Brandywine Library teens turn book discussions into real-world mental health action

By Karen Price

Young people involved in PA Humanities’ Youth-Led Humanities program at Brandywine Community Library are now better equipped to support their peers with mental health challenges thanks to a special first aid training initiative.

Inspired by their book selections and a growing interest in mental health awareness, seven teens completed Teen Mental Health First Aid Training, presented by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in partnership with the Born This Way Foundation. The program gives high school students the tools to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges in themselves and their peers, with a focus on having supportive conversations and making connections with appropriate help. 

“I just wanted to help people and make people feel better, or make sure they’re okay,” said Jonah Myers, one of the teen training graduates. 

The training was made possible through PA Humanities’ support of the Youth-Led Humanities program, along with matching funds from the library and community partners. This is Brandywine Library’s third year as a part of PA Humanities’ Youth-Led Humanities/Teen Reading Lounge programming. Both programs are built around supporting and encouraging opportunities for youth to take on leadership roles, using the humanities as a tool for personal development and community engagement. 

“It’s nice to be able to help the community in some way, shape or form.”

Youth-Led Humanities participant Kylie George

Amber Hadley, who leads the program at Brandywine, located in Topton, Pa., said that as the teens were choosing what books to read for the current session, the topic of mental health kept surfacing. Some of the books they selected included, “The Last Starry Night,” a graphic novel by Jamison Odone that explores Vincent Van Gogh’s life and struggles with mental illness, “Every Falling Star,” by Sungju Lee, a memoir that explores the mental health and other challenges faced by a young man living on the streets of North Korea, and “(Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Conversations about Mental Health,” an anthology by Kelly Jensen that includes personal stories from actors, athletes, writers and artists. 

“I liked the ‘Don’t Call Me Crazy’ one, because I thought it was interesting hearing about famous people’s mental health challenges and their perspectives,” Kylie George said. 

Gavriela Youngs connected with the Van Gogh book.

“It goes into a person that you know, but you don’t really know much about how he had mental problems and how it affected him,” she said. “Plus I like art.”

As conversations about the books deepened, Hadley shared that she’d recently completed a course in mental health first aid. Eager to apply their discussions to the real world, the teens asked if there was a similar training for people their age to learn how to help their friends. 

“We talked a lot (in the training) about different mental illnesses that are more common,” Myers said. “We talked about depression, we talked about suicide, and we talked about anxiety. We broached those subjects, and we followed three people who were pretty similar but went through different mental illnesses and we saw the patterns and learned how to help people who have them and might have breakdowns or attacks from them.”

Hadley emphasized that the training isn’t about diagnosing problems, but about offering support and encouraging connection. 

“We just understand that our friend might be going through something that is a challenge to them in the moment, and we try to see what we might be able to do to help,” she said. 

In another mental health initiative, the teens are putting their creativity to work with a 3D printer, designing fidgets for care packages that will be delivered to local first responders. The packages are meant to reduce stress and anxiety for patients and community members in crisis.

“It’s nice to be able to help the community in some way, shape or form,” George said.

While some of the teens said they haven’t yet needed to apply their mental health first aid training, Zoe Demerjian that she already had.

“I have used some of it when helping a friend,” she said. “They were having a rough time and just needed someone to talk to. So I was able to use my training for that.” 

Teen Reading Lounge and Youth-Led Humanities are made possible by Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, Department of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor. The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services or the Department of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, generous individuals, foundations, and corporations.