​​Kristin Calabria: Establishing Change Through the BRIDGE Lab Foundation

According to the BRIDGE Lab Foundation, “Two out of every three kids across America will experience at least one instance of childhood adversity.” This Foundation was founded by Kristin Calabria, a licensed marriage and family therapist. She started this Foundation to provide equitable mental health care for children in K-12 schools.

In looking ahead to the long-term goal for her Foundation, she hopes to make education an environment that promotes wellness as well as schooling. “We hope to transform education…to a place where we are ensuring that these little humans who are going to be changemakers in the world can be taken care of,” said Calabria. “We want to make sure these kids are well first and then [teach] them how to think and how to explore instead of teaching them what to think. That creates massive ripple effects across not only their communities but nationally-that is really the long-term vision.”

Before establishing her Foundation, Calabria started her career traveling to various communities in need to encourage children to practice mental focus and awareness. “The idea for this nonprofit started back when I used to live in New York City…I was a yoga teacher…and a mindfulness teacher…at school sights and high schools,” Calabria stated.  

She noticed many students struggling mentally, motivating her to make an impact. “One of those school sights was in the Bronx in New York …a lot of challenges in this school…their school had a series of suicides happen which is really devastating for any community. This was back in 2014 to 2017 when talking about mental health, especially at the youth level was not a thing. It was still very stigmatized,” said Calabria. 

She believes that by implementing mental health care in schools and ensuring children are cared for throughout their 12 years of schooling, she can make an impact on their future. According to Calabria, “that time where the one place the kids have to be is the one place where you can make sure that every child is fed, clothed, housed and well. From a psychological, emotional, spiritual and physical level.”

She worked with this group of students for multiple academic years and during that time had not yet gone back to school and got licensed as a therapist. “I was working from mainly my experience as… a trauma-informed yoga teacher. I had a lot of skills and tools but it wasn't addressing the root cause of the problem. We needed to change how education is perceived in communities,” said Calabria.

The Foundation calls its system, “the Matrix of Care,” which serves as an assessment and intervention instrument, enabling school personnel, caregivers, and students to cultivate healthier, flourishing communities.

This system focuses on three core populations within schools. This includes the students, families and school staff. “This is really important because  [teachers] are more likely to experience…burnout since they are on the frontlines of interacting with individuals who have trauma. This is the type of burnout you get in a helping profession which is different from other [professions],” stated Calabria.

Tier one focuses on preventive care and analyzing how the staff can educate communities. The second tier is more targeted to people who are at risk for having adverse mental health issues. Tier three is the Foundation’s one-on-one care, which involves talking to one of the Foundation’s clinicians. This is applied to all three populations of families and educators. 

One of the issues in the education system she works to provide solutions for is the school-to-prison pipeline. This refers to a structure that channels students from educational settings directly into the legal system. 

This process unfairly impacts individuals of color and those from disadvantaged economic backgrounds at a higher rate. “When we look at the school-to-prison pipeline most of our kids who have experienced trauma and adversity, whether in their lives or generationally, are the kids who are being funneled from the classroom to the courtroom. What that looks like, is these instances of systemic oppression in our communities,” said Calabria. 

Calabria has been working in schools in under-resourced communities in Los Angeles, New York and San Diego. Calabria believes, “ [due] the way that our society is set up, America has been disproportionately targeting these communities which creates higher instances of abuse and neglect. When a [kid] experiences that in their very prime developmental course of their life-they are four and a half times more likely to use illicit substances. They are six times more likely to have mental health diagnoses that go untreated that then turn into suspension or expulsion from school,” Calabria stated.

These factors, she believes, are what funnel kids from classrooms into courtrooms along with not feeling like they belong in educational institutions. “That is where we look at this problem where so many of our underestimated youth are…feeling like they don't belong in these spaces that are supposed to be safe…and there are many places to intervene along that pathway. We chose to go to the beginning of where the problem is and focus on uplifting the entire community because when we do that…we are breaking the pattern of generational trauma and poverty,” said Calabria.
Calabria decided to embark on her career journey based on the wisdom she gained through her experiences in adulthood. “I struggled for a very long time with undiagnosed mental health challenges. It was hard for me to understand what was going on, and I had such a negative connotation with the idea of therapy. I did not want to feel weak for seeking that type of assistance and support,” Calabria stated.