[ 00:00:13,140 ]Welcome to Behind the Brand Podcast. I’m your host, Adam Hayes. To my left is my co-host, Bob Payton, with bobpayton. com. Across the table from us today, we have Nicole Beeman. Kat Wallinger. Perfect. Thank you. Welcome to the show. You’re with One in Five. Tell us about One in Five. Yeah, One in Five is a nonprofit organization, and we catalyze spaces for youth to create mental health supports to support each other. So it’s different in that it’s engaging the youth in creating the supports and that it’s peer-based. Okay, so how did this idea, the genesis of this idea, how was it born? Yeah, you know, so I have a mental health condition myself. And I was in high school when I had my first mental health crisis.

[ 00:00:59,590 ]And I can talk more about that later. But I remember coming back to school after kind of coming through that and really feeling alone and isolated and like, you know, I had friends, but it felt like there was this part of me that I couldn’t talk to anyone about. And as I was, you know, in my career about seven to ten years ago, I had this ‘aha’ that there I have all this career experience, I have this lived experience, but I’m not really doing anything to like leverage those skills in my career, and so I started doing some focus groups with youth, and also some research to kind of identify, What are the real needs and mental health supports for youth right now? And this wasn’t before the pandemic.

[ 00:01:48,240 ]So this is, you know, I think that kind of cracked things open and made a lot of things obvious to us. But all this is happening well before that. And a lot of you said, we feel like no one asks us what we want. And we feel like we’re alone and we don’t have opportunities to help each other. And so that’s where this idea came from that I only have these curriculum design skills. We could leverage those to have the youth design their own supports. Right. So how do you implement a program like this? And how are you currently? Yeah. So, well, we work through schools and other youth-serving organizations. So it can— it’s flexible enough that it could exist as part of the school day. Or as an after-school program or before-school program.

[ 00:02:38,060 ]Um, it is going to be implemented as part of camp counselor training for a couple camps this summer. Um, but it’s typically in those spaces that are think of it like homeroom or kind of your extra, your study hall, impact period. So they’re able to, those are places where they’re all still together, but there’s a little bit more flexibility in terms of how they spend their time. Okay. So that, so that ranges anywhere from uh, what age group are you typically targeting? Yeah, so we work with mostly teens. So as young as 12 through, we’ve had I think, a 20-year-old. Most of the youth we work with are in the 14 to 18 range, but sometimes they work with students who are a little bit younger. Okay.

[ 00:03:26,920 ]And how would how would an organization come to identify that they wanted to implement a program like this? Yeah, oftentimes it’s an organization that already is trying to do something like this. Maybe they already are trying to get a mentoring program off the ground, or they hear their students saying, ‘We really or their youth saying, ‘We really want.’ Uh, some way for to support each other, but they don’t have any structure to do so, and they don’t have any um, you know, like supports that would make it so that it’s both safe and confidential, and that you’re really building the skills in the youth to be good mentors. So, is a lot of your organization centered around teaching mentors how to implement the program and administer the program? That’s right.

[ 00:04:13,850 ]Yeah. So the curriculum is designed by the youth to support the youth in becoming good mentors with a focus on mental health. Okay. But it’s really, I mean, really basic things like effective listening skills or how you identify what your emotions are. What do you do, you know, like when you feel angry at school, what are some of the things you can do to avoid getting into an argument or a fight? Things like that. What? I’m sorry. Just in chunky steps, maybe, what would it look like to actually, you know, I’m a guidance counselor at a middle school. And I run into you. It sounds very interesting. What would the implementation of that kind of look like for them? Yeah, so we work with them to identify the best way to implement it for them.

[ 00:05:03,930 ]It’s different. Every school. I can give you two examples. Please do. So in one scenario, it was an alternative school where the older students had maybe just a few credits left that they were working on to work towards graduation. So they had a lot of time where they were at school, but they didn’t have academic programming to coursework. So they had two hours in their day where they could spend working on this program. So they would. Every week they have some sort of training session, which is where the curriculum happens. That’s where they’re practicing those skills with each other. and then the rest of the time they’re meeting with mentees to kind of put those skills into practice, so that’s like the mentoring component of it, and that happened in an extended line period.

[ 00:05:52,740 ]So that when the mentor mentees were coming, it wasn’t you know disrupting their academics at all; they were coming during their lunch and they were having lunch together in this different situation we had during their homeroom, where their impact period is when they had the practice session. But then the mentoring part is an after-school club. So the mentors, they recruit mentees to join this club. And they get to participate in that way. But it really kind of depends. You know, it’s different. So in essence, they get a sponsor. Who’s facilitating the education and support thereof, but yet. To your point, they’ve created a club or an organization themselves. Yep. That has kind of legs of its own, if you want to call it that. That’s right. Yeah.

[ 00:06:42,840 ]We help, we help them get it set up. We provide them the initial training and the curriculum, but then they run they run the program— it’s theirs. Is there any interaction after that kind of handover point with with the organization? We sometimes we’ll do ongoing coaching, but they don’t have to, or there’s additional curriculum that they can access through our curriculum portal. Um, to you, know, like support or you know, they’re like specialty topics or things like that, but they don’t— but they don’t have to. They’ve already got it set up, and they can continue to keep that going. Right. But what I mean, using those two examples that you’ve outlined, what did you see? How did you see the impact? What did you see happen after? Because I’m sure this isn’t easy, right?

[ 00:07:33,150 ]I mean, for whoever it is, right? Because it’s probably a little new, a little different approach than everything else. But then, once they kind of get the hang of it, what did you kind of see happen? Yeah so some of the interesting things, like themes, that I could say across all situations, the staff liaisons, the adults, are really nervous in the beginning about releasing that control to you to students and they worry about confidentiality and they worry about um you know like something about danger. Well first we you know like we’re like well we put guardrails in place so that those things don’t happen but ultimately it’s usually the students who are the ones who are protecting some of that information from you know like getting spread is gossip or what have you you know they’re they’re the ones who are like upholders of the that relationship, which is really interesting.

[ 00:08:31,190 ]They really take that seriously. And the other thing we have noticed is just an overall reduction in the time that youth are spent outside of class because of disciplinary concerns. So sometimes the mentors will even they’ll see them in the hall. You know their mentees and they’re like, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing in the hall? You know, and so they’ll prevent them from their mentee. They look up to that mentor and they don’t want them to see them in the hallway for behavior issues anymore. Right? And they may actually, in the moment, go and help them. Um, yeah, whatever it is. And did you see post-COVID? Big deep breath, right. I mean, what did you see happen after COVID? Yeah, the biggest challenges that we saw were in absenteeism.

[ 00:09:25,110 ]And just a reluctance to engage with each other. Even in the group setting? So it or just as a general student body? Okay, yeah. And I would say, then, we definitely had to work a little harder in the beginning to create that space where they did feel comfortable interacting with each other. I think we had that in adults too. I agree. You know, if you think about it, I think it’s still lingering. I agree. Absolutely. We had months where we were told to like avoid interaction. Well, what do we think was going to happen with you? Right. Yeah. Or, you know, we had months where we were telling them you’re going to interact over this device. And then all of a sudden we say, ‘Please put the device.’ Yeah. Yeah.

[ 00:10:08,780 ]It’s tricky. Wow. Yeah. A lot of paradigm shifters. Yeah, for sure. So when you when the group is initially forming, how much of that is building safety in the group so that they feel safe to actually contribute at a level that can, one, let the group know they’re being authentic, but two, then reciprocate back to the entire group. So where it creates more safety in the group, where like they understand people are being authentic and transparent to a point where it can be helpful to the person that’s sharing, but also to the group at large. Right. So we have three weeks in the beginning where the mentors meet just with each other. And a lot of it is laying that foundation where they become comfortable with each other and we also model for them how they can do that with their mentees.

[ 00:11:00,620 ]And then, as they first start, and then it’s kind of like a gradual process, they start working with their mentees just once a week, maybe. And then that increases over time. And honestly, I don’t, I think it happens faster than we think it will often. And I think that is partly because, pretty early on, the mentors will share something. They’ll have a moment of vulnerability where they’ll share some struggle that they’ve overcome. And that alone puts the mentees at ease to go, well, this person is doing well now. But they’ve gone through through some things—yes, you know, yes, establish some trust. Yeah. So you mentioned the origin of one in five. Yeah. Tell us about that. Yeah. One in five. So the name, I should say. So one in five was named.

[ 00:11:51,430 ]Around in 2021. And at that time, the statistic was that 20% of youth wrestle with mental health struggles or a mental health condition. Now it’s actually one in five considered suicide in the last year. So it’s actually worsened in that short amount. I mean, that’s just three years ago. Sure. What are the main contributing factors to the explosion of growth? Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot we don’t know. And it’s also one of those situations where no one, you know, it’s not easy to say, well, it’s this one thing, you know, like, and then there’s like correlation versus causation. But we are noticing that things really did, there was a tipping point around the time that everyone had access to smartphones. Right around the early 2010s.

[ 00:12:43,610 ]So, in 2012, I think we really started to see that plummet. And it has to do with the quantity and quality of social interactions. Sure, and so that, for us, that is a lever. So we’re saying you can have social, you can have healing through social interaction, and we’re creating we believe that that’s a foundation. Social health is a foundation of a mental and emotional health. So, in some ways, there we kind of come in full circle and. Come to the realization that this wonderful device that went off when we started, right? That maybe it’s not the end all for everything. Yeah. Do the kids get that? Do you think? I am. Yes and no. Yes and no. I think. They understand it, but the devices are designed for us to want to interact with them.

[ 00:13:31,950 ]And that’s, that’s hard when you’re you. start engaging with that pretty early on. Or maybe that’s been a primary way that you’ve interacted with people, learning how to do that in different ways. But they always say that they like I’m always surprised in the curriculum I thought that they would have all kinds of technology woven throughout it and no they really wanted it pretty analog they wanted to be you know have role plays and go through scenarios and play board games you know things that I think we assume that they wouldn’t want to do and they do. Yeah. So I think it’s like anything. It’s like a pendulum. You know, we may see that start, you know, the Surgeon General just put out an advisory about youth and social media. Sure.

[ 00:14:17,570 ]It may work. We’ve got to find the middle ground. It’s not going away. We can have a healthy relationship with it. But I think you have to figure out. What that looks like. Maybe reframing, you know. Yeah. The device is a tool. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. I don’t know what the answer is. I’m just speculating. Yeah, it’s a tricky. Yeah, it is partly about framing what you use it for and saying that. I mean, I think it’s kind of like anything that can be harmful to us. I think the more that you say, ‘don’t do this, this is awful.’ The more they’re going to want to do it. Don’t touch the hot stove. Right. Right. But if we talk about the ways that you can use it that are healthy or how to just become aware of when it’s becoming unhealthy.

[ 00:15:02,800 ]Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’d be nice. Because then they get to make their own criteria. Yeah. Frame it for them, how it works for them. Right. Yeah. I mean, Apple does a horrible job, but I think in general. you know, it also, you know, screen time, just screen time alone of, ‘Hey, remind me how much screen time I had.’ And it always is pretty shocking. It is. Yeah. I consider myself a light user, but other people just, you know. We’re talking. 30 hours a week, yeah, things you know and those kind of things, but then to your point: 30 hours of good content may not be so harmful as 30 hours of awful, whatever, you know? So again, it’s what you do with it. Right. And it’s at the expense of what?

[ 00:15:43,260 ]So if that means that you’re not interacting with your peers or your family. Sure. Well, then that’s probably a little imbalanced, and the quality of the interactions you’re going to have— with another human— are different than it is with a human through a device. Sure. Nice. Yeah. Tell us what you see, you know, in the next two or three years. What do you see happening for your organization, business, and everybody else in general? Yeah, so, like, for youth mental health. Okay. Well, and I can say, too, for unlike what we see happening in schools, too. So I’ll start there. It’s really there’s been a big shift in career-connected learning. And that’s not something that’s new. We’ve been probably hearing more, but it’s been in our consciousness for a while.

[ 00:16:34,710 ]But there’s new diploma requirements and there’s just more of an emphasis on: Is what I’m learning actually tied to what I’m going to need to do in the future? And. Along with that, we’ve heard youth have an increased interest in learning about pathways that they don’t typically learn about in school, including mental health pathways. So there is a group of youth who were convening this summer to consider design of what a mental health exploration, mental health careers, and exploration pathway might look like for high school. And I think that we’re hearing about that in other neighboring states, too. Like Michigan has that. Ohio is exploring it. So I think we’ll start to see that more, which is really encouraging because the Sure. they’re just not the workforce to meet the demand.

[ 00:17:27,490 ]Right. There never has been, now— it’s worse. Yeah, yeah. Well, that’s interesting. I think that, that can foster. The empowerment of curiosity. Yeah. Right. Which can be done through exploration. Yep. When given the opportunity to explore. Right. Right. I think that you know, that I think it works hand in hand with what you were talking about earlier. You know, kids leading it. Because they’re genuinely curious and they’re empowered with the tool sets to actually be curious and get energy from it instead of dreading. You know, going in and learning something that’s completely meaningless and disconnected from any real meaning. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you think that, I mean, here in Indianapolis, obviously, I think the Indianapolis Colts have, you know, breaking the stigma. I forget what the slogan is. Kicking the stigma.

[ 00:18:21,400 ]I knew it was something. Football, right? Yeah. Do you see, one, that that message is kind of getting through? And then, two, do you see it continuing to where we kind of eventually do get over it, right? I mean, it’s a hot topic like everything else. Um, you know, some use it for I call maybe a cudgel and other people truly have a need and they need you know and they need to deal with it. So I’m just kind of curious what you see. Yeah, I am encouraged that it is a part of the conversation broadly. In most places, you hear it come up now. I don’t think that that is, you know, not everybody has a mental health condition, right?

[ 00:19:08,030 ]But everybody has, just like everybody has a physical body, everybody has a mind and everybody needs to learn how to care for it. And it needs to be healthy. And so I think that’s where I hope to see the conversation start to shift. Okay, now we’re talking about it and we acknowledge that it is something. And now what do we do with that? And how do we cultivate? You know, healthy living that’s both for our mind and our bodies. Gotcha. Zinger question—maybe, but um, what’s the top thing you would say you know if I’ve got one thing to tell a youth, right? What would that kind of one message be? That if I’m only given that opportunity, I got one shot, right?

[ 00:19:54,560 ]And we know they’re in, you know, let’s say they’re maybe not in a crisis, but just have, you know, they admit to you, I’ve got, I got some stuff I got to deal with. What’s the answer? I think that when I think about when I was going through that as a teen, I felt really alone and isolated. And I think that’s even worse for youth now. You know, when I was growing up. I talked on the phone to my friends all the time, or I saw them. I went out and rode my bike over to their house, or whatever. And kids, by and large, do that at a much lower rate than they used to. And these interactions that they’re having over social media can kind of enhance that isolation, if they don’t feel like they’re a part of it.

[ 00:20:38,343 ]So I would tell them, they’re not alone, and there are others. Let’s find your others, you know, everybody has their others. Let’s help you find yours. Love it that’s awesome. Yeah. So are your community mentors and mentees, do they become advocates in a way for the expansion of One in Five and the awareness and adoption by new organizations and communities? Well, we’re still small enough that I don’t know that I can say broadly that we have seen that yet. Although in the spaces that we are working, that is absolutely true. They are the ones who now will say, ‘I know so-and-so at this other school, which may be in the same district.’ They would be a great mentor. Is mentoring happening? Is this? One in Five mentoring happening at their school yet?

[ 00:21:28,230 ]Then they also identify other youth who they believe can benefit from it. They’re like, ‘Hey, so-and-so.’ I know what they’re going through right now and I experienced something similar. Are they eligible for that? That’s what they often ask. Are they eligible for that? What is the answer to that? The answer is always yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Very, I think. Well, and especially it is. Interesting to when we’re first starting to work with school districts and they want to or youth surveying organizations, they want to identify the mentors they always go to. The youth who are already overextended, are already in the key club, and are on the in the band, and you know, already have a full schedule. And we try to encourage them to think beyond, think more broadly.

[ 00:22:17,320 ]Who are those youth who you really think, you know, have something to offer? But maybe aren’t participating in a lot of other activities. And this would give them a sense of purpose that they really need and they have something to offer. In a way that maybe those youth who are really involved, it’s different than what they have to offer. So if I was a school or with a school or other organization that was looking to bring this program in, out. What’s the pathway to open it up inside the organization? What’s the process? Yeah. So how do they, how do they have a one in five program at their school? So the best thing would be to go to our website. So easy one in five . org all spelled out.

[ 00:23:03,680 ]Um and click on the programs and then that tells you about the different programs that we have and then there’s a contact page there and we would we’ll reach back out to you sure yeah. And then, you know, once they have done that, is that a. I know, I think you and I have talked about in the past that, you know, it’s one thing when the counselor or the teacher wants it. But you also have a school district, and superintendents, and principals, and counselors, and those kind of things. So um is there a a good way to make sure that that becomes a support versus a barrier. For someone who’s interested. Yeah, I think that, if looking at the website and looking at the programs, you believe this is something that your school can benefit from or your organization can benefit from, getting the support of your leadership is pretty crucial.

[ 00:23:58,170 ]Um, and also, I think usually the barrier is. How will this fit in to what we’re already doing? And is it safe? And if we can help you figure those things out. So I think it’s building the. Um, the trust and the support that we will you know ensure that those conditions are met. No, he’s not. So what’s been your biggest challenge so far? Biggest challenge. That is a really good question. I do think that this, you know, like figuring out who, the how, you know, and. It’s even if there’s an interest, it’s how do we fill it in, fit it into something that already feels really full and busy. So you may have a group of youth who are really interested. But they aren’t the ones who get to call the shots about what their day looks like.

[ 00:24:56,670 ]But we don’t really give them the space to do that. So on the one hand, we’re trying to empower them. But on the other hand, they don’t have the agency to do a lot of that. So do you think the mechanism to move that needle is policy, or do you think it’s? Know ground awareness. Ground awareness, you know, by the youth, what do you think is gonna move that needle or both or other things. I think awareness will start, you know, so we, we have nine new districts that will be implementing this and that’s going from, you know, really two to then 11. And I think we’ll get a much better picture about how, you know, what that looks like. But that gives us a sense of those are all districts that came to us.

[ 00:25:43,500 ]So we know that they want it and they have to just be willing to figure out how to make it happen. So I think it’s mostly an awareness and being able to see that other people have done it. It’s hard when you know, you don’t, you. The only examples that you see are ones that, you know, won’t work. So the more examples we have, the more they’ll be able to identify where they have, how they’re organized. Yeah. What are you looking forward to in 2025? I’m looking, we are also going to make our curriculum more widely available through an online curriculum portal. And so districts or organizations wouldn’t necessarily have to do a full mentoring program. They could decide that they already have this program or club and they want to build these skills.

[ 00:26:36,240 ]You know, specific skills. Jim Collison, M. D.: Integrated into their existing, sure. So I’m really excited to see how that gets used. We were asked a lot about it and so now I’m excited to see. How districts and organizations actually use it. Sure. Nice. That’s all I got. Don’t like that too. Thank you. Again, what’s the website address for everyone? It’s oneinfive. org, spelled out. All spelled out. All spelled out. Okay. Yep. Awesome. Yep. Thanks for coming. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.