Art Therapy

This week, we hosted Art Therapy for our community! This session, we painted sunflowers, to resemble that we can still grow within hardships. Sunflowers take up lots of sunlight but they are still able to survive off little water. Additionally, they produce many seeds when they are fully grown. Dana thought that this was a good symbolization that although sometimes there is no water in our cup, we still have the opportunity to grow and present seeds for out future. As the session went forward, the community talked about their experiences living in Maywood, and what they did to be a good neighbor!

Thank you to those who joined us! Thanks again to Dana for leading another session!

Proviso West | Mental Health Kit Giveaway

Wow, its already our last giveaway for the fall semester! This week, we went to Proviso West to hand out mental health kits. We were able to hand out many kits to incoming freshmen this time. It was exciting to hear that some students had heard about us prior to the giveaway. Additionally, we were able to give kits away to those students who did not get one last time. The students who did get one last time shared how they were using their kits. We loved to hear the support from students and staff.

This time, we handed out 141 kits to students today. Our running total is now at almost 1,400 kits given away!

PMSA | Mental Health Kit Giveaway

This week we went over to PMSA to hand out our mental health kits! We were so excited, as this is our first giveaway with our new bags. Although these bags still contain the same content, we now have a beige bag with black lettering than our first round with our black bags and white lettering. We were so grateful to hear how students are enjoying their kits. The fidgets continue to be a huge hit!

We handing out 100 kits to PMSA students. Our running total is now at 1,281 kits given away to Proviso students!

Community Talk: Suicide Prevention Panel

Last week we held a panel discussion about suicide prevention in honor of suicide prevention month! The Proviso community has suffered from 7 youths lost to suicide. We thought it was important to hold a conversation between mental health advocates, Sarah of Yo Soy Ella, and Erika Luna and Erika Aguirre of Oasis Project Therapy. Hosted by Jasmine Lopez, our ED, and CEO of Mentally Mutual, we talked about suicide education, signs/risks for suicide, and how to create a community for those in need.

Thank you to all those who came to our discussion! Our recording will be posted on YouTube soon for those who could not attend.

Proviso East | Mental Health Kit Giveaway

This week we continued to hand out mental health kits at Proviso district high schools for the 2023-2024 school year. This time, we visited Proviso East High School. Our bags were a hit with the incoming freshman for this school year. Additionally, some students who did not receive a kit last time we were there, were able to receive some. We had some students who also had praise for our journal and journal prompts. They told Jasmine and Maya how it helped them work through their feelings better. We love to hear how students are continuing to use their kits!

This time, we handing out 106 kits to new students. Our running total is now 1,181 kits given away to local Proviso students!