At PMSA’s Mental Health Club, we welcomed Kaitlyn Macias, who is part of the HAP Foundation. She shared valuable resources on grieving and coping. She guided the students in identifying ways to support themselves and others through loss. Additionally, offering tools and sources of support for navigating difficult emotions. As part of the session, students created grief jars that were about someone they had lost. They wrote down the memories they shared with them and placed it in the grief jars.
We are excited to share that we had another giveaway of our Mental Health Kits at Walther Christian Academy. 74 Mental Health kits were given away, and the students were happy to look into their kits and see all the items. Other students came up asking about our programming, our workshops, and how they could get involved.
Thank you to Walther Christian Academy for having us and allowing us to give out more Mental Health Kits for the youth!
This week’s community session was yoga, led by Daisa Key, a yoga instructor who previously led multiple yoga sessions in our community. Dasia guided the participants through a mix of stretches and grounding poses. There were also quiet moments on the mats, with calming music playing in the background. Daisa gave everyone space to pause and lie back.
Big thanks to Dasia for holding the space with so much care and being attentive to each participant.
This community circle was the first session for our Fall 25 programming season! Each new member was able to create a meaningful name tag to represent their identity. Then, community members moved toward circle where they first got to know each other through a competitive game. After, each person shared their talking piece. This piece is inspired on their own cultural practices. The talking piece is then placed into the middle of the circle and used later to center everyone’s focus on the person currently sharing. Thank you to our Proviso neighbors who showed up this evening!
We gathered at The Firehouse Dream for Youth Mental Health First Aid Training (MHFA) in partnership with Community Outreach at Family Service & Mental Health Center of Cicero. Designed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, MHFA equips community members with the tools to identify, understand, and respond to signs of Mental Health and substance use challenges among Youth. Throughout the training, we explored how to recognize when a young person might be struggling and how to approach them in ways that foster trust rather than fear. We practiced listening without judgment, asking open-ended questions, and learning how to offer support that honors each person’s mental health. We talked about depression, anxiety, and trauma, the real challenges that young people in our communities face every day. We learned how to respond in moments of crisis and how to connect youth to professional help when needed. Also, learning to support others, learned self-care as self-aiders - recognizing that tending to our own wellbeing is part of how we show up for others.
We are grateful to Family Service & Mental Health Center of Cicero for their partnership, and to every participant who was a part of it, ready to learn, reflect, and support the mental well-being of the Youth.
