Youth Health Action Team
Pima County Public Library - Woods Memorial Branch
Innovation Synopsis
Woods Memorial Branch hosts 15 teen interns in the youth-led Health Action Team. They use art, writing and the media arts to change the conversation in Pima County about youth mental health. The projects they create help the library in its mission and make a positive impact on the interns and the high-poverty community they serve.
Challenge/Opportunity
The Health Action Team spreads mental health awareness and takes seriously the crisis of youth mental health outlined in the U.S. Surgeon General’s late 2021 Advisory on Youth Mental Health. The expressive arts allow youth to put distance between themselves and their experiences, allowing for new perspectives. Frank discussions about mental health reduces stigma. Stigma and self-stigma prevent real communication, understanding and empathy with those involved.
Key Elements of Innovation
The team uses principles of Connected Learning and STEM project-based activities. The interns choose projects, are supported by adults, guide their activities and are given opportunities to thrive and make connections in the community. The interns have partnered with the Pima County Health Department and the Catalyst Arts and Makerspace. Weekly workshops and sessions from artists and mental health professionals increase their knowledge and capacities and prepare them for project work.
Achieved Outcomes
- Tech Time is a monthly intergenerational session that brings adults with technology needs in connection with interns.
- Lifeline is a twice-a-week expressive arts and health group open to tweens and teens in the community.
- Each intern designed a bookmark which were printed with talk and text lifeline phone numbers on the back.
- Interns interviewed youth age 14-24 active in the community to support youth health.
- The Pima County Health Department consulted with the interns to design and develop their Not Alone website.
