Healing Before It Is Needed: Pocono Youth Wellness

Healing Before It Is Needed.

In our schools, two out of three kids qualify for free or reduced lunch.

In some Pocono Mountain elementary schools, it's closer to 100%. These are children being raised by parents working two and three jobs, in a region where a single yoga class costs $30 and a therapy session costs $200.

Our kids are struggling more than they should be. Our families are doing more than they should have to. And the things that can help, mental health care, recovery tools, mentorship, and athletic opportunity, cost more than many families can afford.

Pennsylvania faces a shortage of more than 6,300 mental health professionals by 2026. In Monroe County, working families feel the gap. Waitlists for a pediatric therapist can stretch months. The kids who most need help often wait the longest to receive it.

The Heallist Foundation was built to help fill that gap. We partner with schools and healthcare providers. We focus on what comes before, and around, that care: training the adults in a kid's life to recognize stress, build trust, and offer the tools of resilience before crisis ever brings a family to the emergency room.

We invest in young people before something goes wrong.

The tools that help a kid through the hardest moments of life should not arrive in the middle of crisis. They should already be there. Already practiced. Already part of who they are.

We are a Monroe County 501(c)(3) bringing whole-person wellness, resilience training, and athletic opportunity to youth who are too often priced out of access. Our work runs through two pillars.

It Starts With Wrestling.

Pennsylvania produces more college wrestlers than any state in the country, and our kids grow up in the middle of it. Girls wrestling is now the fastest-growing high school sport in America, and Pennsylvania has nearly 250 schools competing. For many of our families, wrestling is one of the clearest paths to college.

Mountain Forge is our youth athletics pillar, in partnership with Alpha Dawgz, Lady Alpha Dawgz, and The Mat youth wrestling clubs. The sport teaches kids how to put in the work, own their results, and trust the team standing next to them. Director Carmen Mercadante is a 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier with over 30 years of coaching experience, and the program is already producing results on and off the mat.

This June we launch Camp of Champs at Northampton Community College, led by three of wrestling's most decorated PA talents: Jordan Oliver of Easton (2x NCAA National Champion and 2020 US Olympic Team Member), Nate Jackson (2x NCAA All-American and 2x Pan American Champion), and Jax Forrest of Bishop McCort (reigning 2026 NCAA National Champion and 2025 World Team Member). Your gift today helps make it happen.

Mountain Heart covers what athletics alone cannot reach: nutrition education, somatic recovery, and tools for handling pressure. Programming is delivered through local venues- Northampton Community College, Mountain View Park, Borzio Wrestling Academy.

Mountain Heart is led by Jodi Carey, a renowned yoga and wellness educator whose work bridges elite athletic performance and trauma-informed care. Her experience includes training Olympic athletes, working with inner-city youth, and delivering programming to the Marines at Camp Lejeune. Her work is cited in Bessel van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score.

Why Your Gift During NEPA Gives

NEPA Gives rewards campaigns based on the number of unique donors, not the total raised. A $10 gift unlocks the same prize match as a $500 gift.

Your donation funds youth access to athletics and wellness programming, scholarships for families in need, coach and educator training in whole-child wellness, and programs kept accessible at little or no cost to local families.

We are a Monroe County 501(c)(3). Your gift stays local. The coaches we train work in your kid's school. The families we serve live on your community.

Give what you can. Share this page with someone. Help us build something lasting for the young people in our region.

That is how a foundation grows. One donor. One family. One young person at a time.

Healing Before It Is Needed.On the mat. In life.