Youth mental health has been a growing concern in Wisconsin. One in 5 youth ages 14-24 lives with a serious mental illness and suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-34. Raise Your Voice is a youth-led program that hopes to change that.
Raise Your Voice, a program created by the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin, aims to end stigma surrounding mental illness by:
- raising mental health awareness
- promoting mental health resources
- developing youth advocates and leaders
- empowering students to talk about mental health and seek the help they need
When Debbie Moellendorf, professor and Health & Well-Being Extension educator (Lincoln County), first heard about Raise Your Voice Clubs, she brought the idea to Allie Libby, School Counselor at Merrill High School. Because Raise Your Voice combines leadership development with increasing mental health support within the school, Moellendorf knew the idea would resonate.
And it did. For a school with over 800 students, Libby said it was getting more difficult to support the mental health needs of students. Furthermore, studies show that students tend to go to peers first when they are struggling. Libby saw Raise Your Voice as another way to help students.
“If we can help equip students with some basic skills and interventions to be able to support their peers and reach out to the appropriate help, that really can change the culture of our school,” said Libby.
With the help of faculty, and community partners including Aspirus Health and NAMI Northwoods, Merrill’s Raise Your Voice club kicked off during the 2020-2021 school year. After three years, it’s still going strong.
Educating & Empowering Youth
Kindness Week was one of the youth-led initiatives organized by Merrill students. The club had a table during lunch called the “Appreciation Station,” providing students the opportunity to send a kindness note to anyone in the school. More than 200 kindness notes were distributed that week.
“People had so many nice things to say to other people and they jumped at the opportunity to do this. People were asking, ‘When are we doing this again?’” said alumna Decilyn Clark.
She said the response was so positive partly because Kindness Week was youth-led rather than something teachers told students to do.
One of the most impactful activities was the Bandana Project. Libby and Moellendorf developed a curriculum for club members that included mental health basics such as different diagnoses, warning signs of suicide, what to do if a friend says they considered suicide, and resources within and outside school. Moellendorf said they intentionally created the training to make sure that youth understood their role. “We are very clear that it’s not your job to be the counselor, not your job to be the therapist. But you can help a friend or a peer get connected,” said Moellendorf.
Everyone who completed the training received a bright green bandana to wear on their backpacks, signaling that they were a safe person to talk to if a student was in need of support. In the first year, 56 members went through the training and wore their bandanas. In the second year, the project grew to 89 students.
Because of the Bandana Project, there were several situations where students were instrumental in getting help for their peers. Libby said that one club member in the Bandana Project noticed signs that their friend was not feeling right. The club member asked more questions and then took the situation to a trusted adult who was able to connect the friend with a counselor. Because of that connection, Libby said the friend received inpatient hospitalization.
Changing The School Environment
Based on participation alone, the club is meeting a need. Over 50 students attended the first meeting held in 2020. Every year, the club has had over 100 student members (in a school of 800). They aren’t just joining, they are participating, with 75-90 students attending every meeting and 72% of club members reporting that they have supported a friend or peer who was struggling.
For Libby, the biggest change she has seen is a shift in the culture of acceptance- students are more willing to talk about mental health.
“The stigma around it has really, really shifted. Kids are willing to talk about it. They have language around what they need to say. They are able to communicate about how they’re feeling,” said Libby.
Moellendorf, a professor within the Division of Extension who retired this June, spent her 35-year Extension career working with youth, as a 4-H Positive Youth Development Educator and then as a Health and Well-being Educator. Reflecting on her work with youth, Moellendorf said working with the Raise Your Voice club was the highlight of her career.
“Young people do care about other young people, they do care about making a difference and when you give them the opportunity, they can make a difference. They just need the support of adults, and sometimes, for adults to get out of their way and be a resource and a support system to them.”
Learn more: https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/news/2024/09/09/raise-your-voice/
