Bridging the Gap Between Care and Community

After a student in a nearby school in NYC died by suicide, Dorian Hollingsworth, Jr. found himself drawn to the work of teen mental health. While still a university student, Hollingsworth founded the Teen Care Network with the goal of supporting teens by connecting them with free mental health resources while, at the same time, working to break the stigma around mental health treatment.

 The Teen Care Network bridges the gap between care and community by providing the most necessary and most current programming efforts to teens and the community.

About Dorian Hollingsworth

Born and raised in the Bronx in NY, Hollingsworth spent his childhood and adolescence there with his mother and younger brother. The family moved to Virginia as Hollingsworth finished high school and he began college at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Hollingsworth was a witness to incidents of bullying and the aftermath while still in high school. A student at a nearby school in NYC died of suicide and the impact left its mark on Hollingsworth.

“It really hit home – in fact, it broke my heart to know that things are so rough in many of our lives that the only thing left to turn to is the termination of the air in our lungs and stopping our maturation,” said Hollingsworth.

While at ODU, Hollingsworth began to dig deeper into issues around teen mental health. “The 2021 State of Mental Health in America Report confirmed the trend that mental health in the U.S. continues to get worse and many states are ill-prepared to handle this crisis and policymakers at every level of government need to act immediately.” Students in particular, are hit hard by life stressors, including incidents of bullying.

In 2020, with mental health numbers on the rise due to the pandemic, the Teen Care Network was born. “The Teen Care Network was initially created with the message around bullying. Cyberbullying was on the rise. We found that over 70% of teen-induced bullying events occur over Facebook!”  However, as Hollingsworth and his team began to work with and listen to teens, they found that teens needed broader mental health support.

“Today, the TCN works to support teens through mental health crises. The goal of the Teen Care Network is to break the stigma around seeking mental health care and obtaining it. Our goal is bridging the gap between care and community. We are supporting teens in our communities by connecting them with the resources they need to thrive. Our communities are suffering day by day as they try to combat these mental health-based issues with friends, family members, loved ones, and even neighbors alike but are ill-equipped to handle this crisis in their own backyards.”

Only 19, Hollingsworth is still learning and working to build his organization and is happy to join the Invested Faith community.

“Our position aligns perfectly with the work of Invested Faith - to build community, do justice, and address systemic problems in our own communities. Each and every day, the TCN lives and breathes these values. How can we support our communities by providing teens with the necessary mental health resources needed to thrive and equipping our communities with the resources needed to support teens? How can we create communities who thrive? How can we end the stigma around mental health? Underlyingly - how can we end the stigma around seeking out help and assisting from others? This is our mission and our value and it's something that we are passionate about bringing forth.“

Hollingsworth draws inspiration from his church and remembers the teachings of his former pastor and mentor, Pastor Michael A. Walrond, Jr., Senior Pastor of First Corinthian Baptist Church in NYC.  “What motivates and inspires me each day is simply the joy and smile on others. Pastor Mike empowered us to be the "embodiment of infinite possibilities" and to be our most authentic selves everyday. Our goal at the TCN is to create a human response to mental health, deriving from Pastor Mike's #BeHuman sermon series. Each day I am motivated and inspired to be the best me and the most authentic me I can be and that is someone who is rooted in putting smiles on faces and providing support for those who desperately need answers.”

Hollingsworth is open to learning and taking things slowly.

“A sophomore in college, I am just simply taking it one day at a time. The best advice I ever received from a mentor was to be wary of taking too many strides forward without perfectly placing your steps in the present. I got to where I am now by making sure that I took the necessary steps to ensure that my steps were anchored. My plans are to continue to take it one day at a time to grow my organization from the ground up and to provide that kind of support to the teens we plan to support and provide for.”

In June of 2022, Hollingsworth was recognized by Hope Center Harlem for his work in mental health advocacy. Hollingsworth, however, is just getting started. He dreams of one day walking into a building with the name Teen Care Network on the front.

“We have goals and dreams to find the Teen Care Network a home to support teens in the community in which we are based and then eventually grow into opening spaces around the country. We want to be able to put clinicians on staff to provide free mental health counseling sessions to teens for free in the community. We have dreams to create an online ecommerce store to continue to bring in revenue that will be used to solidify funding for the organization's lifeline and so much more. We hope and dream that we are able to accomplish the goal of bridging the gap found between care and community and hope to see communities become better equipped to handle trauma. And this is only the beginning - I cannot even imagine what more God can move and shift to make happen for us - things far beyond my scope.”

“The Teen Care Network is made possible by the support of Mental Health allies and those who believe in the work that we're doing to bridge the gap between care and community. It is essential that we work together, all of us, to create positive mental health conversations in our jobs, communities, and within our families.”

Update: In February of 2023, Dorian was recognized nationally as one of McDonald’s 2023 Black and Positively Golden Change Leaders, a collective of 10 young, Black movers-and-shakers who inspire and enact remarkable change in their communities and beyond.