Our Program: Driving Real Change
This year marked a significant stride in our program's evolution as our curriculum focused more than ever on empowering teens to be the health leaders on their campuses by hosting health promoting events regularly for their communities - creating a remarkable increase in student motivation to care for both their physical and mental health. We’ve seen a substantial uptick in students' proactive approach to nurturing their overall well-being, a testament to the transformative power of education, service, and community involvement.
Increasing School Connectedness
Research shows that students engaged and connected in school have a lower prevalence of all risky health behaviors and experiences. The CDC identified four school connectedness interventions and HealthCorps’ programming includes all four interventions. Our unique program combines leadership opportunities and service learning experiences that motivates a deeper commitment to health behavior change and builds a stronger connection to school and community.
21%
of HealthCorps students decreased their fast-food intake
42%
of HealthCorps students increased the number of days they were physically active
(for at least 60 mins)
33%
of HealthCorps students increased their daily vegetable consumption
Addressing the
Mental Health Crisis
Since emerging from the pandemic, HealthCorps has faced its greatest challenge - a teen mental health crisis. Our nation’s teens have been walking a mental health tight rope– and desperate to provide them with an additional safety net through an updated curriculum and lessons, we partnered with the Amen Foundation and their innovative approach to mental health.
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Providing health solutions for teens to also share with their families is at the core of HealthCorps and the Amen Foundation provided us with the tools for teens and their families to Stomp Out the ANTS – Automatic Negative Thoughts – and reverse anxiety, negativity and depression. As one HealthCorps student shared, “I think it’s pretty universal to struggle with negative thoughts. School should be an area where you learn how to take care of yourself as well as go further in your life.”
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Our ANTS lesson helps individuals address negativity, low mood, lack of motivation, low energy, anxiousness, strained relationships, unrelenting stress, and feeling overwhelmed –all challenges teens face.
WATCH: one of our mental health lessons in action, created in partnership with
