Spring is finally here! May is a time of warmer weather and sunshine with flowers blooming, trees budding, and birds reappearing. It is a busy month to get out and see nature unfold! And just as nature becomes busy again, many of us feel that busyness in our lives as well. Being overly busy and exhausted may lead to an increase in stress and/or decreased self-esteem, potentially triggering more serious mental health disorders. How timely that May is Mental Health Awareness month.
Our country is in the middle of a youth mental health crisis, and girls are at
its epicenter. For youth, half of all mental health conditions start by age 14,
but most cases are undetected and untreated. Some girls express discomfort confiding in friends or family about their mental health because they don’t know how to ask for help, feel the people in their life aren’t educated on the subject, or are worried about their reactions. And 70% of American teens suffer from loneliness.
The good news is that Girl Scouts has a role to play in ensuring the well-being of our girls. By participating in Girl Scouts, girls grow their perseverance, self-esteem, and sociability, leading to lower rates of depression, aggression, and obesity, as well as greater life satisfaction. Girl Scout programming helps girls focus on tangible, interest-piquing tasks that can offer a break from the stressors of their lives. With the support of troop leaders and the comfort of being in a safe space, girls form a community that fosters positive mental health.
Continue reading to learn about how, together, we are tackling mental health for girls with programming, the outdoors, and mentors. With your help, we are building girls of courage, confidence, and character and empowering girls to make the world a better place. Thank you for contributing to healthier women!
P.S.: You have probably noticed a new look in our newsletter. We hope you like it and continue to enjoy the updates we bring to you each month.
Yours in Girl Scouting,
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Roni Luckenbill
Chief Executive Officer
Girl Scouts of Western Ohio
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Girls Meet the “Helpers” –
the Mental Health Heroes
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Many of us know Mr. Rogers's famous quote: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me – look for the helpers. There’s always someone who is helping.” With a youth mental health crisis affecting teen girls, we now take time to focus on these helpers.
Thanks to a partnership with Dayton Children's Hospital, Girl Scouts will
meet and learn from our region’s mental health heroes – women in careers that focus on mental health. Hearing from three professional “helpers”, Girl Scouts will learn about careers available to them that support others and build strong communities.
From explaining to Girl Scout Daisies (girls in Kindergarten and first grade) that mental health is like a rubber band that holds our experiences together,
to learning how to notice when others need help, these mental health heroes will help girls see a future in which they can make a difference in one of the most important issues of our time.
“Since the pandemic started,” said Jessica Warrick of program sponsor
Dayton Children’s Hospital, “so many people feel like their world is turned upside down.” The Mental Health Heroes panel will help girls address their own mental health and think about how being a professional “helper” can
be part of their future, fulfilling the Girl Scout mission of making the world
a better place.
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Meditation and Mental Health
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The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout Senior or Ambassador can earn. The Gold Award requires each individual girl to create and implement an 80-hour leadership project that achieves a sustainable and measurable impact.
For her Gold Award this year,
Claire Schwabe focused on stress management and mental health awareness in school-age children. In particular, she focused on meditation and how it can benefit one's mental health.
After researching, Claire made age-appropriate slide shows. For children K – 2, the slide shows focused on emotions, while the high school slide shows focused on mental health wellbeing.
Claire advertised and hosted Zoom classes offering different types of meditation held at least once a week. In conjunction with the online slideshows, Claire created a meditation club at her high school. The club focused on the different types of meditation and put them into practice, and increased in size with every meeting.
Lastly, Claire offered independent meditation sessions on Zoom. She converted all of her slides into videos and posted them on her YouTube Channel for everyone to experience.
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Empower Her:
The campaign to transform
our camps and our girls
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Empowering girls who will make no apologies
for changing the world.
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There’s a place where girls can go to get away and come alive. It’s a place she’ll visit when she’s young, and then revisit in her mind for the rest of her life. When it’s time to leave, she’ll pack up her journal and her sleeping bag, and then she’ll pack up the life lessons, the leadership skills, and the self-empowerment that she gained while she was there. She’ll head for home, but she won’t ever be the same. That’s because from now on, she’ll have a little camp in her. And while she may not know it now, the woman she’s going to become will be forever grateful.
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capital for the enhancement of four Girl
Scouts of Western Ohio camps. Studies
show that outdoor experiences contribute
to one's social, emotional, and physical
health and this campaign will enable the
Girl Scouts of Western Ohio to remain
leaders in providing quality outdoor experiences.
Since 2013, there has been a 46% increase in camp attendance. With the funding from this comprehensive campaign, we will be able to offer our girls the experiences and facilities they deserve by making significant, state-of-the-art improvements.
As the sixth-largest council in the country, Girl Scouts of Western Ohio has the ability to leave a momentous mark on our future leaders—and much of that begins with what our girls take away from camp. By contributing to this life-changing campaign, these camp programs will be updated and improved to impact the next generation of future female leaders for years to come. You will not only be investing in a better camp experience for 39,000 girls in western Ohio, but you’ll also be doing your part to help Empower Her.
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You can contribute to the Empower Her campaign yourself!
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Monday - Friday:
8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
888.350.5090
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Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday:
10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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(Closed 1:30 - 2 for lunch daily)
Closed:
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
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