TMHFA THIS WAY

Interscope’s Lady Gaga recently announced that her Born This Way Foundation and the National Council for Behavioral Health will expand teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) to include 20 additional high schools across the U.S. this fall. Expanded from just eight schools, the innovative peer-to-peer mental health program empowers students in high school from grades 10-12 to support each other in times of need or crisis.

The program aims to help young people “learn about mental illnesses, including how to identify and respond to a developing mental health or substance use problem among their peers,” according to a tMHFA rep. "With teen Mental Health First Aid, we like to say, it's okay to not be okay,” said Gaga during her Las Vegas residency show, where 16 students who completed the first pilot program joined her on stage.

She added, “Sometimes when life gives you a million reasons to not want to stay, you need just one person that looks at you, listens to you, helps you get help and validates how you feel." Gaga co-founded the Born This Way Foundation in 2011 alongside her mother, Cynthia Germanotta.