GRANTS + PARTNERSHIPS

Advocating for youth mental health, together

How we collaborate

Every Ortus partnership is different — and every one is personal. We work with change-makers, researchers, advocacy groups and other nonprofits to tackle challenging issues, elevate key issues and build solutions for youth mental health.

The Ortus team brings commitment and an open mind to every conversation. Our partners are experts in their fields, and we value any opportunity to learn from you, directly engage with your work and understand how we can amplify better solutions to youth mental health. Our end goal: Creating lasting change for young people and their loved ones.

Featured grants

The Jed Foundation

JED works directly with high schools and universities to enact systems, programs and policies that create a culture of caring and protect student mental health. Ortus’ multi-year strategic partnership will bring JED’s services to the Intermountain West region.

Georgetown University

The Ortus Foundation is funding a multi-year grant for students and faculty mental health, a Wellness Hub, analyzing findings from a pilot program regarding well-being and belonging on campus, and launching initiatives for newly admitted students and their families to support the transition to campus life.

UCLA School of Medicine

In collaboration of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Ortus is funding a multi-year clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of MDMA-assisted therapy for adolescents (18-21) with treatment resistant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Baylor College of Medicine

Ortus is funding a two-year research project in conjunction with Baylor’s ELIPSIS (Ethical Legal Implications of Psychedelics in Society). The work aims at understanding and evaluating the psychedelic retreat space, including ethical and societal implications. Following are the initial findings of the research project. The second report will include information from interviews and a public-facing resource based on the data.

Mental Health Coalition of Teton Valley

In 2025, the Ortus Foundation awarded a grant to the Mental Health Coalition of Teton Valley’s Community Counseling Fund, ensuring vital mental health services for over 60 individuals in Teton County, Idaho, and Alta, Wyoming, in 2025. By covering counseling costs and administrative expenses, this funding addresses financial barriers, reduces suicide risk, and promotes community well-being. The ripple effect is profound—supporting one person can positively impact the lives of 10 others, amplifying the reach to at least 700 lives across the region.

Healthy Outcomes through Prevention Education (HOPE) Coalition

At Ortus Foundation, we are pleased to award the Healthy Outcomes through Prevention Education (HOPE) Coalition a one-year Helios Grant. This investment will expand a youth-led mental health and suicide prevention campaign, developed with the Montana High School Rodeo Association, into broader agricultural communities, including 4-H, FFA, county fairs, and rural youth networks. Through youth leadership, digital outreach, and community engagement, the effort will strengthen protective factors, encourage open conversations, and make mental health support more accessible to rural youth.

commonUNITY

Ortus Foundation deeply appreciates the opportunity to support commonUNITY as a thought partner and invest in our shared work advancing youth connection and career readiness in Uinta County. This Helios Grant supports the continued operation and expansion of the commonUNITY Experiential Career Game, including staffing, Fall and Spring events, and the organization’s first formal data-collection infrastructure across the Discover, Connect, Grow, and Achieve quadrants.

Tele-Hope

Ortus is proud to support Tele-Hope in helping Wyoming students build connections that matter. By training local facilitators and bringing workshops to rural schools, this grant will expand access to meaningful support across the state. It will also establish Wyoming’s first baseline on student loneliness and belonging, giving communities the data needed to develop better solutions. By exploring why students may hesitate to ask for help even when willing to give it, the work will help foster more connected, supportive school communities.

Coalition for Student Wellbeing

The Ortus Foundation is proud to support the Coalition for Student Wellbeing, a student-led organization working to close the gap between students and the decision-makers shaping mental health policy. This funding will expand the Coalition’s national advocacy network, helping recruit and mobilize student advocates, including those from rural and frontier communities in the Intermountain West. Through peer-to-peer engagement and regional student contractors, the Coalition builds authentic campus partnerships and elevates student voices in youth mental health and suicide prevention efforts.

Featured partners

Clinton Global Initiative, Mental Health Action Coalition

The Mental Health Action Coalition, formed by Clinton Global Initiative, convenes cross-sectional leaders to advance action in scaling financing and solutions for mental health innovation across the globe.

The Ortus Foundation joins other leaders in the coalition to help build system models of change in the mental health ecosystem.

Kokoro

The Ortus Foundation is part of Kokoro’s network of allies, partners and funders. The organization, which works for a world where mental health is understood and valued, uses the U.N. Sustainable Development goals as its framework for success.

Community Prevention Coalition

The coalition takes a community-led approach in gathering community leaders in the mental health space. As a member of the coalition’s suicide prevention subcommittee, Ortus joins fellow advocates focused on models of care to accelerate mental wellness in the community.

Utah School Mental Health Collaborative (USMCH)

Ortus is pleased to be a member of USMCH, whose mission is to support the mental well-being of students and educators across our state. The collaborative works to advance and align school mental health infrastructures; provides technical assistance and training to develop effective mental health systems; and support their multi-tiered systems of support framework (MTSS).

Wyoming Alliance for Suicide Prevention (WASP)

Ortus is a proud member of WASP, a statewide suicide prevention coalition focused on state-level activities, community prevention efforts, and legislative changes.

How to partner with us

The Ortus team loves discussing exciting ideas with new people. Reach out to share your research, talk through an idea or build a connection based on our personal experiences. From there, let’s chat about how we can work together toward a brighter future for youth mental health.