Ariana Payan Nunez, 13 yo, received Special Recognition in the 2025 “Create Resilience” Youth Art Contest for Suicide Prevention. Her school, Riverside Jr/Sr High School was awarded $250 to support youth mental health well-being. Ariana partnered with school mental health counselor, Kahrissa Pratt, on developing and implementing how the $250 could best be used. This was especially poignant and meaningful as Ms. Pratt’s son had died by suicide. Ms. Pratt, herself, provided additional funds for the events that took place. Dr. Kaufman, founder/director, of the Hold On Campaign for Suicide Prevention, donated suicide prevention bracelets. 

Here is Ms. Pratt’s description: 

“For our mental wellness/suicide prevention week 2026 we completed the following activities:

Hand made shirts by me for each of the 15 students that were active members of the suicide prevention group at RHS. The front had RHS and 2026 and their Names. The back was a large suicide prevention ribbon in a chameleon purple/green with wings. It also included CALL 988 (the kids decided short and sweet was better). 

Monday: Slide show that gave a short explanation of what mental health is, 2 videos (one done by RHS students), an explanation/extension of the videos and ability to discuss if they felt it was appropriate, a list of resources, and a swag bag to pass out to every student. In the swag bags were multiple rubber bracelets that provide positive words and information on resources. There were different kinds of stickers, mental wellness tattoos, pamphlets, and business cards that provided information on resources both virtual and within our community. 

Tuesday: Mental wellness jeopardy game. They just had to click a link and break the class into teams. (This got VERY competitive). The winning team got a bag with goodies (treats and candy) to split between the members. This definitely got students talking as they were arguing about answers. 

Wednesday: This was a little bit heavier of a day. The video for Wednesday was an excerpt from the video by Kevin Hines about his struggles with mental health and his attempt on his life by jumping from the golden gate bridge. This video was just under 10 minutes long. There was a PSA at the beginning and I have watched it multiple times and while it is heavy, it is not something that should cause undue stress to students. I was present in different classrooms to help with this. At the end of the slide show there was information about the QPR training that RHS was hosting at the end of the week. 

Thursday: All school assembly. This was the quietest I have EVER heard nearly 500 students. We discussed some of the activities over the week and I presented $250 (five $50 winners) for the poster contest. We ended up having around 15 submissions and I provided the prize money for this contest. We then had a community member talk about their struggles with mental health and how the community and their support system helped them through their hard time. I also spoke about the loss of my son and how his suicide affected different people around him. We ended with a message of hope and reiteration of the resources available to students and staff. Students took this seriously and many staff came up to me throughout the rest of the day and talked about how students were asking questions and that the stigma that normally accompanies this topic didn’t seem to be as much of a barrier. My admin let me know that searches around mental health symptoms and “how to help a friend that is suicidal” increased dramatically during that week (and the subsequent weeks since). Finally, there was a QPR training session held at the school, and while I was unable to attend due to previous commitments, there were numerous students who did come and participate. 

All students within the building participated. The activities were in advisory which every student has everyday. So it was 470 students (give or take a couple who might have been absent). 

Ariana winning the $250 for our school was the catalyst for us creating this week. While it had been talked about for a few years, it always seemed to get lost in the craziness that is the school year. This year, knowing that we had this award and that we HAD to do something with it, made us force this to be a priority. I think that what I went through with the loss of my son and my exit from the school and mental health counseling at the end of the school year was motivation to ensure that this week needed to happen now. I appreciate all of your help and guidance as we not only created and implemented this week, but also your willingness to ensure that our story does not go unheard.”            
-Kahrissa Pratt, School Based Mental Health Clinician, Riverside High School