Iowa's Mollie Tibbetts Memorial Fund Continues to Grow and Inspire

PHOTO COURTESY UI DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY This watercolor painting paying tribute to Mollie Tibbetts is displayed in the UI Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic.

A small piece of artwork hangs inside the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital. The painting bears the words “Mollie’s Movement,” a Bible verse, and a watercolor depiction of a mustard tree with deep roots and scattered seeds.

It’s a fitting tribute to Mollie Tibbetts, the former UI student whose life was cut short but whose vision for helping children continues to branch outward.

FILE PHOTO Late University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts

The Mollie Tibbetts Memorial Fund for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has raised more than $925,000 to date, supporting programs and care provided by the UI’s pediatric psychiatry team. With the goal of reaching $1 million by 2028, the 10th anniversary of Tibbetts’ death, the fund is designed to advance research, enhance patient care of adolescents with mental health diseases, provide support for their families, and train the next generation of child mental health providers in Iowa.

Tibbetts had just finished her freshman year at the UI when she was abducted and killed in summer 2018 while jogging near her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. The tragedy prompted an outpouring of grief and donations from across the country, leading her family to establish a memorial fund at the UI, where Tibbetts was studying to become a child psychologist.

Simply put, “the fund supports the people doing the work that Mollie wanted to do,” says professor Hanna Stevens, director of the UI Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Managed by a department committee in collaboration with Tibbetts’ family, Mollie’s Fund has supported dozens of children’s mental health initiatives since its establishment. Grants have funded music therapy programs at the children’s hospital and in Iowa schools, parent-child mental health retreats for families from underserved communities, and group art projects for clinic patients.

Mollie’s Fund has also supported Circle School, a UI program in which teachers and therapists offer programming for young patients hospitalized with psychiatric and behavioral concerns. Program leaders have used funding to purchase personalized mental health workbooks, journals, and other supplies designed to help children heal.

“The kids on the units are coming here for treatment and help, so giving them all the tools that they can have to help them recover while they’re here is really important,” says Kaley Boress, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry who leads the memorial fund’s grant committee.

In addition to private donations, Mollie’s Fund has grown thanks to proceeds from a memorial road race held each fall in Tibbetts’ hometown, as well as One Day for Iowa, the UI’s annual online giving day. The Wartburg College Dance Marathon student group has also raised more than $300,000 for child psychiatry at the UI in its 18-year history, and those funds are used in tandem with Mollie’s Fund to support initiatives.

Most of all, Stevens says the continued growth of Mollie’s Fund brings needed visibility to the topic of children’s mental health, an often-overlooked issue.

“People don’t want to talk about it because it’s too stigmatized or it makes people feel uncomfortable,” says Stevens. “So it’s huge that we get to talk about mental health more transparently and more openly because of this memorial.”

PHOTO COURTESY UI DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY The hands of teenagers are pictured after creating a mural that is now displayed in the group therapy room of the UI Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic. The Mollie Tibbetts Memorial Fund supports programming designed to help teens improve their mental health by finding camaraderie, calm, and self-expression through group art projects.