Teens and parents brainstorm options for teens

By Oliver Lazenby

What would make Blaine and Birch Bay better places for teens?

That question guided this month’s Teen Night, a meeting of the Blaine-Birch Bay Healthy Youth Coalition, which formed late last year to combat youth mental health and substance abuse problems.

More than 100 people attended the meeting on January 15 at the Pizza Factory, including kids from Blaine, Birch Bay, Lynden and Ferndale, which the coalition saw as a sign that kids in Blaine and beyond are looking for healthy ways to socialize. The meeting also included parents and community members.

During the meeting, teens brainstormed and filled five dry-erase boards with ideas in five separate areas: sports, outdoor activities, the arts, vocational skills and creating teen centers.

Many of the resulting ideas could be easy to implement, said Jesse Creydt, co-founder of the coalition. Examples include a running club for teens who enjoy running but do it alone, or asking the city to turn on the lights at the skate park at night so that teens have somewhere safe to skate, Creydt said.

“Some of these ideas are simple and people have expressed willingness to work on them,” he said. “There’s a lot of community energy and an interest in making some positive things happen.”

The coalition is reviewing the ideas and will try to implement some of them in the “short term,” Creydt said. The leadership team plans to make a presentation at the Healthy Youth Coalition’s next Teen Night at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17 at the Pizza Factory.

Creydt emphasized the importance of the meetings and getting input from children and teens.

“They have been starved for a place to go and connect with others and talk about what’s important to them,” Creydt said. “A lot of folks are worried about their kids and want to get them off their devices and out of their rooms in healthy ways that aren’t just sports but healthy programs and activities.”

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Photos courtesy of Wayne Diaz.