Goals
Our first and most important goal is to foster a more open conversation about anxiety in high school. Too often, teens don’t feel comfortable talking about their anxiety. Far too often, parents or teachers tell kids not to worry, that their fears are irrational, and try to reassure them that they have nothing to be nervous about. And as anyone battling anxiety knows too well, “don’t worry” is the last thing they want to hear.
Needless to say, this doesn’t help.
The only effective way to help an anxious teenager is to make sure that the teen knows it is something normal, something for which help and coping strategies are available, and that it is not likely something they can “make better” on their own.
To make this happen, we need teens to feel comfortable about discussing this issue, and parents, educators, and school administrators need to better understand the issue, and how they can help.
We’ve started this movement, and created this site, to accomplish two main goals:
1. If teens know what’s wrong, but don’t feel comfortable discussing it with their parents, teachers, or other resources at school, they may never be able to learn to cope with anxiety. JH2H provides these kids with resources to help them cope with their own anxieties
2. To bring together many resources already available in school – written materials, health professionals, and counselors – and create an easy pathway to both identify teens that may need help, and bring them the resources they need, all in one place.