Poor mental health in adolescence is more than feeling blue. It can affect many areas of a teen’s life.
Charlie Health is a rising solution for this. Charlie Health is a fully online program, also known as Intensive Out Patient, where patients spend nine hours a week in a group therapy meeting. There is also an option for two additional hours of family therapy and individual therapy.
In these meetings you are joined with other teens going through the same or similar situation. The usual enrollment in this program is nine weeks, but there is an option to extend your graduation date to best support your journey.
Charlies Health’s name is a tribute to a close friend of one of the co-founders who passed away at an early age. The co-founder Carter Barnhart states on the website, “We understand that today, many of us have a ‘Charlie’ – a life tragically cut short due to a lack of timely intervention and access.”
As a current patient at Charlie Health, I am going through this change firsthand. After years of trying to find a good therapist and countless intake meetings, Charlie Health was finally recommended to me.
My parents and I gave it a try as we felt like we were running out of options. I have been struggling with my mental health since middle school. I know many other students and peers around me go through the same struggles and my goal is to help others that feel hopeless, like I once did.
What made this treatment different from the dozens of other therapists I’ve tried is the commitment Charlie Health has to my recovery. It’s not just one person you meet with every other week; it’s groups and individuals that keep you wanting to go back. You grow close with the people you meet and feel comfort in finding other people that are going through the same things.
With my graduation date for Charlie Health coming up in the next few weeks, I have been looking back on my growth, thinking about the hard, dark times I was in before this program.
If sharing my experience helps even one person feel less alone, then it’s worth it. Charlie Health gave me another chance to keep going, now I’m using my voice to ensure other people know they have that chance too.