New youth wellness campus opens

NotMYkid is a non-profit organization that provides kids, families, schools, and community partners with drug prevention education and early intervention programs. They just opened up a new campus called “the well.” Here to tell us more is Shane Watson, a prevention specialist at notMYkid.

NotMYkid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on youth mental and behavioral therapy. It was founded 22 years ago by a Scottsdale family and has since reached over 1 million people with life-changing programs.

“Prevention is what we were founded on,” Watson said. NotMYkid is designed to educate youth and adults on topics such as substance abuse and online bullying.

They are licensed by Arizona as an outpatient treatment facility and connect youth with their own peer support specialists through a proprietary app, offering both in-person and online meetings.

They recently opened a new 13,000 square-foot campus, “The Well”  which hosts community events, peer support groups, music therapy, art therapy, and meditation.

“It is a place where people can heal,” Watson said.

In March 2020, COVID-19 forced notMYkid to temporarily close its office, suspending many of its in-person services. However, they were able to move all their programs online and “did not miss a beat.”

Watson said there was “no gap between kids and families getting the support they needed.”

As COVID-19 protocols loosen, notMYkid will be returning more in-person programs through their facilities.

If only healing the person and not the people and environment around them “we are not doing our full job”