Intervention and/or Curriculum
PhotoVoice
PhotoVoice is where public service meets photography and have been used since the 1990s to give everyone the opportunity to represent themselves and tell their own story through ethical photography and community engagement. At Next Step, we use PhotoVoice by teaming up with local schools and working with photography students to help showcase their mental health strengths. To do this, we go into their classroom to teach lessons about PhotoVoice, their strengths, and help facilitate as they begin taking photos and writing narratives about how their photo brings their strength to light. The program ends with a photography exhibition in a local gallery to showcase the hard work and vulnerability of the students so that the larger public can get a glimpse into the resilience of young minds in our area.
- Locations: Caldwell Middle School in Tyler and plan to expand to new program site next year.
Sources of Strength
Sources of Strength is a peer led suicide prevention program on school campuses. A diverse group of students come together to create positive messaging that builds awareness of the support they have that are all around. We focus on building hope, help and strength to everyone on campus.
- Locations: Athens ISD, Bullard ISD, Tyler ISD, Wiley College
REACH
The REACH (Resilient, Empowered, Authentic, Confident, & Hopeful) program is an eight-lesson curriculum designed to support at-risk teens in middle or high schools, students attending Discipline Alternative Education Programs (DAEP), or youth in Juvenile Probation. Delivered over a three-week period, the curriculum emphasizes visualization techniques, goal setting, stress management, and promoting healthy alternatives to substance use. Through connection with caring adults and the teaching of resiliency, our aim is to reduce recidivism rates among the teens we serve, empowering them to lead happy and healthy lives. We believe in the potential of these youth and strive to equip them with the skills they need for success.
- Locations: Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEP), juvenile probation departments, Malakoff ISD, Bullard ISD, Kilgore ISD, Athens ISD, Brownsboro ISD, Winona ISD. Plans to expand to 2-6 new program sites next year.
Youth Yoga Lab
Youth Yoga Lab teaches youth self-regulating mental health tools. We empower and equip students to navigate the stresses of life through yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques. Youth Yoga Lab offers these tools in a fun and empowering way. The mental health tools we teach are evidence based and science backed. We take a trauma-informed approach and believe it is everyone’s right to understand their nervous system.
- Birdwell Dual Language Immersion School in Tyler, Caldwell Middle School. Will be adding new program site next year.
Ages
- 6 to 17, 18 to 25, parents/caregivers
Population Served
Proposed
- Students (elementary, middle, HS, DAEP, HBCU Wiley College experiencing poverty, lack of insurance or access to services, challenges accessing services (distance, physical access or missed work by parents or missed class by students).
FY24 Q1
- Pregnant women and women with dependent children
- Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)
- Persons involved in the justice system
- Rural populations
FY24 Q2 & FY24 Q3
- Persons involved in the justice system
- Rural populations
City or Counties Served: Henderson, Smith, Gregg, Harrison
Region: Region 4
