Our Mission

CARING (Children At Risk: Intervention for a New Generation) at Columbia is a unit within the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. CARING’s three-fold mission is service, research, and training in mental health promotion and illness prevention for children and adolescents. CARING uses a community-oriented, culturally competent, small group based, arts and education model. CARING aims to replicate this unique model across a diverse spectrum of geographic, cultural, clinical, and academic settings. CARING’s goals are to support psychological development, enhance resilience, and provide coping skills for at-risk youth. At CARING, child psychiatry residents, art therapists, artists, and other mental health professionals work directly with children in their schools and communities. 

The Constants In Our Lives

What is constant in my life?
My neighborhood
My support systems
My willingness to survive
My empathy for the world

What is constant in my life is:
My being is here
I write and I am happy
I dance and I feel
I connect and I am open
What changes is external
What is constant is what is internal
She is always a VIBE

What is constant in my life is
A rippling kindness that is forever

What is constant in my life is
My RESILIENCE

 Written by a CARING Adolescent Expressive Arts group