STUDENTS, WE NEED YOUR HELP.
Hi. My name is Ray, and I'm a student (like you) who's part of the BTheOne.org campaign.
BTheOne.org is a group of organizations and government agencies that works to prevent suicide, mental health concerns, and substance misuse in teenagers. As a student, you're probably all too familiar with how these issues can wreak havoc in people's lives, and how important it is that we combat them.
Our campaign began in 2017, but since then, our website has become a powerful informational tool. Now, we need your help.
We need to get the message out. We need to push people to learn more about these issues, whether it's through our website or otherwise. But we have a hard time reaching you, the students. We're a nonprofit effort, so we don't have the big bucks to spend on advertising. We have posters in schools (you've probably seen them) but they get lost in a sea of other posters. So, now for what we're asking of you and/or your organization: join our movement for change and become BTheOne ambassadors.
Q: WHY SHOULD YOU HELP US?
It's like we said: these issues can destroy lives, and we need to fight them. But why are you the best people to lead the movement? Well, here's some backstory about me. I'm a student, just like you. I began working on BTheOne.org during my senior year at Walt Whitman HS in Bethesda. At Whitman, I was part of the SGA's mental health awareness efforts. BTheOne.org reached out to me for help because they wanted to hear the student's voice.
The things we're asking from ambassadors are things we did at Whitman, that we saw worked. Our efforts were very successful - mainly because they were student-led. Anything you do to help us is far more powerful than anything an adult can do. Adults see the impact that these issues have on youth, but you live it. You're connected to the peers around you, and you can BTheOne to help them.
WHAT DO AMBASSADORS DO?
We know we're asking for a lot, so we've split the program into two levels, based on the level of effort you want to put in.
Level 1: Spread the message via social media.
Under the "Act" tab of our website, we've put a ton of digital posters we're asking you to use on your personal social media accounts. Unlike physical posters, they dance and animate and fill your screen. Basically, they're either videos or images, that we've designed to fit perfectly on your screen.
Get everyone in your club to post them to your Instagram or Snapchat story, and they turn into awesome ways to raise awareness. They're informative, giving information on topics like talking to someone suicidal, and direct people to more information on our website. We think the ones we made are pretty cool, but feel free to enlist artists to make their own PSAs! If you send them to us, we can add them to the website.
Why does this help? Think about how many people you reach with a post. Some teenagers have hundreds, even thousands of followers around their age. Your friends trust you. When you post about reducing stigma or helping someone suffering, you show that it's okay to talk about these issues, and you connect people interested to more information. This method of raising awareness was very successful at Whitman, and we hope you find equal success.
Level 2: Lead activities and campaigns to raise awareness
Maybe this is an issue that really interests you, and you want to do more to help than just spread our message. That's awesome. We can help you with that too. Here are some ideas for events or campaigns you could do:
- Group Mindfulness
Mindfulness has been a huge buzzword lately, but like we write on our website, it has huge benefits for mental health. You can introduce people to the concept by hosting an event where people do mindfulness together. You might find a mindfulness meditation tape and play it on speakers for your group. You could also try more creative forms of mindfulness, like art mindfulness. You can get more ideas here and here.
- Make self-soothing kits
The idea of a self-soothing kit is to put together a kit filled with sensory experiences to calm you down when in distress. You can ask people to bring supplies in, and make them together. For more information as to what this is, go here.
- Put posters up in school
We have digital posters, but we also have physical ones. You can download them from our website, print them, and put them up. Even better, you can make your own mental health themed-posters with stigma-reducing or informative messages, and put them up around school (be sure to get permission from your school first!).
- Host a movie showing
Showing movies like "Inside Out" that talk about mental health in an endearing and accurate way can be fun and informative. You can have a brief discussion after the movie to connect the movie to these issues.
- Bring in a professional speaker
Have a mental health or crisis professional come in and speak about these issues to educate students and raise awareness.
- Bring in student speakers
It's one thing to read about mental health/crises from a factual perspective, but hearing people's actual stories can be far more powerful. Have students with experience dealing with these issues speak about their past and how they overcame it. Though powerful, this can also be tricky to organize. You need to make sure students are comfortable sharing their life with an audience, are able to manage if someone has a negative reaction to them speaking, has a support network in place, and doesn't say anything triggering. Because of all these factors, a student speaker series should be overseen by school counselors or administration, and speakers should be carefully vetted.
- Lead an assembly
alk to your principal about having speakers speak to the whole school about these issues. Whether it's professionals or students, you can reach a wide audience and educate them about these issues.
WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU
Advertising Resources
You can find all our advertising resources on our website, by going to the "Act Tab" and clicking "Posters and Flyers".
Professional Speakers
If you want to have a professional speaker but don't know how to find one, you can email us and we can connect you by going to the "Act Tab" and clicking "Speakers".
Education Materials
If you want to give a presentation about mental health specifically, we have one already made that you can find on our website. We suggest practicing the presentation with school counselors beforehand, so you know you are saying the right things.
An App
In addition to the BTheOne.org website, there's an app called "Take the Pledge" (designed by yours truly). In simple terms, it's a "Fitbit for mental health". It encourages you to do good things for your mental health every day in a fun way. Encourage people to download it, and challenge your friends to see who can get the most points!
Experience
Many of the people working on BTheOne.org have been working on these issues for years, even decades. Need help making sure you say the right thing, or want advice in general? Email us at info@collaborationcouncil.org and we can help.
FAQs
Q: How is this different from Sources of Strength?
Sources of Strength, like BTheOne.org, works on suicide prevention. However, we also look at mental health and substance misuse. Sources of Strength is a great organization, and we hope that Sources of Strength clubs can be some of the groups to become Ambassadors. However, not all MCPS schools have active Sources of Strength clubs, so we wanted to keep this program open to all students and student organizations, to avoid leaving any schools out.
Q: What if I want to help but don't have a club?
Anyone can help! The beauty of this program is that it doesn't matter if you're a group of 100 students or just 1, you can still make a difference.
Q: What does substance misuse have to do with this?
Substance misuse is often overlooked in teenagers as normal teenage behavior. Behind BtheOne.org is a group of students, licensed professionals, and experts in the field and we have seen the devastating impact substance misuse can have on the lives of youth. We want to get the word out: Substance misuse often plays a role in suicide attempts. Also, mental health and substance use concerns often go hand in hand – people misusing substances are at a greater risk for mental health concerns, and people with mental health concerns may resort to substances as an attempt to ‘self-medicate.’
