Your Story Matters is a suicide awareness club at Aliso Niguel that works to help students manage their stress and anxiety. It is a new club at Aliso this year and it is already benefiting students.
Although the club is new, it is an organization that was created back in 2016. Founded by Sara Hosseini and Emily Pufahl, Your Story Matters has been working to help students know that they are important and cared for.
The idea to create an organization for suicide prevention was inspired by the loss of two softball players that lost their lives to suicide. As coaches within the same league, Hosseini and Pufahl decided to take action and help prevent teens from resulting to suicide.
Many students experience stress from school, sports and other personal problems. As an eighth grade teacher at Aliso Viejo Middle School, Hosseini strongly cares for her students and their mental health.
Hosseini emphasizes that, “I choose to promote positive mental health in my classroom and want all my students to know their voice is important to me, and I will always have their back during their tough moments. I hope that with organizations like Your Story Matters, students can feel more love in the world, more value and find their joy in the world.”
Your Story Matters promotes positivity and kindness, as well as support for those who need it. The club was started at Aliso this year by Rijul Kashyap (10). Having had Hosseini as a teacher, Kashyap was inspired to bring the club to Aliso and carry out the organization’s mission to help struggling students.
Kashyap says, “I decided to start the club here at Aliso and join their organization because I feel like mental health is a very important topic that I feel like isn’t addressed enough these days. It can always be used in school environments more.”
When asked about the club’s course of action in achieving their goal, Kashyap replies that the club will spread awareness at Aliso, “by educating students on mental health topics and resources.”
During meetings, the club hosts fun activities to get students to resonate and participate. The club had their first meeting on Wednesday Oct. 4, where they addressed healthy ways to cope with stress.
Students that attended the meeting shared their suggestions and wrote what they think is the best way to effectively manage stress. Ideas like listening to music, hanging out with friends, exercise, among other things were suggested by students.
This provided students with new ideas on how they can personally use these methods to benefit themselves, as well as help others.
The stress and anxiety inflicted on students by work overload, numerous due dates and long study sessions, can cause students to be mentally drained. This is when students can use their stress management skills to benefit their healthy mentality.
The club is open to everyone and they encourage students to get involved. Meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month. The next club meeting will be held on Wednesday Nov. 2, where they will discuss the different resources that students can use to help improve their mental health.
