Mental Health Awareness Zine

The Health Equity Team recruited Belmont Cragin youth to collaborate on a mental health zine, short for magazine. Their goal for this zine is not to make a profit but to offer a way to showcase often unheard voices.

Their intent in co-creating this tool for youth and their peers was to help navigate topics on mental health and call attention to the daily struggles youth are experiencing. They surveyed youth engaged in after school programming with NWC, and the results showed a need to focus on stress management and self-care. 13 Youth Council members were recruited and a set of roles were created: art design, content design, and writing. It was essential to our Health Equity Resilience Manager Cindy Santana and Health Equity Resilience Coordination Elena Perez that the youth understood the topics while implementing strategies in real-time, like listening to focus music to help with decompression and concentration.