The Kim Foundation’s Community Outreach Program

Over the past couple of weeks, The Kim Foundation has had the opportunity to present to the entire student body at Lewis & Clark Middle School in the Bellevue Public School District. We reached over 600 students with our message of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. The students were engaged in our “Elephant in the Room” discussions covering why mental health isn’t talked about as much as physical health. The students played a hands-on game of Jenga and created a stress tower out of blocks to demonstrate what happens when too many stressors build up in their lives.

The seventh and eighth graders learned about healthy and unhealthy coping skills and how to build their resiliency to overcome challenges that they face. It was great to see the kids actively involved in the discussion and sharing the various ways they cope with stress. The presentation then switched to suicide prevention and educated the students about risk factors that may increase their risk for suicide, as well as warning signs to watch for in friends or family.

We continued the suicide prevention piece of the presentation by covering how the students could help if they encountered a family member or friend that was suicidal. We provided many resources and handed out our 13minutes bracelets as well as wallet cards. The presentation concluded with time for questions and a crossword puzzle of celebrities who had overcome their mental health challenges. The students were very receptive to the presentations and were great participants. We appreciated the opportunity to reach each student at Lewis & Clark Middle School in Bellevue.

If your school, church, company, or service group has an interest in a presentation from The Kim Foundation, please contact us at info@thekimfoundation.org or call 402-891-6911. Our presentations are free and would be tailored to fit your audience’s interest, length of time, age range, and group size. We are able to speak to students, staff, or members that may have an interest in learning more about mental health or suicide prevention. We hope that you will consider our community outreach program!