Read at the source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is pleased to announce that Springfield City Library\u2019s Young Adult Health and Wellness project has been recognized as exemplary for its impact under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grants to States program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMental health care for our YA population is more important now than ever. We were so honored to be able to offer our teens and young adults multiple ways to learn about how important their mental health is,\u201d said project director Sarah Hodge-Wetherbe. \u201cWe were able to provide education about ways to manage their stress and anxiety, how to explore expressing themselves, and how to find information that they need to help understand how they feel. Best of all, we were able to give them access to resources in our city and beyond for help when they needed support. I\u2019m so grateful that we had this opportunity to serve our teens in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Springfield City Library\u2019s Health and Wellness project gave teens across the city\u2019s branch libraries new tools for managing stress and connecting with their own creativity. The project combined staff training with creative arts programming, mind-body connection sessions, and guest mental health speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Springfield also expanded its mental health collections, built new partnerships with community organizations and added sensory and self-care kits to teen spaces at branches citywide. Staff reported that the kits were popular, and the collections continue to grow thanks to teen requests for new titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several teens shared their own experiences with the project and what they meant to them. \u201cIt was amazing to express myself with my art skills,\u201d one teen said. Another credited a Tai Chi class with helping them relax, adding, \u201cThis program absolutely opened my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Springfield was one of 12 libraries as part of the MBLC\u2019s federal program which provides grants that local libraries can use to address community needs ranging from early literacy, preserving local history collections, and workforce development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Health and Wellness project gave teens across the city\u2019s branch libraries new tools for managing stress and connecting with their own creativity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38727,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38726\/revisions\/38727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}