#ylipeermentors

By Sierra Pilate (YLI ‘20) and Current Peer Mentor

Our February experience day is close to my heart because I always learn something new about self-growth and self-care. My personal health as always been up and down. I am learning that being around people is my so called “self-care”. I loved being able to go to Businesssolver and do yoga and have giggles with my fellow peer mentors and students. I saw how being around my YLI family, my actual family, and my friend family, makes me feel included and allows me to be myself. I continue to see that my hygiene self-care is getting better. I work towards doing face masks and taking time to listen to music and read books. I also realize that I do not need anyone’s approval when choosing these things, just that it makes me happy.

By Claire Bissmeyer (YLI ‘20) and current peer mentor

For the first time in a while, I felt completely at peace. My favorite part of our last YLI experience day was our yoga session with Ben Spellman. In the beginning we were told to find a comfortable seat. I sat cross-legged on the floor taking slow breaths in and out. Ben spoke, instructing us to relax our shoulders and soften our eyes. The class was immersive and calming. Afterwards I felt relaxed and motivated to focus more on my mental and physical well-being.

My name is Claire Bissmeyer and I am a senior at Roosevelt High School. I graduated from YLI in 2020 and have been given the incredible opportunity to return this year as a peer mentor. YLI has been a huge part of my growth not only as a leader, but as a person. Becoming a peer mentor has allowed me to apply my newly found leadership skills to the planning and execution of experience days for this year’s class.

On February 8th, 2021, we explored well-being in the mind and body. I had the pleasure of helping plan this experience day, and seeing it come to light was marvelous. This was an important topic for the students and mentors as we discussed everything from mental health to physical well-being. Our main focus was to dive into the six dimensions of wellness provided by adult mentor, Marina Verlengia, and discuss the importance of self-care. We had a variety of guest speakers including Emmalee Bowlin from Please Pass the Love, Lyssa Wade owner of Veggie Thumper, and Ben Spellman founder of Good Vibes Yoga and the Good Vibes Movement.

We began with an overview of the dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional, occupational, intellectual, social, and spiritual) then assessed ourselves on what dimensions we were strongest in, and which we needed to improve. We took the time to discuss in small groups and compare our results. I believe that reflecting out loud with others was a great way to fully internalize the purpose of this activity.

After diving into the dimensions, we heard from Emmalee about the stigma around mental health and the importance of self-care. Emmalee utilized engaging activities and reflection questions during her time that helped me further understand the value of my own mental health.

A short while later, we learned about the delicious vegan lunch Lyssa prepared for us. She spoke of how she got into veganism and how she shares her healthy eating habits through her business, Veggie Thumper. I learned the importance of taking small steps when converting to a plant-based diet. It is difficult to switch to vegan, but the positive environmental impact is worth it.

After lunch, we came back and shared our favorite workout gear (yes, this is a photo of participant Josh, with the most creative workout gear!) before being blessed with the opportunity to try yoga with Ben and learn more about the Good Vibes Movement. Although Good Vibes started as a yoga studio, it has expanded into a movement with the intent of increasing wellness in our community. Good Vibes provides acts of service, a strong community, and of course, yoga classes for everyone to enjoy. We wrapped up the day with Erik, further embarking on our speak up story journey and finally getting the opportunity to create our first drafts.

Throughout the day, I learned the importance of reflecting on personal well-being, then focusing on bettering the well-being of others. One of my favorite parts of the day was discussing mental health questions in our small groups. Having the peer mentors lead the activity helped the students open up and feel more comfortable talking about a difficult topic. During the day I saw all five leadership practices at work. Marina and the six dimensions of wellness helped inspire a shared vision among the group, allowing us to identify which dimensions we need to improve and inspiring us to work on them. Emmalee enabled others to act by showing statistics and explaining the stigma around mental health, then sharing simple ways we can help ourselves and others in our community who may be experiencing mental health issues. Lyssa showed us how to challenge the process when it comes to what we eat. We don’t have to choose what’s “easy” when it comes to our diets, instead we can do research to find healthy alternatives to the foods we eat daily. The peer mentors modeled the way during our work out gear activity by putting on their favorite active wear and grabbing their favorite workout equipment. Their cooperation made the students more comfortable to participate and share. Ben encouraged the heart during his yoga class by giving us words of encouragement the entire session. He helped us persevere while also giving alterations for some poses so that they were inclusive of everyone’s individual abilities.

By Rachel Current, YLI class of 2019 and current peer mentor

I got my mug of hot chocolate from my care package and was ready for this day’s experience. This has always been one of my favorite days of the program, “When Resources are Lacking.” Throughout the day, through our devices, we were able to explore the needs in our community and why it matters to us, as people and as leaders.

As peer mentors, we started the day with an activity centered around prioritizing needs. We asked the students to imagine that they were on a sinking lifeboat and they had to toss half of their items that they had out of the boat to make it to a nearby island. They had to choose out of the necessities what they could live without. In this “resources lacking” mindset, we zoomed to hear from Erik next.

Erik continued the storytelling development we learned last month. Three of the key takeaways were: 

1) “What do I want my audience members to do?”

2) Fear is good!

3) Show up, practice, achieve excellence. 

Throughout the rest of the day, all of the speakers we heard from demonstrated these important storytelling components. Before lunch, we heard from a panel of leaders in the community who help fight insecurity within the Greater Des Moines community. We heard from Louis Fountain about how he came to be in his position, the services the Des Moines Publics School District provides for those in need, and that we should think outside of the box to make solutions to the problems that we are passionate to solve. Emily Osweiler told us why the YMCA Supportive Housing follows Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how the YMCA does its best to fulfil what is needed. To round off the morning, Sarah Trone Garriott with Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC Food Pantry Network), told us about food insecurity and why it’s important to really understand an issue so that you can find the right solution. After lunch, Anne Bacon of IMPACT led us through a simulation about the real cost of living and what people need to earn just to meet their basic needs. 

My favorite part about all of these presentations was at the end, when each speaker would challenge us with a call to action. They told us about volunteer opportunities that support their missions and ones that are still possible during this pandemic.