WBT Flipbooks

Well Being Trust's social engagement efforts support the core elements of our approach to population-level impact by generating awareness, a sense of connection and action among influencers, stakeholders and communities. Our discovery in this arena identified teen (age 13 – 19) and tween (age 9 – 12) emotional well-being as the primary focus area. As research on the prevalence of mental and emotional distress, bullying, and suicides among youth continues to proliferate, our outreach and engagement work has focused on normalizing the conversation about mental health among these key Generation Y and Z demographic groups. Well Being Trust has formed relationships with iHeartMedia, Complex, BuzzFeed, OZY Media, Dash Radio and other media partners and a growing host of prominent social influencers to begin a movement to #BeWell. Since the campaign launch in August 2017, we have helped spark over 90 million impressions, including 80,000 uses of the hashtags #BeWell and #BeHeard, activating youth to stand up for mental health and well- being. We've encouraged youth and families to share their stories of struggle, survival and perseverance. We provide platforms for teens to share their successes and encourage others to #BeWell and #BeHeard. Through on-air, digital and social promotions as well as live event activation at high schools and community gatherings, this effort is successfully starting important conversations, reducing stigma and engaging youth as champions. Key benefits from our investment in engagement and social media include the following: 1) Raising awareness and understanding of mental health and well-being and of Well Being Trust as a resource and trusted voice 2) Building engagement that results in people having conversations, speaking out, taking action, attending events and starting community groups 3) Engaging potential partners by creating visibility for the cause and the campaign that raises the awareness and interest of other organizations to partner in this work and to increase overall impact 4) Building a community that can advocate for change, including change in the culture in schools and changes in local, state and federal policies; the ability to connect community members to action is critical to the success of the movement Empowering Youth through Teen Peer Hotlines We have identified an innovative, powerful and multifaceted asset in the youth-staffed peer support hotlines around the nation. These hotlines train teens, many of whom have lived experience with challenging circumstances, to serve as peer counselors to other teens who access them via phone, text, chat and/or email. These organizations generate value in at least three distinct streams: 1) Supportive contact, resources and crisis intervention for callers/texters 2) Deep training, mentorship and preprofessional development for peer counselors 3) Exposure to activated, informed, and skilled peers for all youth in the schools and communities of these programs, each of which provides extensive formal and informal outreach and education The impact these innovative and multifaceted programs currently have is limited by their status and functioning as separate and un- related organizations, each working to manage their services, training/recruitment, outreach, communications/marketing, crisis protocols, technological infrastructure and resource development. They do this without the support of a unifying organization, defined field of practice or core primary funding source. We are working to convene the existing lines; strengthen and build their capacity; and pave the way for the expansion, scaling and national networking of their innovative programing. By seed funding this growing consortium and its activity, our vision is that youth across the nation have access to trained and supported youth in times of distress or crisis, and that every teen has the opportunity to be a support to others.

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