PHOENIX — Brendan Salisbury will soon head to Washington D.C. after he was invited to meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris to tackle the subject of mental health as part of a roundtable discussion.
“After the pandemic, we saw higher rates of depression, of suicide, of anxiety, PTSD,” said Salisbury. “We’re going share with them this is what our youth is experiencing, these are the resources we need.”
The teen was recently named a 2023 Bezos Scholar, a program run by the parents of Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Its leadership program is helping Salisbury launch a local initiative to curb the stigma of mental health.
“Being able to provide them with hotlines, with coping mechanisms, and things that teenagers need especially after the pandemic is really what I’m passionate about,” said Salisbury.
Last year, in partnership with teachers, student organizations, and school PTA, his school created two wellness rooms on campus, one room for staff and one for students. Within one year, more than 900 classmates had utilized it.
“Wellness centers here were a collaborative effort between our BGHS PACK team, a group of specialized team of adults that work with behavior, intervention, and empowerment of our students,” said Salisbury.
The rooms are broken up into sections, each filled with different activities to decompress and relieve stress. Ambient lighting and soothing sounds fill the space too.
Just a few weeks into the school year and it’s busy already.
“School's only been in session for two weeks and I just checked our login and we’ve had over a hundred kids log in,” said Heather Smith with the PACK TEAM.
Health professionals like Smith are on site inside the student wellness center and ready to help save lives when called upon.
“I can count more than once a child telling me something in here where we then proceeded with the proper resources to get them that help,” said Smith. “They know it’s a safe place.”
Along with a $1,000 grant from the Bezos Scholar program and Salisbury hopes to raise donations from the community to put the wellness centers on five more campuses across the Deer Valley Unified School District.
“We need the help of the community, people who care about being able to help and support our youth,” said Salisbury.