photo courtesy of osbha.org
who we are
Oregon School-Based Health Alliance (also known as OSBHA) is a chapter of the National School-Based Health Alliance, which was founded in 1995 in Washington D.C. SBHA's founders noticed a desperate need for accessiblility to health care services and appropriate, extensive, and inclusive health education for youth all across the nation. By collaborating with community partners in each state, SBHA educates and trains both medical and school staff on various health topics and practices, as well as providing the funding, staff, and services needed for on-campus (or near-campus) School-Based Health Centers. School-Based Health Centers are at the core of our work; most of our trainings, awareness programs, and other activities are based around advocating for these health centers, whether it's to maintain funding for them or to bring a new one to a school or community in need of one. The overall goal of the organization is to teach independence and show the importance of health care and health knowledge by providing it to students and communities that need it most.
my role in osbha
I am currently a Student Health Advocate. To put it simply, I'm a group member. I've been a part of OSBHA for four years and counting. As a member, there's a lot more to do than sit in our regular meetings. We get funding from different organizations every year, so what our group's subject of work is on is usually dependent on that; despite funding guidelines, we generally get to decide as a group how we want to work on and present our curriculum. This can be anything from group activities during meetings, writing blog posts and making presentations, even participating in panels and other events on certain subjects. Some topics we covered in previous years include healthy relationships and HPV awareness and prevention. Over the past few years, I've made and given presentations, helped organize events, and participated in panels and focus groups from our community partners to provide youth input on certain topics or ideas.
Another example of our group work is the School-Based Health Awareness and Advocacy Day event. Every Februrary, student groups from all across the state come to the capitol building in Salem, OR and get the opportunity to speak to their local represenatives and senators about their schools, their school-based health centers, and any projects they may be working on. Advocacy Day is an opportunity for high schoolers to have a voice in their local government and to show that legislative participation isn't as hard (or even as scary) as it may seem. Usually, OSBHA would back a legislative bill that has to do with school-based or otherwise local health care programs, but recently we've taken a back seat on that and focus more on running the event and providing activities and presentations while the student groups do their own advocacy. Given the current climate of 2020 and the predictions for 2021, we will most likely continue to focus on the event itself.
Another example of our group work is the School-Based Health Awareness and Advocacy Day event. Every Februrary, student groups from all across the state come to the capitol building in Salem, OR and get the opportunity to speak to their local represenatives and senators about their schools, their school-based health centers, and any projects they may be working on. Advocacy Day is an opportunity for high schoolers to have a voice in their local government and to show that legislative participation isn't as hard (or even as scary) as it may seem. Usually, OSBHA would back a legislative bill that has to do with school-based or otherwise local health care programs, but recently we've taken a back seat on that and focus more on running the event and providing activities and presentations while the student groups do their own advocacy. Given the current climate of 2020 and the predictions for 2021, we will most likely continue to focus on the event itself.
current issues
2020 has presented us with challenges and obstacles, new and old. Over the last year, we as an organization have been working on recognizing how intersecionality (or lack thereof) affects healthcare and people's access to it, as well as how our work in OSBHA could be more inclusive and intersectional. We believe that addressing and becoming more intersectional as an organization would allow us to include and amplify more diverse voices in our community and in our healthcare systems in order to become more effective as a whole. This is still a very new, young concept within the organization, so teaching and implementing this within the group and then out into the community is still being workshopped.
Towards the end of the school year, we were suddenly halted by COVID-19. Our meetings had to quickly shift over to Zoom, and all of our in-person group work and other activities had to stop entirely. On the bright side, a new school year means new members! We welcomed 6 new members to OSBHA this September, including a new Youth Programs Coordinator, and one of our former members is now a Peer Coach. Overall, we faced many changes this year and we're still adapting. One of our projects this year is to figure how we're going to coordinate and hold virtual events this year, including a virtual edition of Advocacy Day this coming February.
Towards the end of the school year, we were suddenly halted by COVID-19. Our meetings had to quickly shift over to Zoom, and all of our in-person group work and other activities had to stop entirely. On the bright side, a new school year means new members! We welcomed 6 new members to OSBHA this September, including a new Youth Programs Coordinator, and one of our former members is now a Peer Coach. Overall, we faced many changes this year and we're still adapting. One of our projects this year is to figure how we're going to coordinate and hold virtual events this year, including a virtual edition of Advocacy Day this coming February.
our plan of action (and how it connects to university studies goals)
Unfortunately we've had a few setbacks so far this year, so we've been off to a slow, rocky start. For right now we are mostly just trying to get off the ground, get all the new members settled in, and set up some basic ground rules and expectations before we start working on our big projects. However, I believe once that's all said and done that we will start more actively planning for next year's Advocacy Day and start having more time set aside for intersectionality trainings.
Due to the nature of our work, we use various methods of communication already. When we were able to meet in-person, we would talk and use presentations, write on sticky notes, notebook paper, or white boards. On occasion, someone might call in on the office phone in order to join our meeting. Now with everything being completely virtual, we use Zoom, WhatsApp so that everyone can stay in touch (although we were using that even before the pandemic began), and websites such as Survey Monkey and Note.ly to have a more interactive experience when collaborating or coming up with ideas; not to mention we still use presentations from Google Slides and the like for this year's meetings. Adapting to these new forms of communication will be crutial in order to work together to the best of our abilities.
One of the main goals of School-Based Health Alliance is to teach students independence and that they can have a say in their health and care. That being said, we also try to teach independence within our chapter. Just because we have "leaders" within the group doesn't mean that they are the end-all, be-all of our organization. We use a very collaborative approach, where everyone can pitch ideas for what we want to talk about, work on, and learn in our meetings. At the beginning of each year, we work together on a list of group norms and expectations so that everyone has the opportunity to determine how we generally want the group to operate. These are just a few examples of how inquiry and critical thinking are integrated into our organization; by offering opportunities for independence, individual members can problem solve, make decisions, and create ideas and plans as they foster self-motivation, efficacy, and empowerment.
Over the last couple of years, OSBHA has put an emphasis on diversity and intersectionality in our learning and in our group work within the community. Racism has a deeply ingrained history both within the state of Oregon and the healthcare system. By recognizing how systemic racism affects the health and livelihood of our minority communities, we can begin to create effective change that truly involves and helps everyone in all of our communities. This continued work is how we connect to the diversity, equity, and social justice goal of University Studies.
We are a group run by youth for youth, but that doesn't mean we're a bunch of rowdy teens and young adults. As an organization we strive for professionalism and nuance, yet still have a lot of fun. I for one take a lot of care into what I say and post on social media, as do most other members. I represent OSBHA wherever I go, whether in-person or online, and I want to reflect the organization as best as possible. Unfortunately, last year we had an incident with one of our members involving a Facebook post that required a two day long meeting about how we want to best handle the aftermath. We thought a lot about what the incident and how we handled it afterwards might say about us as an organization, but ultimately we decided to let that person stay in the group and let it become a lesson for the organization rather than a course for punishment. One of the greatest things I've learned from that experience is that you can't always prevent bad things from happening, but because we had that experience we now have the tools we need for the next time something like that may happen, and that we as an organization (and as individuals) can handle it how we best see fit. This experience is an example of the ethics, agency, and community University Studies goal because the things we say and do, whether as a group or as individuals, can affect the people around us, and we want to make sure that what we do has a positive impact on us and our community.
Overall, I believe these past experiences that I've shared, as well as our current plans, are well integrated with our University Studies goals and will guide us and shape our experiences as we move through the year.
Due to the nature of our work, we use various methods of communication already. When we were able to meet in-person, we would talk and use presentations, write on sticky notes, notebook paper, or white boards. On occasion, someone might call in on the office phone in order to join our meeting. Now with everything being completely virtual, we use Zoom, WhatsApp so that everyone can stay in touch (although we were using that even before the pandemic began), and websites such as Survey Monkey and Note.ly to have a more interactive experience when collaborating or coming up with ideas; not to mention we still use presentations from Google Slides and the like for this year's meetings. Adapting to these new forms of communication will be crutial in order to work together to the best of our abilities.
One of the main goals of School-Based Health Alliance is to teach students independence and that they can have a say in their health and care. That being said, we also try to teach independence within our chapter. Just because we have "leaders" within the group doesn't mean that they are the end-all, be-all of our organization. We use a very collaborative approach, where everyone can pitch ideas for what we want to talk about, work on, and learn in our meetings. At the beginning of each year, we work together on a list of group norms and expectations so that everyone has the opportunity to determine how we generally want the group to operate. These are just a few examples of how inquiry and critical thinking are integrated into our organization; by offering opportunities for independence, individual members can problem solve, make decisions, and create ideas and plans as they foster self-motivation, efficacy, and empowerment.
Over the last couple of years, OSBHA has put an emphasis on diversity and intersectionality in our learning and in our group work within the community. Racism has a deeply ingrained history both within the state of Oregon and the healthcare system. By recognizing how systemic racism affects the health and livelihood of our minority communities, we can begin to create effective change that truly involves and helps everyone in all of our communities. This continued work is how we connect to the diversity, equity, and social justice goal of University Studies.
We are a group run by youth for youth, but that doesn't mean we're a bunch of rowdy teens and young adults. As an organization we strive for professionalism and nuance, yet still have a lot of fun. I for one take a lot of care into what I say and post on social media, as do most other members. I represent OSBHA wherever I go, whether in-person or online, and I want to reflect the organization as best as possible. Unfortunately, last year we had an incident with one of our members involving a Facebook post that required a two day long meeting about how we want to best handle the aftermath. We thought a lot about what the incident and how we handled it afterwards might say about us as an organization, but ultimately we decided to let that person stay in the group and let it become a lesson for the organization rather than a course for punishment. One of the greatest things I've learned from that experience is that you can't always prevent bad things from happening, but because we had that experience we now have the tools we need for the next time something like that may happen, and that we as an organization (and as individuals) can handle it how we best see fit. This experience is an example of the ethics, agency, and community University Studies goal because the things we say and do, whether as a group or as individuals, can affect the people around us, and we want to make sure that what we do has a positive impact on us and our community.
Overall, I believe these past experiences that I've shared, as well as our current plans, are well integrated with our University Studies goals and will guide us and shape our experiences as we move through the year.
get connected
Oregon School-Based Health Alliance
National School-Based Health Alliance
We're also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! @OregonSBHA
National School-Based Health Alliance
We're also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! @OregonSBHA
Working with OSBHA has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my young adult life. To have been a part of it for as long as I have has been a blessing (and to be able to connect my university work with it is cool, too). OSBHA has presented me with opportunities that I know I wouldn't have had if I hadn't joined; I've met people, discovered organizations, and done things I didn't think were possible. I learned a lot from this organization, and not just about health care. I wholeheartedly believe that being with this group made me the person I am today. I'm pretty sure I'll be aging out the group at the end of this year (I'm 21 pushing 22), and I'll miss it dearly, but I'll always have the experience and the memories with me as I move on to the next big thing.