BestSelf Behavioral Health, Inc. (BestSelf) is the largest community-based behavioral health organization in Western New York, serving over 41,000 children and adults with mental health and substance use disorders. BestSelf provides easy access to a full continuum of person-centered, trauma-informed treatment and recovery services designed to meet the community’s needs.

BestSelf’s mission is to provide innovative, evidence-based, accessible, and family-focused behavioral health services to promote health, hope, recovery, and an enhanced quality of life.

Programs include Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics; education and vocational supports; mobile mental health and substance use disorder treatment services; homeless outreach and housing; school-based programs; and the Child Advocacy Center that provides safety, support, and healing for child victims of sexual and physical abuse.

Our school-based program, Building Brighter Futures (BBF), serves over 4,000 students and their families in grades K-12 at over 25 school and community based sites.  BBF programs include 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Extended School Day/Violence Prevention program, Advantage After-School, Closing the Gap, Buffalo Public School District Title 1 Extended Learning, Erie County Primetime and Positive Youth Development programs.

The mission of BBF is:

To enhance students’ academic achievement; social-emotional development; and foster lifelong interests in the arts, recreation, and other areas by providing quality programming rooted in the principles of positive youth development, community and family engagement, trauma informed care, equity and inclusion. All programming is research based and intentionally designed to support students’ mental wellness and academic success, with the ultimate goal of achieving success in school, community, and beyond.

The goals of BBF are:

• Providing opportunities for academic enrichment and remediation designed to meet the individual student’s needs, and New York State Learning Standards
• Offering students a broad array of additional enrichment, recreation, positive youth development, health & wellness, and social-emotional services.

BBF programming is rooted in the delivery of strong social-emotional learning opportunities that align with New York State’s Social-emotional Guidelines.

Activities are evidence-based, age appropriate, designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program, promote a college and career ready culture, and reflect the needs of participating students.

BBF staff are trained to implement programs and curriculums such as Second Step, Girl’s Circle, Please Stand Up Against Violence, Skills Streaming, Coping Power, Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools CBITS, Youth Court, an alternative to suspensions after-school model and other programs that support Districts Positive Behavioral Intervention Systems initiative (PBIS) and/or Multi-tiered System of Supports.