WE CARE COLORADO
Why this?
How We Got Our Start
Starting off as a HOSA mental health promotion campaign, we began to work through potential topics that we wanted to highlight. The more we discussed, the more we came to find that we all had a passion for supporting the youth in our district that were struggling with their mental health. Furthermore, we recognized that substances were being used as a tool to cope with life stressors and that it had a commonness amongst our peers, it quickly became a topic we wanted to learn more about.
We chose to look at the behaviors and emotions that we were seeing within our schools and instead of trying to manage the symptoms, we began to look for the root of the problem. From this we then defined our risk and protective factors based on an upstream approach to substance use, looking for ways to educate others about them in hopes to make an impact. We also recognized the importance of having your voice heard, so we wanted to make our page a platform for youth voice. We aim to provide a safe space to share various experiences with mental health and substance misuse in the Boulder Valley area.
WE CARE COLORADO TEAM
Get to Know Us
Lauren Dirr
Ava Murray Swank
Jose Zamora
Rachel Ginther
Our Process
For our project, we chose to focus on evidence based practices to address the substance use we saw within our community. Taking information from sources such as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and The National Library of Medicine. We also began promoting skills-based programs such as CASEL certified social emotional learning programs and the Positive Youth Development framework. We focused on providing accessible educational content to our community, in tandem with promoting educational content surrounding substance use amongst youth in our community. We wanted to promote current prosocial activities and create new opportunities as a way to increase our identified protective factors.
We addressed our risk factors by promoting resources and community data that show the impacts that the use of substance has on communities and individuals. We chose this route to target the perceived risk of harm from substances. We hope to help youth in our communities make informed decisions regarding their life through educating about the negative impacts substance use can have. Additionally, we looked to address favorable attitudes towards substance use by broadcasting youth perspectives on the topic and how detrimental it can be socially, academically, and physically. Lastly, we aimed to address stress caused by school by giving students a platform to share their experiences with mental health and promoting school and state level resources for counseling.
Our Timeline
November 15-30, 2023
Research the HOSA mental health promotion event and guidelines, identify potential risk and protective factors based on community needs and the needs of our peers.
December 1-15, 2023
December 15-30, 2023
January 1-15, 2024
January 15-31, 2024
Finalize a list of risk and protective factors, brainstorm content ideas, finalize a mental health topic.
Contact and have meetings regarding project plans with a mental health consultant, complete the Be There Certifications, begin content creation.
Reach out to students and other youth serving organizations, begin collecting testimonials, finalize content creation.
Post content on social media platforms, continue collecting testimonials, holding community sessions regarding mental health needs and promoting prosocial activities.