TeenTalk journals

Since we began, our volunteers have created journals for youth in Clark County. They knew what scientific research has verified: there are multiple benefits to consistently writing your thoughts in a journal. Journaling can even boost your immune system (Murray 2002).
 
In 2017, our volunteers created the latest version of the TeenTalk journal. With an inspiring quote or hopeful challenge on each page, it is a teen-friendly place for young people to put their thoughts to paper. Journals are one of the most popular supports we share. Order a free TeenTalk journal.

In 2018, we shared

TeenTalk journals with the community

Peppy Penerson cheerleader kits

In 2018, we found a new way of spreading support and encouragement: Peppy Penerson cheerleader kits. Each bag has a Peppy, some slips of paper, and a pipe cleaner. To create a friend, you'll wrap the pipe cleaner around Peppy under the clip. Then you need two or more supportive messages on slips of paper. You can write them to yourself or ask someone you like or love to write them. Then you'll roll your supportive messages up tight and wrap them in Peppy's pipe cleaner hands.

Peppy cheerleaders have become an instant hit! Order a free Peppy cheerleader kit for yourself so you can remind yourself how awesome you are. Or you can make one for a friend to remind them how much you believe in them.

In 2018, we shared

Peppy cheerleader kits with the community

Other things we are doing in the community

We value partnering with others in the community to bolster mental illness awareness, work toward suicide prevention, and increase the well-being and self-esteem of young people. Toward these goals, we work with two youth mentor programs on an ongoing basis.

Renegades Have Big Hearts for Little Bears Mentor Program
Our program coordinator and the school counselor at Hayes Freedom High School created a program where high school students have lunch with elementary school students, and work on activities focused on self-worth, confidence and dealing with struggles.

Trappers4Trappers
Our staff worked with staff at Fort Vancouver High School to develop a program where juniors and seniors come together with freshmen and sophomores in small groups. Together, with adults from the school and the community, Trappers4Trappers focuses on inclusion, building trust, and trying to help students feel safe, valued and celebrated.

What we're doing in 2019

• Gave out 90 Peppys with Valentine wishes to students at Fort Vancouver High School.
• Hosted a resource table for 332 youth at STASHA's annual Prevention is a Party at Firstenburg Community Center's Teen Late Night on April 19 where we also made Peppy costumes and gave out prizes.
  
• Made two pages in Discovery Middle School's Find Your Good coloring book, which were created for 900 wildcats! One page listed resources at their school and in their community where these awesome middle school students could go to find their good, and the second page listed 98 things they can do for fun.

What we did in 2018

• ​​hosted a resource table at Prevention is a Party! where we had conversations with teens about the value of youth voice
• gave the students in Fort Vancouver High School's Trappers4Trappers mentoring program 125 surprises (Peppy Pens with a #2 pencil and a message of kindness) to hide around their school for their classmates to find
• celebrated Red Ribbon Week with West Van for Youth and Discovery Middle School, an event promoting healthy choices and celebrating our community’s focus on youth substance prevention
• tabled two health and wellness fairs, six resource fairs, and four volunteer/career fairs
• taught teen mental health to approximately 270 students
• taught teen mental health to approximately 60 youth at Teens Care Too, a prevention summit celebrating youth who are making healthy decisions and providing them with knowledge and tools to be leaders among their peers
• gave students in Fort Vancouver High School's Trappers4Trappers mentoring program 125 surprises (Peppy pens with a pencil and a message of kindness) to hide around school for their classmates to find
• certified 27 adults in Youth Mental Health First Aid—a training teaching adults how to recognize and respond to youth experiencing a mental health crisis (our program coordinator received an average presentation score of 4.93 out of 5)
• taught teen mental health to 64 principals, vice principals and other school staff at the School Administrators Emergency Training Summit
• taught teen mental health to approximately 335 parents, including 295 at Fort Vancouver High School and 40
  at Camas High School

Special outreach projects

At the beginning of each year, we brainstorm four or so groups of youth we think could use a little love and we try to do something special throughout the year to support them. In 2018, we wanted to reach out to youth in foster care, LGBTQ+ youth, youth struggling with body acceptance, and youth new to our community. These are the things we did for them.

• Youth in foster care
• LGBTQ+ youth
• ​​Youth struggling with body acceptance
• Youth new to our community

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At our training in February, we had a guest speaker from Department of Social and Health Services—now called Department of Children, Youth, and Families—who spoke to us about the foster care system and some of the issues these youth deal with.

​We then made 56 Valentine’s gifts filled with Peppy cheerleaders with encouraging messages, special rubber ducks, origami and candy. Social services workers gave these to some of the youth in foster care on our behalf so they could know there are teens they can talk to if they ever need someone to listen.

In July, we made 25 Peppys holding rainbow flags with their pipe cleaner arms for Clark County’s annual Saturday in the Park Pride event at Esther Short Park, and 55 very special Peppy “Love is Love” treat bags at our pre-service training for teens attending Clark County’s first Queer ‘Couve Youth Summit.

One in four conversations we have with teens are about gender identity or sexual orientation. Many of us are in the LGBTQ+ community too, or know someone who is, and can relate to what you’re going through. We try to use our personal experiences, and our experiences with our friends and family, to help you explore who you are and feel empowered to be yourself. We are a safe place to talk to if you need someone to recognize and affirm you for the awesome and unique person you are.

In 2018, we put together 19 mirrors decorated with stickers, inspirational quotes and kind words about one’s body image which we gave to Camas and Washougal high schools to hand out to students who are struggling with body acceptance. On the mirrors, we wrote things like, “You have so much love in your heart … give some to yourself ” and “You are beautiful
the way you are.”

At TeenTalk, we are inclusive all body types and shapes. We always try to be supportive and uplifting when we have teens contact us who are struggling with body image issues. Sometimes, we share our own struggles to help connect with them and know they aren’t alone. We work to help others be as accepting of their bodies as they are of others’.

At our training in November, we made 70 care packages for youth new to our community. Some of these were decorated with welcome messages in several languages, while others may have featured warm welcomes or a Peppy ecstatically saying, “Wow! I can’t believe I’m looking at the coolest person in the world!” These welcome gifts went to Fort Vancouver High School Center for International Studies where the Family Community Resource Center staff gave them to new students. The good wishes were greatly appreciated.

We know what it can feel like to be new, whether it’s because we transferred schools or because we’ve moved from an entirely other state. If you’re new here, we want you to know you are welcome and you are not alone. Thanks for making Clark County your new home.