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December 21, 2024 15 mins
Some new data from the Boston Public Health Commission's "Health of Boston Mental Health Report" shows a concerning trend with young people in the city: more than 40% of Boston Public Schools students say they experience persistent sadness or hopelessness. That number is higher in students from marginalized communities, such as young women, those who identify as LGBTQ, or those who are Black or Latino. In response, the City of Boston has launched a new program called "Heads Up Boston", where trusted adults help young people become more comfortable with opening up to their peers about what can be a very difficult subject. Samara Grossman, Director of the Boston Public Health Commission's Center for Behavioral health and Wellness, talks with Nichole about the program and its impact.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England
Weekend where each and every week we come together right
here we talk about all the topics important to you
and the place where you live. It is so good
to be back with you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis,
and I want to wish you the happiest of holidays.
I know we have Hanukkah and Christmas and Kwansa coming up.
Whichever you celebrate, to have a safe and happy and

(00:29):
healthy and peaceful time too with all your loved ones.
We've talked here on the show before in previous episodes
about how young people around the region are struggling with
mental health. Some new data from the Boston Public Health
Commissions Health of Boston Mental Health Report honestly really caught
my eye. This report shows more than forty percent of
students at Boston public schools are experiencing either persistent sadness, hopelessness,

(00:52):
or both. And you take a little further here and
take a look at the data for black and brown
young people, young women, those who identify as LGBTQ, and
others from underserved communities. Frankly, the numbers are even worse.
In response the city of Boston is rolling out a
brand new program called Heads Up Boston. They say they're
working to get out there in the neighborhoods in the
community and help young people feel a bit more comfortable

(01:15):
to be honest and talk about what's on their mind,
both with their peers and trusted adults. Samara Grossman is
the director of the Commission's Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness.
She joins US now, I would love to learn more
about this, Samora.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Right now, as many people may know, both from having
their own children at home or caregiving or working with
youth in the city of Boston, there is a mental
health crisis going on for youth, and unfortunately we see
that those numbers are continuing to rise instead of leveling
off or declining. I would encourage people to think about
looking at the Boston Public Health Commission Health of Boston

(01:52):
Mental Health Report. In that data, we can see that
youth are really struggling. Unfortunately, we've seen like a forty
fistcent of youth stating that they are struggling with severe
or moderate to severe depression, anxiety, and that we know
that some youth are actually struggling more than others. So
we see things like LGBTQ plus youth of color, especially girls,

(02:16):
black girls, and other groups really disproportionately impacted. So we
wanted to bring to youth a sense of understanding that
they are struggling, and to bring across Boston youth focused
and it's been honestly led by youth and for youth,
So our vendor has really incorporated youth all along the
way to help youth understand that it's really okay to

(02:38):
talk about mental health. And that's where the term heads
up actually came from, was from a focus group where
the vendor was listening to youth, and that's a phrase
they that they themselves youth. So it's an idea of
giving each other a notice or a literal like nod
or a heads up that something's going on and it's
okay to talk to each other about it, and it's
actually okay to talk to adults about it too when

(02:59):
you need to.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah. Of course, being a teenager, of course, you might
be a little bit nervous to talk about these pretty
important topics. And there is a lot of stigma still
out there. We talk about this frequently here on the show.
Stigma is still very much a thing even though I
feel like over the past few years, especially with TikTok
and Instagram, people talking about their mental health with teens,
it's not as significant, but it's still very much a thing.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, for sure it is. And I think stigma can
come from many places as well. So I understand that
for some youth stigma can be like embarrassment or shame,
but for other youth it could be this isn't something
we talk about in my family culturally, or religiously or
other ways, So we're really when we talk about stigma,

(03:43):
we're really just talking about it broadly, understanding that there
may be different definitions of what mental health is or
should be in their homes, but that doesn't mean that
youth can't reach out to each other for support whatever
ways that means to them, and that along the way,
they can also understand and hopefully through our heads up
resources and website, that there is other supports out there

(04:05):
for them if they need it, so they don't have
to struggle alone if they're feeling overwhelmed with what might
be happening to them.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
You mentioned that this is a youth led effort. How
are you connecting with young people around the city to
get that done.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Oh, I'm so glad you asked. So first of all,
I'll just talk a little bit about how it's been
youth fled, because I was really happy to be part
of that process. So there were focused groups at the beginning,
and I got to be present as a listener at
BCYF Centers Boston Children Family Youth Centers by the City
of Boston hosting those Those are really wonderful. So you've

(04:38):
got the idea that it was for them and by them,
even from the inception of what all this mean and
how do you even talk about mental health all the
way to creative development and them getting input, giving input,
I mean about what it meant to them, what they
saw on the screen in different flavors and feel of
what a HEADSEP campaign could mean to now. And we

(04:58):
just had hopefully they'll be coverage or pictures or something.
But a most wonderful kickoff event called a pop up
shop where we gave out merchandise and it was meant
to have a look and feel of like a style
or fashion pop up in New York City. So it
was very well attended. Youth were coming in and out
all night long where they got to hear music by

(05:19):
youth or young adults. They got to be able to
get merchandise for free and customize that merchandise that had
the heads up logo on it, and really share and
understand themselves what mental health talking about mental health can
look and feel like by giving a heads up. And
just now we're having trunk shows at a couple of

(05:39):
sort of larger sites where youth are so that they
can also be part of getting the merchandise and getting
the feel and kind of getting their voice out there
so they understand what heads up can look and feel like.
And also there's blush shelters across Boston as well with
some advertising so youth can see it and importantly their
parents can see it as well. Finally, the real place

(06:01):
that youth are is on social media. So we have
platforms social media platforms, all sorts of platforms including TikTok
and Instagram, et cetera, that allow youth to see and
feel each other's voices as they give a heads up
literally on a social media platform.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
The pop up shop, I mean, this is the coolest
thing because it's already it's a one time thing, but still,
I mean, tell me about how the pop up shop
went tell me about, you know, how the kids liked
it and why you thought that this was a good
way to get in touch with kids.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
It went wonderfully. I can get back to you with
numbers of literally how many youth showed up, but I
believe it's around the numbers of one hundred and fifty
or that might be youth with some of their adults
who brought them from youth programming, etc. It went wonderfully.
I can say from being there, it had a real
feel of being dynamic, alive, vibrant, everything that youth would want.

(06:53):
I think the best testimony that I felt, anyways, was
that youth stayed. They came, they hung out, and they
as opposed to left when they felt bored. So the
fact that they stayed there was like a corner where
they could sit on couches and just be with each other.
They filled out pledges that helped them say I too
want to be part of the mental health movement, to

(07:14):
give my peers a heads up, etc. What else did
they do? They were just there, you know, they didn't
leave as soon as they felt like their slot or
their time frame was over. So to me, that speaks
worlds of really building a place where youth felt comfortable,
and I really hope that that remains as you continue
to use the heads up online platforms showing that their

(07:35):
comfort is really there and not there in some ways,
I think a vanguard of addressing youth mental health.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, and it's community too, because I mean, back in
my day, we're not going to talk about how old
I am, but back and back ground day, you know,
I mean kids used to go to the mall right
and hang out together there. There used to be like
kind of a third place. It wasn't school, it wasn't home,
but it was just like places to go and gather.
And I kind of feel like these days kids don't
have that as much. So it must have been really
nice for them just to go and just hang out

(08:01):
and be kids without any pretense or anything else.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, exactly, and that everything was for them. Like I'm
just very interested in creating very welcoming spaces for youth.
So I think the sense that no matter where they luck,
no matter which corner they were in, literally it was
for them. Everywhere everything was just for them, and I
think that can't be replaced. The sense of feeling like
you're being cared for in tangible and intangible ways, including

(08:29):
how cool it felt. You know, we really thought long
and hard about what every aspect would be to them,
and I'm really glad that it came through in that
way me too.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
So what comes next? I mean, you had this great
event and you've got clearly a lot of support, a
lot of interest. What comes now?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
What comes now is continuing to bring us across the city.
So although some of the bus shelters might come down,
we're really hopeful that the heads Up social media platform
will stay so that we'll see more and more youth
posting up on their social media what heads up means
to them. Here at the Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness.
We plan to keep things going so the website that

(09:07):
it leads that the Heads Up Boston campaign leads youth
to will become more and more dynamic. We're hoping that
there'll be space and place for youth to get even
more involved so that when they sign those pledges, they're
able to We're going to reach out to them and
contact them and let them know that we're still here
for them and that we're going to be able to
hopefully roll out some future programming that will help them

(09:29):
even deepen their involvement and giving heads up to each other.
So more to come and hopefully we'll be able to
discuss that in the future.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, definitely would be great to have you back and
talk more about these programs. You've got a lot going
on when it comes to the Heads Up Boston campaign,
but when it comes to the Center for Behavioral Health
and Wellness overall, tell me about the work you're doing
and how this connects to what you're doing in this
specific campaign.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, I'd love to talk to you about that. So
we have what I think of as three pillars of
work that we've been doing for youth in the city
of Boston. One is a workforce pathway, so we have
opportunity through two of our partners UMSS Boston Partnership, which
is training mental health counselors and therapeutic mentors and understanding

(10:13):
mental health in general. And then the therapeutic mentors in
particular are getting certificates and able to work with youth
themselves directly as well as potentially move on to get
community health worker certification as well, which is a huge boon.
And then the mental health counselors being able to do
that deeper work with youth than others in Boston as

(10:33):
well as Franciscan children. We have a collaboration in that
pathway that's placing early career clinicians and high need BPS schools,
so really being able to address not only through a
communication campaign, but literally in the schools that need it most,
having that therapy and that psychiatry and those wrap around
services for youth that want someone to talk to and

(10:54):
maybe feel like they need that. Currently being able to
open up those pathways. Also have programming for youth to
understand behavioral health careers, so really moving to the beginning
of that pathway through a program called BAHK, a Boston
area health education group, and they're doing behavioral health career exposure.

(11:16):
We also have Early Childhood Mental Health in Black and
Latin X communities, which is an investment over four years
for early intervention and support for children under four, which
will train people to understand early childhood mental health, which
is really important in helping families get more services as needed.
And then we have some capacity building which I'm really

(11:37):
excited about. So those are currently underway. We have high
need schools and BPS ten of them. We have trauma
and form school system transformation programming going on where we're
bringing in trauma inform care and healing centered engagement and
thinking about policy changes so that we can look at
things more broadly and structurally to help those schools that

(11:58):
are serving youth, the high need schools really think about
the whns, whares and whys of what's going on for
youth and for staff honestly. And we also have a
wonderful program that's lifting now with a partner that is
helping us address youth workers, adult youth workers out of
school and out of clinical settings to be able to
help them understand mental health of youth so that the

(12:20):
adults aren't struggling when they see youth maybe having some
mental health issues. And in some ways that's all part
of a larger anti stigma campaign in a way, because
it's helping everyone understand what they're seeing and what youth
are feeling so that we can really give that full
I think of it really as hands wrapping around the
youth in a larger way all across the city, so

(12:40):
that no youth feels like they have to struggle alone
and that the adults in their lives are understanding them
more deeply and more fully, which is a really wonderful thing.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
It sure is, and I mean these are really powerful initiatives.
They've been in practice in some cases for a short time,
other cases for a longer time. What is the impact
that you're seeing from this these initiatives working in the
way you would hope.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
We are in about the first year for most of
these initiatives. A lot of them are funded up until
the middle to end of twenty twenty six, so we
are seeing success, especially the workforce pathway. You know, students
are really getting trained and graduating from the therapeutic mentor
and getting training in the mental health counseling, so that

(13:23):
we know that that pathway is really being currently built
in the school systems. The therapy is happening and will
continue to happen. We actually were able to do some
additional funding that for the first time brought some summer programming,
so this would be inside of usual summer programming. Youth
themselves were able to access group I wouldn't call it

(13:46):
group trainings because they're kids, but they're able to access
learning about their own mental health in a way that
I think is really novel and was actually fun for kids.
As well as the capacity building, you know, being able
to We're now about to be able to release and
keep your eyes open for this, but we'll be able
to address and announce who those first round of the

(14:09):
first cohort for the adults being trained and understanding youth
mental health will be in the ten schools getting the
adults and the teachers and the staff to understand youth
from a trauma inform care, healing centered engagement approach. Those
are also being lifted now. So the fact that there's
engagement and that teachers and staff are able to get

(14:30):
more professional development and thinking is really I think all
these things are a win and it's all work in progress.
But even as the work progresses, people are going to
start to feel more confident, more nimble, and more secure
in themselves as they address youth mental health, which is
really a really good thing.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
If people want to find out more, maybe they are
a young person listening, or they know of a young
person who could benefit. Where can they get more information
about this?

Speaker 2 (14:59):
They can get information on the website which is heads
up Boston dot org, which is all lowercase and together.
So heads up Boston dot org wonderful place to drop
in learn as much as they want, share it with
their parents as well. We curated i think a pretty
good section for adults and caregivers and they'll be able
to learn everything they need to there, and we'll be

(15:20):
really proud for them to log on and see what's
going on.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm loving this. Samara Grossman over at the Boston Public
Health Commission, thank you so much for all the work
you're doing on this campaign. This is really cool stuff.
And best of luck as it moves ahead.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Thank you, thank you so much for taking the time.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Have a safe and healthy and happy holiday, and of
course please join me again next week for another edition
of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio
on iHeartRadio.
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