High School

13-18 years

Journal Writing Workshop

This workshop will be offered once at Wisconsin Heights High School to students only, and a second time for students to repeat at the public library with community participants.


Keeping a journal helps you establish order when your world feels like it’s in chaos. It helps you get to know yourself by revealing your innermost fears, thoughts, and feelings. Journaling can help to cope with depression, anxiety and stress. Negative thoughts can be identified, giving an avenue for change, and provide an opportunity for positive self-talk.

Stories from the Field: Mental Health Resources in Dane County for Kids and Families

Karen Jepsen worked as a social worker at Journey Mental Health Center for 34 years. For the first 11 years she worked on the crisis phones in the Adult Emergency Services Unit, and the second part of her career was spent in the Youth Crisis in Emergency Services unit. Seven years ago the Adult and Youth Crisis units were combined, so at that point, she served both children, their families and adults.

How I Discovered How Hilarious Depression Truly Is

In 2016, veteran humorist and public radio show personality, John Moe began to produce podcasts called the Hilarious World of Depression. A show about clinical depression...with laughs? Well, yeah. Depression is an incredibly common and isolating disease experienced by millions, yet often stigmatized by society. The Hilarious World of Depression is a series of frank, moving, and, yes, funny conversations with top comedians who have dealt with this disease. Joined by guests such as Maria Bamford, Paul F.

Crazy Talk: A History of Mental Illness Language

This presentation will examine the history of language surrounding mental illness, how this language has evolved, how the words we have used and still use when talking about mental illness may contribute to the stigma surrounding mental illness, and where we are now (for example, the current concept of "person-first language"). Presented by Dr. Sarah Hessenauer, Department of Social Work, UW-Whitewater. This program is provided by a generous grant from Beyond the Page, This program is part of the series, "What We Are Going Through: Listening to Mental Illness."

Simple Things with Jerry Apps

Return to the farm with Jerry Apps as he reminisces about how the simple things that made up everyday life on the farm—an old cedar fencepost, Fanny the farm dog, the trusty tools used for farmwork, the kerosene lantern the family gathered around each morning and evening. Listen as he plumbs his memories for the deeper meanings of these objects, sharing the values instilled in him during his rural boyhood in the 1940s and 1950s.