Mental wellness and advocacy focus of Youthwell Summit

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-A Youth Summit held at the Direct Relief Headquarters in Goleta on Saturday put the focus on mental wellness and advocacy.

YouthWell collaborated with Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness and the Santa Barbara County Education Office to put the event one.

Youthwelll Executive Director Rachael Steidl future leaders helped design the summit.

"Youthwell is fortunate enough to be hosting a student advocacy and wellness summit today," said Steidle, "With students from all around Santa Barbara County, Santa Maria, all the way down to Carpinteria."

Students learned how to help others.

"We have everything from learning about wellness, how to support a friend, what healthier friendships and relationships look like and those have been fully directed by our students," said Steidle.

Nicole Barger serves as a Youth Advocacy Board Intern who led a workshop.

"I'm leading one of the skill building workshops for how to support your peers and their mental health, " said Barger, "What we're focusing on in our workshop is connecting students with resources and how to notice when someone is struggling with a mental crisis or needs support with their mental health."

Adults took part, too.

"We have more than 20 adults who have come out to share their experiences, their advocacy work around the county," said Steidl.

Pediatrician Drmma Cabral took part, too.

"I think when we hear directly from the youth, what's going on, what you care about," said Dr. Cabral," What they're passionate about, what kind of challenges they have, it helps us understand them better.

Mitch Torina, who was just elected to the Lompoc Unified School Board want to help them achieve their goals.

"Everybody agrees with the idea that youth are the future, figuratively and literally. we really should be, especially as elders in the community, facilitating, supporting and providing any access and resources that they need to achieve the world they want to achieve," said Torina.

Steidl said students are under pressure.

"They feel the worries of everything going on in our world. They feel responsibility to fix it. They have that put on them by adults," said Torina, "This whole advocacy in regards to really being able to shape the world, not just, their specific personal world, but the world around them."

Organizers hope they learned skills they can put to good use.

"Our hope today for all of our students is we all have different things that we're passionate about. Advocacy looks different for everybody. We want them to come and learn how to use their voices in a meaningful way for them, that they feel supported to go after the things they go after, and that they know when to ask for support," said Steidl.

Summit participants are committed to connecting teens with the services they need.