Interns with the I'm A Star Foundation were among those who created Empower Me, an app that promotes mental heath awareness in teens by providing daily affirmations and information about where to seek resources. Bottom row, from left: Kenya Robinson, Calleigh Buchanan, Jamie Edwards, Jhi'nema Philyaw, Mari Dawson and Zamari Brown. Back row, from left: Kristion Thompkins, Jordan Sanders, Jackson Sanders, Myles McLaughlin, William Heard and Aiden Wright. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on June 18, 2025 at 12:32 pm
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Black and brown teenagers may not always understand that it is OK to not be OK in a given moment.
Myles McLaughlin, Aiden Wright, Kristion Thompkins and Joseph Dorsey know there is a challenge getting teens to appreciate their mental health options.
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The quartet have devoted the last four years to the creation of a digital solution. They created Empower Me, an app that will provide daily affirmations as well as mini-games that foster mental health awareness.
The foursome met through the I’m A Star Foundation, a leadership development academy for teenagers in Jacksonville.
Dorsey helped provide the conceptual design that included the exercises, daily affirmations and mini games that teens would play while he was an I’m A Star student. Now 20, Dorsey is a computer science major at the University of North Florida.
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Meanwhile, Myles, 16, Aiden, 14, and Kristion, 15, are all teenagers at traditional Duval County Public Schools.
“We’ve been working on it for a fairly long time,” says Myles, a Paxon School for Advanced Studies student who is in his eighth year as an I’m A Star scholar. “The main thing is we started to actually realize that people do struggle with mental health. Youth mental health is real. Youth mental health is here. We noticed that by watching our peers, watching people around us, we realized that we’re always on our phones. We might as well just make it a lot easier to access resources to help with mental health.”
Aiden says their experience as teenagers allows them to better understand what their peers may need.
“Although we may not all go through the same thing, we understand where they are coming from and that’s why we have this app to empower them,” says Aiden, a Stanton College Prep student in his fourth year in the I’m A Star program.
According to a 2022 study led by then-Stony Brook University assistant professor Ijeoma Opara, Black adolescents with mental health disorders are less likely than non-Black teenagers to receive mental health treatment. The attributed reasons were a negative perception of services and lack of access to mental health services for those who are interested.
That study, Mental Health Burden among Black Adolescents: The Need for Better Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment Engagement, noted it is possible current mental health assessment tools do not adequately capture the language and manifestation of the mental health systems and experiences of Black adolescents.
“Supportive mental health services should be created that are available in a variety of settings, including outside the traditional mental health settings. For example, schools and recreation centers are a vital part of the lives of adolescents and by creating programs that are adapted to these settings, the needs of this and other vulnerable populations may be more adequately addressed.”
That is exactly why the I’m A Star scholars created the Empower Me app.
“I think this can make a very big difference people,” Dorsey says. “It can tell them: ‘You’re alright. You’re not the only person going through what you’re going through.’ There is an app dedicated (to mental health awareness) and will be using it for the same reason you are using it. It’s OK to go through the things you’re going through. You’re never alone in that aspect.”
A launch celebration will be held Thursday. Timing the launch to coincide with the Juneteenth holiday was intentional.
“It feels good that we get to launch a mental health app made by African American teens, for African American teens — and all teens in general,” says Kristion, a Riverside High student who is in his fourth year in the I’m A Star program.
“It feels good to be able to drop it on a day that celebrates African American people because, for me, African American people, we all went through a lot of things back then.”
Thursday marks 160 years, and multiple generations, since word reached Galveston, Texas, that the Emancipation Proclamation would be enforced. Black teens — as well as teens of other backgrounds — have endured countless traumas in the years since.
Aiden says the affirmations in the app are a form of digital reassurance.
Aiden has worked on the Empower Me project for three years. He says there are more than 365 positive affirmations within the app, so students will have a different one every day.
Since it was created in 2010 by longtime Jacksonville education advocate Betty Burney, a former school board chairwoman, the I’m A Star Foundation has helped Jackson, Mississippi, through its water crisis; raised more than $200,000 to help unhoused students who are Duval County Public Schools students; and spoken at the White House about strategies to improve youth mental health. Star is an acronym for “smart, talented and resilient.”
This is the first time its students have created an app.
“It has really changed who I am,” Aiden says. “Before I joined I’m A Star, I used to let people push me over. I used to isolate myself from everyone. I’m A Star has really changed my perspective, my motivation, my determination and, most importantly, who I am. You can’t let things change you fully, but you can always let things come in to help you.”
