide. The forum was held on Saturday morning, February 2, 2008. Cary Hall, now Marge Battin Hall, was filled with parents, some teachers, and some town elected officials. Among the panelists included the principal of Needham High School, where they had suffered four recent student suicides, and Tim Dugan, Lexington adolescent psychiatrist.
After the forum, several people met in a member’s living room in Lexington on Sunday nights to figure out how they were going to help kids and families in Lexington who needed free, accessible counseling services.
The group realized it needed space and money to bring the initiative to fruition. The space had to be accessible to teens coming from High School after school in a quiet, unobvious place. Although the Lexington Public Schools had support for kids, a free, accessible youth counseling center was needed, separate from school academic pressures. Connee Counts, long-time member of First Parish in Lexington, thought that there might be space in the church. There was an accessible entrance adjacent to the Green. She brought the project to the Parish Council. The proposal, dated March 11, 2009, stated, “We were alarmed at the high rate of adolescent suicide attempts in Lexington (70 last year). Lexington has been without a safety net for its young people since 2003. We hope to fill that gap through Lexington Youth and Family Services [YCC’s former name].” Within a couple of days, the group received a positive response from First Parish–that there was an old bridal lounge near a private side door that might be able to be reconfigured into an office for YCC. Church member and Master Carpenter Ben Soule offered to take on the job and create an office. The rest is history.
The other side of the story is money. The MetroWest Foundation, the umbrella organization for Community Endowments throughout the MetroWest area, gave the YCC founders a seed grant–even before CEL was established–and the program was off and running. The Community Endowment of Lexington has been a good friend of YCC ever since, supporting its mission and growth, and has generously funded three further grants.
Finally, from the beginning YCC wanted to respect the wonderful diversity of the Lexington community. Bea Mah Holland, a very active member of the Lexington community, joined Connee Counts as co-president of YCC for several years during its growth years. Together, staff and board members established a Multicultural Sponsoring Board with members from the diverse cultural groups in Lexington.
YCC continues to have the full support of First Parish in terms of meeting its space needs. The Senior Minister, the Minister of Religious Education, and the Social Action Committee agree that the church’s and YCC’s missions coincide. The church, however, is hands-off regarding the YCC work as an independent mental health agency. As the original YCC proposal to the church states, “Although the church supports projects in nearby communities and Boston, providing this office space is an opportunity to support a local social action project and directly serve the youth of Lexington.” The community partnership with First Parish has made YCC’s work possible, for which the organization is very grateful.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
Mental health professionals had seen a dramatic change in Lexington teen behavior since the ‘70s and ‘80s. That was a different time, and Lexington was a different community. Teens’ mental health needs looked very different. It was the height of drug abuse in this country, and many Lexington teens were heavily involved in alcohol, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, and even heroin. Besides drug abuse, the crises back then were most often “acting out behavior,” including teen pregnancy, runaways, and criminal behavior. Teens were often engaged in self-destructive behavior, but few were overtly suicidal.
When that group of concerned professionals called for the town Youth Forum in 2008, the teen population in Lexington had changed. Most young people looked good on the surface. They attended school, very often they performed well and participated in sports and other activities. They looked good on the outside, but on the inside, they were suffering from high stress, anxiety, and depression. The group sounded the alarm in 2008 because, as noted in the 2008 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 270 LHS students reported that they seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months, and 70 LHS students had attempted it.
ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM
When YCC–then called Lexington Youth and Family Services–was founded, the main goal was suicide prevention. Because so many of the youth suffered silently, they were hard to identify and hardly ever reached for counseling services. YCC founders and teen advisors recognized that Lexington teens needed a community response coupled with creative forms of outreach, which included accessible counseling.
Today, YCC services are broadly aimed at developing strengths and coping skills. YCC’s Drop-in Counseling gives parents or students space to walk in and have immediate access to a mental health professional. This program has been used by parents worried their student is at risk or even by a student looking to just talk through things on their mind.
The majority of YCC services are short-term solution-focused individual, group, and family counseling. These services are great for someone looking to learn skills, improve communication, or find better ways of coping with their emotions. This can also be a valuable service in helping to bridge students to longer-term therapy. These services are free and confidential, meaning what you share stays with us, unless given permission.
Ten years ago, YCC started the Sources of Strength program at LHS. Sources is an upstream or primary prevention program, meaning it is aimed at the general population. For example, one of the goals of Sources is to change the culture at schools so students are empowered to work together on projects that promote health and a sense of connection. Lexington Public Schools has embraced the Sources of Strength program, and it is now also in both Jonas Clarke and William Diamond Middle Schools, with plans to expand into the elementary schools.
A recent study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2025) shows that Sources of Strength substantially reduced suicide attempts by 29% among high school students. In Lexington’s most recent Youth Risky Behavior Survey (YRBS), there was a similar result at LHS, with a significant reduction in the number of students who reported that they seriously considered suicide. The first significant reduction in 15 years!
TODAY’S YCC SERVICES UPDATE
As noted by Emily Hayes, YCC Executive Director, for the past five years since the pandemic hit, YCC has received numerous calls for counseling services. At that point, a short-term therapy model was designed, which offered 12 free sessions to an individual and/or family per school year. The demand for these services has grown ever since, with this year having a record number of students and families. Currently, there are 30 open cases, which is unheard of in YCC’s history; previously, the maximum was 16.
This year, there has been a rise in students presenting with neurodivergence, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder. These students typically present with being easily overstimulated, struggling in social situations, or having difficulty with focus and/or motivation. Other students get help with peer challenges, setting boundaries, gender issues, and engaging in healthy relationships. Our short-term work is ideal for the student who needs to learn some skills, develop more support from their family, and can try things on their own for a bit. It is also ideal for that student who may need longer-term support, and YCC helps bridge that gap. Additionally, groups are offered to students or parents; this year’s group focused on social and emotional skills. Lastly, in addition to YCC’s counseling and support services, YCC has an active Youth Advisory Board that provides both input on services and completes a variety of community-focused activities.
YCC’S YOUTH IMPACT AWARD
Three years ago, YCC began the tradition of recognizing individuals in Lexington with an annual Impact Award — people who have made an impact on youth mental health. Initially, YCC honored Val Viscosi, Director of Counseling in the Lexington Public Schools, who was instrumental in developing suicide prevention various social-emotional programs in Lexington Schools and valued working with community programs. Last year, YCC recognized Lexington Times editor Laurie Atwater for her long-time devotion to youth mental health issues through regular articles and publicity of YCC’s services and events over the years.
This year YCC opted to recognize not one individual but the entire congregation of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church for their decade-long and multi-faceted support of our mission.
First Parish’s Senior Minister Anne Mason responded to the award, saying, “It is important for our own mission and vision that we partner with organizations who are doing the work that we believe in. Our congregation simply cannot do all that we would like to do, so we are grateful for the work of the YCC in this crucially important area of adolescent mental health. We offer programs for teens such as Our Whole Lives, which is a course on healthy understanding of sexuality, including issues like consent, boundaries, GLBTQ issues, and more. Honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It dismantles stereotypes and assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision making, and has the potential to save lives. So, while we do offer some important programs, it is wonderful to be able to refer our own teens to YCC when they need it!
“I also am grateful to have Emily [YCC Executive Director] as a colleague in our building, and I shared a story where she dropped into my office after the election, just to check and see how I was doing. Therapists and ministers take care of others, but we also appreciate it when someone takes care of us! I also shared that I preached on Sources of Strength when it began, because I knew the message of this good work would be helpful for everyone, of all ages.”
JoAnn Mulready-Shick accepted the award saying, “As First Parish Board Chair, I connected the Vision of First Parish as a beacon of hope, love, and joy on the Lexington Green, and our mission–to be a loving spiritual community where we provide connection, mutual support, and resources to enhance our development and formation of beliefs aligned with our Values of Love, Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, and Generosity–to the values and mission of YCC. Further, I drew on the promises we at First Parish make to one another and how we show up for one another in community, which also speak directly to our committed relationship with YCC and our commonalities, mainly of Welcoming and Including, Reflecting and Connecting, Relating and Belonging, Acting and Responding, and Caring and Celebrating. On behalf of everyone at First Parish we are so honored and very grateful to receive the YCC Impact Award.”
SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY SOLUTION BY BEING BETTER TOGETHER
Bill Blout noted, “Our most important achievement is raising awareness in the community and schools. Teen depression is not a single person or family issue. A community response is essential. We are most grateful to First Parish for its work with the youth of Lexington…”
Connee Counts concluded, “This is truly a story of a community coming together in the face of a serious problem, a youth mental health crisis. A handful of residents sounded the alarm, and a centrally located historical church, First Parish Unitarian Universalist, heard it and responded by reconstructing a space to accommodate a small counseling office for the work to begin. Others in the community have joined the effort. The Community Endowment of Lexington has consistently awarded us grants to sustain our work. The Lexington Public Schools heard our voice and adopted the upstream suicide prevention program, Sources of Strength, which we brought to LHS and is now in both middle schools. Our multicultural Board works hard to raise money in the community to support our free, accessible counseling center. Youth Counseling Connection is the result of a community partnership. We are grateful to all who have made our work possible, especially to First Parish Lexington, without whom we would not be here today. We believe our support for young people in Lexington has made a significant difference. It may sound trite at this point to say that “it takes a village to raise a child,” but we are an example that it does. We are “Better Together.”
ABOUT YCC
Youth Counseling Connection provides free and accessible support to youth and families. Our services include: short-term counseling, support groups, and community-based programs. YCC’s goal is to improve the emotional wellness of youth in our community. We welcome youth and families of all cultures, religions, genders, and sexual identities.