Most 17-year-olds are enjoying their senior year of high school and imagining what mark they may leave on the world someday. Evan Chang decided not to wait to find out.
Chang, who earned the rank of Eagle Scout – a feat fewer than 4% of Boy Scouts ever achieve – used the leadership skills he acquired in Scouting to develop the “Mental Well-Being in Adolescents Program” through an internship with The University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO.
For Chang, the motivation behind his accomplishment is personal.
It was an unfortunate story. Back in my ninth-grade year, I played varsity soccer at Albuquerque Academy, and my teammate committed suicide.
The tragedy followed another suicide at his school the same year, Chang said. “We weren't sure how to cope with it,” he said. “The soccer team felt at a loss.”
Chang said the painful experience of losing a friend and teammate inspired him to facilitate the display of a large suicide prevention awareness ribbon at his school as part of his Eagle Scout project.
Shortly afterward, he joined UNM’s Project ECHO team as an intern, which presented an opportunity to further his message of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. "He developed the “Mental Well-Being in Adolescents Program” with help from Kimothi Cain, MD, MPH, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at UNM and the support of the ECHO Education Team.
To pilot the program, they decided to target Scout leaders with three educational modules – Understanding Mental Well-Being, Regulating Emotions and Emotional Intelligence – delivered via a virtual presentation. From there, Scout leaders who underwent training were encouraged to take what they learned back to their troops and start meaningful conversations among the young participants and their families.
Multiple Albuquerque-area Scout troops were eager to participate in the program kick-off. Sarah Longbotham, a Scout parent who attended a presentation to Troop 220, said the topics covered in each module are eye-opening for people of all ages.
“There are kids that aren't living with their parents,” she said. “There are kids that have food insecurities. Kids have parents experiencing substance use disorders. They have parents that have mental health issues. Everything that our friends go through as adults, they have kids, and the kids are kind of going through it with them.”
Leaders and Scouts are taught to be more empathetic and watchful for signs of depression and other mental health disorders, as well as how to seek help for themselves or a friend.
“I definitely learned a lot,” said Ernest Maestas, an assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 220. “I've had education throughout my lifetime, in my career, but getting it from Project ECHO was a whole new experience.”
Members of the UNM Health Sciences Marketing & Communications team watched as Maestas led his second Project ECHO discussion to Troop 220 on anxiety, stress and suicide prevention.
Youth protection is what we do, and it's not just about protecting children or our Scouts from external threats, but understanding they can also be harmful to themselves, and give them a support network and the education to understand, ‘Hey, you can come and talk to us about this too'.
In just its first few months, the program Chang developed has already received overwhelmingly positive feedback from Scout leaders and other members of the Scouting community.
His next goal is to work with the Albuquerque Police Department’s Project ECHO wing to expand the program to police officers and high school students. He also hopes to reach more Scout troops and integrate mental health awareness into the Scouting program.
Chang won’t have to stick around in Albuquerque to reach those goals. With help from the Project ECHO team, his already-successful program can be easily replicated and expanded long after he graduates and heads off to college.
In the midst of a busy senior year, Chang said he’s not sure what his future holds beyond Scouting, the Academy and Project ECHO.
“I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping I get into some schools,” he said. “I think this has trained me to be someone that works in public policy.”
With interests in public speaking, political science, law and writing, Chang is still puzzling out what he wants to be when he grows up. But two things are certain, said Cain, his co-developer and mentor. “He has a good foundation,” she said. “He has a very bright future.”
Cain is inspired to see the humanity in Chang and other young people.
They give hope for the future of society. The hope is that, as we raise our youth, there will be individuals who think from a perspective of public health and how we can help the community, and that was Evan.
According to the Boy Scout Law, a Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
“It is brave to come out and talk about something like this,” Chang said. If one young person like Chang can cause this much positive change in the world, imagine all the other young people he’s inspiring and how much good they can do too.