By CYRIL REINICKE

What are the Mediums of Mental Health?

In May 2024 we met eight MBHS freshman and sophomore girls who took on the Aspen Challenge – a frenzied eight week challenge to develop a response to solving one of society’s most difficult problems. With guidance from two staff members (biology teacher Echo Jacoway and English teacher Nathan Sheehy) the group chose to design an innovative approach for helping youth effectively navigate their mental health journey by creating a roadmap that will connect them to resources to support their wellness.

“We selected the name The Mediums of Mental Health because we used the different ‘mediums’ of art to help guide people through their mental health journey and lead them to resources for any issues they may be having,” said MBHS junior Iris Brogan. “We created two interactive murals, a website, an Instagram account, and several art-related activities as part of our solution.”

At the May 1, 2024 Aspen Challenge Solutions Showcase, MBHS was awarded the People’s Choice Award and an additional $500 to continue the project into a second year.

Keeping their commitment into a second year to continue to destigmatize conversations around mental health has seen a busy, productive, and revelatory one for members of Mediums of Mental Health.

“Mental health has always been important to me because I’ve seen both my peers and myself struggle without proper outlets for support,” said sophomore Maddy Davis.” It can be isolating, and I wanted to be part of an effort to change that. Over the past two years, my perspective on destigmatization has shifted, especially in how young students approach the topic.

“Their understanding is often simple but incredibly genuine, and their reactions show how impactful these early conversations can be. Seeing that firsthand has reinforced how important it is to introduce mental health in a way that is both accessible and meaningful.”

“I don’t think anyone has gone through high school without experiencing some kind of mental health issue,” said junior Matilda Meyer. “We’ve all felt anxious and stressed, especially now dealing with the rigorous IB Diploma and all my extracurricular activities.

“Paying attention to my mental health and learning strategies to cope have allowed me to get to where I am today. After working on this project for so long, I’ve learned to appreciate taking time for myself, and become more aware of what I’m feeling, and what I need.”

Mediums of Mental Health team member Yemaya Bruce adds: “As a woman of color pursuing a career in medicine, I understand the importance of representation in a field that has a long history of generational trauma related to health disparities, and stigma regarding mental health. My role in shattering stereotypes, makes me feel empowered to create pathways to a more equitable society.

“Even as a community leader in Mediums of Mental Health, I strengthen those pathways through every conversation, podcast episode, event, and connection. It gives me a sense of confidence knowing I play even a small role to address destigmatizing mental health in our society, especially for youth in our communities.”

Mission Bay High School is an IB (International Baccalaureate) school. Each member of Mediums of Mental Health has committed to the IB Diploma course work as juniors and seniors. The project will continue as part of each member’s CAS (Community Action Service) project, an essential piece of the IB Diploma requirement. Explaining CAS, junior Natalie Chen describes the project as “self-directed, challenging students to show initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and develop skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, and decision-making. The project can take form in countless different ways, and students are encouraged to go above and beyond in creative ways to contribute to their community.”

Continuing into the 2024-2025 year, Mediums For Mental Health has completed two additional interactive mural boards, upgraded their website, and started translation of materials into Spanish.

“We knew we wanted to continue making boards for schools, and each board costs about $160, so that is most of our budget already,” Meyer said. “We also have our website (mediumsofmentalhealth.org), which costs about $200 yearly to keep, so we’ve done a couple fundraisers at our school to raise money for that, and we are looking into applying for grants to keep our project running next year and beyond.”

Pacific Beach Elementary received an interactive mural board titled “Icebergs of Inspirations” in January. The title of each board is tied to a specific attribute of the receiving school. The iceberg theme connects to the school’s penquin mascot.

A second interactive mural board, “Savannah of Serenity,” was presented to Longfellow Spanish Immersion School on April 9 during the morning opening. The interactive messaging on Longfellow’s board was in Spanish.

Looking forward to year three, what are the plans? Six of the seven members will be seniors next year. So a big part of year three is selecting talented younger classmates to replace the graduating seniors.

Bringing the podcast to fruition is a major objective for year three as well as continuing to make and deliver interactive mural boards to local schools, making presentations at community events, and perhaps writing grants to raise funds cover ongoing expenses for the website as well as interactive boards.

Readers may contact Mission Bay High’s wellness coordinator Gloria Cota ([email protected]) to donate to further the work of Mediums of Mental Health.

Acclaimed American cultural anthropologist Margaret Meade (Dec. 1, 1901-Nov. 16, 1978) once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”