Completed
Transform youth mental health through innovative peer support
5
by Kaitlyn Stanley
Grant Writer for Nonprofit
Youth Era
Submission Date
October 30, 2022
CO-CONTRIBUTORS
Tia Barnes
OVERVIEW
More than two years removed from COVID-19's arrival in the United States, it's clear that the impacts are far from over, particularly for our youngest and most vulnerable. A report from the CDC found that from April to October 2020, U.S. hospitals saw a 31% increase in mental health emergency visits for youth ages 12 to 17. Mental Health America reported that youth ages 11 to 18 have been more likely to screen for moderate to severe anxiety and depression during the pandemic than any other group, with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth showing the sharpest increase in symptoms. To address these far-reaching challenges, we designed "Uplift," a peer-run four-day digital summit that equips young people with tools to cope with their mental health and help their friends do the same.
Led by a team of certified youth peer support specialists, Uplift immerses high school and college-aged youth in a safe, welcoming, and positive digital environment where they can build peer support skills. The digital aspect increases accessibility in numerous ways. Most obviously, youth are able to attend regardless of their geography or access to transportation; they can log on right from their homes, schools, or community centers. Second, many of the youth we work with experience anxiety and would be less likely to attend, much less engage with, an in-person event. Uplift provides them with an opportunity to build confidence while learning life-saving skills surrounded by a community of supportive peers. Our team of peers is equipped with diverse lived experiences and professional expertise that enables them to support youth from a place of vulnerability and understanding. Our team has been where our youth are now, and as such, are better positioned to inspire hope, provide support, and facilitate meaningful learning experiences.
Each four-day summit has two main components: motivational speaking and instruction with all participants (up to 250) in the main room and breakout sessions in small groups of 10-15. Youth receive frequent opportunities to engage with each other and their trainers during each session. Verbal participation and engagement in the text chat are encouraged; however, youth can also submit feedback and upvote questions raised by their peers via Slido. To combat "Zoom fatigue," Uplift incorporates a "Hype Team" to infuse the summit with dance breaks, icebreakers, music, prizes, and more!
Evaluated by the University of Oxford, Uplift decreases participant mental health symptoms by 31% while increasing their compassion, mental well-being, self-efficacy, and connection to peers, among other outcomes. Getting funders to take a chance on our approach has been challenging, as nothing like this has really existed before. We've also encountered challenges in recruiting youth to participate in the program. However, all who have completed Uplift (nearly 500 so far) report that the experience is nothing like anything they've seen; youth describe the program as safe, inclusive, and helpful. We are beyond eager to get as many youth as possible to participate in this opportunity, so any support helping us improve our outreach strategies would be greatly appreciated.
PURPOSE
Uplift isn't "Zoom school." It’s an interactive experience that incorporates a 360° digital training studio complete with high-quality audio, multiple camera angles, live chat, videos, and music to promote a kind of "digital togetherness". The high production value aids in our ability to foster meaningful engagement and connection. Topics include:
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Recognizing warning signs of suicide and when to get help from adults
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Practicing vulnerability and how to ask for support
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Coping skills and strategies to improve your mental health
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Peer support skills (i.e., active listening, validation) to help your friends
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Importance of reaching out and pushing forward a community of support
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Understanding burnout and boundary setting
We recognize that much of this material is challenging and requires thoughtful instruction. It's our core value to empower people with first-hand experience with mental health challenges to speak on mental health rather than those without experience speaking on behalf of folks who struggle. That's why Uplift is facilitated by youth peer support specialists with "lived experience" navigating systems (mental health, juvenile justice, foster care, etc.) or overcoming other adversity (oppression, trauma, addiction, domestic violence, etc.). Each of our staff's unique experiences enables them to provide our participants with support from someone who has been where they are and can inspire hope for the future. This also fosters vulnerability, mutual respect, and safety within Uplift. Participants don't feel ashamed or embarrassed to be their most authentic selves because they are immersed in a community of supportive peers. Our ultimate goal is to create a space that embraces connection, authenticity, and mutual support.
Each summit directly benefits participants who go on to impact their family, social circle, school, and community. One former participant, for example, led an entire school assembly using worksheets from Uplift to teach their fellow students about wellness and self-care. Another participant started an awareness campaign on Instagram, teaching their followers the peer support skills they learned at Uplift. We have also captured the following outcomes from participants since the initial Oxford University study. The analysis indicates substantial effect sizes (the magnitude of the difference) between pre and post-scores. Results include:
Relationship Skills (Compassion for others) | After the Uplift training, participants were:
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More likely to reach out to a friend if they thought the friend was having a bad day
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More confident in their ability to be helpful to others
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More confident in their ability to express feelings of support, helpfulness, and encouragement to others
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More confident they can think about and come up with helpful ways for peers to cope with distress
Health & Wellness (Self-Esteem) | After the Uplift training, participants were:
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Able to stand up for themselves and what they believe in
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Less impacted by what others think of them
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Felt more comfortable being themselves around other people
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More confident in their abilities to achieve the things they set their minds to
QUESTIONS
Eugene, Oregon
United States
Youth Suicide Rate Drops as Young People Learn How to Support Eachother’s Mental Health
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 24 in the U.S. Nearly 20% of high school students report serious thoughts of suicide, and 9% have attempted to take their lives, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Youth are increasingly isolated and have no sense of belonging or community. We know that if mental health challenges are not addressed early (by young adulthood), young people experience these challenges in far worse ways later in life - for example, incarceration, addiction, unhealthy relationships, disconnection from their community, suicide, and more. Unfortunately, these impacts are only getting worse, yet we know they are preventable. We can foster resilience and community to combat these outcomes and ultimately help our young people build community and lead happy, successful lives where they feel fulfilled.
The #1 thing young people say they need right now is help from their friends and other people their age (source: Mental Health America). While traditional methods like counseling, medication, and therapy can be successful, those methods are laden with stigma, high costs, and access barriers and ultimately don’t build community. Uplift teaches youth how to help each other, spot warning signs when their friends aren’t doing well, and prioritize their health and well-being.
This model is easily adaptable to suit the distinct needs of any community but is particularly suited to the needs, interests, and learning styles of youth and young adults. Right now, we’re looking at options to incorporate the Uplift model into High School and College curricula, among other options for scalability.
Uplift has impacted over 500 youth to date and has been piloted across the United Kingdom and throughout the U.S. (primarily with youth in Oregon, Florida, and Virginia). We are working toward nationwide implementation, but our long-term hope is that we can also expand to other countries across the globe. We hosted a few of our Uplift modules for young people in Kenya and Colombia last year with much success.
Young people directly benefit from the Uplift experience and its teachings. This program surrounds youth with a community of supportive peers, teaches them about mental health, how to self-regulate, practice self-care, and support their friends going through tough times. The program builds confidence, inspires hope, and equips youth with practical skills that make a difference. Uplift results in lives not only saved but transformed.
Educators and overall school climates benefit as Uplift boosts compassion and overall mental well-being for its young participants. Throughout the summit, we focus on educating youth on the intricacies of mental health, how symptoms might appear in their peers, and when to ask for help. We interlace these discussions with strategies for preventing and interrupting bullying. We hope school climates are improved, students are better regulated, and more eager to learn.
Communities as a whole benefit from Uplift, as the success of young adults, affects all of us. Whether we realize it or not, each of us benefits when a young person graduates from high school, finds a job that helps them pay their rent, or gains access to effective services and support. When youth attend Uplift, it’s not just the young people or their families who benefit. With this program, young people have a much better chance of becoming happy, successful, and contributing adult members of their communities, and everyone reaps the rewards. After Uplift training, assessments show that participants were more likely to volunteer, feel they can make positive change, participate in discussions relevant to their communities, and contribute to projects that will help their communities.
It is essential that this program is free and available to those who lack access to opportunities like these. We would advertise Uplift nationwide for youth to apply for free scholarships to attend the summit if awarded prize money. Additionally, we must ensure our ability to compensate young people for their time and would also like to pay each participant a $75 stipend for completing Uplift. We estimate that $50,000 would help us fund scholarships and stipends for at least 100 young people nationwide.
A challenge we have already encountered is how to fund this program while still making it free for the young people who participate. It’s been difficult to get support for this program from potential funders, and we are seeking support in improving our pitch and connecting to prospective investors and implementing partners. We also have been working on improving our outreach efforts, but any access to marketing and recruitment support would be valuable.
October 30, 2022
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