The SPAN Youth Hub

The roads are clean, the skies are clear, and the snow is melting. But we don't need warmer weather to organize youth to support youth.  Youth As Self Advocates (YASA) is an independent and diverse national advisory board run by a panel of young people with disabilities. YASA has people from all different walks of life, and its goal is to support youth and young adults with disabilities or health care needs. The good news is that they are recruiting! Here are a few parts of their webpage worth mentioning: Our mission is to educate society about issues concerning us. We are leaders in our communities and we help spread helpful, positive information among our peers to increase knowledge around various issues concerning us. We also help health care professionals, policymakers, and other adults in our communities understand what it is like to live our lives. We share our personal stories to help improve services and support for ourselves and other youth. We embrace the slogan, “nothing

Another week and more snow in New Jersey. It is not uncommon for families to experience injuries, illnesses, and other incidents during these weather conditions. We need healthcare to treat any incident. With or without incidents, youth and young adults also have physical, mental, or sexual health needs. And it is important for youth and young adults to start developing health advocacy skills.  The youth or 'chatters' shared their experiences at the doctor's office. And they all experience a trip to the doctor's office differently, but they all have questions to ask their doctor. But this is not always easy to do if another person is speaking for them. Teens and young adults are known to be nervous or having trouble asking personal questions. It is important to create a relationship with your doctor. A tip is to write your questions ahead of time for your doctor to answer. There are options for healthcare if there are issues to access, check out the following options: ●

There were 30,000 cardboard fans at the Super Bowl this past Sunday! All those cardboard fans are a reminder that we are still living in a pandemic. But there is good news with cases plummeting because of double-mask wearing, social distancing, and the COVID-19 Vaccine. Let's talk about how the mRNA vaccine works and share some resources that can answer your questions.  The Center for Disease Control's (CDC) website can answer your questions on the  COVID-19 vaccine. Their website is regularly updated and one of the top resources on your questions about the COVID-19 virus and vaccine.  The SPAN youth chat participants asked some important questions of their own. For example, will you need the COVID-19 vaccine to travel? There is no one-word answer to this question. Every country has different requirements for travelers. We recommended the following link:  https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel . A traveler can click on the link and pick a country to learn about their required vaccines. 

24 inches of snow later....we can look forward to a new blog post for the SPAN Youth Hub! Happy February, quite the entrance, but grab a hot beverage, sit back, relax, and let's talk about you and your self-esteem.  The National Association For Self-Esteem is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the self-esteem of our communities. On the website are lessons, activities, and a quiz to help measure and boost low self-esteem. Check out the link for the site at the end of this post. Positive Self-Talk v. Negative Self-Talk We recommend for youth, young adults, and adults of all ages take the How-To-Study Self Esteem Assessment. This 35 questions assessment ask short and straightforward questions like "To what extent does the following statement apply to you? I feel I'm not good at anything." And you can answer with the options, "A lot like me, Somewhat like me, or Not like me."  Self-esteem is important because it is how we feel about ourselves. An e