Food allergy · San Diego
Allergies are treated in the clinic. They’re lived everywhere else.
Care Across Barriers gives kids, teens, and the mothers who care for them mental-health literacy, accurate education, and peer community — so the anxiety, isolation, and self-image injuries of food allergy are recognized, not carried alone.
The problem
Allergic disease is treated as a safety problem — and lived as a psychological one.
of U.S. children (ages 0–17) had a diagnosed allergic condition in 2024.
food-allergy caregivers report distress (2 in 3 adults with food allergy) — yet fewer than 1 in 10 are ever screened.
of youth ages 10–14 in one allergy clinic scored above the cutoff for anxiety.
of kids with food allergy were bullied because of it — and parents knew about only half of those cases.
What we do
Know. Ask. Belong.
Three free, plain-language tools for kids, teens, and the mothers who care for them — built one at a time.
Allergy & Mind Toolkit
Free, plain-language guides to the emotional side of food allergy.
Screening card
A short card to help families know when to ask for support. Navigation, not a diagnosis.
Peer community
A place for teens and mothers to connect with others who get it.
Why I started this
“I want to close the gap between how allergic disease is treated in the clinic and how it’s actually lived day to day — so families feel less alone.”
Suryani Gupta is a high-school student in San Diego. She founded Care Across Barriers to help kids, teens, and mothers — especially in underserved communities — get the understanding and support that usually stops at the exam-room door.
— Suryani Gupta, founder
Get involved
Be first to get the toolkit.
Email us and we’ll send one note when each tool launches — nothing else, and we never ask for health information.
Under 13? Please ask a parent to email us.