ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Thousands of teens gathered in St. Augustine for the fifth annual Be Resilient and Voice Emotions (BRAVE) Summit to learn about mental health.
The BRAVE Summit, hosted by UF Health St. Johns, created a safe space for teens to feel seen, heard and valued. It stressed the importance of fostering healthy mental health conversations and provides resources to the students.
“These days, we’re constantly inundated with information via social media, online, so to give them good, accurate, factual information is really important to send them home with that, so that they feel like they can share that information with their friends and their family,” Paige Stanton Executive Director of UF Health St. Johns Care Connect said.
More than 2,200 students from different school districts participated in the event that featured musical performances, art and poetry displays, interactive games and more.
“Our focus is to reach as many teens as possible and raise awareness about the mental health resources available to them. It’s incredibly rewarding to help them understand they’re not alone in facing these challenges; many of their peers are navigating similar experiences,” Stanton said.
Since the BRAVE program was founded in 2019, the number of St. Johns County students referred to mental health providers and seen by a medical professional increased by 55%.
Valerie Duquette, director of UF’s Behavioral Health Resource Center, was designated as a safe space advocate.
She explained how she helped a student who felt overwhelmed because of the crowds and music at the event.
“She just needed to have a moment where she could calm herself down and deal with her own anxiety,” Duquette said. “We were able to just sit and chat for a little bit, and she was ready to go.”
Duquette also pointed students to more mental health resource opportunities.
Hollyn Fletcher and Gabriella Fundora, St. Augustine locals, were two of the thousands of students at the event. They said the event was fun and had many takeaways like learning valuable lessons about the effects of drugs and alcohol.
“They had one question, and it was specifically towards how it has an effect on the teenage body,” Fletcher said. “It’s definitely really different, and it’s definitely something you don’t want to get into.”
The students looked forward to next year’s summit.
