Fuel HEALWARE: Healing Through VR

Revolutionizing Mental Wellness for Youth Through Virtual Reality

The mental health crisis among youth is growing—and it’s personal. Anxiety, depression, trauma, and isolation are affecting more teens and young adults than ever, especially in Black and Brown communities that have historically been overlooked and underserved. CHAMP (Community Healing And Mental Health Project) is answering the call with an innovative solution: HEALWARE, a youth-informed, VR-powered mental wellness experience designed to teach emotional regulation, build resilience, and promote healing.

We’re launching this fundraiser to support the research, design, and development of HEALWARE, a virtual reality program co-created with youth, for youth. Your support helps us make mental wellness more engaging, accessible, and culturally relevant than traditional therapy alone.

What is HEALWARE?

HEALWARE (Healing, Emotional Awareness, and Resilience through Wearable AR/VR Engagement) is a cutting-edge tool that combines mental health education, immersive gaming, and virtual reality technology to provide:

• Interactive emotional regulation activities

• Stress-reduction and grounding exercises

• Decision-making games focused on real-life challenges

• Self-esteem and identity exploration

• Narratives and environments inspired by youth voice

Unlike generic mental health apps or games, HEALWARE is co-designed by youth from historically marginalized communities, including participants from CHAMP's Unity Healing Camps and Mobile Mental Wellness Clinics.

Why Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is more than just a trend—it’s a therapeutic tool. Research shows that immersive experiences can improve emotional regulation, reduce anxiety, and even enhance empathy. For youth who may be hesitant to engage in talk therapy or who struggle with expressing their emotions, VR provides a powerful, non-threatening space to explore, feel, and heal.

VR allows us to meet young people where they are—in their world, on their terms. With HEALWARE, mental wellness becomes interactive, relevant, and even fun.

Why Now?

We’re developing HEALWARE at a critical time. Post-pandemic trauma, exposure to gun violence, generational poverty, and systemic inequities have all contributed to a mental health emergency for youth in communities like Fort Worth’s 76104, which has the lowest life expectancy in Texas.

Through our CHAMP Mobile Mental Wellness Clinic and community partnerships, we’ve seen firsthand how access to culturally responsive tools can change lives. HEALWARE will allow us to scale that impact—reaching more youth, in more communities, with tools they want to use.

But we can't do it alone.

Where Your Support Goes

Your donation directly supports:

• Youth-led design labs and focus groupsEngaging young people as co-creators to ensure the content is relevant, trauma-informed, and effective.

• VR programming and gameplay developmentCollaborating with VR developers, mental health professionals, and storytellers to build immersive, therapeutic experiences.

• Pilot testing and impact evaluationAssessing effectiveness using emotional regulation scales, GAD-7, and PHQ-9 metrics with guidance from our clinical team.

• Hardware & licensingPurchasing headsets and building an inventory for community use at schools, clinics, and our mobile unit.

• Community access & trainingTraining clinicians, interns, and peer mentors to integrate HEALWARE into therapy sessions, group programs, and outreach events.

Who We Are

CHAMP is a Fort Worth-based nonprofit founded in honor of Atatiana Jefferson, focused on dismantling stigma and promoting mental wellness through community-rooted programming. We’ve served over 500 youth and families with free counseling, Unity Healing Camps, and mobile services.

Our work is guided by lived experience, professional expertise, and the belief that healing happens when communities feel seen, safe, and supported. HEALWARE is the next evolution of that mission.

Be Part of the Innovation

This isn’t just about building a game. This is about building a future where every young person—regardless of income, zip code, or background—can access the tools they need to understand themselves, regulate their emotions, and heal from what they’ve been through.

By donating to Fuel HEALWARE, you’re investing in:

• Youth voice

• Mental health equity

• Tech for good

• A future where wellness is accessible, not optional

Whether you’re donating $25 or $2,500, your contribution is part of a movement to reimagine what mental wellness can look like for the next generation.

Join Us

Help us turn trauma into transformation. Help us code a new reality for youth wellness.

Donate today to Fuel HEALWARE: Healing Through VR.

Together, we can make healing immersive, impactful, and accessible.