(WBBM Newsradio) — Tuesday saw the grand opening of the Youth Wellness Project’s Wellness Store at Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Bronzeville.
“Whatever it takes to make friends and build bonds, we have tabletop games,” said Ruby Mendenhall, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Mendenhall helped curate the space. Students can come here to relax, focus, and talk about mental health and wellness with trained student citizen scientists.
“When young people are together a lot, they don’t talk the same way adults do when they’re in these situations,” Mendenhall said.
She says the purpose of the space is to remind students that there are supporters around them.
“We want this space to let young people know that we love you, we see you, we know that things are difficult, but you have support. And we hope that when you come to this space, it sends a message that you are supported.”
Photo credit: Carolina Garibay
The idea for the wellness store began when two social workers at Wendell Phillips Academy High School wanted to create a calming space for students.
“At the same time, I’m working with the MacArthur Foundation to create a community health worker training program to train them as citizen scientists, to go into communities, see what’s wrong, and do something about it.” We received a grant — $500,000,” Mendenhall said.
About 50 students learned everything from disease prevention to taking blood pressure to research, and now they’re using that knowledge to help their colleagues at the Wellness Store.
“We hear a lot about gun violence, we hear a lot about youth shootings, but young people are our healers. They are our answer to it, and we support them. I have to.”
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