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Building Your Circle: How Youth Can Create Support Networks, featuring NDI's Financial Toolkit

Finding people you can rely on is one of the most important parts of growing up. For youth, especially those navigating school, friendships, and big life decisions, it helps to have a circle of support. A personal support network isn’t just family—it can include friends, mentors, teachers, coaches, or anyone who encourages you and helps you through challenges. Building that circle takes time, but it can make a big difference in how confident and connected you feel.

Building Personal Support Networks: Barbarah and Zackery's Story 

Sometimes young adults feel like they need to figure everything out by themselves. The truth is, having others to lean on makes things better. A friend might be there to listen when you’re stressed, while a mentor could give you advice about school or work. When you bring together people with different ideas and experiences, you get more support for the tough times and more joy in the good ones.

The YouTube video “Building Personal Support Networks: Barbarah and Zackery’s Story” tells how Barbarah and her son Zackery built friendships after moving to a small town in Canada. Barbarah joined local groups, volunteered, and invited people to a gathering with the help of a facilitator. From there, a support network grew, with community members spending time with Zackery by reading, crafting, sharing food, or just talking with him. Their home became a welcoming place for friends, showing how simple actions and connections can create real support and belonging.





Youth Peer Support

Making a support group can also help you grow important skills. You practice working with others, sharing, and being a good listener. A support network isn’t just about getting help—it’s also about giving help to others. When young people support one another, everyone becomes stronger.

The Mental Health America (MHA) Youth Peer Support page, "Youth Peer Support" explains how young people can support each other through shared experiences with mental health and offers a tiered approach: universal skills for all youth, structured peer programs like hotlines, apps, and school-based groups, and more formal peer roles in community or clinical settings. It also provides resources such as reports, training guides, webinars, and a free mental health screening tool to help youth and communities strengthen and sustain peer support networks.




What are your thoughts on support networks? What do you think is the best way to support those around you? Share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences in the comments below!


Featuring...

NDI's Financial Toolkit

The National Disability Institute’s (NDI) Financial Toolkit gives free tools to help people with disabilities manage money better. It has easy worksheets and guides on things like budgeting, banking, saving, and benefits, with many also in Spanish. There are also short videos and tip sheets to help individuals, families, and service providers learn about financial wellness. 

Find it here: https://www.nationaldisabilityinstitute.org/downloads/#financial-toolkit

The SPAN Youth Chat

On September 3rd, from 4:15 to 5:00 PM, join Jeremy Hayer and the Youth Engagement Team for a Back-to-School themed Youth Chat! We’ll go over a custom guide that covers what supplies to bring, what to expect on the first day, and how to transition from summer break back into school mode.  



Resources...

Link to SPAN's website: www.spanadvocacy.org
Link to SPAN's Youth in the Know Resource Page: Youth in the Know
We're here for you! Call SPAN if you need assistance: 1-800-654-7726.

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