A recent Gallup poll found 1 in 4 young people are experiencing symptoms of loneliness. This comes after Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy described loneliness as an epidemic.
One woman said she’s discovered it’s the kids themselves who have the best chance to help one another.
Having friends that he can talk to about anything is something high school junior Jacky Law doesn’t take for granted.
“Growing up I lived in SRO housing, which is a single-room occupancy. When I was talking to friends, I would be too afraid to bring them over to my place in fear, like they would judge me,” Law said.
That’s why Law became a National Teen Board member for Beyond Differences, a groundbreaking nonprofit that helps to end social isolation among middle school students.
It’s the brainchild of co-founder Laura Talmus.
“And what we do is offer programs and services to schools free of charge. All in an effort to have middle school students create cultures of belonging,” Talmus said.
The inspiration came from Talmus’ own daughter, Lili, who felt socially isolated due to a rare facial birth defect.
“She would call me hiding in the girl’s bathroom during lunch and begging me to come pick her up. And after Lili passed away, we began by testing out: was this something that others were feeling as well? And sure enough the need is tremendous,” explained Talmus.
Events that Beyond Differences has established include “No One Eats Alone Day” and “Get to Know Your Classmates Day.”
“Everybody has had their own experience with isolation,” said Avery Palacios.
Like Law, Palacios is on the high school board that looks for solutions and writes curricula based upon their own experiences.
“As a middle schooler, I feel like it’s so hard to make connections,” said Palacios.
Their curriculum is used by teachers at over 10,000 schools in all 50 states.
Since it was founded in 2010, Beyond Differences has helped nearly 5 million young students.
And one of their teen board members, Alysha Lee, became the youngest to ever receive the Surgeon General’s Medallion for Health Award. The recognition was for her work in bringing awareness to anti-Asian hate crimes.