September Students4Good Event Recap

Suicide prevention is more important than ever as approximately 125 Americans die from
suicide every day, according to save.org. Suicide is now the 3rd leading cause of death in those
who are 15 to 24 years old. Mia Kouvelitos, Jordan Parise, and Lauren Brendle are all part of the
solution! They are making an impact in the community by raising awareness through programs
focused on suicide prevention. This includes everything from education about identifying
warning signs to how to encourage people to seek help if they are having suicidal thoughts or
harming themselves.

Mia Kouvelitos is an intern for the Youth Mental Health Project. “Our mission is to educate,
empower, and support families and communities to better understand and care for the mental
health of our youth,” she explains. This program puts on many events such as webinars,
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, and a Parent Support Network. Their webinars
feature different professors every few weeks who speak about a specific mental health topic.
During Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week in May, the project organizes a variety of
events including a mental health story time night for families! The Parent Support Network
consists of groups of parents who come together to discuss children’s mental health in their local community.

Jordan Parise, founder and social media manager of Jordan’s Mental Health Awareness, created
her Instagram campaign in February 2022. This campaign raises awareness about the importance of mental health through collaboration with mental health advocates. The organization’s social
media content highlights the topics of suicide, anxiety, depression, self care and positive
affirmations. Currently, for suicide prevention month, Jordan is posting content regarding the
warning signs and course of action of suicide, providing crucial education for her many
followers.

Lauren Brendle is a content creator on Instagram and TikTok, as well as the founder of Thera
(findthera.io). Her content focuses on destigmatizing talking about suicide. She educates people
about suicide and suicide prevention through teaching about warning signs, suicide hotlines,
discussing action steps, and helping people create a safety plan. Thera is her project in which you can be matched with a therapist without tedious searches. This features a website, findthera.io, in
which you respond to open-ended questions to help find your match. The matches are well
researched and tailored to your unique needs. Lauren’s goal for Thera is to have automated,
immediate matching for users.

The panelists conveyed that suicide can have a wide range of warning signs, which can be
separated into 3 categories: talk, mood, and behavior. A person at risk may talk about
experiencing unbearable pain, being a burden to others, having no reason to live, or state plans
about harming themselves. They may also experience drastic mood changes, loss of interest,
depression, anxiety, rage, or a variety of other emotions.

It’s not always easy to identify someone who may be going through something, but some of the
most common behaviors you might notice are withdrawing from activities, giving away their
possessions, isolating themselves, and saying goodbye to their family and friends. A simple way
to help is to keep an eye out for others, and even if you have the slightest suspicion that
something might be wrong, go talk to that person or direct them to someone who can help. We
can all lookout for ourselves and each other to take care of our three homes: our mind, our body,
and our community.

#ICANHELP is a non-profit organization committed to empowering students to delete negativity
on social media. Kim Karr, Co-founder of #ICANHELP, explains that “#ICANHELP has a
driven community of students all committed to being the digital change they want to see.” She
adds, “In a world full of negativity, the youth have the power to make a difference. Students can
inspire others to be #digitalleaders.”

For #ICANHELP interviews and more information please contact Kim Karr at
[email protected]