In this issue we will update you on programs and events for youth, introduce you to one of our Connectors (adult leaders who
support our youth) and highlight a youth ambassador. YC4MH is off to a great start. Connecting with teens and young adults through our Lock-In event at Westgate Bowling & Entertainment Center on February 16th. Our Youth Lock-In event was an effective way of giving our youth tools and resources that would help them build strong social-emotional learning skills and mental health awareness. Young people had the opportunity to engage in team building activities, mindfulness techniques and resilency. Youth Connect 4 Mental Health Newsletter is a quarterly publication aimed to inform, inspire and involve our community to support youth through their mental health journey.

Yvette Givand has over 30 years of experience in helping children, caregivers, and professionals learn and implement ways to increase children's learning potential by addressing their social-emotional skills. Yvette’s experience includes; teaching preschool, directing a two-county Head Start program for 10yrs., public school administrator for 17yrs., teaching parenting classes for over 25yrs., being an adjunct college instructor for 10yrs., a certified Trauma Specialist, an independent licensed social worker/mental health therapist (MSW, LISW-S), a graduate of Bluffton College, and The Ohio State University Graduate program for Social work, and a Fellow of the UCLA College of Public Administration/John Anderson-school of Business.

One of the issues that we shared in our last youth seeseion was, how our Thoughts affects our emotions and determine our behaviors. Our youth understood how they can develope effective social-emotional learning skills into their everyday lives. One of the most amazing gifts that God has given us the human mind. The ability to learn, think, choose, and reason is the essence of what makes us human. While the ability to think makes us human, it actually goes deeper. Your thoughts become a reflection of who you really are. God certainly understands this, and he speaks to this in various places all throughout his word.
Proverbs 23:7