PTHS Grads Share Insights From Life After High School
On January 5th, The Benji Project hosted an online panel of four recent Port Townsend High School graduates who spoke with current PTHS students and teachers about life after high school.
While talking openly about their personal experiences with college, a gap period before college, or friends who joined the workforce after high school, shared insights emerged about how to take care of your mental health during this major transition:
Embrace that you can change your mind and have a non-linear path. Many of us will want to adjust the expectations we place on ourselves or receive from others as we engage in new environments, gain a more realistic picture of what’s possible, and explore new interests.
Do what you want to be doing, and be with people who support you. Even before you graduate from high school, get into the habit of being more selective with your time and energy.
You don’t have to leave this area to keep learning and growing. There are many people in this community who want to help you reach your goals or try new things. Reach out.
Prioritize your mental and physical health. This includes making sure you know where to find support before you or a friend have an urgent need.
A big thank you to our wonderful graduate panelists - Mel Bakin, Callay Boire-Shedd, Sorina Johnston, and Finn O’Donnell - and PTHS students and staff for joining The Benji Project’s Heather McRae-Woolf for the open-hearted discussion.
Youth Mental Health Advisory
U.S. teens are in a mental health crisis. That's the news from the U.S. Surgeon General in a public health advisory published in December 2021. The call to action notes alarming increases in the prevalence of certain mental health challenges over the last 10+ years. And then came the pandemic.
“The pandemic era’s unfathomable number of deaths, pervasive sense of fear, economic instability, and forced physical distancing from loved ones, friends, and communities have exacerbated the unprecedented stresses young people already faced,” the report states.
The news itself is depressing, but the publication also offers clear recommendations for individual and institutional actions that support the mental health of children, adolescents, and young adults. We thank our supporters for helping The Benji Project be part of the solution. Click here to read the advisory.
Port Townsend Leader Letter to the Editor, 12/2020
We are so touched by the high level of praise offered by the Port Townsend School District and OCEAN K-12 program. Grateful for our partnership in serving our community’s teens!
Fall 2019 Newsletter
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Scholarship Winners to Embark on Training with The Benji Project
The Benji Project has awarded scholarships to Nancy Israel and Aaron “AJ” Feit to train as instructors in its program of stress management and emotional resilience skills for adolescents.
The Benji Project has awarded scholarships to Nancy Israel and Aaron “AJ” Feit to train as instructors in its program of stress management and emotional resilience skills for adolescents.
Israel, a youth educator at the Northwest Maritime Center, and Feit, a social worker in Port Townsend schools, will finish their training in mid-2020 when they will be ready to lead The Benji Project’s “Making Friends with Yourself” class and other programs. The scholarships underwrite training costs of about $5,000 per recipient.
The pair will join 2018 scholarship winners Teresa Shiraishi and Heather McRae-Woolf who will complete their training this summer.
“We are thrilled to have Nancy and AJ join The Benji Project,” said Cynthia Osterman, Founder and Board Chair. “They were chosen from a highly competitive field of applicants. The selection committee was impressed by their experience working with youth, commitment to our mission, and personal qualities.”
Israel has over 25 years of experience working with youth in the field of environmental/maritime education. She currently works as the School Program Manager at the Northwest Maritime Center where she creates and provides experiential programming with local and regional schools.
"I am thrilled to receive the scholarship. I look forward to learning more about how to make mindfulness and self compassion more accessible to the youth of our community," she said.
Feit, who holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California, works for Kitsap Mental Health Services and the Port Townsend School District as a social worker in Port Townsend schools and has experience as a therapist and group facilitator.
“I am both elated and honored to have been chosen as a 2019 scholarship recipient, and am excited to share mindfulness - a critical component of self-regulation and successfully weathering life’s storms – with those who are most vulnerable to those challenges,” Feit said.
LAUNCH Emotional Success for Graduates: New 2-Hour Training
The Benji Project will offer a new training called LAUNCH: Your Emotional Success Toolkit.
High school graduation is a transition. Prepare emotionally for your next phase whether you're off to college, moving away from home, or starting work. Hear about common experiences, learn to support your well-being, and set yourself up for success.
Who: High school graduates, new and returning college students
When: Sunday, August 11, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Masonic Lodge, 1360 Jefferson St., Port Townsend
Cost: By donation, registration required.
Suggested donation $25. No one turned away. .