Fall 2019 Recap
This fall, The NAN Project presented in a few new schools, returned to past schools, and continued expanding our work with middle schools and universities. As we prepare for a new year and some busy months ahead, we can’t believe how much we’ve done in 2019!
As of this December, The NAN Project has reached over 9,000 students with our Peer Mentor Presentations or other suicide prevention training! Our team of Peer Mentors have traveled all across the state this fall, presenting in: Harvard, Salem, Melrose, Stoneham, Billerica, Medway, Plymouth, Milford, Hopedale, Somerville, Chelsea, Andover, Lowell, Tyngsborough, and Lawrence! Our team has returned to Phillips Academy, The Bromfield School, Milford, Greater Lowell Technical, and Andover High School to present comeback stories of resiliency to this year’s health classes! We’ve also began the school year with some new connections at Methuen and Melrose High School, and traveled south to begin work with Medway High School, Hopedale High School and MAP Academy in Plymouth. For a more in-depth article on our last visit to Lowell High School, read Sarah ’s article on the NAN Line Blog!
Not only have we done our typical presentation to schools, we’ve also provided trainings for faculty and some Peer Leadership students to provide them with more knowledge and skills related to mental health and how to help someone who is struggling. We have provided a non-clinical suicide prevention training to schools called, Question, Persuade, Refer or “QPR” to staff and students, in hopes that it will give them more confidence in finding students help when they need it. QPR is a training that teaches someone how to ask a person if they are thinking of suicide, give tips and tools on ways to help persuade the person struggling, and lastly bringing the person to the right support. We also trained Melrose High School’s faculty in Mental Health 101, which is a training Donna Kausek, our Clinical Director has recently offered to staff in schools. This training provides an overview of basic mental health challenges commonly seen in the classroom.
We have returned this fall to speak to the 7th and 8th graders over at Bromfield Middle School in Harvard. Our set up for middle schools are a little different from our regular curriculum, as we want middle schoolers to know and recognize the signs of different mental health disorders, and how to help themselves or a friend if they’re struggling. We adjusted the language we use to cater to the younger audience and made the program a bit more interactive to keep the kids moving. We also provide lots of candy!
Our founder, Ellen Dalton, Executive Director Jake Cavanaugh and Peer Coordinator Elli Peltola were featured on WCVB Channel 5 Boston’s nightly “5 for Good” segment, which covers people and organizations around Massachusetts that do uplifting work.! To read more, check out our article here.
We also held two Peer Mentor trainings in Salem and Lawrence where we trained 9 new young adults. These amazing youth learned how to tell their stories of resiliency and strength, while also undergoing QPR suicide prevention training and picking up skills to help them engage students in the classroom on the difficult topic of mental health.
None of these events could have happened without our incredible team of Peer Mentors! Thank you all for your continued efforts to bring your stories to classrooms across the state. If you’re wondering what our team will do over the cold months– we’ll be hosting more Peer Mentor trainings and continuing to spread the word about mental health! Check out our Peer Mentor Spotlight to learn more about these incredible individuals.
THANK YOU(!)…. to all our amazing Supporters this Fall
The NAN Project could not continue to provide our innovative mental health educational and awareness programming to students across Massachusetts without the generous support of organizations and funders. This fall, we took part in a fundraiser/awareness walk in Stoneham, a 5K run in Lowell and were honored with Tim Parziale selecting us to be the beneficiary of Cummings Properties annual a holiday employee donation! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
We truly couldn’t do this without this support, the generosity of our friends who joined us at the Night 4 NAN, and the grantors from CHNA 6, the Nashoba Valley Community Foundation, Winchester Hospital, the Tower Foundation, the Greater Lowell Health Alliance, Cummings Foundation and the Adelaide Breed Bayrd Foundation!
JL11 Donates Proceeds from Walk to TNP
October 26, 2019 several TNP Peer Mentors participated in the second annual JL11Fund Walk at Stoneham High School. The Walk honored James Luti, a wonderful young man who touched many lives and was a talented hockey player for Stoneham High School. James died by suicide in 2017.
The event included several organizations and speakers that promoted mental health awareness and suicide prevention. More than 300 students and families turned out to support JL11 and walk with the Luti family, including the Bruins mascot, Blades. The proceeds from the Walk were donated to The NAN Project. We are so grateful to the Luti family and the JL11Fund for their partnership and support in the fight to stop suicide.
Cummings Community Giving
Cummings Community Giving recognized The NAN Project again in 2019, for the 3rd year in a row! Thank you Tim and the Cummings Community for your ongoing support and encouragement in helping us help the communities Cummings Properties serves here in Massachusetts.
Donation from the Lowell Firefighters 5k Run
We are so thankful to the Lowell Fire Department for donating the money raised at their 5k run to support our suicide prevention and mental health education work throughout the Lowell community. We are continuing our partnerships with with CTI YouthBuild of Greater Lowell to train new peer mentors, Greater Lowell Technical High School & Lowell High School where we have been working to promote greater understanding around mental health, and finally the Greater Lowell Health Alliance which has facilitated many of these partnerships.
TNP on 5 For Good
The NAN Project’s CEO, Ellen Dalton, Executive Director Jake Cavanaugh, and Peer Coordinator Elli Peltola were featured on WCVB Channel 5 Boston’s nightly “5 for Good” segment, which covers people and organizations around Massachusetts that do uplifting work. They were interviewed by anchor Erika Tarantal, which was aired on Thursday November 14, 2019 during the 7PM news. In the interview Ellen, Jake, and Elli discuss The NAN Project and the growing need for mental health awareness and suicide prevention programming in schools!
Ellen speaks passionately about losing her daughter to suicide and it’s the main driver for Ellen and her son Jake to start The NAN Project. The episode went on to describe how The NAN Project’s Peer Mentors use their Comeback Stories as a way to provide mental health education and a message of hope to people who may be struggling. Elli then talks about her battle with self-harm and how she uses coping skills to overcome this and other challenges.
The show brought us lots of good publicity, and in the week since it aired, people representing schools across Massachusetts have reached out expressing an interest in bringing our programming to their districts.
We would like to thank WCVB Channel 5 for featuring The NAN Project on 5 for Good.
Recap on the Night 4 NAN!
On Thursday October 17th 2019 The NAN Project held the 6th annual Night for NAN at the Danversport Yacht Club for the third year in a row at this beautiful location. The night kicked off right at 6:00 when the doors opened and guests started funneling in, eventually 250 in total! They were met by the live 4-piece band headlined by Eliot’s own Keith Wales which set a mellow vibe for the start of the night.
Once past the band the attendees came across tables full of silent auction items containing everything from signed sports memorabilia to Caribbean vacations, elegant paintings to home woven quilts, and everything in between. There was also a Fund-A-Cause table hosted by The NAN Project’s Peer Mentors where you can see how one’s generosity can directly support the work of these incredible young adults. Next to the Fund-A-Cause was our Mental Health Jeopardy board that we usually bring to school health fairs and contains Mental Health related questions as well as myths and facts. This turned out to be a big hit with the guests! Some folks even took part in our Rake for Cash Raffle where the winning prize was a rake full of lottery tickets.
At 7:00 the doors to the dining room swung open and the guests lined up for the impressive buffet spread, centered around the roast beef station, cooked up by the always skilled Danversport chefs. Once everyone had taken their seats the evening’s program began.
First up Ellen Dalton, The NAN Project’s Founder & CEO welcomed everyone to the Night for NAN and did an opening introduction where she talked about the accomplishments over the past year. Jake then introduced the two star Peer Mentors, Ziona Rivera and Alison Sabean, who presented their Comeback Stories of resiliency. Peer Coordinator Elli Peltola then took over the mic to encourage the guests to donate using the pledge cards on the table. She was so persuasive that this year we had 10x as many fill out cards compared to 2018. Finally it was time for Ellen to present the Friend for Life Award to the Commissioner of DMH, Joan Mikula for all the support she’s given The NAN Project over the past 4 years. The program wrapped up with “thank yous” for all of our donors and supporters and the final Rake for Cash Raffle drawing, which was won by long time supporter Lindsay Nance (who we can only assume is now a millionaire after scratching some winning lottery tickets).
Overall the Night for NAN was a beautiful and successful evening and really honored NAN’s life. It was a very special night for The NAN Project, which raised 150,00 dollars to support our continued work and everyone did agreat job and really came together to make it memorable. We’ll see you again next year.
Attending a Social Justice Workshop at DPH Suicide Prevention Conference
By Sarah Dickie
At the beginning of May, a few of us at The NAN Project had the privilege of attending the 18th annual Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Conference at the Sheraton in Framingham. The goal of the conference is to increase awareness of suicide as a public health issue by hosting discussions about advancements in the field through various workshops and exhibition tables. In addition to providing an opportunity for us to raise awareness about The NAN Project’s mission, the conference allowed us to expand our own knowledge about how to best carry out our work. I attended a workshop lead by the Mass Coalition for Suicide Prevention’s Alliance for Equity. It focused on the intersection of social justice and mental health: how racism and other systems of oppression impact not only suicide risk, but treatment of the survivor.
Our instructors began by proposing three “shared agreements” for the discussion: make space, share the air, and embrace discomfort. These meant to encourage participants to prioritize the most marginalized voices, and for those with social privilege to hold back, but remain present. I would argue that these are excellent agreements for the wider discussion of suicide prevention, too. Speaking as a white person myself, it’s easy to feel guilty and dismiss the danger when confronted with the realities of racism. Likewise, it’s easy for straight and cisgender folks to do the same when discussing LGBT discrimination. As dedicated leaders of suicide prevention, it’s a duty of ours to consider the social privileges we have, and how oppression contributes to the issue of mental health — even when, and especially when, it’s uncomfortable.
When the presenters opened the floor to participants, they had a lot to say about how people of color are treated in mental health care, and likewise how mental health is treated in their communities. One East Asian woman on the floor explained the pressure from her parents to earn good grades and make money, markers of success that are valued by her family’s culture. Her experiences with anxiety, which hindered her ability to do these things, were brushed under the rug. The culture dictated that she “be good” and “stay quiet” instead of opening up. One presenter, a bisexual East Asian woman, agreed that when she spoke out about her struggle in her youth, she felt “othered” in her community. If there were people like her, they weren’t talking about it.
Professionals in mental healthcare added that they see racial disparities in their work environments every day. For one, youth who access care for mental health concerns in the greater Boston area are mostly white, despite a more diverse general population. This is likely a result of the toxic intersection of stigma and discriminatory care.
“It depends what your color is, what treatment you’re going to get,” one older Black woman said. She went on to explain that Black folks who are mistreated in mental health care facilities are faced with the choice of whether or not to pursue justice, as within other arenas of their lives. She said that the stereotype of the “Angry Black Woman” has dissuaded her peers from doing so. Not only does racism inform the treatment experience for a person of color, but it also informs how and how often that person will talk about it.
Inequity in mental health treatment is a dangerous reality, a symptom of the discrimination that persists in healthcare as it does in the wider world. We know that mental illness is often a result of trauma — we might not know that oppression is trauma. Day after day, marginalized people face the hostility of a racist world. The stress of this builds up, and can result in complications like heart disease and psychological disorder. This is why the Alliance for Equity dubs non-whiteness as a “forever risk factor”: something only social change can combat. Social determinants — like discrimination, education, wealth inequality, and risk of violence — makeup 80% of an individual’s overall health, according to the MCSP. In our efforts for suicide prevention, the Alliance for Equity advises that we “keep the conversation going”: talk about mental health; work to incorporate diverse perspectives; and consider how societal forces impact risk.
Spring 2019 Recap!
This spring, The NAN Project presented in a number of new schools, returned to past schools, met with community organizations and began working with Middle Schools as well.
Our team of Peer Mentors traveled across the state this winter and spring, into a number of schools that had never hosted The NAN Project before! We met with after school groups The Power of Know and Youth Health Leadership in Revere High School, and the Phoenix program at Framingham High School. We presented to all of the sophomore health students at Lowell High School, and the juniors at Greater Lowell Tech as well! For a more in-depth article on our visit to Lowell High School, read Sarah’s article on the blog!
We also returned to several schools that have seen our presentations before. Outside of our traditional stomping grounds of Greater Boston, our Peer Mentors told their comeback stories to health classes in Acton-Boxboro and Milford High School. On the North Shore, we revisited Medford High School, and recently, Andover High School.
Not only did The NAN attend at schools and after school groups, but we also met with different organizations within the Massachusetts community. In the early spring, we collaborated with the Malden Access Television station, also known as MATV, to produce a short PSA discussing the work we do. As they host classes for students on how to use television equipment, the students and our Peer Mentors worked closely to create a video based on mental health. The NAN Project has also partnered with other community
groups such Lowell’s Boys & Girls Club and CTI YouthBuild. as well as LEAP for Education in Salem, Cenerboard in Lynn, and at the First Congregational Church in Methuen.
As we know students can start to struggle with mental health disorders at a young age, we have designed a middle school curriculum to spread the message on mental health. The first middle school we shared at with the new curriculum was Bromfeild Middle School, out in Harvard Massachusetts. Our set up for middle schools are a little different from our regular curriculum, as we want middle schoolers to know and recognize the signs of different mental health disorders, and how to help if themselves or a friend is struggling. We adjusted the language we use to cater to the younger audience and made the program a bit more interactive to keep the kids moving. We just met with the Galvin Middle School, located in Wakefield, to come up with a project we can do with the students to spread awareness on mental health!
None of these events could have happened without our incredible team of Peer Mentors! Thank you all for your continued efforts to bring your stories to classrooms across the state. If you’re wondering what our team will do over the summer – we’ll be training! The second round of our Senior Peer Mentor training will be held on Tuesdays this summer in Malden.
Tragedy and Hope at Lowell High School
By Sarah Dickie
We put our whole hearts into everything we do here in the NAN Project, but our presentations at Lowell High School in January were especially important to us. Last fall, LHS sophomore Anna Aslanian ended her life, leaving friends, family, and faculty to wonder what they could have done to prevent it. Given the stigma surrounding mental illness, mental health is a topic often left untouched in schools, and students who are
Elli Presenting to Sophomores
struggling may not know what resources are available to them or how they can ask for help. Our mission is to open up this conversation: our Peer Mentors share their own experiences with mental illness in what we call a Comeback Story, focusing on the symptoms they showed, their coping strategies, and the resources they accessed to help them care for themselves. Lowell High School acknowledged the need for this conversation and brought us in. Over three full days of presentations in mid-January, our Peer Mentors got the chance to speak with all twelve sophomore health classes, accompanied by school counselors and social workers who used the time to introduce themselves as resources for the students.
According to an article in the Lowell Sun, Anna showed signs of poor mental health before taking her life. Her family reported in interviews that Anna had an increasingly negative outlook leading up to the start of her sophomore year. To her family’s surprise, Anna suddenly quit the field hockey team, and withdrew from most other social activities shortly after. This isolation suggests that Anna had been struggling with something emotionally, but articles published following her death puts the blame solely on bullies and the school’s inaction. This seems to be an oversimplification of a tragic event. Rarely is there only one factor to blame for a person’s suicide: often there is an emotional struggle which is exacerbated by the external environment, like the harassment that Anna faced at school and online. The articles discussed local anti-bullying initiatives and how these fell short and failed students, but Anna’s mental health was not given the same consideration. Likewise, coverage on the supports available to Anna and other LHS students was insufficient. These articles also released parts of notes Anna left in the months before her suicide, which we consider a dangerous mistake. Giving this press to Anna’s note suggests to students that taking one’s own life is the way to be remembered, or the way to “get back” at bullies. This can be particularly dangerous for other students who may be struggling and wish to have their “voice” heard.
Though it can be especially difficult to talk about mental health after a loss like this, Lowell High School created an open and welcoming space for us to address it together. The sophomores were very receptive to our Peer Mentors’ stories: many were eager to relate what they had learned to their own experiences, and others had insightful questions about how they might approach friends they thought to be struggling. Several more students came forward privately with concern for themselves or a peer.
Sarah presenting her Comeback Story
“I feel many of the students came away from the Peer Mentor presentations with a better understanding of how widespread mental health challenges are, and also how many resources are out there for them,” The NAN Project’s Director Jake Cavanaugh said of the students at LHS.
Our presentations at Lowell High School reached over three hundred students. We taught them the signs of depression and anxiety they could look for in themselves and their peers, as well as steps they could take to help peers they believe to be struggling: first, ask how the peer is feeling; then, listen, and validate their struggle; and finally, for high-risk peers, tell a trusted adult. We know that in the weeks following the presentations, at least two students who were struggling with suicidal ideation either sought help themselves or had a friend reach out for them. We are hopeful that students will hold onto the conversations we began together, and continue them with their friends and family. We’ll be back at Lowell High School in the spring, preaching our mission There is help, and there is hope!
Sarah Dickie PM Spotlight Interview
Sarah came on board with The NAN Project in February of 2018 after completing a Peer Mentor Training at the TEMPO drop-in center in Framingham. Since then, she’s been crushing it with us! Sarah’s main message is about her struggle with parental abuse, and how that led her to having poor body image issues, and severe anxiety. She has a great message about how beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and how she powered through her struggles. We had the opportunity to sit down with Sarah and ask her a few questions and this is what she had to say!
Hi Sarah! Thank you for coming out to do this!
Thank you so much for interviewing me. I feel honored!
You’re welcome! I want to start off by asking you to briefly talk a little bit about yourself. What do you like to do in your free time?
I’ll first start off and say that I am a senior at Framingham State, and my major is Sociology with a minor in Psychology. I also live in Framingham, with my boyfriend and our big cat named Bunnie. In my free time, I like to draw, journal, find new music, play lots of video games and lastly I am trying to teach myself to play the ukulele… with some success! (laughs)
That’s so cool you’re teaching yourself to play the ukulele! I was wondering what your overall experience has been like working for The NAN Project.
It’s really different from any other job I’ve ever had and I feel like this is actually a really good fit for me. The biggest challenge I face is that I have actually always been really nervous of public speaking, which can make it hard sometimes to step in front of the crowd. I feel like I always have my face in my paper (laughs), but each presentation makes it a little easier to talk in front of a crowd. The reward from this job is that I feel like it’s fulfilling. It’s important for me to be doing this.
I totally agree with you, Sarah. I was excused in high school from all public presentations because it would scare me so much…but look where we are now!
Me too! (chuckles)
What motivates you to keep working with us? What about the job makes it worth coming back?
A couple things makes it worth coming back. It’s really rewarding and important work, like I said before and I really think that’s one reason why I keep doing presentations. We’re making a difference by doing this work and it matters to people. Also, I learn more about myself by writing my comeback story and condensing all that I’ve been through into a cohesive narrative. It put some things into perspective for me and I feel like I know myself better, so that’s also been rewarding as well.
Thanks Sarah, that was a good answer!
Thanks Elli, I say smart things from time to time! (giggles)
I’m wondering if you can tell me some skills you use on an “off” day to cope with your mental health challenges.
I really do like to journal. I like to write about how I’m feeling and stuff that happens to me throughout my day-to-day life. I like to draw as a distraction to my mind, and I also use breathing exercises. For example, I like to breathe in for three seconds, and exhale for three seconds. I also use grounding a lot and lastly, my cat is a good resource when I’m upset. He probably doesn’t know that, but I really like to sit with him or put my face in his fur; it’s really soothing.
Okay last question: What do you hope for in your future?
A couple things. The first is that I really want to be comfortable with myself. It sounds like a small thing but it’s really hard for me to love myself. I’m working on it, it’s definitely better than it was but I’d really like to say that I genuinely love who I am. I’d also like to have a career in mental health, whether that be mental health education or mental health support. That’s really the direction I want to go. Lastly, I would really like to live in Boston!
Alright! Well thank you Sarah for answering these questions, and good luck!
Thank you Elli!
Phoenix’s Peer Leaders finish Mural of Resiliency
The NAN Project has been fortunate to work with the staff and students of Phoenix Academy since the spring of 2017. Our most recent project is a mural created by their Peer Leadership Team, known as NANix, and has been an especially inspiring and healing opportunity for us all. (To read about Peer Leadership and our Peer-to-Peer Model, check out What We Do.)
Phoenix has hosted several peer mentor presentations of comeback stories to their students, as well as staff training in QPR suicide prevention. Last June, we met with a group of students who were interested in becoming more involved and promoting mental health in their school and in their community. Since its founding, this group of students, who decided on the name NANix (a combination of NAN Project and Phoenix Academy) has brought energy and big ideas to the table. We founded NANix, set up some goals for the next school year, and were excited to meet up again once classes began after summer break.
Students create an outline of their design.
In September, one of the founding members of NANix, Leonel “Leo” Rondon, was lost in the gas explosions of Merrimack Valley. When we came together again as a group, Phoenix students expressed their desire to work on a project that would both honor Leo and celebrate their community’s resilience and ability to support each other, even through incredible struggle. They chose to paint a mural.
For this kind of project, we had to enlist the help of Art Therapist Fernanda from Lawrence Art House (LA House.) With her guidance, students were soon encouraging each other to contribute to the mural and taking ownership of the creative decisions and direction of their piece.
Over the course of a few months, we transitioned from brainstorming about the purpose of the mural, to sketching elements, to choosing quotes and reference material, and finally beginning to layer paint on the canvas. All throughout this process, students displayed incredible teamwork, respect for each other, and openness to each other’s ideas and feelings. Though creating a mural was an entirely new experience for many of the students, as well as for our own Peer Mentors, we were all able to witness the therapeutic power of art.
The final mural design encompasses a landscape of Lawrence, complete with the Ayer Clock Tower and Merrimack River, with a tree symbolizing regrowth on its banks. A banner flies from the clock tower displaying a quote from Leo, “I was given this life because I was strong enough to live it.” which NANix chose this quote to honor him, and because it embodies their resiliency and perseverance, in the face of loss, trauma, anxiety and depression.
We are so grateful for the involvement of everyone who worked on the mural, from the students who came to school early to finish in time, to those who simply picked up a paintbrush and added a single spot of color.
We look forward to meeting with the NANix team again soon, and deciding on our next project together.
With this mural, students remember the people they have lost in the school, and in Lawrence, but it is also about our growth and rebirth. Dark colors transition into lighter shades, a tree grows even through adversity, and even the birds with significant challenges (a dark green for mental health, a lighter green as Leo’s favorite color) are able to fly.
Autumn in Review 2018
Autumn in Review
Fall is in the air, and it’s turned out to be a very busy one! Over the past few months, we have had the opportunity to train two separate groups of New Peer Mentors, give several presentations to various schools across the Commonwealth, and had the opportunity to train a group of mental health workers in the Q.P.R. model of Suicide Prevention! Here is a brief recap of some of the work we have been up to these past few months!
One Peer Mentor training took place at YouForward in Lawrence. This training covered presentation skills, developing Comeback Stories, QPR training, and how to develop the conversation around mental health in the classrooms running on four consecutive Fridays in September and October. Our second training was at ServiceNet out in Western Mass, so our team stayed over in Holyoke and completed the 4 day training over 4 sessions in 2 weeks. This new group of Peer Mentors will allow us to extend our work to schools throughout Western Mass. We are happy to welcome aboard all of our New Peer Mentors, and we look forward to working with all of these enthusiastic young adults!
As part of National Suicide Prevention Week, The NAN Project presented a legislative briefing at the Massachusetts State House. To read more, check out the blog!
On September 18th, we had the opportunity to meet with the 100 or so faculty at Milford High School to introduce ourselves and discuss how to fit our presentations into their mental health curriculum. After presenting several Comeback Stories, we went through a typical day presenting to students, and discussed the differents ways that we can assist in creating a Peer Leadership Team.
On September 20th we were asked to present to ALL of the students at Ludlow High School. Here, we had each class of students take turns coming to the auditorium to hear our Peer Mentors share their stories of resilience. After, we allowed the students to ask questions they had, and led a panel discussion about how to ask for help if you need it, and who some trusted adults are in their community. We were more than eager to take on this eventful day where we reached over 800 students! Thank you to everyone at Ludlow High School for this amazing opportunity!
On October 3rd, we were invited to Mass Mentor in New Bedford at train their Peer Mentors in the ways of suicide prevention. Using the Q.P.R. model, we discussed the recent statistics around suicide, different risk and protective factors, what to do if someone you know seems to be thinking about taking their life, and how to get someone the help they need. Congratulations to the 15 new Q.P.R. gatekeepers, we hope that you all now have the confidence to ask the question, and to quite possibly save a life.
October 18th – The NAN Project held it’s annual fundraiser, A Night for Nan. To read more, check out our blog post!
October 22nd- We returned to Milford High School to present to a handful of their Freshman classes. Here, we introduced who we are and how we work to promote mental health awareness through our Peer Mentors sharing their Comeback Stories. We then gave students time for Q&A, led a discussion about various types of mental health challenges, and talked about how you can help a friend who may be struggling.
October 23rd+25th – We returned to Nan’s alma mater, Hamilton
-Wenham Regional High School once again, this time to present to their Freshman Health classes. Here, our Peer Mentors presented their stories of triumph through their struggles, and led conversations about who to turn to if you or someone you care for is struggling, as well as positive outlets for stress. Thank you to everyone at HWRHS both students and staff for making these presentations so successful!