Advocates improve student health through peer influence

At the Board of County Commissioners meeting this month, Wahkiakum County Health & Human Services (WCHHS) staff presented the Community Health Advocate program. This partnership between WCHHS and the Wahkiakum High School is over a decade long and has been helping students make better choices for their health.

In Wahkiakum County, Community Health Advocates are students themselves - freshmen through seniors. They are employed by the County and paid for time in and out of the school to learn and educate their peers on a variety of health topics, from where to access mental health resources to the adverse effects of energy drink consumption.

Stacy Wynn, WCHHS’s Public Health Nurse, and Brandi Beedle, WCHHS’s Local Emergency Response Coordinator, facilitate the program. At last week’s meeting, they introduced two of the Community Health Advocates. “We provide students with resources for mental, physical, and emotional health,” Parker, a junior at the high school stated. He described the program’s latest project, which was an anonymous questionnaire on student health. “The students’ top four health concerns from this questionnaire were mental health, vaping, use of racial slurs, and underage drinking and use of marijuana,” he explained. “We’re using the results to help guide our work throughout the rest of the year.”

Cooper, another junior, presented some ideas that the CHA program developed with the help of Wahkiakum High School Principal Stephanie Leitz. “For mental health,” he stated. “we are doing an activity called Warming Hands and Warming Hearts, where we serve hot drinks and mingle. We are also making a Tree of Hope to help spread positive vibes. For vaping, we are planning on doing community outreach and we are looking at scheduling a guest speaker to talk about the adverse effects of vaping. For racial slurs, we are working on positive messaging and a social media campaign to promote more positive language.”

“It’s a phenomenal program,” said Chris Bischoff, Director of WCHHS. “We teach kids about public health… about behavioral health. They get to be sort of a peer support for the people around them. We’re not teaching them to go diagnose or fix, it’s more about finding resources and education. “That I know of,” Bischoff continued, “We’re still the only community in Washington State that runs this program. There are adult versions of this run in other communities, but we’re the only ones that do this.”

Bischoff commended Principal Stephanie Leitz, who was also in attendance at the meeting, as a huge proponent of the program. “The school district really appreciates the partnership,” Leitz responded. “The background knowledge they gain in this program creates a great opportunity for everybody involved.”

“We [have] a really good group of kids,” Beedle commented. “They’re very involved and willing to participate. “We meet with them every week on Fridays,” Wynn explained. “It’s super engaged and they come prepared. [There are some] great ideas, some great involvement from them. The fact that they can directly impact at the high school, it’s really great.”

Bischoff plugged that in late Spring the program will be recruiting eighth-graders to be ready for employment in their ninth-grade year. “If you know of an eighth-grader or seventh-grader, be reaching out to Ms. Leitz or Stacy or Brandi with their interest. Our goal is essentially to have two in every grade level.”

While a paycheck and job experience are certainly draws, Community Health Advocates also recognize the importance of the work they do. “We enjoy our job because of the opportunity it gives us to help others in our school [to] access resources and help them become their best selves,” Parker expressed.

For more information, please contact Stacy Wynn at (360) 795-6207 extension 204 or wynns@co.wahkiakum.wa.us.