We can not believe it is already April! Even as many schools transition through spring breaks, testing, and other projects, it has been a joy to see so many hosting our We Belong Week (WBW) Signature Campaign!
Much like our Because You Matter Campaign (launched from fall through winter), We Belong Week is a schoolwide initiative that aims to change school culture around mental health. We Belong Week includes a spirit week of interactive activities to help promote social connection, a key protective factor for mental health, across a school community. Some of the campaign activities include speed-friending to help break the ice and signing a school-wide pledge to make their community a place where everyone belongs. Whether a school has time to complete all of the activities or just a few, we welcome students and staff to choose any number of activities that suit their interests and schedule.🤗
In early March, Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, participated in We Belong Week. During their three lunch periods, 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students made friendship bracelets and wrote suggestion cards for how to help others feel they belong.
Deb Lourie, a well-being social worker, is the OMM sponsor at both Key and Julius West Middle School this year. While Key Middle School is not yet hosting OMM club meetings because of scheduling, Lourie said she wanted to introduce students to OMM now so they can get familiar, and our signature campaigns presented the perfect opportunity to do so.
“I did Because You Matter [in the fall] and We Belong Week to make sure that kids are aware that this program is available, and to promote positive mental health in the school,” she said. “I just think it’s a really good community message.”
Lourie also mentioned that kids have started recognizing OMM activities and bulletin boards from fall through spring. Some students have even felt empowered to take ownership of the initiatives—giving creative suggestions for bulletin boards, reminding their friends of the friendship bracelet-making activity, and being active participants in other discussions.
“It was really nice to see, full circle, that they remember doing something, and actually appreciating it,” she said.
Lourie added that hosting the WBW campaign and other activities has attracted and engaged new students across different grade levels and identities that she may not have met before. The spaces also help young people realize that they are more similar to their peers than they think. Lourie said she hopes to continue hosting schoolwide campaigns to help the program maintain visibility throughout this school year and next.💙
“As a social worker, a lot of our kids need this connection,” she said. “For me, that’s why it’s important they feel connected, that they hear and see other kids are in the same boat, and it’s something they can understand about each other.”
Thank you to Deb Lourie and the Francis Scott Key Middle School community for prioritizing belonging during another busy school season! We know that you and your students will keep kindness in bloom this spring.🌷
A special thanks for supporting Our Minds Matter in Montgomery County Public Schools goes to Adventist Healthcare; the Devon C. Rubenstein Foundation; the Healthcare Initiative Foundation; The J. Willard & Alice S. Marriott Foundation; the Jewish Social Service Agency (JSSA); Kettering Family Foundation; The MATTIE Fund; Rosendin Foundation; Van Metre Companies; The Wolpoff Family Foundation; and our supporter community of mental health champions like you.