Train 4600 Indian girls as peer health leaders

Dear Adolescent Health Champion,

After two long and difficult years, schools have finally fully reopened across India. While this is a cause for celebration, the transition is proving to be difficult for many adolescents. Our youth have shared with us that they have lots of apprehension about returning to school, including worries about having fallen behind academically, how they will readjust to social dynamics, mental health and body image concerns, and uncertainty about the future. Many have also reported struggling with their mental health throughout the pandemic and that they are worried about how they will cope during this transition period. Such challenges can be more pronounced for those children who were unable to continue their learning virtually during the pandemic or had to drop out of school altogether in the past two years.

We believe that the pandemic will impact the trajectories of youth for years to come, particularly their physical and mental health. As such, we are investing in our programming and strengthening the mental health support that we provide to youth. We are encouraged by the fact that many of our program participants have highlighted the positive impact participating in AHC has had on their mental health. Here are two quotes from AHC Youth Advisory Board members:

“AHC has changed the way I think and my perspectives. I have understood what it means to have a positive perspective or a negative perspective about the world around me, for example inequality. It made a change because I know how to talk normally and openly about such things with my family or friend circle. I have also improved my problem-solving and found my own voice to talk to someone about their problems and how I feel.”

“AHC has changed my mindset. I never shared my feelings with my parents, but after being a part of AHC I started sharing everything with my mom. Nowadays I am sharing everything and getting support when I need it, and my mom said she is proud of that.”

If you are passionate about mental health, please consider donating and helping us support thousands of youth with their mental health and the transition back to school in the next six months. If you have any ideas about how we can strengthen our efforts in the mental health space, or if you would like to get more involved with AHC, we’d love to hear from you as well!

With gratitude,

Dr. Priya Shankar & Ricky Sharma
Co-Founders, Adolescent Health Champions

Dear Adolescent Health Champion,

As we reflect on this past year, we are so proud of having supported over 4,000 adolescents via 100+ virtual, youth-led health education sessions. Our remarkable Champion peer educators are catalyzing a youth-led adolescent health movement across india, providing crucial physical and mental health support to their schoolmates and communities.

This month, we celebrated their efforts on International Children’s Day with a youth-led webinar. Rashi and Toheed, our youth moderators, facilitated a lively discussion with a panel of adolescent health experts, including a pediatrician, a school headmistress, a member of AHC’s Youth Advisory Board. They also helped lead a design-thinking workshop with our youth attendees about school re-openings in India, enabling us to gain crucial insights from youth about how AHC can best relaunch our in-person sessions with our partner schools in 2022.

 As schools reopen, we anticipate this will be a difficult transition period, as many youth have had limited physical and mental health support over the past year and a half while schools were shut. In addition, the impacts of the pandemic will have lingering effects on youth, their education, and their health for years to come. As such, supporting our youth with their health is as essential as ever. 

You can play a huge role in these efforts by donating on GivingTuesday! This November 30, from midnight to 11:59 p.m. EST, GlobalGiving is giving away $1 MILLION dollars to nonprofits as part of their #MoveAMillion campaign for #GivingTuesday. There’s never been a better time to give. The more you give on GivingTuesday, the larger share Adolescent Health Champions gets from the $1 million in bonus funds! Get ready: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/train-indias-next-generation-of-health-leaders/

With gratitude,

Dr. Priya Shankar & Ricky Sharma
Co-Founders, Adolescent Health Champions