Name: Lila McCormick

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

Date of Fieldwork: February 1, 2023

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Rebecca Bengiat, CEO and President of JED Foundation

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?:

My group and I met with Rebecca Benghiat, who is the President and CEO of the JED Foundation. The JED Foundation is a mental health organization that provides support and suicide prevention resources focused towards teens and young adults. During our meeting with Rebecca, she explained to us what exactly the foundation does and what their main priorities are. She was extremely thorough with her answers which gave us a lot of information in relation to our topic.
Rebecca explained the origin of the foundation to us, which was a very heartbreaking story about a suicide involving a loved one that inspired the founders to provide support to others around them struggling. We learned about the crisis of mental health in teens, which Rebecca explained to us using details about their research and resources that they provide to help those struggling, such as new workshops that try to make it easier for teens to talk about their mental health. Her story was extremely fascinating to hear about, especially how passionate she was about her job and the work that she does. Overall, this interview was extremely informational and taught us a lot about the mental health crisis in teens and how best to help those around you who are struggling.