4

Implementing Best Practices and Crafting Effective Messaging to Help Adolescents Flourish

While there are numerous examples of best practices and lessons learned from firsthand experiences working with adolescents, it is imperative that these lessons and practices get scaled up and disseminated. This chapter reviews suggestions and comments from virtual workshop participants related to their own work and features discussions from a panel of stakeholders invested in branding, messaging, and advocacy related to important adolescent issues such as mental health and wellness.

LEARNING FROM THE PARTICIPANTS

Several participants shared ideas and comments in the virtual chat during the workshop, focused on answering two specific questions: (1) Has your organization elevated the lived experience in its work?; and (2) How can these best practices that have been shared be adapted and implemented in your own work?

Elevating Lived Experiences

In response to the first question, one participant offered that her organization has had to become more creative in terms of reaching clients because their services are delivered in the school and implemented through teacher and staff referrals. She explained that they have had to constantly create a dialogue to engage their partners. Many of the practices discussed in this workshop have provided a new emphasis on keeping the interests of students at the forefront. Another participant representing a county-level

health and human services agency said that they try to focus on client-centered and solution-focused approaches to voluntary case management services, while making youth engagement a priority. Currently, he said, they are trying to balance focusing on adverse childhood experiences with positive childhood experiences (in other words, risk factors and protective factors) to inform their work.

One participant voiced a concern. As a retired educator still very involved in teaching, he did not feel that his lived experience was respected by boards staffed with younger professionals. He does note, though, that when substituting, he does see his more than 45 years of experience respected because it’s easier to see in action. Inside community organizations, he said, you will find both ways of thinking, with some members valuing lived experience and others being indifferent to it.

Implementing and Adapting Best Practices

Several participants provided responses to the second question regarding implementing the best practices presented throughout workshop discussions. One participant suggested that her organization could offer more responsibility to teens on school committees, getting them to engage in professionalism, and bringing the Question, Persuade, and Refer¹ (also known as QPR) training to the table. Another participant added that youth engagement is always a challenge, and despite best intentions, he said, we can have blind spots or misconceptions about certain youth populations or about any age group in the general population. He added that these types of learning opportunities and workshops offer the chance to absorb new information and keep his practice ethical, evidence-based, and meaningful for youth clients and their families.

As another way to implement best practices, Shelley Waters Boots, Funders for Adolescent Science Translation, suggested referring to the National Academies report, The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing the Opportunity for All Youth (NASEM, 2019b). There are several new studies funded through the Funders for Adolescent Science Translation (FAST) consortium that can be shared, and new research that is summarized through the FrameWorks Institute, which can assist in this process (FrameWorks Institute, 2020).

Tamar Mendelson, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, shared that the potential exists for integrating virtual components into some interventions, or even delivering interventions without in-person contact, which currently is quite valuable. Her team at Johns Hopkins University, for instance, developed a website for school teachers in partnership with

___________________

¹ For more information see https://qprinstitute.com.

The Monday Campaigns to provide mindfulness strategies for self-care and for use in the classroom with students (The Monday Campaigns, 2020). While there are undeniable downsides to not having in-person contact, there are also benefits to be found in terms of scale-up and wider dissemination. Texting and smartphone-based interventions for young people are also being increasingly developed and evaluated, so those should be monitored for use as well.

Finally, Patrick Killeen, past president of American Academy of Physician Assistants, commented that he believes there is a great need to enhance the coordination of adolescent care between medical and mental health organizations. The discussion around implementation of the workshop’s featured best practices, he said, has raised his awareness of the need to enhance organizational coordination between the American Academy of Physician Assistants and all organizations and funders who continue to support adolescent well-being.

CRAFTING EFFECTIVE MESSAGING

Deborah Klein Walker, consultant and immediate past president for the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice, highlighted the importance of getting all of the knowledge and evidence from various reports and workshops out to key consumers and stakeholders invested in the flourishing of adolescents. This section features various methods to do so such as reframing messages, leveraging social media, and involving youth voices.

Reframing Messages

Daniel Busso, director of research at FrameWorks Institute, introduced his work at the social science think tank on how to communicate with the public about adolescents and youth issues. FrameWorks focuses on two things, he explained. First, they study how people use culture to think deeply about issues that everyone cares about. Secondly, they study how the choices we make as communicators matter. Even though they can sometimes seem small or insignificant, these small choices can have really powerful effects on audiences. Framing matters, Busso said, because it actually constitutes the sum of every decision you make as a communicator about what to include in your work and what to leave out. Strategic framing is the process of being intentional about those choices to bring about certain kinds of outcomes. As an example, he presented some of the social science research that FrameWorks has been conducting over the last 3 years, which involves nearly 7,000 members of the American public and uses a variety of different methods.

The first stage of reframing involves figuring out what you are up against, Busso explained, identifying and understanding the dominant narratives and outlining the communication challenges and opportunities they pose. To do this, FrameWorks conducted 30 in-depth interviews across the country with adults and adolescents and 100 shorter interviews filmed in public locations. After playing a video summarizing several of these interviews, he called everyone’s attention to some of the patterns and cultural notions that pose the greatest challenges. First, he said, people do not really understand what adolescence is. As was heard in the videos, people think of it more as a way of thinking rather than a discrete stage of development. Secondly, he introduced the “dangerous times” notion that cropped up frequently in the longer interviews. This idea that adolescence is a very risky and precarious time of life that demands that youth be shielded and sheltered makes it difficult for adolescents to promote their own needs for independence and autonomy. The third concept Busso described is called “self-makingness” or individualism. In this concept of adolescence, drive, determination, and willpower determine a young person’s outcomes. This is limiting because it makes it more challenging for people to think about the ways that resources and supports shape a person’s outcomes, and how those may differ across types of populations.

Next, Busso introduced the belief that peers constitute a largely negative or corrupting influence that can undermine healthy development, in sharp contrast to the reality that healthy peer relationships are essential. He highlighted the “modernity as a threat” idea so well exemplified by the much greater number of risks and negative things that the youth of this generation have to navigate today such as social media, drugs, and alcohol, all of which are perceived as threats and roadblocks to healthy adulthood. Another conceptual model that emerged is the “culture of poverty” belief, which tends to lead people to rationalize negative behavior as a result of bad values at home or a deficient cultural work ethic. This completely obscures the importance of inequities in our society, Busso noted. Support and opportunities for improving healthy development should be accessible to all communities equally. Finally, he pointed out the lack of understanding of cognitive development during this age period, saying that the public generally lacks understanding of the biological changes that drive adolescent outcomes.

To try and address some of these challenging thought models that may block healthy adolescent development and avoid traps in public thinking, Busso offered a few high-level strategies (see Box 4-1).

Busso put a question to the participants: What kind of frames and stories do we want to advance in the public discourse? He outlined several areas where this could be done with the overarching goal of improving the positive image of young people and influencing their development. First,

we want to focus on community engagement, he said, so it is important to emphasize the contributions that young people make to their communities in our messaging. Stories about individual success are much less effective in advancing this positive vision of young people. Another area to emphasize is the value of programs and policies that allow adolescents to try new things in a space where they can fail and explore safely while they serve as leaders. This is a really powerful antidote to the public’s existing thinking that adolescents really just need to be shielded and protected from the world, he commented. Finally, he emphasized the importance of highlighting positive supportive relationships with peers and nonparental adults, as well as amplifying the stories that young people tell about themselves. Creating space for young people to tell their own stories can really shift the balance in public conversations from risk to opportunity. In closing, Busso noted that this was just a quick overview of their research in this area, and he pointed to the adolescent development page of their website, where more information, including recent reports and recommendations, can be found.

Leveraging Social Media for Mental Health

Introducing Edward Schmit, cofounder of IDONTMIND, Walker stated that since its 2017 launch, this mental health awareness campaign and lifestyle brand has raised more than $350,000 for mental health organizations across the country. Schmit explained that their mission is to inspire open and honest conversations about mental health, and they try to do it in several creative ways. One of the most important aspects of the

organization is its name, he noted. IDONTMIND is the start of a sentence that opens the door to bigger conversations about mental health such as “I don’t mind” going to therapy, “I don’t mind” asking for help, “I don’t mind” taking a breath. It is a philosophy that removes the burden from someone who is suffering, and the organization has made it a really important part of its public campaign. Their demographic is mainly young people between 18 and 34. They are primarily based in the United States, but they have gathered a larger following in Canada and the United Kingdom as a result of social media.

In its beginning, Schmit said, IDONTMIND came to the sad realization that people talk more about what they wear than how they feel. This led to an innovative idea: getting people to combine what they wear with how they are actually feeling to invite conversation. In a one-off, two-week-long T-shirt campaign, IDONTMIND raised over $115,000 for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. That was kind of a “wow” moment, Schmit commented, in which the organization realized this really resonated with people, so they decided to keep it going. Recognizing the popularity of modern-day lifestyle brands—especially with youth—Schmit talked about how they tried to meet people where they are by focusing on branding and minimalist, comfortable designs.

Importantly, IDONTMIND knew it did not want this to look like a mental health campaign of the past or even like a mental health campaign at all. The beauty of the slightly provocative logo on clothing is that it can help strike up organic conversations about mental health that allows messaging and support communication to follow. Schmit said that the campaign’s launch utilized a network of influencers, and they were very fortunate to have well-known celebrities like Heidi Klum and Grant Gustin join the campaign. We know stories can be extremely inspiring, he said. It is really cool to see people you look up to sharing their own story and inspiring you to do the same. Since then, the organization has undergone a big evolution. Starting as a fundraising vehicle for a mental health organization, IDONTMIND slowly developed their own campaign, joining Mental Health America in 2018. This transition also included building their website and a variety of social media platforms, as well as building out the IDONTMIND Journal that publishes weekly articles introducing people to different aspects of mental health and related topics.

Instagram Branding and Use

The IDONTMIND community is extremely engaged on social media, Schmit noted, staying connected with their audience mainly through Instagram. Social media can be a scary place for some people, but it is not going

anywhere, so the campaign wants to be a shining light in that space as much as possible, Schmit said. When you first visit IDONTMIND’s Instagram page, you see mostly lifestyle and inspirational posts, and you may not even know that it is a mental health awareness campaign, which is by design (see Figure 4-1). They also have a regular live program on Instagram called “Ask a Therapist” during which they take questions from their audience and get answers from real therapists. This program has helped introduce people to the concept of therapy without the attached stigma.

In addition to creating a consistent aesthetic that followers can trust, Schmit said they also focus on engagement. This includes thinking about how people engage with what they post, what their target demographic needs, and what is actually helpful to them. Finally, he commented that the best way for a campaign to grow is to spread its message widely. This makes it important to figure out what interesting or thought-provoking things will resonate enough to be shared. We think the best way to fight stigma is to encourage open and honest conversations about mental health, Schmit said, but that really has to do with changing the culture. Working on your mental wellness and taking care of your mind should be just as important as going to the gym or other forms of self-care. As a final takeaway, he emphasized that an organization can have a very important mission and message, but if it gives no thought to branding and marketing, the message will not reach many people. Conversely, if an organization has a wonderful aesthetic but no heart, its efforts will also fall flat. It is critical to take your purpose and understand how to communicate with your core audience in a way that makes it really accessible.

Involving Youth in Message Development

Kawanza Billy is the program manager and social impact strategist for Black Swan Academy, where she creates educational content in collaboration with young people to help them advocate for their education and mental health needs. She explained the mission of Black Swan Academy, a program that was founded in 2013 after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, as empowering Black youth in underserved communities. Through civic leadership and engagement, they give them a comprehensive set of tools to become active social catalysts in their communities. Black Swan Academy has a vision to create a pipeline of Black leaders who are committed to improving themselves as well as their communities, she explained. Black Swan Academy is located in Washington, DC, but focuses mainly on middle- and high-school students in Wards 7 and 8, where 92 percent of residents are Black, the median household income is $37,000, and more than one-third of the population is under 18. According to research conducted by youth at the academy, Billy said, more than 30 percent of

Black girls and more than 40 percent of Latina girls identified as feeling sad or hopeless. More than 800 Black youth attempted suicide in 2017, 100 percent of students expelled are Black youth, and nearly 100 percent of students arrested at school are young people of color. The youth understand the importance of their work and take their roles very seriously, she added.

They take a youth-centered and youth-led approach at Black Swan Academy. The youth-centered design develops individuals and their social qualities. The youth-led component really lets young people take charge of different aspects of activities such as leading, planning, decision making, facilitation, reflection, and evaluation. The adult staff provide support and encouragement throughout the process. Pride, purpose, and power are the three principles that guide everything Black Swan Academy does as an organization. It aims to restore pride in self and ethnicity, identify purpose through community service, and recognize innate power to impact positive change, Billy explained. To give more of an idea of their work, Billy shared some of their achievements over the past 5 years. The Black Swan Academy has:

• Supported 80 Black youth in middle and high school to gain advocacy, organizing, and public policy skills.
• Hosted 900 middle and high school students at Black Swan Academy youth advocacy summit.
• Awarded 32 small scholarships and awards.
• Reached more than 8,500 community members through service and outreach.
• Supported and led advocacy campaigns that resulted in more funding for mental health professionals in schools, affordable housing, community violence interruption, and legislation that reduces suspensions, prevents childhood lead exposure, and reduces the voting age to 16.

To share some of their lessons on messaging, Billy described a campaign their young people worked on that included the development of a tagline for a youth agenda focusing mainly on mental health and well-being. The

last two agendas they devised ran intersecting campaigns on issues such as housing instability, violence interruption, community services, divesting in police and schools, and providing year-round employment for young people. The academy students realized, Billy said, that all of it ties back to mental health and emotional well-being for young people. This new agenda was named “Love Us, Don’t Harm Us” and was originally launched to run throughout the 2018 school year.² Many of the young people doing the work, though, were reporting that while some advocacy demands were being met, students were still not seeing increases in the numbers of social workers or behavioral health providers at their schools and wanted to be more involved in creating true progress on these initiatives. She took the audience step by step through their process, which takes the entire school year, with a strong focus on the budget season (see Box 4-2).

Young people are involved in this entire process, she commented, and all vote yes or no on any content (this included the slide deck she presented at this workshop). Billy explained how academy leaders avoid leading with answers or trying to lead them to answers, but on the other hand,

___________________

² For more on the Black youth agenda, see https://www.blackswanacademy.org/black-youthagenda.

they do try to make everything as engaging as possible by, for instance, creating interactive ways to collect stories by using polls, Google forms, Instagram surveys, and stories. In conclusion, she provided tips they had learned throughout their experiences with youth issue advocacy, such as: (1) Make sure you are using interactive activities when creating content and getting youth involved; (2) You also want to feature images of young people because when youth see others like themselves doing amazing things, it will encourage and inspire them to be involved; (3) Give them space and time to communicate their ideas and theories, as well as provide feedback on content that has been created. Black Swan, she reiterated, is seeking to equip young folks who are ready to champion their own ideas and advocate for themselves by coming alongside them with the tools they need to accomplish this.

DISCUSSION

To begin the discussion, Walker referred Busso to a question about how to balance the recommendation to avoid promoting individual success while also amplifying youth voices. He replied that the best way to do this is to tell people’s stories while directing the attention to the resources that would address the issues. It would be more helpful, for example, to avoid using the “I worked hard to get where I am” narrative and instead focus the personal story on the support and the resources that were (or were not) available to help. Walker asked if it would be possible to integrate multiple FrameWorks agendas or if new questions required starting from scratch each time for different topics. Busso noted that there are often nice synergies between research findings. In doing projects separately, they are actually able to see where there are areas of overlap. They found, for example, that drawing attention to the ways that a child can be more involved in the community and find leadership positions within that context is a really effective strategy, even if a child is in the foster-care or child welfare systems.

The next questions centered around replicating some of these ideas and exploring how they could apply to a wide audience. Schmit noted that the IDONTMIND campaign approach is effective for anyone, whether they do not know much about mental health or are considered high-risk youth. Billy said that Black Swan Academy does have a specific curriculum that was followed last year to solidify their program. They also make available youth trainers who can help others get started on similar advocacy work with youth. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they are also expanding their digital strategy and organizing efforts, so there may be more opportunities there in the future as well.

Resources for Strong Campaigns

Walker asked each of the presenters to comment on the resources needed to get the required skills and to develop these kinds of youth-centered efforts. Schmit explained that being able to draw upon his background in marketing and fashion greatly helped in the launching of the IDONTMIND campaign. IDONTMIND already had celebrities and influencers in its network to spread the message, he added, but having an interesting message and mission is critical to soliciting help from people like that. They were lucky enough to start with a T-shirt campaign that was able to fund the entire program, and while they still accept donations, they are mostly sustained by sales of apparel and items. Billy said that the Black Swan Academy is able to secure some funding through selling T-shirts and other items, but most funding comes through grants from education foundations. Busso affirmed this, saying that half of the challenge is developing the mission and messaging frame, while the other half involves putting it out in the world to make its impact. What FrameWorks has learned, he continued, is that making lasting change requires working with specialists and experts across different sectors of youth development. He also mentioned that colleagues in the field work with advocates to construct a shared narrative and provide actionable tools and strategies to embed within communications to help make this process work better. Through future workshops like this, he said, we can continue sharing messages and strive to coalesce around a common strategy to talk about adolescence more effectively.

Walker added that this is a really important thing that most researchers really do not know how to do well. She asked how youth development specialists could scale up these dissemination efforts and spread the message further, in response to which Billy mentioned the importance of participation in coalitions and cooperation. The Black Swan Academy worked with quite a few other youth and parent organizations, she said, to get the word out to a larger audience. When there is a citywide message, the academy bring its partners in and grounds its young people in responsible expectations. We want to make sure, Billy said, that they clearly understand the difference between the reach that we have versus the reach we want. It is definitely possible to scale up education messages, she emphasized. It just takes a lot of preplanning and community building among young people and constant efforts to include their voices in the conversation, especially as larger groups that are scaling up can sometimes lose the important youth perspective in the process, which is troubling. Billy also noted that although most of their partners are at the local level, they are working on building more national partners, such as Black Millenials for Flint. Schmit commented that IDONTMIND is lucky to be affiliated with Mental Health

America, so although their team is small, they work mostly at the national level but envision doing more work with individual states in the future.

Finally, Cheryl Polk, chief program officer at Safe & Sound, expressed the message that was heard throughout the day by a number of speakers and virtual audience members: Do more to promote adolescent development and let them describe their needs themselves instead of making assumptions for them. The Forum for Children’s Well-Being has been discussing relational health for a while, but it now can do more in this space to help adolescents flourish.

This page intentionally left blank.