Today we’d like to introduce you to Amelia Floyd.
Hi Amelia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The Engage and Heal Foundation was born out of a terrible tragedy, with a vision to provide healthy strategies to address youth mental health before it’s too late. Founded in 2019 after the heartbreaking loss of Erik Hanson, a bright and promising Lake Travis High School (LTHS) varsity football player, honors graduate and cadet in the corps at Texas A&M University, to suicide, I set out to share resources with students and raise awareness about mental health challenges. Erik was more than an athlete, more than a student. He was my daughter’s best friend. While we missed the warning signs with Erik, I made a vow to persevere and persist so that no one else in our community – especially no young person – would feel alone, unseen or unheard.
With support from the community, we founded the Erik Hanson Memorial Scholarship and awarded three $2,000 scholarships for Lake Travis football players who demonstrated need. The scholarship tagline, “Engage and Heal,” an acronym for Hanson’s name, quickly caught on, along with a demand for more mental health resources in the Lake Travis community. This was our first signal that we were striking a chord in our community with the potential to make a real difference.
Nearly six years later, we have demonstrated unwavering dedication to our community and are an established 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The Engage & Heal Foundation provides resources and education to help youth and adults better understand mental health and help those who are suffering. We believe recovery starts with a simple conversation and we are willing to open as many doors as it takes to save a life.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
COVID-19 took a major toll on our organization’s formative months, but through determination, tenacity and teamwork, we overcame to strengthen our mission and services to make a real impact in our community’s mental health and wellness.
In February 2020, our Board of Directors organized, led and hosted a “Bubbles and Bags” luncheon, specifically designed to raise awareness of our organization with parents – and really started with the Moms in our community. With the help of TV personality, Bob Guiney of The Bachelor and Bachelorette fame, we exceeded our attendance and fundraising goal. We were off to a strong and energizing start as an organization, with our sights clearly set on bringing in-person mental health resources to parents, community groups, and local schools.
Three short weeks later, COVID-19 began to spread in our community and stopped us in our tracks. My board members and I struggled, along with the rest of the world, to get a grip on our own children’s academic progress as school and home became synonymous, and our for-profit day jobs were rocked to their core as demands shifted rapidly. All of our well laid plans for the Engage & Heal Foundation were pushed aside as we prioritized our health, school and work obligations out of necessity.
As we shifted into our new realities by Fall 2020, I had already overcome my first bout with COVID and found myself lethargic and unmotivated. With nothing left to do but convene virtually with the Engage & Heal board, we held a meeting via Zoom to pick up the pieces. It was time to restart our work and address the needs that were emerging in our community as our friends and neighbors – especially students – grappled with life in 2020.
As a group, we decided to use the $15,000 raised in February for two causes that could make a direct and immediate impact in our community. First, we started outreach to local groups including youth and Parent Teacher Organizations to share our existence. We knew we could be more effective in-person, but we learned to improve our online presentation skills and made the biggest impact possible.
From there, we networked with local mental health experts from the National Alliance on Mental Illness – NAMI – and Integral Care to receive Mental Health First Aid Training that would help us be more effective, and more prepared for an emergency situation.
Finally, we put our proceeds to great use. We met the needs of teachers, faculty and staff within our local school district by partnering with Anticipate Joy, an online therapy program. Engage & Heal covered the cost of more than 250 therapy sessions from 2022-2024.
Additionally, we reestablished use of the ROPES Course, a challenge course located on the local high school grounds to promote teamwork, leadership and communication skills among students. When the schools reopened, the ROPES Course was ready to ease students back into teamwork situations and help them communicate effectively.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Earlier this year, we held the Engage & Heal Foundation’s fifth year anniversary “Out of the Woods,” gala, an evening of remembrance, celebration and forward thinking to refine the organization’s goal. Through tireless commitment and dedication to hitting the pavement to personally advocate for mental health and recruit sponsors and envelop independent donors into the conversation, the gala was a tremendous success, raising $90,000 for the grassroots organization. Our team of board members convened shortly after, and refined the organization’s mission, “To equip youth with the tools, voice, and support they need to thrive mentally and emotionally — at school, in sports, activities and in life,” and expand services to target student athletes. After all, Erik Hanson was an athlete himself. The first ever Engage and Heal Foundation Student Ambassador, Robby Belmarez, is a Lake Travis graduate enrolled as a cadet at West Point. The foundation’s work has shown us that many times the athletes – the kids who are liked and even admired by their peers, teachers and grown ups – face tremendous struggles with pressure, anxiety, and even depression which can lead to a number of other challenges.
This back to school season, we channeled that energy into “Kickstart Your Wellness,” a digital storytelling campaign that encourages students to share their mental health journey. Through this process, we have already recruited four Student Mental Health Ambassadors to help break down walls and start conversations. Student Ambassadors fill a pivotal role in the community, advocating for mental health literacy and spurring conversations within their peer networks. As part of the initiative, students receive mental health literacy training, write an essay, and serve on a student advisory board to craft programming designed to meet the needs of today’s students. We are excited to see this program grow!
By addressing mental health in our schools and throughout the Lake Travis community, the Engage & Heal Foundation is taking a leadership role to display the strength in seeking wellness resources. Our organization is making waves, disrupting the “norm” of students seeking help, and building fortifications to help ensure that every young person receives the resources they need to protect and maintain good mental health.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I have always been eager to learn more about the people around me. It started when I moved to Paris as a little girl. The quick assimilation to learn French and adapt to a new city, new culture, new school, new language, and yes, even new food (c’est tres bon!) taught me to embrace exploration and putting myself out there. I carried that lesson into adult and parenthood, thrusting myself into my daughters’ schools, booster clubs, and in our neighborhood. I have a desire to be helpful. When I started the Engage & Heal Foundation, I relied on the network I had built over decades to bring my board and initial supporters together for the sake of youth mental health
Believe it or not, I started Engage & Heal at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a copy of NonProfits for Dummies. I was learning on-the-go. One of my board members introduced me to Jamie Amelio, Director of Caring for Cambodia. Jamie gave me the guidance to focus on one key issue. We picked youth mental health and never looked back!
Contact Info:
- Website: engageandheal.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/engageandheal
- Facebook: facebook.com/engageandheal
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/engage-and-heal-foundation
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@engageandheal
