Our vision: Empower youth and families with relatable content and actionable tools for mental well-being.
Our focus: Transformative, evidence-based content, building community to combat the mental health crisis.
Our mission: Help make mental health more prioritized, accessible, and joyfully integrated into everyday life.
Creating mental wellness content for young people and families
Did you know that 1 in 5 kids, teens, and adults face mental health challenges? Stigma and lack of resources keep many from seeking help. Together, we can change this.
Medicinal Media offers tools and resources to foster mental well-being—and shares inspiring content by and for young people and their families to help them heal, grow, and thrive.
Art-forward and science-backed, Medicinal Media provides accessible and enjoyable mental wellness strategies and resources through investigating, curating, creating, and celebrating beneficial media. We don’t pretend to have all of the answers–we have lots of questions, and believe in listening, sharing, and empowering.
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Sign up for our monthly newsletter and reach out anytime at team@medicinal-media.org
ABOUT US
Our programs
Events in the Field
The Hi, How Are You Project is a non-profit that educates young people about the importance of mental health and well-being through community-building programs. We’ve been producing with them, in collaboration with local college students, since 2023, hearing from celebrities as well as festival attendees about the healing power of music, community, and just speaking up.
Virtual Classes
Move for mental health, the first in a series of wellness practices with experts in their fields, was a 75-minute class with board member Adriene Mishler, designed to bring an awareness of stability and strength with a steady guide.
Online Gatherings
The Shift Foundation is a mental health nonprofit that envisions a world where all teens and young adults have access to mental health practices and resources that allow them to thrive. We presented the first episode in their new series and are developing more in tandem to keep cultivating community and advancing mental wellness in joyful, innovative ways.
Educational Collaborations
Peace in Schools is a nonprofit working in teen-centered transformative mindfulness education. We’re collaborating with their mentors and students to share and create compelling educational content across our platforms and communities.
We’re also working independently with other K-12 schools to hear from more kids and teens on crucial issues in our new peer-to-peer support series Stronger Together.
Documentary Productions and Journalism
Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit that believes most of the external conflict in the world is the result of unconscious, unresolved internal conflict in each and every one of us. As grantees, we’ve been working with them since 2024 on a series of documentaries and articles that explore mental health, perception, and personal transformation using their Perception Box™ framework.
For 2026, we’ve started collaborating with new friends like Common Sense Media, JED Foundation, and have received a fellowship to produce a series with Solutions Journalism Network. Solutions journalism is rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems, which includes the key elements of response, insight, evidence, and limitations.
We also have hundreds of eclectic illustrated articles and short-form videos available across our site and channels designed to educate, inspire, connect, and spark new conversations about mental wellness.
Please reach out to learn more, or to collaborate with us yourself!
team@medicinal-media.org
Our metrics
100%
of recent live stream community support participants felt a shift in their state
100%
of recent Gen Z interview participants said they left with new mental health strategies and safeguards
94%
of recent viewers felt better after watching our surveyed content on mindfulness practices
33+ million
content views since we launched in 2023
Our board
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![Adriene Mishler with hair pulled back in prayer pose]()
“Medicinal Media is not just reacting to the mental health crisis—it’s responding with creativity, integrity, and action. Giving young people and families the tools and the platform to tell their stories—that feels like action. That’s what makes Medicinal Media different.”
Adriene Mishler, actress, host and co-founder of Yoga with Adriene and Find What Feels Good
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![Melissa Wilson]()
"We know what it’s like to experience mental health challenges and even the loss of a loved one to suicide. This world is in the midst of a global mental health crisis, and an epidemic of isolation. Everyone deserves access to information and tools to combat these issues and we want to help make that happen."
Melissa Wilson, MSW, co-founder/board president
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![Jada Pinkett Smith]()
"Mental health is a daily practice for me. It’s a practice of deep self-love. Beneficial media is the only kind I want to put out into the world."
Jada Pinkett Smith, actress, author, executive producer
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![Lightning Gross]()
"Our hope is to build a foundation for lasting mental wellness and community resilience. This is why our mission is critical: we're not just filling a gap; we're creating a world where everyone has access to the healing power of art and media."
Terry Gross, civil rights attorney
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![Close-up portrait of a smiling woman with long, wavy brown hair, wearing a black jacket and a delicate gold necklace against a gray background.]()
"Looking at the recent growth at Medicinal Media, we can see people really want content that's positive, that's supportive, that connects to what they're really dealing with on a day to day."
Nanea Reeves, CEO and Founder at TRIPP, Inc
Our team
Rob VanAlkemade founding executive producer
Erika Paige Barnette executive producer/ops/marketing
Jessi Cape managing editor
Mike Wilson co-founder/executive director
Consultants
Jennymarie Jemison founding creative director
Deaven Wilson founding ops/marketing director
Grace Wartman digital media specialist
Nahima Shaffer producer
Medicinal Media has contracted over 220 creative collaborators from more than 22 countries
We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive creative environment, recognizing that a variety of perspectives enriches our mission. We encourage applicants of all races, genders, ages, abilities, orientations, and cultural backgrounds.
“I commend the entire Medicinal Media team for the remarkable work you have been doing to help young people access mental health content that allows them to heal, grow, and thrive. Medicinal Media’s digital content and resources have been helpful and insightful for my wellness journey, as I still struggle with anxiety and pessimism. Thank you for the Perception Box; I am loving it. The interview by Laura Onstot with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris on how past pain shapes the present body was very eye-opening.”
Tariq Lawal, Multifaceted Creative, Youth Advocate, and UNICEF Nigeria Young Influencer
Thank you to our early supporters
Founders Melissa & Mike Wilson
Sheri Sobrato, Digging Deep Project
Christie Banach
(affiliated)
Colin Clark
Brittany Wilson, Original Instructions School (affiliated)
James Wilson
Darrell Wilson