Selected anonymized quotes from survey responses
“Knowing I’m with people that won’t do something bad, as well as to be in a place where I know somebody and can find a way out of such place.”
“My coworkers who have been awesome to me since I moved here a bit over a month ago, they are all adults but they feel like friends or some even remind me of an older sibling”
“What makes me feel safe and comfortable is puppies, my home, my family, and feeling like there is someone that cares about me.”
“Being allowed to be unjudged for simple actions or life experiences, people being understanding of mistakes, people genuinely wanting me to improve and being clear about that.”
“Being around people who I love and who love me makes me feel safe and comfortable. Being able to share joy and connection with those individuals makes me existence much better.”
“Having others around me with similar experiences. It helps with knowing that I’m not the only one feeling a certain way.”
“Having events for specific groups of people makes me feel safe to enjoy myself and know what kind of crowd I’m around.”
“What makes me feel most comfortable is being surrounded by people I can trust: family, friends, mentors, etc.”
“Being able to talk about whatever freely, being around others who can understand me or at least not judge me.”
“Diversity, support and understanding environments or individuals who are respectful of others differences.”
“My family and going somewhere where I know what I am going to be doing and where there are people my age.”
“There is not much happening in the realm of crime, form my eyes. People although quite and sometimes rude, are decent folk. Also, I have never been followed home, harassed, or anything of the sort.”
Themes extracted from open-ended responses — respondents often listed multiple interests
Selected anonymized quotes from survey responses
“I love to dance and participate in other sports, as well as volunteer with disabled children around town. I also enjoy reading and hanging out with my friends.”
“I’ve recently been trying to read more, and understand how to save money and invest it for my future because big shocker, college is not free”
“I enjoy spending time in nature and creative environments. Outside of school and work I look for fun interactive environments with opportunities for education in uncommon or useful skills.”
“I don’t really have time for anything other than work, it’s incredibly difficult to live on my own”
“I personally enjoy outside of school/work is playing video games, baking, or going around town.”
“Sports (basketball, volleyball, soccer), shopping, reading, traveling, hiking/walking, art.”
“Lots of things, swimming, singing/dancing, drawing and coloring but mostly gaming 🤣”
“I enjoy connecting with new people, adventuring, skateboarding, and the fine arts.”
“I enjoy wrestling and being competitive in that, hunting, fishing, and gaming.”
“I like roller skating, ice skating, crocheting, swing dancing, and embroidery”
Selected anonymized quotes — these are the voices of Casper youth describing their real barriers
“finding the right doctor who cares to dig deeper into your problem, but also finding the right therapist can be very challenging too. Its a waiting game”
“The ability to talk, no one does so it is unlikely for someone to reach out, especially if they don’t have someone they are comfortable talking to”
“I feel like it’s not taken very seriously in Wyoming, and I struggle to find things that help me cope when the real causes are completely out of my control!”
“Lack of parent understanding/support. Reliance on parents for resources of help. Knowing help is available, but not having the motivation or "guts" to ask for it.”
“I feel like most people have a way of getting help for stress,anxiety, or depression the problem is more that people are not willing to reach out when they need it.”
“Being judged by peers, or fear of people not understanding. Also because they dont want people to think its "just for attention"”
“fear is definitely the biggest. most are scared of judgement or how they’ll be treated after someone finds out. next is cost , usually therapy , meds and so on are expensive.”
“Social media makes it hard for people my age to get help because social media is always talking about thing to help yourself but the truth is that these thing never really help.”
“the struggles with people being like rude or just judgemental in the daily life. such as at school and on social media.”
“There is a general lack of information regarding how to get affordable help for people my age. The opinions are limited as to where we can reach out for quality, cost-effective care.”
“What makes it hard for people my age to get help for stress, anxiety, or depression, is mostly parents and society.”
“The cost, economys to crazy fr. That's why most ppl fall back on addictions, they're sometimes cheaper- sadly 😭🥲”
Topics youth want to explore, extracted from their open-ended suggestions
Selected anonymized quotes showing what youth want to learn about and discuss
“I would design one session about how much experiences and words really affect everyone, and that those things really change a person in all kinds of ways.”
“Probably focusing on the 12-14 female audience since some might not have mother figures and that's around the age a female gets their first menstrual cycle”
“Im not sure how to answer this, I don't quite understand what's being asked.. I think just what ive been talking about in my other responses..”
“to talk with others about the way life is right now with the current government and how that ruling is taking away our future and that we have to make a change”
“right now i would focus on trauma. many of our town has lost people to very fatal accidents over the past 5 years and haven’t had any way to source their grief”
“It would be about building self-confidence and self-esteem. Wrestling has helped with this but I still struggle talking down about myself.”
“I have not been, so I wouldn't have an idea. However I would probably use an active form RYLA called "All in This Together" to show how many problems we all share.”
“How to deal with bullies even if they are adults. I have seen some people being really mean to Hispanic kids in town and I think I’m too young to speak up to adults”
“It would be about how societal normalities regarding mental health, sexuality, addiction, and acceptance causes depression and anxiety”
“I am not sure off of the top of my head, I would need to think about it for a bit and know EXACTLY what this thing has to offer.”
“Helping me figure out a safe way to help with my anxiety with any panic attacks and learning to be confident with who I am”
“If I could design one session myself I would like to have it focus on academics/school, and the anxieties that often come with that- especially in kids my age (high school years).”