our programs
MAD HOPE Youth Suicide Prevention and Mental Wellbeing Program
MAD HOPE is a partnership between Bellingham School District and WFCN to reduce and eliminate suicide amongst 10 to 18-year-old students in Whatcom County. MAD HOPE uses a peer-to-peer intervention curriculum designed by Bellingham High School students in response to suicide attempts and deaths in their community and is available county-wide to middle school and high school students, parents, and educators.
Whatcom Prevention Coalition
Whatcom Prevention Coalition (WPC) garners support from Whatcom County Health Department and Washington State Division of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitation (DBHR). The Coalition itself is a group of committed individuals and professionals who are passionate about healthy youth development through positive environmental community prevention strategies.
Mount Baker Community Coalition
Founded in the fall of 2017, Mount Baker Community Coalition (MBCC) is focused on substance use prevention and mental health promotion for youth and families in the Mt. Baker community. We partner with the Mount Baker School District faculty and staff, local businesses, social services, media, youth, parents, caretakers, and other local community groups!
healthy youth development
connect with local groups and activities promoting healthy youth development
There are many groups in our local community that offer programs and activities for promoting healthy youth development. In Whatcom County, you can connect with the Ferndale Community Coalition, the Mount Baker Community Coalition, Birch Bay-Blaine Thrives, and the Whatcom Prevention Coalition. You can also visit Whatcom Resources for a database of organizations serving youth and families.
what is healthy youth development?
Healthy (positive) youth development envisions a world where all youth have the support, relationships, experiences, resources, and opportunities they need. It focuses on strategies and processes that foster the healthy well-being of you and offer promising approaches for preventing or reducing a wide range of adolescent health-risk behaviors. It is “a process by which young people acquire competencies and positive connections to self, others and the larger community” (National Youth Development Research Response Initiative, 2003). It builds on strengths (“youth as-assets”) rather than deficits, and aims to help youth reach their full potential and become productive adults.
Integration of youth development and community development involves engaging youth as active collaborators through positive relationships with adults, purposely creating environments where where constructive, affirmative, and encouraging relationships with adults and peers are sustained over time (cited from University of Kentucky publication).
areas of focus for healthy youth development:
We focus on positive youth development, healthy relationships and safety, mental health wellbeing, youth substance abuse education and prevention, youth suicide prevention, and resiliency and protective factors.
community capacity building
Community mobilization has been defined as a capacity building process through which community individuals, groups, or organizations plan, carry out, and evaluate activities on a participatory and sustained basis to improve health and other needs on their own initiative or stimulated by others.
our current focus is building a community that raises resilience and builds hope to mitigate the impacts of trauma.
We believe in the power of connection and compassion to make space for healing the human hurt we all experience.
Educating our community about the impact of trauma on our human development and the science that supports the power of connection is an important step to stopping the inter-generational cycle of what we call Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs). We focus on resilience building as a community strategy that allows for individual and collective action to change our experiences and our future for the better. We engage organizations, schools, governments and residents to create a more compassionate community.
A community’s resilience is important— rarely can an individual achieve their highest level of resilience and hope without being in a safe, healthy, caring environment. Healthy, connected communities have the capacity to provide the skills and opportunities families need to increase hope, heal the impact of trauma and support children who will thrive.
Read more about our projects and partnerships here.
join us in creating a resilient, strong, and compassionate community:
- know your ACEs & Resilience scores (English)
- know your ACEs & Resilience scores (multiple languages)
- attend local trainings on building Hope & Resilience
- learn about the impact of toxic stress on the developing child
- enroll your families in evidence-based parenting courses that help families connect, communicate, and manage conflict with confidence and compassion:
- share this information with others
- have fun as a family- make time to play, laugh, talk, and eat meals together
- join our mailing list to be invited to future discussions, trainings, and other face-to-face opportunities
- be compassionate to yourself and others- ACEs likely impact us all.
Is there anything already going on in my neighborhood?
We focus much of our work in identified neighborhoods where data tells us there is disparity in community health outcomes, including three opportunity neighborhoods in Whatcom County:
- Birchwood
- Shuksan Community Family Night
- Birchwood Neighborhood Association
- Roosevelt
- Roosevelt Neighborhood Resource Center
- Roosevelt Neighborhood Association
- Columbia Valley
In these neighborhoods, we engage with residents, neighborhood associations, community-based events and efforts that work to increase connection, safety and wellbeing for those who live within the geographical or other boundaries that define the neighborhood. For example, we co-coordinate block parties in the Roosevelt Neighborhood, promote or host social events, engage in outreach at Birchwood International Market, Birchwood Farmers Market, or host community health events like Birchwood or Columbia Valley Food Summits. We convene or participate in neighborhood based events like Spring Resource Fair and Egg Hunt at Kendall Elementary School or Kendall Summerfest and Outdoor movies or health fairs or pop up outreach opportunities.
