Name: Lila McCormick

Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Mental Health and Teens (Covid, Access to Mental Health Care/Health Care)

Date of Fieldwork: January 20, 2023

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Ellen Kelty (Director of Mental Health and Student Safety in Denver, Colorado)

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

On January 20th, my group met with a mental health professional, Ellen Kelty, over Zoom interview. We asked her details about her job, what the hardest parts of it are, what she sees affect teens the most, and more. She was an extremely fascinating person to speak to and I learned a lot from this interview.
Ellen told us about how she speaks with many kids who have first-hand trauma, which really showed me how hard it is to work in this profession. She shared with us the tactics she uses to help kids who are struggling, and what she’d recommend to those with people around them who also need help. Additionally, she told us about many resources and organizations that she trusts and shares with her students, which all seem extremely interesting. She told us about the wide range of issues that she deals with, and how she is able to handle speaking to kids who struggle with extreme mental health issues. Her job and extensive knowledge of it told us a lot about how mental health presents itself in teens, and we look forward to hopefully reaching out and researching more of the organizations she told us about.