Danvers High social worker Ms. Laura Mayer is one of the three members of the DanversCARES Regional Youth Prevention Network here at DHS.
As a member of this group, Ms. Mayer, alongside her colleagues, social worker Ms. Amanda Weber and guidance counselor Ms. Whitney McNeilly, have worked to capture a pulse on what the students here at DHS need, and then to respond to the information they’ve collected.
Ms. Mayer is the school and community liaison for the school and works face to face with countless businesses and organizations, talking about what she and her group do as part of the coalition. Not only is this a huge deal at DHS, but the all-women-run group also works with neighboring communities, such as Gloucester, Rockport, Beverly, Ipswich, Hamilton Wenham, and Manchester-Essex.
As part of the process, these various communities come together to discuss feedback given to them by their students and issues that they seek to improve, based on the different surveys they have given or assemblies that they have held in their schools.
One example of this (that students may remember taking) is the Youth Behavior Risk Survey (YBRS) given to students last fall. Through this, they are able to get information from students and make changes and – ultimately – secure resources for students who seek, or may need, help. Another event this group hosted was the assemblies discussing healthy friendships and relationships.
With the data Ms. Mayer and her team collects, they are able to turn around and present it to the school committee, in order to help the committee understand what the students need.
In the future, DanversCARES Regional Youth Prevention Network is also looking to further expand their work to other schools here in Danvers, such as Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School and Saint John’s Prep.
The above is the first installment in a series of pieces that will discuss the work of DanversCARES.