Education and Prevention Staff provide the following types of educational programs, presentations, and specific training as part of our agency’s mission. All presentations are tailored to the type of audience we are presenting to taking into account size, age, content, and length of time allotted for the presentation. We are committed to educating our community about our organization and the issues we respond to.

Groups and programs

YAC: Youth Advisory Committee
YAC is made up of youth between 8th-12th grades. If you are looking for a drama-free group of kids to hang out with that are passionate about making a positive impact in your community, come to a meeting! YAC is centered around three key concepts: leadership, advocacy, and action.

MASQ
In the Fall of 2016, the small town of Canyon, TEXAS was hit with a cluster of teen suicides that rocked our whole community. What was left in its wake was a community of teens and adults, struggling and grieving as they desperately tried to get in front of the issue and prevent further loss of life. We knew at FSS that we wanted to make a difference in Canyon and Amarillo. But we had no idea how to do that. So, we did what any grown adult should do… we ASKED THE TEENS THEMSELVES! The resulting program is called MASQ, Movement Against Status Quo, and it was a 100% teen-led suicide prevention initiative.

Social Advocacy
All too often, society stigmatizes the issues of mental health and suicide. We hoped to encourage teens to “re-think” the issues and get to a point where they felt safe and comfortable talking about them at a monthly support group designed and organized to meet their needs!

Education:
Educating young people about mental health was crucial. As students, we’re taught everything from calculus to physics to English. But we’re rarely taught about mental health. We wanted to change that. Now, we present a variety of topics from suicide prevention to coping with anxiety and depression all over our community in a school-based, community or church setting.

Be a Mentor
The Be a Mentor program is all about connecting high-risk youth to an adult that they can lean on, someone that is going to call out the greatness in them and help them grow through the difficulties they are facing.

Today’s future sound
Today’s Future Sound is a unique hands on program aimed to teach character skills through the creation of music. Not only does the program help kids foster important character skills, but it also serves as therapy kids who have experience various types of trauma.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood are associated with social, health and financial costs to teen parents, families and states. A teen birth can disrupt young people’s educational and career goals, affecting earning potential and future family finances.