ReachOut Blog

ReachOut @ YTH Live 2013

by Meredith Moods

What do you get when you combine sex education with the power of technology? ReachOut Social Media Content Developer Erica Thompson and ReachOut California Director Nicola Survanshi found out last week at the YTH Live 2013 Conference hosted at the Stanford Court Renaissance Hotel here in San Francisco. In today's guest post, Erica, who is also a college student and aspring social worker, reflects on some of the memorable presentations and takeaways from the event. Be sure to check out her bio below!

Last week, ReachOut California Director Nicola Survanshi and I had the honor of attending YTH Live 2013, an annual conference hosted by YTH, short for Youth+Tech+Health. The multi-day event brings together health and technology professionals from all over the world in an effort to promote the advancement of sexual health education in young people. 

On the first day, I attended the panel “Reality TV (Not): Student Documentary and Teen Parent Panel.”  In this panel, the audience was treated to two brief digital documentaries about teenage mothers created by two California high school students followed by a question and answer session with the filmmakers The young mothers tried to dispel the inaccurate portrayals and glamorization of teen moms on shows like MTV’s “Teen Mom” or “16 and Pregnant” by sharing a more realistic narrative based in the struggles and triumphs of raising their own babies.  The young mothers expressed the negative stigma associated with teen moms as being characterized as “careless” or “irresponsible.”  The young mothers also expressed how sex can be healthy and natural as long as it is done with safety precautions, such as using birth control like condoms. 

Listening to their moving stories challenged my assumption that all the mothers were not taking birth control before getting pregnant.  To my surprise, Karla, one of the mothers confessed she was actually on birth control, but because she started taking antibiotics for a kidney infection the birth control no longer worked. It was a memorable lesson that one should always be knowledgeable about how medications may affect, or even counteract, their birth control method.

The following day started bright and early with breakfast in the foyer. Both Nicola and I attended the “Finding Communities on Facebook” session where we learned how advertising on Facebook has proven cheap and effective in engaging with a specific demographic, such as youth between ages 16-24.  Matthew Prior from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health talked about how Facebook advertisements enabled Take Control Philly, a mail-order condom program, to attract thousands of 13-19 year olds to get free condoms and practice safer sex.  Each advertising campaign cost roughly around $3,000 and lasts for two weeks.  After their first advertising campaign, Take Control Philly was able to increase Facebook followers from 200 to 2,000! As a social media content developer, this breakout session gives me hope that ReachOut can attract more traffic to the website if we invest in things like Facebook campaigns and other creative endeavors.

Tuesday marked the last day of the conference with a diverse array of breakout sessions and a closing theatrical performance called Secrets sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. Weaving in humor, drama, and music, the performance reinforced the importance of not giving into peer pressure when it comes to sex and the benefits of abstinence in STI prevention.

We were proud to represent ReachOut and Inspire USA at the YTH Live Conference and are looking forward to attend next year. 

For more information on sexual health, check out these fact sheets: 

Thinking about having sex
Intro to stds
Taking care of your sexual health
A girl's guide to sex myths
A guy's guide to sex myths

About Erica
My name is Erica Thompson, and I’m 20 years-old. I’m biracial: half African-American and half Chinese.  I've lived in the Bay Area all my life.  I enjoy gardening, learning new languages, and dancing.  Currently, I am studying at Laney College and dream of becoming a social worker. I want to work with foster care children and the homeless.  I am a Certified WRAP  (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) facilitator.  One of the key elements of WRAP is that there are no limits to your recovery from mental illness. I have a little niece named Atinuke TingTing Taiwo who is beautiful and speaks Mandarin.

Photo courtesy of Eventifier

ReachOut Tips: Overcoming Trust Issues

by Meredith Family, Friends

When someone breaks your trust it can take time to recover. ReachOut Intern Stephanie Castillo understands. In today's blog post, she reflects on what she learned from her experience and shares some coping strategies for moving on. Check it out and be sure to read her bio below!

It’s great to have someone you can confide in. That one person you can just open up to, be yourself around and go to for support when times are tough. But for many of us it’s not that easy. We may have been hurt or betrayed, and so we feel like closing up is the best way to protect ourselves. Although it may protect us from getting hurt, it also makes it harder for us to create honest connections with other people and build healthy relationships with them.

Trust Fail
You may relate if in the past, you had your trust broken by those closest to you like family or friends. Maybe you were lied to, taken advantaged of, or had your secrets disclosed. Maybe it made you start questioning other relationships. If those people who were supposed to be the closest to you broke your trust, who’s to say that someone else won’t do it? In order to keep from getting hurt again, you may have started closing yourself off to others. You may have started omitting certain details of your life, or hiding how you truly feel so that this information won’t be used against you.

I’ve been there, too.  And I know that building a mental wall that appears to protect you from sharing too much can feel like a natural defense. But when you completely close yourself off, it can also have negative consequences. It can lead to:

• Stress. Constantly guarding yourself is a strenuous job!
• Negative self-talk. When you hold all these emotions in they can become heavier and heavier. You may become sad, angry or frustrated with yourself.
• Loneliness. You can even begin to feel more alienated by always trying to hide how you really feel.   

Risks and Rewards
When we meet new people and share a bit of ourselves we are never certain if that person is going to have good intentions. It’s a risk. But it’s a risk that may turn out to be positive so we choose to take it because the relationships and rewards we find are worth it. Taking any risk is still scary, though; so some of us may shy away, or feel the urge to build that mental wall.

It may seem scary to try to trust people, but it’s never too late to make a positive change in your life. We have to remember that just because someone else was wrong for breaking your trust, their actions have nothing to do with you. The actions of other people should not stop you from opening up and building new connections.

Learning to Cope
It’ll be challenging to open up and we may get hurt again, but building resilience is part of the process. We all have to learn to open up and it’s a skill that improves with practice. It takes time and effort to open up again so be patient with yourself. Here are some suggestions that may help you start building trust with a friend or family member:

• Start off slow.
• Talk about things you like and are comfortable with.
• Find out if they have similar interests to you.
• Try doing some activities together and just build up your comfort level.
• Listen to what they say for clues about how much they are opening up to you.
• When you feel comfortable start sharing some stuff about yourself and take it slow.

What are some other ways you can slowly build up your trust? Feel free to share in comments. There’s no wrong answer here. The goal is to form healthy and positive relationships. Remember that regardless of the actions of others, you choose who you want to be. Don’t let other people’s poor choices stop you from being happy, opening up and meeting some great people!

For more information, check out these fact sheets
Effective communication
More tips for communicating effectively
Meeting new people

About Stephanie

My name is Stephanie Castillo. I’m a journalism student in my junior year in college. Although I never worked on a newspaper in high school, I always appreciated the outlet journalism had to offer.  Journalism teaches you to communicate effectively and clearly. This was something I had a lot of trouble doing when I was younger. I kept a lot of things bottled up inside and was often overwhelmed with emotion. That's also what drew me to Inspire. I'm very excited to work for an organization that helps people open up without feeling stigmatized for seeking help. I know from my experience that's one of the best ways to avoid feeling alienated. By reaching out you can build a community of people who care, support and ultimately inspire each other to grow and change. I want to encourage young people to take that step. I want to learn to listen and help foster a community that understands that the power to change comes from within. I'm excited to do that during my time at Inspire by helping develop fact sheets, work on the forums and more.

Get Involved in National Mental Health Awareness Month!

by Meredith Mental Health

Break out the green ribbons! May is National Mental Health Awareness Month and online and off the ReachOut community is getting involved with efforts to raise awareness and battle the stigma commonly associated with mental illness. With one in four young people experiencing mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, it’s never been as important to step forward and show your support  for mental health.

That’s why we’ve rounded up some of the fun, easy ways you can join the movement on the ground as well as on your social networks. Take a look and if you happen to be a young person in California between the ages of 16-24 with a passion for helping others, be sure to note the newly announced opportunities on ReachOut at the bottom of the page!

So, how can you get started promoting mental health awareness? It’s simple! Here are just a few options:

No matter where you are you can...

• Go Green! Lime green is the official color of Mental Health Awareness month so why not take a moment to add a lime ribbon to your profile image? You can also make a visit to the Lime Ribbon Facebook page and cheer on efforts to “lime-light mental health awareness out of the darkness” by following, liking and commenting on posts there.
   
• Wear your support on your sleeve! All month long ReachOut is teaming up with cool prosocial clothing company Passenger Project to help spread a powerful message of resilience: “Never Give Up, Never Give In.” Check out the awesome limited-edition design (pictured here)  and pick up a shirt today! You'll be supporting an important cause… and looking good doing it!
   
• Level up! Kognito Interactive, a developer of training simulations and games is creating an interactive game to teach high school students about mental health issues and help reduce stigma. They're currently seeking a few middle and high school students (ages 13-18) to participate in a focus group. So if you'd be willing to have a short phone conversation to discuss the project, and/or to answer a few online surveys over the next few months, click here to sign up.
   
• Spread the (virtual) word! Even seemingly small gestures like reading, sharing and liking posts (like this one!) across Facebook, Twitter and beyond can send a strong anti-stigma message to your social circles. Feel like amping up your activism a little more? Check out the Get Involved page on ReachOut.com for tips.   
   
• Talk about it IRL! If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, or some other mental health challenge, speak up. There is no better or braver way to promote positive wellbeing and battle stigma than coming forward to get help for yourself or someone you know. Check out our fact sheets on finding the support you need and  helping a friend for more tips.  You can also always join the conversation in our forums for more information and support.

If you're in California...

• Take the pledge! Make your commitment to helping end stigma known by making a pledge on the Each Mind Matters site. Created as an initiative of California’s Mental Health Movement, Each Mind Matters offers ribbons, logos and tons of cool tools to help young people stop stigma where they are. For a more in-depth examination, be sure to check out A New State of Mind: Ending the Stigma of Mental Illness, a groundbreaking documentary set to air statewide on California PBS stations on Thursday, May 30. You can watch the trailer today.
   
• Rock the vote! Video contest "Directing Change" put out the call to student filmmakers throughout California to submit 60-second PSA videos on the topics of preventing suicide and eliminating stigma associated with mental illness. Now that the entries are in, youth in California are invited to cast their votes for the best in each category out of the 24 regional winners who advanced to the statewide level. Get in your vote before Tuesday, May 14 and stay tuned as winners will be announced and recognized at the award ceremony in Sacramento on May 23rd. We'll also be featuring their videos here on ReachOut!
   
• Join the ranks of ReachOut! With the continued support of the California Mental Health Service Authority (CalMHSA), we're thrilled to announce the expansion of digital youth programs and youth opportunities on ReachOut.com in 2013-14. New recruits will be deeply involved in helping the Inspire team develop new online and mobile tools to inform and support ReachOut community members experiencing tough times. Their combined efforts will also go a long way towards fighting against stigma and making a difference to young people's mental health and wellbeing in California! Find out more and access applications here.

Spring Break Survival Tips

by Meredith School

Sun, surf and skimpy bathing suits. Those are the typical images that come to mind when people think of spring break. Even though plans come in all shapes and sizes -- with some keeping it small and taking the week off to relax at home or enjoy a nice "staycation" on  a quiet campus --  it's the big, crazy beach vacation that gets the most positive and negative attention (not to mention movies starring Selena Gomez and James Franco). 

It's not surprising. While fun and exciting, these trips to spring break destinations like Mexico and Florida can also be potentially risky. You are, after all, in a new, unfamiliar place crowded with strangers, many of whom may be drinking or taking drugs, sometimes to excess. So even if you aren't looking to get into an out of control situation, it's possible your surroundings or fellow spring breakers might make it happen.

That's why it's so important to be aware of what's going on around you. Taking small, extra precautions can help ensure you all have a good time while staying safe. Try simple strategies like:

•           Establishing a buddy system within your group
•           Always keeping an eye on your drink
•           Granting friends veto power over plans the moment something makes them uncomfortable 

No one says you have to be super serious about it. Need to communicate non-verbally? Create a silly signal system to indicate you want to leave or even just stop talking to someone. Hoping to meet cute guys or girls? Ask your buddy to sign off and check in with you before and after you head off anywhere. Just making a point of removing the fear of being "that friend" will go a long way to helping everyone express their needs more clearly (this is actually true of non-safety matters as well and just generally a good group travel policy.) 

Above all, you're on spring break to have fun and get away from the stress of school for a while -- making your safety and health priorities doesn't mean giving that up. So make a game plan, bring your camera or camera phone and capture all those special moments so that you can look back with your friends later and have only happy memories.

For more information on surviving spring break, see the fact sheets below

Spring Break
Managing pressure to use drugs or alcohol
Getting wasted
Drinking 'smart'
Date rape drugs
A girl's guide to sex myths
A guy's guide to sex myths
 

Photo by Shutterstock

Pi Day: A Sweet, Weird and Wonderful Celebration

by Meredith Community

Happy Pi Day everyone! What's that, you ask? It's the annual celebration of the mathematical concept of π (a.k.a. pi) observed on the date that matches up to the first three numbers of pi: 3/14. Is this a little silly? Sure. A little geeky? Maybe. But every year I (and many, many others) get a kick out of celebrating online and off with pie foods, pi jokes and even, at one Bay Area high school, pi-ems, or poems that have the "same number of letters as the corresponding digit of pi."

It's clearly a holiday after the heart of math teachers and pun-lovers alike, but I think anyone can enjoy a random special occasion that simply asks you to have fun and be creative. Like baking? Today is the day to strut your stuff. Have a friend with a gift for numbers? Send them an e-card. Even grabbing a slice of pizza (especially at a special Pi day price!) can count as a celebratory gesture. Whatever gets you in the spirit of the day.

So why all this hubbub over pi, a neverrending stream of digits that stands for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter? Many say it has to do with the fact that pi is irrational and just generally mysterious, confounding to everyone from high school students to quantum physicists around the world. In other words, those same qualities that make pi difficult to understand also make it universal, fascinating and even beautiful. You could say it's a little like the mysterious, at times irrational, emotions that live in of all of us . Yes, they can pose a challenge and can be hard to process at times, but the anger, fear and sadness we experience also binds us together and makes us the unique and complex individuals we are.  So is it a stretch to say that may be one more thing we should be celebrating on Pi Day and beyond?

Will you be celebrating Pi Day? Tell us how in comments!