Lucero

Congratulations to Anjali Verma on being selected for the 2025 United States Senate Youth Program! Anjali is a member of Work2BeWell’s National Student Advisory Council, and she serves as NASSP's National Student Council President. We’re so proud of Anjali and we’re thankful for her dedication as a youth mental health advocate and to public service!

Meagan Butler, LPC and I enjoyed meeting education technology leaders and seeing innovative solutions at the TCEA conference this morning. A few takeaways: - We have come a long ways in being able to identify youth who are in need of additional support. This has and will continue to save so many lives! - Very few technologies included the caregivers/families as part of their overall model. - When we do— it’s in the form of alerts/data without clear guides on what to do with that information. I’m hoping the “what do we do now” will be the next wave of innovation and where resources for school safety expand. I can only imagine being a parent and receiving an alert as I’m shuffling between work meetings or as a counselor receiving 30+ alerts in one day and not having easy tools to provide youth and families the assistance they are desperately needing- in an adequate and effective way. That’s a lot of pressure to put on parents and school staff to say “here are all your important alerts” and then saying “it’s up to you what you do with that information because that’s where our job ends”.

The student perspective was essential in the development of the Youth Mental Health Curriculum, inspired by the film Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness. Hear from Mohammad, a Work2BeWell National Student Advisory Council alum, on the curriculum’s potential impact. Learn more and share this free resource with your local schools! https://ms.spr.ly/6189lS5eU #HidingInPlainSight #YouthMentalHealth

Over 17K Lucero Explorers are teens! ?? When we set out to build Lucero, we focused on ages 9-14. We had done research on the second phase of rapid brain development and aligned with the average onset of serious mental health conditions. Then, we sent Lucero out into the world to see what would happen. I always giggle a little when someone looks at Lucero and assumes it's for much younger children. Its safe to say from our user demographics and engagement that teens and even adults enjoy colorful avatars, backgrounds, and game-based motivators!

"Should I be on meds?" "Should my child be on meds?" As a therapist I get asked this a lot, and honestly it's a personal choice that people need to make with their doctors. However, I can tell you that I often encourage clients to check your MEDS. MEDS=Mindfulness, Exercise, Diet, and Sleep. If you're experiencing challenging symptoms of a mental health issue, you may experience SIGNIFICANT relief by changing your MEDS. Real stories from my clinical practice: ?? 17 year old with severe depression and suicidal thoughts made a huge recovery after changing their sleep habits for two weeks. Sleep is often the first habit I work on with clients, especially teens. ?? 15 year old client with severe anxiety and panic disorder stopped exhibiting symptoms after 3 weeks of a movement practice (alternating jogging with yoga). She told me, "I don't need to talk about my stress, I need to walk it out!" ?? 10 year old client with emotional outbursts made huge communication improvements and had no more school discipline referrals by using the Lucero app to identify their feelings (part of mindfulness practice). ?? 45 year old client decreased frequency of aggressive outbursts after eating breakfast daily. Their spouse packs them snacks and it saved their marriage! I have hundreds of stories like this. Some people need other "meds" and that's okay too. When people take antidepressants or other medications, they also experience faster recovery when we work on these habits. The most basic habits can be hard to change, and some people need therapy or coaching support to make it happen. If you are struggling with a mental health symptoms, evaluate your MEDS: ? Which areas (Mindfulness, Exercise, Diet and Sleep) are you feeling best about? ? Which areas need improvement? ? What's one small shift you can try today? ? What support would help you make this new change? There is no magic pill for mental health. There are daily practices that make a huge difference for your body and brain and behavior. Remember, you can feel better! Change is possible! (Thanks to Joe Dias, M.Ed, LPC-S for introducing me to this "MEDS" acronym 15 years ago--I have been referencing it ever since. Marissa A. Rivera, LPC-S, QTAP and Shannon Bergeron, M.Ed, CEP and our team used this framework in school-based interventions with thousands of students. We know it works!)

In the midst of a youth mental health crisis, the majority of our schools report trouble accessing quality mental health services. There are operational steps to take - and our experts are on the case. The School Based Industry Council presented on our white paper about sustainable funding for school-based mental health at the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) 2024 Annual Conference! Thank you to our presenters from Wellness Together, Effective School Solutions, EmpowerU Education, eLuma, and Brightline who are helping administrators and leaders understand their options. To read more about the School-Based Industry Council and its work, see more: https://bit.ly/4hXK1ik