The Yukon Yoyukuk School District joined with the Area Health Education Center to host a health care camp running from Saturday to Thursday.
Seven high-school students are spending the week learning about different therapies, mental illness, resilience and career paths within the field.
Teresa Novakovich, the director of the South Centra Alaska Area Health Education Center, said that the workshop teaches students about behavioral health and options for careers in the health care field.
“We have such a shortage of health care providers across the country,” Novakovich said. “We’re focused on growing our own health care workforce.”
Novakovich teaches students about the therapeutic benefits of journaling, music and art. This camp informs students how to help others while also giving them the tools to help themselves and the confidence to reach out for help if they need it, he said.
Jaylynn Soland, an 11th-grade student at Raven Homeschool, said she likes learning about holistic health and ways to prevent people from harming themselves. She said she hopes to work in the health care field.
“Learning about health care just brightens my mood,” Soland said.
During music therapy, each student shared a song that had a special meaning to them, and then they wrote down the thoughts and feelings that came up as the songs played.
“It got surprisingly emotional,” Novakovich said.
Novakovich taught students about holistic healthcare and the long-term negative effects of substance abuse.
“Students learn that all aspects of health are connected,” Novakovich said.
Participants earn high school and college credit for the class, in addition to a certification in Teen Mental Health First Aid.
Students are creating a children’s book for the final project, Novakovich said. They will pick a behavioral health topic and write a story that elementary school students can understand.
Chelsea Curwen, a 10th-grade student at Raven Homeschool, is writing about death for the final project. She said she experienced death a lot when she was younger.
“I had hunted when I was little, so I understood death, but nobody explained how it affected people,” she said. “It was very confusing for me.”
She said the book could be helpful for children to understand death. Curwen wants to go into the heath care field as a surgeon or equine veterinarian.