Over two dozen students from two San Fernando Valley high schools shared highlights from the Thriving Together Project, a student advocate program to empower teens to lead mental health and wellness events on their campuses.
With funding from the Well Being Trust, Providence Community Health worked with Providence High School in Burbank to select two charter schools in diverse, lower-income communities – Charter High School of the Arts (CHAMPS) in Van Nuys and Vaughn International Studies Academy (VISA) High School in Pacoima – for the mental health program.
Launched two years ago at VISA and CHAMPS, the program provided training for interested students with the goal of strengthening school-based mental health resources at both schools “to help normalize conversations about mental health and to reduce the stigma through education.”
Participating students from both VISA and CHAMPS shared program highlights from the past two years during the Thriving Together Student Advocate Summit at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
At VISA, student advocates hosted regular events throughout the school year for all grade levels addressing a variety of “critical conversations,” including stress, anxiety and substance use disorder, said student Kassandra Chavez. They also held food drives to encourage students to help support members of their community.
Michael Curiel from VISA said he decided to become a student advocate to help “spread awareness about the importance of mental health to all students in need at my school.”
“I’ve been through my own mental health issues [and] I’ve had many people that supported me during my own times of struggle,” said Curiel, noting that he wants to do the same for others, and plans to be a psychiatrist in the future. He said they made an effort to create “welcoming” environments for the student presentations, especially regarding topics such as substance abuse.
“I think at this time and age when substance abuse is high, it’s important to let kids know [how substances] can harm our bodies and our minds, to expand their knowledge and awareness,” said Curiel.
Samuel Winner and Pilar Towers, classmates at CHAMPS, both described the opportunity to help develop and lead team events in the Thriving Together Project as positive experiences. After taking part in training sessions to become student advocates, they presented various mental wellness events, including workshops teaching breathing exercises to help promote relaxation and reduce stress and anxiety.
They also planned fun activities, including “Painting Together.” Students were provided paints and blank canvases to encourage them to “decompress and practice self-care” through hands-on artistic expression.
“I’ve been involved with the program for about two years – I started in my 10th grade year. I’ve been on my own mental health journey … and I wanted to help other people,” Winner told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, adding that he plans to continue in his senior year. “My biggest highlight so far is probably when I go and do the presentations and see people actually engage [and] care about improving their mental health. That’s been the most satisfying part for me.”
Towers, who is currently a senior, said she believes participating in the program gave her a glimpse into the important connection between mental wellness and physical health.
“I was really interested in this program because I’m just really interested in how humans work and how the brain works, and how the physical [body] connects with the mind, like the nervous system,” said Towers, who wants to be a trauma nurse. “It’s been a great learning experience.”
“Providence Community Health and Providence High School are designing a toolkit that will be shared with the high schools so that the staff and administrators can continue the program next year,” said Alina Bueno Nadsady, grants manager for Providence Community Health. “We will continue to look for funding to keep the program going and growing.”