There is a new resource in town for teens who may be struggling with anxiety or depression—The Hope Hangout (bit.ly/thehopehangout).
I created this resource as a part of my Girl Scouts Gold Award. In the Gold Award Project, the Girl Scout must identify an issue in her community, then find the root cause. The issue I identified was the increased amount of anxiety and depression in teens, especially high schoolers. I found the root cause of this issue to be the pandemic, during which there was a spike of anxiety and depression but not in those seeking treatment. As someone who struggled with anxiety in crowds after the pandemic, I wanted to base my project around this issue.
The goal is an easily accessible collection of vetted, reputable resources to help identify what teens are feeling. I conducted extensive research into causes and indicators of anxiety and depression among teens as well as effective coping strategies for those dealing with these issues. To get this important information out to middle and high schoolers in Granby (and beyond) I designed a website to provide easy access, and The Hope Hangout (bit.ly/thehopehangout) was born.
The Hope Hangout is NOT intended to replace treatment by a mental health professional. It IS meant to be a valuable resource for teens to educate themselves and support the understanding of their own mental health. The site provides contact information for numerous local and national hotlines and support systems teens can call when they are in need.
To work hand-in-hand with the website and provide an aid for teens, I developed Mindfulness Kits that are available in several key locations—the Teen Corner of the Granby Public Library (Main Branch), Granby Memorial High School, Granby Memorial Middle School and the Youth Services Bureau. These kits contain several comforting and distracting items to help teens pull themselves out of a spiral of negative thoughts. Each kit contains a small journal, coloring sheet and crayons, bracelet-making floss and directions, hand knitting yarn and instructions, a textured calm strip and comforting chamomile tea and hot cocoa. These kits are free for teens to take and keep to use as needed.
My hope is that this project will help teens in Granby who may need mental health support but are nervous about asking for that help. If you are a teen, please visit The Hope Hangout. If you are a parent or someone who works with teens, please share The Hope Hangout with them. Visit bit.ly/thehopehangout to access all these resources.