For Immediate Release:
6/20/2023 4:06 pm
The Worcester Division of Public Health (WDPH) Community Health team is ramping up outreach in school districts in Worcester, Shrewsbury, and Grafton to address challenges related to mental health, delaying first use of substances (specifically alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis), and other issues identified in the 2021 Regional Youth Health Survey.
“Mental health is a priority in all our Alliance towns. Following the pandemic, our youth—like many people—are struggling with their mental health, and this was reflected in the most recent Regional Youth Health Survey data. As a department, we know we cannot work on delaying use of substances without addressing mental health, so we are meeting our communities where they are at, which is finding creative ways to respond to mental health challenges,” said WDPH Behavioral Health Manager Jennifer Nakijoba.
In a major upcoming endeavor, the Behavioral Health team within Community Health will begin meeting quarterly with superintendents from Worcester, Shrewsbury, and Grafton. This collaboration will ensure that the municipalities are not working in siloes and will encourage open communication and sharing of resources and lesson learned.
At the same time, each municipality has unique student demographics and systems in place that require tailored approaches and collaborative efforts to effectively address the identified health challenges and develop sustainable solutions.
“Our aim is not to go into a district, do one event, share information, and leave. We want to work in collaboration with the schools to bring about long-term improvements. To reach that goal, we need to involve community leaders to get buy-in from residents, students, and other officials, which will in turn increase the likelihood that the work can be sustained,” said Nakijoba.
To that end, the Behavioral Health team, led by Nakijoba and Tobacco Prevention Specialist Cherry Tangri, are deploying a variety of strategies.
In Shrewsbury, they are working with the School Wellness Advisory Council (SWAC), which meets regularly and aims to identify the school district’s most pressing needs. Currently, those include mental health and stress, particularly among the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as vaping. The Behavioral Health team is currently determining student age groups among which to conduct focus groups.
Mental health is also a priority in Grafton, where the team is working with the School Wellness Committee and is helping to re-convene the Coalition for Healthy Grafton. In addition to planning focus groups, they are working with adjustment councilors in schools to address mental health, which will be coupled with substance use prevention.
In Worcester, WDPH staff have met regularly with school leadership and are actively participating across 10 working groups set up to address topics such as health education and community involvement.
In October 2022, Nakijoba and Tangri presented to a health class at South High School and facilitated focus groups to identify sources of stress in students’ academic and personal lives. They also connected with a teen mothers’ group for another focus group. During these discussions, students are given the opportunity to ask questions and speak openly, and the Behavioral Health team seeks to equip them to be able to make informed health-decisions.
“We are trying to identify groups of youth we haven’t typically engaged with in the past. It will help us discern a wider breadth of needs and gaps for different populations. By establishing new relationships, we can engage and re-engage with them through multiple interviews and focus groups to better tailor interventions,” said Nakijoba.
They have also visited Forest Grove Middle School, where a student-led project related to vaping sought a community-based tobacco expert. Tangri answered the call, and she discussed with students the consequences of vaping, why it can be specifically problematic for teens, and policies around the issue.
To address concerns around vaping more widely, Tangri hopes to implement a district-wide “train the trainer” series for educators around the “CATCH My Breath” curriculum, a peer-reviewed, evidence-based youth vaping prevention program.
Outside of schools, the team is partnering with 508 Forever Young, an organization that runs basketball leagues for 5 – 15 year olds, along with weekly workshops that cover topics such as mental health, career development, racial justice, self-advocacy, and positive skill building and development. Nakijoba and Tangri have joined in to conduct the workshops and were recognized for their work by 508 Forever Young at College of the Holy Cross basketball games last seson.
