Atlas Youth Outreach

Atlas was founded by a social worker and a counselor who had worked in Jefferson County a combined 25 years. In 2019, after seeing a need, we set out to create a new organization dedicated to being responsive to the needs of teenagers in the area. We felt it was top priority to develop trusting relationships with the population we serve so we could better understand what those needs are by developing programming with their input. Over the past five years we are happy to report that we have been able to serve 790 teens and provide 133 group therapy sessions. 

        We understand the pressures of growing up can feel insurmountable, but we believe that when adolescents are provided with compassion and understanding, they can be empowered to make amazing progress. That is why our vision has always been to provide a safe place for the youth of Jefferson County to participate in therapeutic services and provide new opportunities for them to gain knowledge for successful futures. Atlas has been able to provide over ten different type of psychoeducational support groups, teens nights, and a summer program for free both in the community and at schools. Even now our programming continues to expand, so that we are able to offer more valuable information and support. 

         We have big goals to continue to grow and hope to one day have a space we can utilize as a youth center where teens can come for groups, homework assistance, college and career exploration, therapy and most importantly a safe place that they can just be teens. 

If these goals are ever going to become reality we will need the support of our community. Your donations today will allow us to continue our mission and move forward towards our larger goals.

This year we are raising funds to help support our Connect Program.  Connect includes our Teen Advisory Board, teen community events and teen nights at our office. These gatherings are free, alcohol, drug, and vape free hangouts for teens, ages 11-18, to just be kids.   The past two years we hosted two game nights, an art night and two movie nights.  We also hosted a Movie day at our local movie theater to see Inside Out 2 and held our first Teens Only Trunk or Treat. We had 94 teens join us for those events. This year we are hosting a skate night, another movie day at the local movie theater to see How to Train Your Dragon, and we are bringing back our Teen Only Trunk or Treat.  The Atlas Teen Advisory board is made of a group of teens who are interested in bridging the gap between teens and the adults who provide mental health services. The Advisory board allows teens an opportunity to learn leadership skills, plan events, for teens, and