As the youth mental-health crisis has intensified, Sesame Workshop has been giving young children language for big feelings by way of one especially trusted guide: Elmo. The 57-year-old nonprofit behind Sesame Street has made emotional literacy central to its flagship programming, weaving research-backed lessons on anxiety, self-regulation, and resilience into the world-famous children’s show while offering free online resources for families on grief, loss, and parental addiction. In Sesame’s classroom research, children who watched recent episodes showed measurable gains in emotional skills, and teachers reported reduced aggression between students. “Children have a lot of big feelings, and that’s okay,” says CEO Sherrie Westin. “But if they can’t identify the emotion they’re feeling, it’s much harder to regulate it.” After losing its Max (now HBO Max) distribution deal in 2024 and being hit by federal funding cuts in 2025, the organization reduced its staff by about 20%, but it has since rebounded with a new Netflix deal, a renewed PBS KIDS partnership, and an expanded YouTube partnership that is making a large library of Sesame Street content, including more than 100 classic episodes, available for free on the platform. Sesame Street now reaches 340 million households in 190 countries. “From a mission standpoint, you have to reach to teach,” Westin says.