Focusing on Youth Mental Health: How to Best Support Students as they Return Back to School
Summary
As the new school year approached, NAMI Contra Costa held a community dialogue for our August General Meeting on how best to support students, parents, and caregivers as they returned back to school.
We discussed what programs we had in place to support our youth and what was needed as we focused on preventative services. The Transitional Age Youth support group and Ending the Silence were mentioned.
We asked those who had a background in education to join us as we left time for a group conversation and for ALL individuals to share their personal stories, feedback, and advice, especially those who had success working with diverse populations.
SPIRIT Peer Co-Instructors Janet Costa and Victoria Fairchild briefly shared an update about the Behavioral Health Service Provider Individualized Recovery Intensive Training program in Contra Costa County as the 2023 class graduated and the 2024 course opened for enrollment. SPIRIT is a 9-unit college course taught in collaboration with Contra Costa Behavioral Health and Contra Costa College. The course taught students how to develop core skills to empower themselves by attaining and maintaining recovery and resiliency through self-awareness and peer/family support, while learning to assist others in doing the same. The completion of this class led to a Certificate of Achievement and an internship with the county.
