Teens taught about mental health, and community encouraged to engage

WASHINGTON — The first Teen Mental Health Summit welcomed local middle and high school students to the Performing Arts Center in Washington High School.

According to Grace C. Mae Advocate Center Founder and Director Dr. Patricia Gilbaugh, being a teenager in today’s culture is incredibly difficult.

“So much of what is tolerated, accepted, and even "glorified" is developmentally inappropriate for the development of an adolescent brain,” she said. “The Summit focused on how to protect their mental health put information and useful, practical action steps into the hands of youth with an empowering message to focus on their own mental health as the priority.”

According to Washington’s Grace C. Mae Office Manager Lisa Miller, this inaugural summit provided this essential information to 36 students through large group teachings lead by Gilbaugh and small group sessions facilitated by Luther College social work students.

According to Gilbaugh, Luther College committed to sending 13 social work students to serve at the summit.

The Luther students participated in two hours of training specifically for this summit.

“The Luther Social Work students all expressed they got as much out of the Summit as the seventh through 12th-graders did,” Gilbaugh said. “Several commented they wish they had known this information when they were in 7th grade!”

“Three of the Luther students shared pictures that a participant drew for them,” Gilbaugh said. “The pictures demonstrated a feeling of connection and belonging, and emphasized positive feelings from the participant toward the college students.”

Gilbaugh sees this depiction of positive connection as a fulfillment of the summit’s intended purpose.

“We wanted teens to feel like we care deeply about them, and that we are here to love them through their adolescent experiences,” she said.

According to Gilbaugh, this positive message of acceptance needs to come from the community as much as it comes from Grace C Mae Advocate Center.

“The goal of the Summit is to rally the community to get behind the youth and to foster a sense of support. It really needed to come from the community — not us [Grace C Mae Advocate Center],” she said. “We received so much support from businesses, community partners, and individuals that it would be hard to say we would not do it again.”

The student participants not only received invaluable knowledge, but also enjoyed a free lunch provided by Washington Hospitals and Clinics and numerous door prizes provided from the community.

Grace C. Mae’s Washington Office Manager Lisa Miller spoke with two middle school girls after the event.

“They both mentioned that they learned how they can ask for help when they feel that they need it,” she said. “Both girls stated that they want to come again next year if we do another summit and that they thought the prizes were a great incentive.”

“One of the High School Seniors that attended also stated that earning silver cord hours was one of the reasons she came and she felt she had learned useful information to help herself if needed,” Miller said.

“It was great,” WACO Junior John Stauffer said. “I learned diet is a big deal for mental health.”

“I’m going to change my routine a bit,” Stauffer said in response to the information he received from the summit. “I’m going to sleep more.”

Stauffer was also the winner of a number of door prizes and one of the grand prize wireless headphones.

Grace C. Mae Behavioral Health Intervention Services Counselor Demi Shelter checked in with some of the middle school and high school students throughout the day and received encouraging feedback.

“They mentioned how much fun they had, how much they learned and how awesome the prizes were,” Shelter said. “They all said they can't wait to come back again.”

“However, if it is to be done again — that is entirely up to the community,” Gilbaugh said. “We would love to keep holding these every year, and across the state into other districts and geographic areas.”

“We feel compelled that the community should ‘sponsor’ these summits and invite us to present or invite us to support their youth,” she explained. “We would love to do this on an annual basis.”

“We are hopeful the good that came from this first experience will be evidence of how effective the Summit was in providing tools, information, and a guide of how teens can protect their mental wellness,” Gilbaugh said.

For now, Gilbaugh knows that Grace C. Mae would like to host "train the trainer" workshops to teach the material to those who wish to help hold more Summits in more communities.

“As one presenter, I can only do so much,” she said. “But if I train 20 people to hold 10 of these Summits each — the good exponentially reaches more youth in a quicker fashion. And, that is how we save lives and make a meaningful impact in our corner of the world.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com