With February’s annual designation as Youth Mental Health Awareness Month, mental health advocates around the country are looking to the first month of the new year to raise awareness around the importance of mental health while promoting resources to tamper post-holiday blues. Following the emotional highs and lows that come with increased socialization throughout the holiday season, feelings of depression and loneliness during the cold and dreary days of winter are all too common. 

Understanding the dynamics of post-holiday blues Jenni Guentcheva and her team at Green Thumb Initiative (GTI) are doing their part. Born of necessity, Green Thumb initiative was launched in 2018 to provide individuals of all ages and walks of life, regardless of socioeconomic status or geographical locations, with resources to reduce mental and physical illness.
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"Our mission is to provide the next generation with physical and emotional resilience while avoiding the limitations of traditional psychotherapy. We combine culturally competent, evidence-based interventions and advanced horticulture, fitness and nutrition technologies with historic wisdom and multi-generational participation," said Jenni Guentcheva, Executive Director and Co-founder of Green Thumb Initiative.   

By ensuring equity of access to stigma-free resources such as STEAM Education, cooking and nutritional education, therapeutic horticulture, and other innovative approaches to addressing mental and behavioral health, Green Thumb Initiative’s outside of the box, yet comprehensive approach to living healthier lives is resonating with communities across southern Colorado.

“Through equity of access to stigma-free resources our research not only demonstrates a reduction in substance abuse and misuse, and patterns of unhealthy coping mechanisms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation; it also shows a reduction in chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease,” added Guentcheva.

In an effort to expand community outreach and engagement efforts, Green Thumb Initiative has partnered with Kevin Mahmalji of Two Rivers Consulting, LLC to facilitate a series of roundtable discussions with community stakeholders to map out effective strategies for increasing access to stigma-free resources.

Roundtable 1: Thursday, February 16, 2023 from 11:00 to 12:30 PM - RSVP

“Through a thoughtful and well-planned strategy that includes community outreach and engagement, Green Thumb Initiative will be better positioned to further cultivate relationships with community leaders, civic organizations and other stakeholders, which will lay the foundation for more fruitful conversations in the future,” said Mahmalji. “This includes underrepresented communities such as seniors and minorities. Outreach is where it all begins.”

Community stakeholders including mental and behavioral health professionals, therapists, horticulturists, nutritionists, researchers, educators and others who can complement Green Thumb Initiative’s mission are invited and welcomed to attend. 

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Learn about new approaches to preventing and reducing mental and physical illness.
 
Jupiter, FL— An upcoming segment of Advancements with Ted Danson will focus on how inclusive cultural understanding and change is helping to prevent the occurrence of unhealthy coping and reduce mental and physical illness for individuals of all ages.
 
This segment will explore recent environmental stressors and their effects on personal health, issues caused by the overuse of technology, and problems with food scarcity and food quality.
 
Viewers will learn how Green Thumb Initiative provides equity of access to resources (such as stigma-free mental and behavioral health, STEAM Education, cooking, and nutritional education) to reduce in substance abuse and misuse, and eliminate patterns of unhealthy coping mechanisms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation; it also shows a reduction in chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
 
“Our mission is to provide the next generation with physical and emotional resilience while avoiding the limitations of traditional psychotherapy. We combine culturally competent, evidence-based interventions and advanced horticulture, fitness and nutrition technologies with historic wisdom and multi-generational participation,” said Jenni Guentcheva, Executive Director and Co-founder of Green Thumb Initiative.
 
The show will explore how gardening, and more specifically, therapeutic horticulture, can act as an accessible way for individuals of all ages to address their concerns and reconnect with nature, themselves, and their communities.
 
“We look forward to exploring how Green Thumb Initiative is helping people to reduce stress and improve their health, both mentally and physically,” said Beth Swaney, producer for the Advancements series.


About Green Thumb Initiative:
Green Thumb Initiative (GTI) was founded in 2018 in Colorado and is assisting communities to build health-improvement resources for youth and families. Although this idea is not groundbreaking, the GTI approach is. The support for physical and mental health in peer groups, community gardens, schools, and after school activities, eliminates the need for long wait time for psychotherapy in the institutional mental health system and prioritizes the family culture and choices. GTI’s multi-disciplinary team of professionals (coaches, therapists, horticulturists, nutritionists, sport medicine practitioners, researchers) as agents of change, provides a wealth of resources and attracts participants who extend the community success of the program beyond their own involvement. Centered initially around the quality of nutrition as a universal foundation of health, now GTI provides not just recipes for good food, but also recipes for good lives.
 
For more information, visit: www.greenthumb-initiative.com.
 
About Advancements and DMG Productions:
Advancements is an information-based educational television series that explores recent developments taking place across several industries and economies. Shining a light on important issues and topics impacting society today, the series features the cutting-edge improvements, state-of-the-art technologies, and innovative solutions responsible for shaping, molding, and transforming our world.
 
Backed by experts in various fields, DMG Productions is dedicated to education and advancement, and to consistently producing commercial-free, educational programming for viewers and networks.


For more information, please visit www.AdvancementsTV.com or call 866-496-4065.