The mission focuses on improving mental health education and assistance in under-served communities, encouraging medical students to engage in community service, highlighting the importance of early recognition of mental illnesses, and fostering an interest in psychiatry, especially in under-served populations.
The Helping Hands Grants Program is designed to support mental health and substance use disorder projects led by medical students, with a specific emphasis on serving under-served minority communities. It offers grants of up to $5,000 for projects that can be in collaboration with community agencies or part of ongoing medical school outreach efforts. These initiatives are aimed at raising awareness about mental health, encouraging early diagnosis of mental illnesses, and boosting interest among medical students in psychiatry and in working within under-served areas. Each project must be supervised by at least one psychiatrist.