It is the ground a good life gets built on. Keeping Balanced Foundation exists so more people can find that ground, keep it, and pass it on.
On a hard trail, hikers stack stones by hand and leave them standing so the next traveler knows the way. Each stack takes patience. Each one holds because somebody cared enough to balance it.
That is mental health work as we see it: steadying one person at a time, then leaving markers, programs, knowledge, community, that guide whoever comes next.
Keeping Balanced Foundation was founded by Ruby Mathen, LCSW, a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker with years inside the city's mental-health and social-service systems. She watched people gather the courage to ask for help, then hit a wall of wait lists, costs, and confusion. This foundation is her answer: remove the wall.
"Keeping Balanced Foundation will promote mental health, emotional wellness, stability, and resilience by expanding access to mental-health education, counseling resources, supportive services, and community-based wellness programs, particularly for individuals and families who experience financial or other barriers to receiving care."
This is the work we are structuring the foundation to do, exactly as proposed for legal review.
Trust is earned before the first program launches. Here is how the organization is being structured.
Formed as a New York not-for-profit charitable corporation with a mission that puts the community first, not any individual.
We intend to apply for federal tax-exempt recognition. Until the IRS makes its determination, donations are not tax-deductible and are not being accepted.
Clinical services will launch only with the required New York State authorization (NYSED and, where applicable, OMH) and under qualified clinical supervision.
An independent board, a conflict-of-interest policy, and board-approved budgets and compensation guide every major decision, including the founder's role.
The playbook we are writing here, community programs, grant-funded care, radical transparency, is designed to travel.
First we prove the model in one of the hardest, most expensive care markets in the world. Then we pack it up.
Transparency is not a promise for later. The paper trail starts now, in public. Every item below gets posted here the day it is issued.
Foundations are built by early hands. Yours counts double right now.
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