side menu icon

Mental and Behavioral Health

Flourish_FINAL

Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois is an advocate for mental health for girls, women, and communities. We collaborate with experts in the field of mental/behavioral health to access high-quality resources and align with best practices. Positive mental health encourages girls to fully embrace our mission and grow into their leadership potential. Our goal is for all members (girls, volunteers, alumnae, and staff) to embrace mental health wellness. 

Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois is proud to introduce our “Flourish” initiative, part of an ongoing strategy to embrace positive mental and behavioral health.

This strategic initiative is designed to fully embrace and enhance Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois’s mission and vision:

  • Mission

Girl Scouts builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

  • Vision

Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois will be every girl’s first choice for developing her own leadership potential through meaningful opportunities and relationships.

3 Critical Ways GSNI Approaches Mental and Behavioral Health

Awareness & Education

Awareness & Education

What it means to us:

Members understand basic mental health wellness concepts, and basic signs of mental health challenges and disorders. 

Members know that mental health is a priority for our communities. 

Positive Practices & Healthy Habits

Positive Practices & Healthy Habits

What it means to us:

Members participate in mental health wellness practices - both individually and through their participation in Girl Scouts.

This includes (but is not limited to) healthy living and healthy relationships programming. 

Girls are achieving outcomes:

  • Strong Sense of Self
  • Positive Values
  • Challenge Seeking
  • Healthy Relationships
  • Community Problem-Solving 
Response & Support

Response & Support

What it means to us:

Guidelines, resources, and procedures are in place for staff and volunteers to follow in the event that mental health concerns require action/response. 

Members know where to connect to professional resources and support in their local community.

In Girl Scouts, all girls feel safe, welcome, and supported.

*

Flourish Resources

Flourish resources are designed to support:

  • Girls in grades K-12
  • GSNI volunteers
  • GSNI staff
  • Girl Scout alumnae
  • The Northern Illinois community at-large

CLICK to download 1-page summary of the Flourish Initiative.

Erika's Lighthouse - Girls Program
Beacon-of-Hope-Digital

About Erika’s Lighthouse: 

Erika’s Lighthouse is a not-for-profit dedicated to educating and raising awareness about adolescent depression, encouraging good mental health and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health issues. 

To provide specific programmatic resources that you can implement directly with the girls in your troop, we’ve partnered with Erika’s Lighthouse!

About the Program:

Age-appropriate activities have been compiled for Girl Scouts in 4th-12th grade. Once you request access to the materials, you’ll receive session outlines and links to materials. For each age level, there is a 4-session Activity Plan that can be implemented across four different troop meetings or in a one-day workshop format. The program for each age level is:

  • Juniors (4th-5th grade) - “We All Have Mental Health”
  • Cadettes (6th-8th grade) - “Depression Awareness”
  • Seniors & Ambassadors (9th-12th grade) - “Depression Education & Suicide Awareness”

Watch this video for more information!

Ready to Start the Program:

Complete this form and you will receive an email that will provide you with access to the program materials.

More Resources for Girls

A variety of badges and Journey activities are designed to help girls Flourish!

Check out these options in the VTK:

  • Daisy
    • Courageous and Strong petal
    • Responsible for What I Say and Do petal
    • Respect Myself and Others petal
    • Between Earth & Sky Journey (Blue Bucket award)
  • Brownie
    • Making Friends badge
    • My Best Self badge
    • My Great Day badge
  • Junior
    • Independence badge
    • Staying Fit badge
    • Get Moving! Journey
  • Cadette
    • Eating for You badge
    • Science of Happiness badge
    • aMAZE Journey
  • Senior
    • Women’s Health badge
    • Ambassador
    • College Knowledge badge

Check out available episodes of G-TV! What is G-TV you ask? This new online show for middle and high school girls is run by a group of Girl Scouts called the G-Team. Each episode features special looks at key issues for girls and interviews with accomplished Girl Scout alums.

Episode 1: A Community of Girls

  • Segment: State of Mind—Mental Health
  • Find a troop discussion guide linked in the video description.

Episode 3: Finding Your Rhythm

  • Segment: Find Your Rhythm to Reduce Stress
  • Find a troop discussion guide linked in the video description.
Resources for Adults
Trainings Available On-Demand

Trainings Available On-Demand:

Self-Care & Mental Health

  • By Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas
  • 13 minute video training, Free
  • Published: May 12, 2020

Busy Brain Cure

  • By Girl Scouts of Citrus, featuring Dr. Romie
  • 1 hour webinar training, Free
  • Published: April 20, 2020

COVID Psychological First Aid

  • By American Red Cross
  • 1 hour online course, $20
  • Certification valid for 2 years
Family Counseling Services Recorded Webinars

As part of GSNI’s “Flourish” initiative and our commitment to mental/behavioral health for our community, we are partnering with Family Counseling Services to provide monthly enrichment webinars for volunteers and parents on a variety of topics. 

Topics:
Coping with COVID-19 Times
All About Anxiety
Understanding Depression
The Breakdown on Bullying
Self - Harm & Suicide
Childhood Trauma & Abuse

These recorded webinars can be found by Leaders in gsLearn under the 415 Flourish Learning Path to go towards their training records. 

Troops and Parents can find the webinars here. 

Preferred Partners

GSNI has preferred partners that provide troops with opportunities to support wellness. Our partners offer flexible scheduling, and you can contact them directly to schedule.

Own Your Spots- Modaff and Miff (Grades K-5)

Contact: Deepali Punwani

630-803-8458- email-deepalipunwani@yahoo.com

Teen Tell All, LLC (Grade Levels 6-12)

Offers virtual programming to Girl Scouts to help empower them!

Badge connections:Finding Common Ground, Independence, Social Butterfly, Science of Happiness and many more!

Contact:Lauren Adelberg

917-617-1912-email-lauren@teentellall.com

*More partners will be aded and updated over time

Relilient.Ready.Strong. Patch Program

Life isn’t always easy, but dealing with tricky emotions doesn’t have to be so hard. Try activities from the Girl Scouts: Resilient. Ready. Strong. program to unlock a patch and strengthen your mental wellness. Nobody can snap their fingers and make the world all sunshine and lollipops, but you can take steps to be ready when things get tough. Go get ‘em, Girl Scout!

Support is available for the Resilent.Ready.Strong patch program for volunteers in gsLearn under the content library. Search for GSUSA Resilient. Ready. Strong. Patch in the search bar.

You can find all the activites to complete in the activity guide. Patches are available for purchase through the GSUSA Store.

Activity Guide 

Special Virtual Event-Save the Date!

We are pleased to announce Dr. Claudia Pitts, and her team from National Louis University are back by popular demand to host this special virtual event on May 5, 2022!

A sense of well-being comes from more than just getting through each day; it is all about having resilience to deal with obstacles and challenges. In this workshop, you will learn how to improve your resilience by recognizing stressors and your reactions to them, better understanding your emotions, exploring ways to enhance self-care, and improving your interactions with others. Please join us to learn all about becoming more resilient! Friends are welcome! This event will include a fun patch! More information and registration coming soon!

 

 

This webpage will be updated as additional resources become available.
Keep her engaged and inspired in challenging times. Renew Now.
Keep her engaged and inspired in challenging times. Renew Now.
170x318_RightRail_2022_MV_Fall_2
170x318_RightRail_2022_MV_Fall_2