An Urgent Need
For the last five years, Puerto Rican children and youth have grown up amid natural and biological catastrophes, school closings, community displacements, increased migration, economic crisis, and a breakdown of social institutions.
Children and teens experiencing poverty, compounded with stress, PTSD, bullying, abuse, neglect, or any other life hardship, face serious difficulty getting help due to severe cutbacks on health programs.
Their future is weighed down with uncertainty. They are more exposed to being made vulnerable and at a greater risk of developing a mental health condition.
Puerto Rican teens today,
chance of being poor.
chance or more of having anxiety.
or more with depression.
reported having suicidal thoughts.
That Requires An Answer
Responding to their universal right to health, in the year 2000, Iniciativa Comunitaria de Investigación (ICI) launched Brega Bien, a community-based prevention and education program for youth who are exposed to high-risk social environments. Since then, Brega Bien has impacted close to 5.000 at-risk children and teens (ages 10-18), linking them with counseling, tutoring, recreational, educational, and enrichment programs in various municipalities across the island.
During 2026, Brega Bien is being enhanced and relaunched as a mental health clinic that integrates evidence-based practices to work from the promotion, prevention, and treatment of mental health conditions and problematic use of substances. It does so from a systemic, culturally competent approach and with a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach to the human being.
The Solution
The Brega Bien Mental Health Clinic is Iniciativa Comunitaria's contribution to being part of the solution. The premier clinic will promote, prevent, and treat mental health conditions and problematic substance use in children and youth aged 6 to 17 years old. There will be no cost to the participant.
The clinic's program is built on three main pillars:
Iniciativa Comunitaria's
APPROACH
ICI is a non-profit organization with over 30 years of service, creating pioneering programs to address public health issues in Puerto Rico. Each year, the organization serves more than 4,000 people through mental and physical health services.
What we plan to do
