Youth to Youth Club Educates Peers about Stress Management

In the waning days of the school year, as Anne M. Dorner School students were in the midst of final papers and exams, the school’s Youth to Youth Club set up shop in the cafeteria and talked to classmates about stress.

Students crowded around the club’s table in hopes of getting one of about 280 stress balls club members had made out of balloons and uncooked rice. Before they received one, though, they had to answer questions from Youth to Youth members and club adviser Brenda DeEsso, school social worker, about what stress is and how to manage it. Youth to Youth also had a handout with 100 coping strategies and paper fortune tellers with tips on coping with stress.

Seventh-grader Jayda Smutek was happy to get a stress ball. “I get mad very easily and this will help me,” she said.

Some of their students’ strategies for handling stress were sleeping, playing basketball, spending time with pets and taking walks.

“Stress is something you go through when something bad happens or when you have to take a test,” said eighth-grader Alex Clavijo.

Ossining High School has an active Youth to Youth club. This was the first year it was available at AMD, and interest has been growing, Ms. DeEsso said. Many of the eighth-graders plan to join at OHS. Members of the club promote a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle and wellness among their peers.

Heidi Yanqui said she joined the AMD club because “I wanted to make people feel positive and spread positivity around.”

Eighth-grader Andrew Herran said he liked being part of Youth to Youth because he was able to help out his friends and encourage them to make good choices. “If a friend tells you that, they may believe you,” he said.

Ms. DeEsso said the district will be taking 10 rising eighth-graders and 30 OHS students in late July to the annual Youth to Youth International Eastern States Conference at Bryant College in Rhode Island. Four of the teens were selected to be youth leaders at the four-day conference.

“The whole purpose is to empower kids to make healthy choices,” said Alice Joselow, coordinator of Ossining Communities that Care, which works with Youth to Youth. The group provides education, resources and services for substance-abuse response and prevention. “It’s an incredible movement that the kids totally embrace.”