Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Noelle Teschner, Vice President of Career Development
Maggie Kozlowski, Vice President of Finance
Elizabeth Curtis, State President
Lauren Wisner, Vice President of Competitive Events
Raul Feria Guzman, Vice President of National Programs
Alexa Heitkamp, Vice President of Public Relations
The Wisconsin Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) State President Elizabeth Curtis announced that the statewide officer team had chosen this year's Statewide Community Service Project with a focus on supporting those affected by mental illness. Statewide, the FCCLA will be engaged in a yearlong partnership with Rogers Behavioral Health and WISE: Initiative for Stigma Elimination.
“By promoting emotional health, we aim to help students develop resilience, self-awareness, and healthy coping strategies, ensuring they can handle their challenges and maintain a balanced life,” said Curtis, in a statement.
According to the most recent Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 59 percent of Wisconsin high school students said they dealt with at least one mental health issue within the past year. Stigma attached to mental health and mental illness unfortunately still keep many people from accessing resources to improve and support positive mental health. Dr. Jill Underly, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has sounded the alarm on the need to better support Wisconsin students' mental health needs. Governor Tony Evers has declared 2025 the "Year of the Kid" in Wisconsin, and has prioritized the DPI's budget requests in his proposed biennial budget.
Wisconsin FCCLA's Statewide Community Service project will help its student members get involved in this important issue. The group has encouraged teams of educators to be trained as “Compassion Resilience” facilitators. The partnership also comes with WISE resources available to anyone–resources like What to say and what not to say to someone with a mental health condition or How to respond to insensitive comments.
“Thanks to this collaboration, teenagers from across the whole state have an opportunity, not only for themselves to learn more about mental health challenges, but also to learn how stigma affects people trying to seek help and services,” says Alison Wolf, Community Learning Engagement operations and development manager at Rogers Behavioral.
To get the program off the ground, WISE hosted a statewide virtual Stigma 101 presentation for Wisconsin FCCLA in January. Wisconsin FCCLA officer team has also conducted four mini-conferences to support the project.
As a part of their project, the Wisconsin FCCLA is hosting a coping skills drive to collect items for emotional toolkits. The art supplies, mindfulness coloring books, and games will be donated to WISE and Rogers at the FCCLA State Leadership Conference in April in Wisconsin Dells, where WISE members will be present with Safe Person decals in both English and Spanish.
Wolf, of Rogers, praises the efforts of the Wisconsin FCCLA students. “I just know that it breaks down barriers if we can talk openly about mental health and if we can feel comfortable about it, and I've seen it change people's lives. I believe storytelling and talking about mental health make all the difference, leading people to seek the help they need. That is a wonderful feeling.”