G3.01 - Learning Lab: Where You Lead, I Will Follow: Prioritizing Teen Leadership to Empower New Public Health Leaders

Brief Abstract Summary: Learn how a formal structure for teen leadership benefits nonprofit programming, combats the mental health crisis, and builds future public health leaders.

The teen mental health crisis is an emergency, with suicide being a leading cause of death for young people and social isolation playing a key role in hampering youth development (CDC). Teens are most influenced by their peers, making peer relationships key to prevention and community building (NIH). Teen autonomy often comes too late in a crisis, so shifting to true youth leadership in prevention work is critical.

Our Minds Matter (OMM) improves mental health through a teen-led school club model, strengthening protective factors like social connectedness and help-seeking. OMM’s Teen Advisory Council employs high school leaders to advise on major decisions, advocate for policy, and create content.
Hear five years’ worth of data and case studies & leave with tangible steps for involving youth in public health leadership.

Detailed abstract description: The teen mental health crisis is a national emergency. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people aged 10-14 and the third for those 15-24 (CDC). This crisis is compounded by the academic and social fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Teens from all backgrounds struggle with social isolation and general mental health concerns, with LGBTQ+, Black, those with lower SES, and other marginalized students facing amplified challenges due to intersecting systems of oppression.

Teens are profoundly influenced by their peers—more than any other age group. This makes adolescence a risky time for mental health, but also a unique time for teens to thrive when peer influence encourages them to get more involved in their community, causes they care about, and positive relationship building overall (NIH). Adolescence is also a time of growing independence, and respecting teens' autonomy in decisions, especially about their health, is vital, as evidenced by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child assertion that children's views on healthcare decisions should be taken into "considerable consideration” (NIH). Public Health professionals, especially those in the mental health sector, know all too well that there is a delicate balance to decision-making when it comes to minors, and that it is not always possible to honor their autonomy in treatment. So what if we focused on uplifting not just autonomy, but true leadership, in prevention work?

Building New Leaders
This workshop will explore what it means to let teens lead in the mental health and suicide prevention space, drawing from five years of experiential and quantifiable data. Participants will learn about the systemic and individual benefits of a formal structure for youth influence on youth-focused programming.

Our Minds Matter (OMM) is an evidence-informed, suicide prevention program focused on strengthening protective factors empirically proven to help prevent suicide: social connectedness, help-seeking behavior, self-care and healthy habits, and prosocial skills via a teen-led school club model.
For the last five years, OMM has employed a Teen Advisory Council (TAC) of eight high school leaders. The TAC ensures the program is teen-led from the top down by empowering members to:
Advise staff on major organizational decisions
Advocate for local policy change
Create mental health content for peers
Participate in a compensated internship in which their leadership development and self-care are prioritized

Attendees will gain insight into how to build a youth advisory program, hear case studies of participant successes in TAC & their post-high school careers, and explore data that demonstrates the importance of teen leadership (e.g., 100% of a cohort reported TAC was significantly helpful for their professional development). Participants will leave with tangible tools for empowering teen leadership and building the next generation of public health leaders.