Committee Updates:
Content- The Content Committee is always and forever keeping the public updated on Fact Fridays and exciting updates on our social media accounts! Recently, we posted about mindfulness and meditation and SafeSpace’s new partnership with 7 Cups of Tea. We’ve also created a contest open to all followers of our Instagram and Facebook to draw or paint the SafeSpace logo in their own style for use on our stickers! Check out the post and submit your own work of art!!
Campus- Once again the Campus Committee has put out another newsletter highlight all of the amazing projects going on at our schools and from our committees! This month's personal interest is about Gigi and the recent production she was a part of at Woodside High School! We have also included an update from Core. Please make sure to check out our new member section towards the bottom as well as our upcoming events!
Community- The Community Committee is working on a variety of different projects. One of the projects is with AJ Tutoring (which you can read more about down below). Sahana is also working on planning a mental health rally in Menlo Park! Watch out for more info coming soon!
Individual Interest:
Hi! I recently performed in Woodside High School’s production of Mamma Mia! Though rehearsal hours were long, I loved singing and dancing to a multitude of Abba songs late into the night. Theater at Woodside is an amazing community and performing is a great way to destress and enjoy myself. - Gigi
Core Update:
In partnership with 7 Cups of Tea, SafeSpace now offers young people a way to anonymously chat one-on-one about their problems with a trained active listener in a secure environment at any time, on their own device, at no cost. Now when you go to safespace.org, you can click “Need to talk?” to access the support line (or go to https://www.7cups.com/p/safespace/). SafeSpace Support Line facilitates a prompt connection to a compassionate, non-judgemental support person who can address. Also, the SafeSpace website has been updated with photos from our youth board! Go to safespace.org and go to the Youth Board section to check out your profile! -Walter
After long awaited anticipation to collaborate, I have finally been able to meet with Mr. Littlefield, the director of AJ Tutoring Menlo Park. We discussed the importance of mental health and how AJ has the attention of the youth audience we hope to help. After much brainstorming, we have created "cheat sheets” for parents and tutors to identify warning signs in students as well as a presentation regarding mental health in youth that Lesley and I are planning to present during a staff meeting next month. - Grace
PFR is a student led program, with the support of a trained professional advisor, that focuses on teaching counseling skills to natural caregivers in the Castilleja community wishing to act as resources to their peers. The program aims to create a more understanding conversation around mental health on campus and to develop a safer community on campus that gives students a new way to reach out for help. The PFR leadership team recently attended the National Association of Independent Schools Conference in Long Beach to present about their program to a range of teachers, administrators, and counselors from different independent schools around the nation. -Michal
There is a new mental health club at Summit Prep and they recently submitted a survey to the entire student body. The main issue that surfaced from the survey was loneliness. 30 people responded to this survey and 8 people expressed an interest in joining the new club. The club wants to come up with solutions to help with mental health. They want to all come together to create an environment where students are more caring and willing to help. They want to help Summit Prep as a whole. - Max
What we are trying to accomplish at M-A is a mental health program within each sports team. We talked with Mr. Kryger (one of the Athletic Directors as well as a math teacher at MA and head coach for boys lacrosse - mainly works with varsity). He said that he thought that our ideas were interesting and seemed very understanding of what our purpose was -to help everyone at MA, starting with the athletic program and connecting with athletes and coaches to make sure everyone knows they have resources and a plan for if they need some support with their mental health. We want to have mental health ambassadors on each team (probably a senior or team captain) who we will work with. The overall goal is to get athletes really involved in mental health issues so they can spread the word to other groups at school. - Isabelle & Emily
New Members:
Casti: Annabelle Ross & Samina Kaushek
Crystal Springs: Reza Nezam-Mafi
Menlo-Atherton: Hannah Baum
SHP: Aanya Kapoor
Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, April 3, 5:30-8:00pm: Tech App Event in SF.
April 18 6:30-8pm: This Affects Us All: Helping a Friend in Crisis Workshop at MP SafeSpace
April 25, 6:30-7:30pm: San Mateo SYAB Teen Panel, Burlingame Main Library
April 30, 6:30-8:00pm: San Mateo SYAB Youth In Crisis Workshop: This Affects Us All: Helping a Friend in Crisis, Burlingame Main Library
As always if you have if your school group or committee is working on a project or you have a personal interest you would like to have featured in next months newsletter please contact Sarah (sarahpistorino10@gmail.com) or Savannah (savannahdaisyflock@gmail.com)