Encouragement Journals for Teens with Mental Health Challenges

Here, Lillie and Taylor explain their organize an activity in their own words:

This project we have done has been a lot of work. We had bought notebooks to donate to Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis. We decorated them and wrote inspirational quotes inside to give the inpatients hope, comfort, and a friend. We wrote in those notebooks with care and concern for the well being of those inside the youth inpatient center. Some of those inside the Riverside hospital don’t have ambitions, or dreams yet, so we decided to help spark that inside them by writing a message in the books, saying on how strong, loved, and worthy they are to be here. We want to help those inside the hospital now, so that when they get out, they remember that they have someone outside those walls, knowing that they have a friend and that there is always hope beyond what they believe their mental state defines them as. Even when it seems there are no caring souls left in the world, we hope this activity shows that there are still some ways that we can show care for others around us.

A picture of Lillie and Taylor dropping off the journals

A picture of Lillie and Taylor in a car dropping off the journals at the inpatient hospital.

How is this organize an activity related to ethics? Taylor and Lillie explain:

One of the ways to take care of ethics is to sustain and further the good. Our textbook states “we take care for something or someone by taking care of it or them” (Weston, 5). In our project, we took care of others by giving them something that (hopefully) will better their life in some way or form. We tried to help take care of the basic needs of others by giving them a tool that can provide some assistance as they work to improve their mental health. Our project also [helps]…”comfort the sick, speak up for the downtrodden, even if we don’t especially feel care, let alone love, for them” (Weston, 247). In this sense, we are attempting to help those who have mental illness get better because we both have gone through similar situations and we know it can be extremely difficult to pull yourself out of these bad times. We don’t know any of the people who received these journals, but we know that we helped at least a little bit. We showed them that even though we are complete strangers, there are people out there who understand and who are rooting for them to get better.

A picture of the journals with writing inside.

A picture of the journals with writing inside.A picture of the journals with writing inside.

A picture of the journals with writing inside.

Inspirational quotes on the covers of the journals.

The painting Lillie and Taylor did for the covers of the jounrals.

Lillie and Taylor have some tips for others who might want to organize something like this!

• Make sure you have everything set up weeks before the due date
• Gather materials needed early on
• Be prepared for your presentation
• Call ahead to your place to make sure you have permission to do what you need to do
• Take pictures of everything you do for documentation

Watch Taylor and Lillie’s video here!