Using a Mentoring Afterschool Program to Improve Adolescent Mental Health and Physical Activity: A Pilot Study

"The afterschool program as usual runs M-H and consists of a variety of clubs from which middle school students chose to enroll for a semester (\~4 months). Clubs are offered on either a M/W or T/H schedule. Students receive a snack in the cafeteria each day before attending their class.~Afterschool plus is the same as Afterschool as Usual with the addition of young adult mentors. Following snack, mentors will lead students in a short emotion regulation exercise including physical activity and breathing exercises. Mentors will prompt students to identify how they are feeling and make connections between the activities they are doing and their mood and then do activities with students in each class. On T/H, \~4 mentors will lead a new DiscoverU club which is based on behavioral activation principles and spends more time helping students identify and do more activities that improve their mood. The class promotes physical activity as an important strategy for mental health."