by Arielle Corbin
With mental health issues and climate crises on the rise, young leaders in California are stepping up to create innovative solutions to today’s most pressing challenges, from youth mental health care to eco-anxiety.
Supported by Blue Shield of California's BlueSky initiative and DoSomething.org, the EMBER Collective offers these young changemakers, "a community of practice to ignite your ideas to improve mental health in your community,” guided by the principles of Empathy, Mindfulness, and Building Emotional Resilience (EMBER). In its inaugural year, the collective brought together 19 young people nationwide for a six-month mentorship program. In 2024, mental health advocates Sophie Kim, Prateek Sunder and Niku Sedarat joined the EMBER Collective to help bring their ideas to life.
Sophie Kim: Connecting the world in the fight to save our planet
Sophie Kim, a 16-year-old high school sophomore from Southern California, is addressing eco-anxiety by connecting young activists globally. During the pandemic, Kim saw increased news coverage of the climate crisis and the positive environmental impacts of reduced human activity. This global moment of reflection also caused rising anxiety among young people, worried about the future of our planet.
Motivated by her own eco-anxiety, Kim founded The Clean and Green Initiative, a student-led, online, environmental activism organization that shares resources and strategies to combat climate change. Over four years, the initiative has grown to more than 650 members worldwide and features an interview series called “Climate Heroes in Action.”
With support from the EMBER Collective, Kim also developed a children’s book on eco-anxiety. EMBER connected her with a published author, who mentored Kim through the process. The book aims to empower children and young adults to feel capable of making a difference.
“Finding community and seeing inspiring people working to save the world is truly powerful,” said Kim. “It reminds us that we’re never alone in trying to make the world a better place.”
Prateek Sunder: Overcoming social anxiety one step at a time
Prateek Sunder, a Napa native and recent UC Berkeley graduate, found his spark with the EMBER Collective after navigating his own mental health journey. As a first-year university student, Sunder was often frozen with social anxiety. He found support in his high school friends, but just a few months into his first college semester, one of his closest friends was lost to gun violence.
Attempting to navigate his grief, Sunder was referred to a campus counselor and discovered the power of mental health care and the importance of making it approachable and accessible. In collaboration with the EMBER Collective, Sunder is developing a self-paced, social anxiety exposure therapy program, featuring guided exercises paired with reflective prompts to help participants navigate anxiety. The program is grounded in the belief that incremental progress can lead to significant change.
“I hope to create a resource with more small steps, reflection, mindfulness and self-acceptance than I gave myself,” Sunder said. “It’s the sort of help that I wish I’d had when I first started my journey.”
More than anything, Sunder encourages his peers to work through their anxiety one step at a time: “It’s easier to improve something that’s not perfect than it is to try and make something perfect the first time. Give yourself the chance and just take the first step. You might be surprised by the discoveries and journeys you’ll find along the way.”
Niku Sedarat: Mental health resources for youth, by youth
Niku Sedarat, a first-generation Iranian American, witnessed both the pandemic’s impact on her peers’ mental health, as well as the stigma around mental health care in communities of color. A Bay Area native, she was concerned about the lack of accessible youth mental health care in marginalized communities, which only worsened during the pandemic. Emails from her school shared updates like, ‘It is with great sadness that we share another student has passed away due to suicide.’
“What was even more disturbing was when we returned to school the next year, there wasn't anything dramatic done to change the culture, to start talking about it or provide services,” said Sedarat.
Determined to create change, Sedarat developed Unité, which she describes as “an initiative founded for the youth by the youth, striving to destigmatize mental health to instill emotional resilience in youth.” Unité, meaning "unity" in French, is a free, online platform that offers culturally competent, psychoeducational content and resources, translated into 11 languages by local volunteers. With help from the EMBER Collective, Sedarat has grown Unité into a global mental health hub, with plans to expand language offerings, reach wider audiences, and eventually provide direct access to mental health professionals who offer culturally grounded services for youth.
As she prepares to attend Stanford University to pursue a degree in Psychology, Sedarat remains committed to inspiring young leaders to advocate for mental health.
“The power really is in the people and their voices,” she said. “Your voice, your truth, the stories you bring and the perspectives you have are invaluable to creating change. Your voice is your power, your story deserves to be told.”
Sedarat, Sunder, and Kim’s projects with the EMBER Collective demonstrate the power of youth activism and align with BlueSky’s youth mental health pillars — access, awareness and advocacy.
“As leaders like the EMBER participants advocate for progress and develop accessible resources for their peers, they remind us that anyone — regardless of age — can ignite progress and change the world,” said Paula Ambrose, who leads the BlueSky youth mental health initiative at Blue Shield.
Resources
- Learn more about DoSomething.org and EMBER Collective (part of the nonprofit's Camp Reboot mental health program)
- Learn more about BlueSky, Blue Shield of California’s youth mental health initiative