The Mental Illness Support for Teenagers (MIST) Club in Upper School continues to be a fabulous, student-run resource on important mental health topics. Recently, the club launched a podcast through which student and expert perspectives are shared on subjects such as beauty standards, the education system, social media, and more. Some of the student perspectives include those of MICDS students.
Current episodes, as described on the podcast, are listed below. Please note that not all topics are suitable for children. Tune in to the MIST Podcast on Spotify or Anchor!
- The Destructiveness of Beauty -The topics for this first podcast episode are body image and beauty standards. Three guests join us: Amelia, Morgan, and Liv. Liv is a 19-year-old student who is an Eating Disorders survivor. She shares her experiences on Instagram and TikTok in the hopes of helping others who are going through something similar. Amelia and Morgan are both high school students from St. Louis and have written articles for the MIST beauty standards newsletter.
- The Paradox of Education – MIST Podcast Host Nivi talks about the education system and mental health with three guests: Agha, Aanya, and Shaily who are all high school students. Agha, the founder of the Literacy Initiative, discusses mental health and education difficulties in underserved communities, especially during the pandemic. Aanya, a high school sophomore, shares her experiences moving from Sri Lanka to St. Louis for high school. Our final guest, Shaily, speaks on the recent suicides in her school district and how the situation was handled.
- The 4th Wave: Mental Health (ft. @twin.doctors.j) – In this podcast’s first segment, MIST Podcast Host Nivi discusses the pandemic’s impact on high school student guests Pratham and Alina. In the second segment, Nivi is joined by Dr. Jermaine Hogstrom and Dr. Jeremy Hogstrom, twin doctors who run a TikTok page called @twin.doctors.j with over 200,000 followers. Nivi talks to them about mental health during COVID-19 as well as their journey in helping others online.
Additionally, over the past few months, MIST has released two more newsletters which cover social justice movements, mental health, school, and stress. The newsletters are available below.
Social Justice (MIST December 2020 Newsletter)
The Education System (MIST January 2021 Newsletter)
When asked about what the significance of MIST is to her, Shelly Bhagat ’22 said, „MIST has meant a lot to me, and it has been amazing to be a part of something so meaningful. I have really enjoyed working with my peers to raise awareness of such an important topic, and I hope that we can continue to grow and reach more people to spread our message!“ Shelly is highlighted this week in Student Standouts for her work with MIST. Read her Town & Style interview and her Ladue News article. The organization is also in the spotlight of the recent student newspaper, The Voice.
Thank you, Shelly and the full MIST Club, for helping others become much more aware and understanding of mental health challenges and topics!