Huddle LA: Creating Community via Adolescent Workshops

Social support networks

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

In recent years, social scientists have been alarmed by an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation that has only exacerbated during the post-Covid era. This crisis of loneliness affects all age groups, demographics and economic tiers. This lack of connection can have profound mental and physical health ramifications, including anxiety, social pressure and added stress. Loneliness is most acute in young people, ages 15-24, where in-person interaction has decreased by 70% in the last two decades.* Concurrently, this age group experiences a deep reliance on technology and social media for interaction, which results in lower-quality connections that are not replacements for in-person interactions. As participation in religious groups, 4-H clubs, Boy and Girl Scouts organizations has waned drastically since the early 2000s, our initiative brings the power of community to girls through supportive discussion, life-skills building and social connection.
*US Surgeon General's Advisory, 2023

Our six-week workshop series is structured for small groups of six-to-eight girls, and covers pertinent topics such as social and romantic relationships, health and wellness, social media literacy, and self-development. Each two-hour session will be guided by an adult facilitator and, where appropriate, a subject-matter expert. These workshops are devised to be therapeutic – not therapy. Rather than employing a top-down approach, facilitators will guide the discussion in an open manner to encourage honest discussion and engagement. To keep participation lively, each course will include interactive tools, role-playing and hands-on learning. Through our workshop, participants will gain practical communication techniques, tools for managing stress and emotions, lifelong relationships and supportive connections. The goal of our initiative is to build community through informative discussion to ensure meaningful and sustainable connections.

We have purposefully designed an initiative that targets adolescent girls from ages 11 to 17 — a life-stage where many mental, social, physical, and psychological changes are happening. By creating community workshops that meet girls where they are emotionally, we facilitate connections for teens that are different from other communities in their lives, such as sports, religious organizations, school or family. This community workshop is a new space where teens can feel a sense of value and belonging. We hope to create a workshop series for adolescent boys in the future, as well as a curriculum for use in public and private schools. Another initiative of Huddle LA would be a research arm that works in tandem with LAUSD to combat social media overuse and influence. If successful, we hope to be an integral organization in creating community that deepens social connectedness, while mitigating the isolating effects and acute anxiety of loneliness.

Huddle LA will define success by surveying our participants before they begin the workshop series, immediately after, and one year out. Our hope is for participants to report progress in: Sustained connection to their workshop community
Cultivating new friendships and support networks
Enhancing communication skills and coping strategies
Improved sense of self-confidence and capability
Developing agency in their health and wellness
The resulting feedback and data will inform how foundational community combats the anxiety of loneliness, external societal pressure and low-grade stress that pervades the lives of teens today. We hope to then adapt this model to create workshops that focuses on boys and the challenges most relevant to them.