East Meadow students, staff take part in wellness summit

Over the last four years, students in Nassau and Suffolk County have had the opportunity to attend the Long Island Youth Wellness Summit, sponsored by the New Jersey-based Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide.

The conference brings together hundreds of students and staff from Long Island high schools, and through specialized training and programs, they learn about the skills today’s youth needs to build a life of resiliency. And this year, both East Meadow High School and W.T. Clarke High School took part in the conference, so students and staff could learn what it takes to be the best versions of themselves.

The wellness summit was the brainchild of Stacy Brief, 26, who is a 2016 graduate of Mepham High School in Bellmore, a licensed social worker and director of the society’s Long Island chapter. Brief told the Herald that she went through a difficult period in high school, struggling with anxiety and depression.

Through a colleague of her father’s, Brief and her family were connected to the teen suicide prevention group, and began volunteering and working with the organization.

After seeing the success of wellness summits in New Jersey, she decided to bring one to Nassau County. She then discussed the idea with Mike Harrington, the superintendent of Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, who gave his full support. The first summit was hosted at the district’s headquarters, the Brookside School, in 2019.

This year’s summit, held on March 26, was “by far our biggest conference to date,” Brief said, drawing a 50 percent increase in school participation across the island, with more than 350 attendees from 43 high schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The event began with a resiliency panel, an open conversation and a question-and-answer session about experiences with suicidal thoughts or loss of a loved one to suicide. Student workshops included Artful Insights, an art therapy program by Susan Kappel, and staff workshops included The Ripple Effect by life coach Chelsea Connors, who led teachers through a presentation about self-care.

A resource fair was also featured, with more than 15 organizations from across Long Island selected to showcase their services. In addition, LeadU made a keynote presentation, where attendees learned about kindness, smart choices, respect and leadership through a high-energy and easy-to-understand discussion.

The growth of the wellness summit has been extraordinary, Brief said. Over the last year, the teen suicide prevention group has been developing a Long Island chapter to address specific needs in the region.

“Our growth and presence on the island contributed to it, as well as just the culture that youth are really creating,” Brief said. “This generation is ready and wanting to talk about mental health, about suicide prevention. They want to have conversations that have been stigmatized for a very long time.”

This year’s staff workshop differed slightly from the ones in the past, Brief said.

“We focused more so on helping the staff learn how to care for themselves in order for them to care for their students,” she explained. “School staff members, I think, recognize that their roles more and more so extend beyond the lesson plans. They’re on the front lines when it comes to our youth, mental health and wellness.”

The wellness summit is mostly geared towards sophomores and juniors in high school — for specific reasons, Brief explained.

“We recommend sophomores and juniors because they’re able to return back to their school and continue implanting what they’ve learned,” she said. “With the freshman, in the past, we have found that it’s sometimes a sensitive topic.”

Brief added that students often leave the summit with the message and feeling that they’re important and valuable.

“But on top of that, they also are leaving with the physical materials, information and awareness of different support services that they have access to,” she said. “I really believe that we are effectively reducing the stigma through the summit.”

Staff, she added, leave the summit with the tools they need to be a trusted adult for students in their buildings.

“We’re addressing the most protective factor against suicide,” she added. “They leave with a full toolkit of different prevention, intervention and social-emotional learning programs that our organization offers, that they can start bringing to their individual school communities.”

The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide formed a Long Island Youth Wellness Council last year to help reach as many students as possible. The council focuses on continuing to teach about self-care and coping skills. Registration for the 2024-25 council opened during the youth wellness summit, inviting Nassau County high school students to apply.

If students are accepted, they will attend monthly meetings, potentially earn community service hours and collaborate with other wellness organizations such as the Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center.

“We lay the foundation of suicide prevention teaching and training during the Youth Wellness Summit, and the Youth Wellness Council provides us the opportunity to build upon these initial conversations with high school students of all ages across all of Nassau County,” said Theana Cheliotes, a social worker, summit workshop facilitator and wellness council co-leader. “We want to develop today’s youth into resilient individuals who understand themselves as whole beings and can recognize how to care for themselves, as well as guide them in becoming mental health leaders in their communities who can help keep their peers safe with the confidence to recognize warning signs and offer real, impactful help.”

For more information, visit SPTSUSA.org/youthcouncil.