The time is now for Mercer Island High School (MIHS) students to tell their vital stories in a creative fashion.
When discussing the Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (YFS) summer Explore Your Space interactive Photovoice Project, Derek Franklin noted, “It just seemed like the perfect fit at the perfect time. It supports the (school’s) Island Space campaign because it lines up just perfectly with that.”
YFS administrator Franklin said that a couple of the department’s masters-level interns — who have backgrounds in art therapy and drama therapy — suggested that the Photovoice Project would be an ideal vehicle for students to employ photography or other mediums to share their experiences of being a teenager growing up on the Island.
On the Island Space front, the social marketing campaign is aimed at improving student mental health, decreasing their substance use and guiding them toward making healthy choices to reap all-around success. Both projects are run through the MI Healthy Youth Initiative and utilize funds from an array of federal grants.
During the eight-session Photovoice Project, which runs for one hour once a week from July 12-Aug. 30, students will meet individually with YFS counselors who will help the teens find their voices through discussions regarding their stories. Photography or art experience is not required to take part in the intimate project, which is intended to start small with no more than six to eight students on board.
At the conclusion of the project, Franklin said that YFS plans to host a public showcase of the students’ photos along with narratives to help bring the pictures to life.
Franklin, who began his 18-year YFS journey as a full-time outpatient marriage/family therapist, said that YFS offered a photovoice program 15 years ago focused on drug and alcohol prevention.
“This (new project) is more an effort towards the more holistic look about what it means to be a kid here. So the idea would be to give kids the support and opportunity to kind of tell that story,” he said.
Over the years, Franklin said that students in middle school and high school have expressed to YFS counselors that they are often bombarded with pressures to succeed academically.
In a previous Reporter article on the Island Space campaign, MIHS student Libby Myers said that everyone endures tough days on the academic front.
“I think these resources will really help a lot of students,” said Myers, adding that some coping mechanisms students can put into play include: hanging out with friends who are a good influence, getting off the Island and taking a deep breath, participating in sports and other outside activities, and putting social media on the back burner.
To register and for more information, visit: https://www.mihealthyyouth.com/headlines/photovoice
