UPMC Washington Teen Outreach hosts 29th annual youth conference
Being a teenager is hard.
The UPMC Washington Teen Outreach’s 29th annual Youth Conference, held Thursday at Washington & Jefferson College, aimed to provide teens in Washington County with tools and strategies to make it easier.
“The goal is for (the teens) to not be scared to express their emotions, to know that intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence both play a part in their lives,” said Amy Podgurski-Gough, Teen Outreach Community Coordinator. “I think that being in touch with how you’re feeling, being able to realize how it affects others, this is the kind of stuff that helps them to become leaders, to get into college, make better relationships with their parents, with their coaches, music instructors, with their bosses. It’s something that makes them a well-rounded person.”
The conference was entirely teen-driven. About 100 students from six Washington County school districts, along with home-schooled students, packed into the W&J College Rossin Ballroom, where tables were filled with coloring pages, writing journals, stickers, candy, and other items that they would use throughout the daylong event.
The Teen Outreach Adolescent Advisory Board, composed of teens from six Washington County school districts and the Common Ground Teen Center, have been meeting since September to prepare for the conference. Each school district provided student facilitators.
Teens rotated through nine speed-learning stations with interactive activities focused on an emotion, including grief, joy, fear, anxiety, embarrassment, and anger.
“Emotional intelligence is key to making you a well-rounded person. In school, you work on academic intelligence, and that’s important. This is equally as important, in my opinion. I think that being emotionally intelligent is just as important as being academically intelligent,” said Podgurski-Gough.
Through a variety of fun and engaging games conducted during the seven-minute speed sessions, the teens tackled ways to understand and manage their feelings.
The topic is especially important, as a global mental health crisis – which existed before the COVID-19 pandemic – was exacerbated with the pandemic.
In a 2023 advisory, the U.S. Surgeon General called attention to a national “epidemic” of loneliness and social isolation, with an estimated 31% of adolescents suffering from an anxiety disorder; 20% of teens will experience depression by the age of 17.
Adolescence is a critical period for developing social and emotional habits important for mental well-being.
Podgurski-Gough said introducing students to emotional intelligence and how to handle emotions can help students improve their academic success, have stronger positive attitudes, overcome and manage challenging emotions and improve their future goals.
“How you’re feeling and how (another person) is feeling and how you go into a conflict can affect how you’re having that conversation,” said Podgurski-Gough. “Teen mental health is a vital part of supporting the whole adolescent. Addressing emotions is a component of mental health.”
The conference was co-sponsored by W&J’s Education Department and supported by a grant from Range Resources.