For our second board meeting of the year, we began our time discussing the expectations for board members. Each board member is expected to attend every board meeting they can, facilitate one in-school event per semester, attend and assist with one community convening per semester, be willing to appear on camera and potentially talk to the media and assist with community partner events as available.
Discussion
In School Engagement
We again discussed the possibility of hosting yellowout games, focusing on the need to reach out to activity coordinators and pep clubs to help plan and promote. We also decided that we should plan these events for games that are not rivalries. We discussed the possibility of doing a mental health activity that day in conjunction with the game, such as a banner day, handing wristbands to the other team, and speak about ZRW at halftime. The next action items for a yellowout, in addition to reaching out to activity coordinators and pep clubs, includes exploring fundraising for t shirts by partnering with local businesses like Dewey’s Pizza about sponsoring, reaching out to school educational foundations, and selling shirts through school stores.
We also discussed nest steps for the middle school committee. We decided to try and do two presentations per semester. We will send the presentation to the group so that everyone can familiarize themselves with it and provide feedback. Omar will be joining us at the next meeting to help plan and offer insight into how to best present.
The next step for the middle school committee will be reaching out to middle schools. Davis will work with Omar to reach out to schools and will follow up with board member about next steps.
Community Engagement
A reminder about our upcoming October 10 event Let’s Talk: A ZRW Mental Health Communtiy Forum. Make sure to check with work schedules if need be. We would like everyone to attend this event and help out in a number of ways. Refer to Davis’ message on Slack for roles we need filled.
We discussed the possibility of using Peach Jar to help promote this event, selecting zip code and all the schools we’d like to send it to. In addition to utilizing Peach Jar, we can promote simply by word of mouth and sharing our post about the event on Instagram. Please invite your friends and family!
Discussion Topics
Finally, we discussed how to use peer-to-peer communication and support to normalize conversations about mental health and suicide in our schools. We explored the possibility of inserting ZRW graphics on TV Talk at our schools, approach school admins about have peer to peer discussions and small group discussions in lieu of outdated videos and large assemblies. We can lead peers in discussions about such topics as:
- What an unhealthy mindset looks like
- Self-care and coping mechanisms
- What negative self-talk looks like
- How we talk about social media
- FOMO – How we have to keep up with it
- Want to point out what teens are doing in situations so that can understand and self reflect
- Myth busting– Refer to the Real Depression Project
- Removing stigma about counselors
- What is the difference … being nervous vs being anxious
- More than just being sad
- How to be more sensitive to others who might be struggling –
- OCD is more than just really organize
Rachael asked whether there is a stigma around going to the school counselor, we everyone agreed that was the case. Students seem to prefer to go to teachers who know them and see them daily instead of to a counselor who they were assigned to by last name and see once a semester. We talked about the possibility to create a guide for all teachers written by teens.
- Emphasize to all teachers to leave door open
- Safe space sticker for teachers to self-identify as a trusted adult
- Overflow
- Post the toolkits and videos on Slack
- Overflow to look into using Peach Jar to increase the reach of our communications
- Overflow to send link to Middle School presentation
- Teens
- Teens to provide feedback on:
- the toolkits
- videos
- other topics for discussions or social media
- the middle school presentation
- Promote our October 10 community event
- Teens to consider writing a guide or intro letter to teachers paired with the back to school toolkit