‘Wraparound Support’ Meets Black and Hispanic Girls’ Overlooked Mental Health Needs

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. On a sunny but brisk November afternoon inside Robert Abbott Middle School, six eighth-grade girls quickly filed into a small but colorful classroom and seated themselves in a circle. Yuli Paez-Naranjo, a Working on Womanhood counselor, sported a purple WOW T-shirt as she led the group in a discussion about how values can inform decisions. “Do you ever feel like two little angels are sitting on each of your shoulders, one whispering good things to you, the other whispering bad things?” Paez-Naranjo asked the girls. The students nodded and giggled. At the 50-minute WOW circle, girls have a chance to set aside the pressures of the school day, laugh with and listen to one another, and work through personal problems. The weekly meeting is the centerpiece of individual and group therapy that WOW offers throughout the school year to Black and Hispanic girls, and to students of all races who identify as female or nonbinary, in grades six to 12. The Working on Womanhood program operates in Waukegan, Illinois, and several other school districts around the country. Credit: Camilla Forte / The Hechinger Report...