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When it comes to school safety, fostering a culture of empathy, peer connection, and mental health awareness can be just as vital as physical security measures. When students feel seen, supported, and included the risk of isolation and targeted violence decreases.
In this episode of The Changing Face of School Security, host Paul Timm welcomes Penn Manor High School educator Maria and student leaders Nevaeh and Morgan to discuss Avitum, an impactful student-led mental health and suicide prevention club. Together, they explore how destigmatizing mental health, fostering peer-to-peer connection, and combating social isolation play a vital role in creating safer, more supportive school communities.
Read the Q&A below:
Paul Timm: Today's topic is going to be centered around the club at your school called Avitum. Maria, can you tell us a little bit about the organization? What drew you to want to be an advisor for Avitum?
Maria: In 2003, some students from Cocalico High School lost a friend to suicide, and they wanted a platform to talk about it and try to prevent this from happening again. The organization has grown throughout the state of Pennsylvania and nationally. It's at high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, and we started it at Penn Manor High School in 2013.
When the students at Cocalico started this club, I had just started teaching at Penn Manor. But as the years went on, I noticed how we really didn't have a platform to talk about mental health. Kids were struggling, but we had no way to help them get resources at a level that was student-to-student. And Avitum is a student-run organization. In fact, students made up the word "Avitum." The root word "vit" stands for life. And it's a word meant to conjure up the idea that we've got your back, that there is support out there, that people don't need to make a choice in isolation to take their life, that there's a way to get help.
Timm: Nevaeh, what kind of tools are being provided as part of this club and what kinds of situations are you seeing in fellow students' lives?
Neveah: We have a lot of informational posters, and we also do things with our school's Friday Fun where we give out gift bags with things like stickers and magnets that promote awareness around 988.
I think high school tends to be very cliquey. People have their own groups, and there's people that get left out. Through Avitum, we can bring all different types of people together who are involved in different things. It gives everybody a space to connect and share their differences.
Timm: Morgan, what drew you to want to be part of this club?
Morgan: My own life, kind of. I've struggled with certain aspects of mental health before, and I've had very close friends of mine who I've learned have also struggled to many different degrees. That also took a toll on me, and I wanted to be someone that could make a difference in my school and be able to help everybody, because not everybody has someone to talk to. So, I wanted to help make that impact.
Timm: Can you be specific in terms of the needs Avitum is trying to meet?
Maria: One of the needs is reducing stigma. Even though people are becoming more comfortable talking about mental health, there is still a sense of shame when you talk about it. Sometimes we have messaging or lessons within our own club or even throughout the school when we do Friday Fun. And we've talked about studies that show how mental health conditions aren't different than physical health conditions. We try to help people see mental health in a different way and with different lenses.
Timm: Nevaeh, you're going to be graduating and then going off to college. Do you feel like there are tools you can take with you from Avitum?
Neveah: Yes, joining Avitum made me feel more confident in my own skills talking about mental health and being able to spread awareness in general, and impacting those around me to do the same thing.
Timm: Morgan, you have another year of high school after this year. Do you expect to see growth in the club?
Morgan: In terms of growth of club, yes. Last year we had around 80 members, and now we're up to 100, which is amazing, and I love to see it. And we also do a youth advisory board, which is for schools all over Lancaster and even parts of Jersey. Students can sign up and help to be part of the bigger hall. And this year we have around 15 to 20 new applicants, which is amazing. There's already around 25 on the board. So that's amazing in itself.
Timm: What are some memorable activities Avitum has done?
Neveah: For me, it was making videos to spread awareness about 988. My Friday Flex did that, and we also got donuts.
Morgan: Friday Fun was very impactful to myself and the school, but for me, it was also all the planning behind it. We have this whole club joining together to help 1,800 students, and all this preparation helped so many kids and this group together. Having a common goal and a common ideology is just amazing to me to be able to see that teamwork.
Maria: Last week, we chalked the walkway with lots of positive messages. Also, our Friday fun campaign is something we started when we partnered with an organization called Invent to Prevent. It's about getting students to think of a way of preventing school targeted violence. And this Friday Fun campaign, the students came up with it. They said, let's have kids just do fun things in their advisory or their homeroom, which is typically a boring time where kids are just staring at their phone and totally isolated, and instead play games. We even used an evidence-based game called Fast Friends where you ask questions to connect with people.
We've done music bingo. Kids have played sports depending on what their teacher is comfortable with them doing. Board games. There are lots of ways to get kids to realize that they can connect with other people and not feel isolated. After the first year that we did this campaign, we had a 32 percent increase in feelings of inclusion and willingness to seek help from a trusted adult.
Timm: Beyond students and teachers, can families be involved? How far does the organization reach?
Maria: We have done community walks and been in community parades. So yes, this is something we want the whole community to be a part of. One year during a parade, we threw out shirts that said, "Dude, be nice." And, you know, we yell out, "You matter." And there's hope and there's help. So yes, this is a club for everybody, from elementary on to older adults in our community. Everybody has the opportunity to get help, and 988 is a resource for everyone.
Timm: What are some of the significant changes you've seen in school safety over the last few years?
Neveah: I think Avitum has helped people get more involved. And when people are involved and feel more connected, they are less likely to be involved in school targeted violence. Another huge thing is there's been way less disciplinary warnings, and way less fights since even my freshman year.
Morgan: I agree with Nevaeh said. Comparing my freshman year to my current year there were a lot of fights, whether it was physical or verbal, I've definitely seen a significant decrease from then to now.
Maria: Over the years, I've definitely seen more concern about school-targeted violence, even as a teacher. When I first started teaching back in the '90s, that wasn't something in the forefront of my mind. So yeah, thinking about ways that even students and teachers can help prevent it is a more important theme for me as a teacher than it was when I first started out.
Timm: As you look into the future, what are some changes in school safety you expect to see?
Neveah: I just feel like everybody should start connecting more. Everybody being a part of the community rather than isolating the people who might not be involved in the same things as everybody else or who might not want to do the same things as the majority. Everybody should be involved and everybody should be cared about.
Morgan: I know a lot of schools have been talking about implementing metal detectors, which is unfortunate that we even have to have that. Our school does not have clear bags, but I feel like it will be in the future, because unfortunately, this is a growing thing. But I also think that adults are going to realize how bad it actually is. And we'll start to put into place different policies and actually go through with checking in on other people, especially their students.
Maria: The growing reliance on technology and generative AI makes me concerned that people are going to become increasingly isolated and turn to a computer for help and support. But we really want to help people connect with other humans that can intervene in a meaningful way, especially if they're struggling with mental health. And so, I hope that our message of connecting and preventing social isolation can continue in a time when I think social isolation is definitely a risk factor.
*The opinions or views expressed by guests on this podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect or represent those of Allegion or its employees. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for obtaining your own advice.
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