"I think it's beautiful": Young mentors share personal mental health stories with struggling teens
BOSTON — Annabel Lee is a thriving sophomore at Boston College. She has a great group of friends and spends a lot of time singing with a campus acapella group called the Common Tones of Boston College. She's a vocalist and a beatboxer.
Not that long ago, Annabel was facing a mental health crisis. She struggled with anxiety, depression, and a serious eating disorder.
"I was constantly cold and starving, but the idea of having food in my body triggered body-shaming voices," she recalled. "I felt unheard, broken, and unfixable. I remember fighting thoughts of suicide."
Annabel eventually found help and hope.
"I am rooting for myself, and I know I can overcome anything," she recently told a room full of teenagers in Everett.
Annabel shared her struggles and success with the teens as part of The Nan Project, named for Nancy Cavanaugh.
"She had tons of energy, the life of the room," her brother Jake said describing his younger sister.
Nan struggled with OCD, anxiety, and depression, but hid it from her friends behind her beautiful smile.
"She felt the stigma, the shame," Jake said.
Nan sadly took her own life on April 11, 2012.
"After we lost Nan, my family wanted to do something to change that dynamic where we could make it something that we all felt a little more comfortable talking about," Jake explained.
That is where they got the idea to have people like Annabel share their stories to show kids there is a way to get past a mental health crisis. And because these peer mentors are close in age, kids are comfortable asking just about anything. Annabel even agreed to demonstrate a bit of beatboxing.
Jake and his team have worked with more than a dozen mentors at schools across Massachusetts.
"Between all of us, we have reached 36,000 young people," he said.
"I think it's beautiful," one student said of the Nan Project, explaining that there are so few resources for kids who struggle with mental health issues.
"I think it's great," another student said.
For Annabel, the work with the Nan Project has become part of her own healing.
"I think working with the Nan project and presenting to these kids has given a purpose to the pain that I have experienced," she said.
Jake says it's also helped him work through his grief and he hopes the kids are left with one message.
"There is hope out there. If you get help, you can live a happy, healthy, productive life with a mental health challenge."
The Nan Project is always looking for peer mentors and to partner with other schools. For more information contact info@thenanproject.org.
