Preds SuperGrant Helps Oasis Center, Just Us Program Change Lives

A sense of belonging is important for anybody - especially the youth in the Nashville area. More specifically, the LGBTQ+ youth in the Nashville community need that support, and the Oasis Center and Just Us program provide just that.
Recently, the Nashville Predators and SmileDirectClub presented - on the afternoon of the Preds Pride Night contest versus the San Jose Sharks - the Oasis Center and their Just Us program with a SuperGrant totaling $50,740. The Oasis Center and Just Us provide LGBTQ+ youth in the Nashville community a place to celebrate their identity and achieve their full potential.
The Just Us program provides an array of services that are centered around support and advocacy. In addition, they provide weekly meetings which offer a safe and supportive environment where LGBTQ+ youth can connect with peers, celebrate their authentic selves and embrace opportunities to create positive change in the community.

Joseph Clark - Just Us Program Manager - says the SuperGrant was an incredible relief to their organization. The SuperGrant allows them to pay for the expense of a full-time Just Us therapist who will help and provide free therapeutic services to the LGBTQ+ youth in the Nashville community.
"It was an incredible kind of an overwhelming feeling," Clark said of the grant funds. "It was incredible because it's a huge relief for us being a nonprofit to have a position fully funded through this grant."
This grant has been crucial to Just Us as they are not just the only program in the city of Nashville that provides this service free of charge, but in the entire state of Tennessee, and having that extra staff member has been crucial to their success.
"Our hiree] is an LGBTQ+ identified therapist intentionally providing mental health services to LGBTQ+ young people and their families," Clark said. "She is able to provide individual and small group therapy to LGBTQ+ young people who are trying to navigate their identity and all of the stressors that can come along with that. We felt her being an LGBTQ+ therapist was really critical to the success of that position so that that representation and visibility and her lived experience could work along into her services for what she's providing with those young people."
The work that the Just Us therapist - Madison Holladay - has done already has seen great benefits to the youth of Tennessee. Her personal experiences have been of great help to not only provide a resource to these youth, but to be able to help give them a roadmap to tackle some hurdles that may come up in their day-to-day lives.
"She's quite literally a lifesaver," Clark said of Holladay. "She is a lifeline for young people who especially aren't coming from affirming homes or communities and really are living and trying to overcome that mindset of despair and show them that it gets better… So, she is providing a literal lifeline that allows young people to have an outlet to discover and explore their identities in a safe and affirming space through a mental health lens, and hopefully, find self worth, increase their self confidence, their autonomy and become empowered decision makers for their the trajectory of their own life."
The Just Us program has grown exponentially over the years and has helped the LGBTQ+ youth in a multitude of ways. To be able to have that safe space and environment to celebrate their identity and who they are has been not only a great sense of joy and relief to the youth, but everyone involved at the Oasis Center.
"Watching a young person come into themselves is an incredible experience," Clark said. "When they're provided with a safe and affirming space to explore all of the nuances of their identity, especially when they're surrounded by their peers [is incredible to see]. Because honestly, if you can't see it, you can't be it later in life. So having LGBTQ specific staff, working with LGBTQ+ young people, really shows them that although it may be hard to understand in this moment, that it does get better and that you can completely go on to grow into a productive adulthood."
The objective of the Just Us center is to be able to give that - at times - much needed self confidence to LGBTQ+ youth. Being in that space where they are surrounded by individuals who are aligned with them and want to be able to help them grow has been of great help to everyone involved with the program.
"That's really our goal for all of our young people," Clark said. "So, being in a space where they can navigate that and to have their self confidence grow and they feel connected to the community, both here at Oasis Center, the Just Us program and going back home. Their self confidence has increased, their autonomy and they're empowered to stay in their schools or join their after school programs where they feel like they belong and they're wanted and welcomed.
"To have the SuperGrant come through and cover a full position was an incredible feeling."
[Click here for more information
about the Oasis Center and the Just Us program.