The two-hour town hall was moderated by Loraine Ballard Morrill, News Director and Community Affairs Director for the six iHeartMedia PHL radio stations Power 99, WDAS FM, Q102, ALT 104.5, The Breeze 106.1 and Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia 1480 AM, where she hosts and produces Philadelphia’s Community Affairs Programs, “Insight” and “What’s Going On.” She also coordinates community outreach and campaigns for all the stations.
The Power of Me
Girl Scouts, have you been wondering what you can do to manage stress in your daily life, discuss hard topics, or help a friend in need? Emotional health issues impact the lives of nearly one in five girls every year, so the odds are there is someone in your life who may be struggling, especially as we all learn how to navigate a world affected by COVID-19.
Join women and girls like you who want to explore tips and techniques to destress and learn the power of self-care and wellness. Hear from our panel of peers and experts about how they have used their voices to practice self-care and empower others. Use the power of YOU and Learn to use your voice to advocate for yourself!
Discussion tools for Use Your Voice: Mental Health Town Hall
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Click here to read Loraine's full bio!
GSEP will also welcome the following panelists:
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Ariel Abbot - GSEP Gold Award Girl Scout
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Ariel Abbot is a GSEP Gold Award Girl Scout. Her project was called “Supporting Mental Health Awareness Through a Comic.”
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Cydney Brown - 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate
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Cydney Brown is the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate and author of “Daydreaming.” She is a Senior at Abington Friends School and has been writing poetry since she was in 5th grade. The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, 6abc, Philadelphia Citizen, and Fox29 featured Brown. She loves that there are no limitations to writing. She has recited her poetry at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Hall, Lincoln University, The Ideas We Should Steal Festival and The Kelly’s Writers house. Her poetry explores the topics of social justice, self-image, love, and nature. She won first place in The National Hip Hop workshop poetry competition and loves to perform spoken word poetry. She is a Gold Award Ambassador Girl Scout who is active in improving her community. Cydney wishes to inspire people to speak their truth and share her poetry with the world.
Gold Award Project- Project G.O.O.D.
Cydney worked with local middle and high school girls to educate them on self-love, positive body image, and the differences between healthy and toxic relationships. Cydney’s goal was to create a space where girls learned to better their well-being and talk freely about their experiences. She encouraged and taught girls to care more about their mental health and support each other, especially during the pandemic.
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Deborah Irby - Youth Specialist for the Philadelphia Alliance for Child Trauma Services
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Deborah Irby, locally known as DeeDee is the Youth Specialist for the Philadelphia Alliance for Child Trauma Services in Philadelphia (PACTS). PACTS is a city-wide initiative that strives to enhance our city's capacity to screen children for trauma and improve the pathways and access to trauma-specific Evidenced-Based Practices for youth. DeeDee also, coordinates and runs the PACTS Youth Advisory Board which she once served on. She serves on the Community of Behavioral Health Board of Directors since age 19. Deborah previously was the youngest person to work at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as a peer mentor. There she helped youth from the ages 13-18 with finding skills to cope with their traumatic experiences. Assisted in building the curriculum that gave the youth psychoeducation, team building skills, and coping mechanisms on their trauma responses.
DeeDee has been a leading trauma informed mental health advocate in the city of Philadelphia and nationally for 7 years. She has trained the Philadelphia Police Department in Crisis Intervention; she has multiple seats at the table whether its policy reviews and changes to empowering youth to advocate for mental health wellness; she’s the co-author of “Listen to Me” guidelines for clinicians working with trauma impacted youth. She has also co-created a training name A Seat at The Table (ASATT) to help systems better develop a sustainable youth group and work more collaboratively using a youth center approach.
DeeDee is passionate about raising awareness, breaking stigmas, empowering other youth leaders and sharing her lived expertise.
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Kimberly Malayter - Licensed Clinical Social Worker
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Kimberly Malayter is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and works as the Executive Director of Clinical Services for Merakey’s Children and Family Services division. In her role, she oversees the quality of clinical services of the behavioral health programs. Prior to joining Merakey, Kim has developed behavioral health programs and provided therapy services in both school and medical settings. She is passionate about decreasing stigma relating to mental health and empowering people to prioritize their well-being. Kim has her Master Degree of Social Work from New York University.
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Andrea October - Trauma Resilience Training Coordinator
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Andrea October, MSS is a New York native who has 7 years of experience utilizing trauma-informed care while working with individuals in residential, partial hospital, and forensic settings. She has worked with a variety of populations but focused on children and youth experiencing significant behavioral challenges.
She has spent the last 5 years under DBHIDS, supporting population health strategies to promote behavioral health tools and resources to Philadelphians. Currently, Andrea serves as the Trauma Resilience Training Coordinator, providing trauma trainings and consultation about trauma-informed practices to city sectors, communities, and behavioral health providers.
Her passion lies in addressing the impact of childhood trauma and providing tools to thrive after trauma. She has a bachelor’s degree in Forensic Sociology from Rosemont College and is a Ph.D. student in Social Work at Bryn Mawr College.
