The AAKOMA Project Launches New Extension: 'Team AAKOMA'

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The AAKOMA Project announced the launch of their latest rebrand and extension, Team AAKOMA. The purpose of this team is to help AAKOMA guide their program and enable them to ensure that the messages they convey and treatments they propose resonate deeply with BIPOC and marginalized youth. 

Much of AAKOMA's work is to build the consciousness of youth of color and their caregivers to recognize and place importance on mental health, while empowering them to seek help and manage mental health, and to influence systems and services to receive and address their needs. Additionally, AAKOMA works on reducing the stigma around mental health care through their patient-centered research and encourages young people to begin their own conversation with their family and peers.

From the start, AAKOMA has always worked on maintaining relationships with intersectional BIPOC youth (including LGTBQI+ and Disabled) advisors. These individuals have helped lead mindful meditations, curate teen mental health content on social media, assisted with research findings, and helped AAKOMA disseminate their research findings to their own peers. Team AAKOMA will serve as a formal extension of the AAKOMA Project for this youth, who want to continue to be mental health advocates in our society. 

Team AAKOMA will be composed of 12 diverse teens (ages of 12-18) who are passionate about mental health and who believe that everyone deserves #OptimalMentalHealth. They will be creative, energetic and have a desire to shape mental health messaging with their audience and peers. The members will have opportunities to work directly with AAKOMA Project board members and community collaborators such as: Starbucks and Harry's Shave Club. While also simultaneously representing the AAKOMA Project in the digital space, assisting in developing marketing materials and disseminating them, and collaborating on new events with influencers and celebrity partners. 

"My elation about our Team AAKOMA launch, from our early days with a small core of believers to today where we are reaching young people throughout the U.S. and 6 countries, is unparalleled," said AAKOMA Project Founder Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble. "I am deeply grateful to my team, our board, teen collaborators, partners, community and friends for their help in bringing us to this critical and timely launch."

To support the AAKOMA Project and learn more about Team AAKOMA, please visit: www.aakomaproject.org. For media inquiries, please contact: Samantha Rucobo at 704.456.5644 or [email protected].

About The AAKOMA Project: At the AAKOMA Project, our founder's vision is a world where EVERY child, teen, and young adult (inclusive of all points of diversity) feels the freedom to live unapologetically and authentically within an environment that allows them to rise and thrive. Because of this, AAKOMA support BIPOC and marginalized teens, young adults, and their family's mental health through dialogue, authentic equitable engagement in communities and with the understanding that everyone deserves #optimalmentalhealth. AAKOMA is a multigenerational team of dedicated people who create scientific knowledge leading to positive behavior change and implement this science using community-engaged and culturally fluent practices.

SOURCE The AAKOMA Project