Youth Ambassador Creates Interactive Display to Spotlight Mental Health
Cameron Varner is an 8th grader at Frankfort-Schuyler Central School District, one of our Youth Mental Health Ambassadors, a member of National Junior Honor Society and Future Business Leaders of America, and – if you remember from his last article – an actor in multiple plays! Cameron's favorite phrase about Mental Health is "You Matter" so it fit perfectly that he decided to create a bulletin board display that asked questions about mental health for his classmates to fill out and post on the board.
He shared why he choose this as a project and what he hopes youth will get from adding to the board.
My idea for contributing to Mental Health Awareness Month is by using our school's bulletin board and put Inside Out Characters on it, including a question to go along with it. They would be able to answer that question by writing their answers on a piece of paper and have it stapled onto the board. The reason I chose to go with Inside Out characters was so whenever the students would be answering the question on the board, they could associate the emotions with their favorite characters. The question on the board would ask for what coping skills you use whenever you are experiencing those emotions (Especially ones like anger, sadness, or anxiety). These coping skills can also be shown as a reference to other people to let them see what could help others with their emotions and potentially themselves as well.
The collaboration piece of it was a good thing itself. Our school is very big on Mental Health and would gladly do anything to help students with theirs. I did this to promote Mental Health Awareness to the students and to let them know that their answers are valued... that they MATTER. I've always wanted to help someone out with their mental health and I thought this would be one of the best ways to do so.
About the campaign:
ICAN’s “Everyone Has It. Every Day.” campaign began in 2023 where three local adult Mental Health Ambassadors – who are public personalities with diverse backgrounds and skillsets – came together to tell their stories and use their platforms to let teens know that it’s ok to not be ok. Phase two of the campaign started at the end of 2024 and with the recruitment of Youth Mental Health Ambassadors, projects and messages have been created during the first part of 2025.
Cameron is one of six Youth Ambassadors, all from different school districts and all working towards one goal – to break the stigma of asking for help with your mental health. Thank you to Kevin Colacicco, LCSW at ICAN for being Cameron’s Mental Health Mentor during her time working with us on the campaign!