Teen Mental Health Initiative: Announcing New Opportunities and Activities for Teens
Palo Alto and the neighboring SF peninsula communities have been significantly impacted by teen anxiety, depression and suicide. Children’s Health Council’s Teen Mental Health Initiative focuses on this serious issue and what we can do about it.
The Teen Mental Health Initiative began with CHC’s 3rd annual Breakfast in February, which included an interactive panel discussion with experts who offered a variety of perspectives, strategies, and recommendations for supporting teens in crisis. After the breakfast, CHC extended these important discussions through a variety of community outreach efforts, such as workshops, forum discussions, and community coffees.
Today, Children’s Health Council is pleased to announce new opportunities and activities for teens that will be offered as part of our Teen Mental Health Initiative. Led by CHC’s Dr. Anna Parnes and Bridget Stolee McCormick, LMFT:
- Teen Mental Health Committee — a place for teens to voice ideas, develop solutions, and take collective action on addressing teen mental health and suicide in the community. Meetings will be held monthly and open to any 9th to 12th grade students who want to attend.
- Teen-to-Teen Support Groups, where teens have the opportunity to talk with and gain support from other teens.
- Group Therapy for teens to participate in a therapy group with other teens.
The first Teen Mental Health Committee meeting will be on Tuesday, August 2nd at 6pm at Children’s Health Council. Teens interested in participating in the Teen Mental Health Committee and/or other upcoming teen activities should contact Anna Parnes.
The full text of the announcement sent out to local teens on June 24 follows:
Dear Teens,
We are excited to share with you the new activities and opportunities for teens that will be happening at CHC starting soon as part of our Teen Initiative. First, we are starting a Teen Mental Health Committee. This committee will be a place to voice ideas, develop solutions, and take collective action on addressing teen mental health and suicide in the community.
Our hope is that this group will:
- Empower teens to create positive change in their schools related to mental health
- Create a powerful forum for teen voice and action, including creating opportunities for teens to talk with teens from different high schools about their thoughts and experiences related to mental health
- Incorporate youth voice and gain teen input regarding CHC’s teen initiative ideas in order better target our programming to teens’ needs
After this group gets started, we will also be creating Teen-to-Teen Support Groups, where teens have the opportunity to talk with and gain support from other teens. In addition, we will be offering Group Therapy for teens to participate in a therapy group with other teens.
The Teen Mental Health Committee meetings will be held monthly and open to any 9th to 12th grade students who want to attend.Our first meeting will be on Tuesday August 2nd at 6pm. The meeting will be at held at CHC, which is located at 650 Clark Way, Palo Alto, 94304. Please let us know if you plan to attend or would like a reminder about the meeting.
If you are interested in participating in the Teen Mental Health Committee and/or other upcoming teen activities, please contact Anna Parnes aparnes@stage.chconline.org. We are excited about meeting you and hearing your voice!
Teens, please forward this information to your friends! Adults receiving this email, please forward to teens in the teen group you work with as well as other teens you know who may be interested.
We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at upcoming teen activities at CHC!
Best,
Anna Parnes & Bridget McCormick
Learn more about the Teen Mental Health Initiative here.
