Along with a new program came a new employee: Megan Brookshier. Officially Megan’s title is Project Manager of Prevention Programming. Her main role is to run Project AIM, which stands for Adult Identity Mentoring.
Project AIM was developed to help youth discover the tools needed to begin setting themselves up for a successful future. It is a 10 to 20 session evidence-based curriculum focused on middle school age students and their development needs. Megan’s job is to jumpstart the program within the Roanoke area by facilitating a group that meets biweekly. These groups cover a range a topics, such as career development, positive relationships, and increasing positive decision making skills.
Another role she has adopted is working with the Prevention Program Manager Sarah Jane Lawrence to find contacts within the community who are willing to assist in the implementation of the curriculum. If you know a local organization or school that could benefit from Project AIM, please email Megan at mbrookshier@nullfsrv.org.
However, Megan has not always pursued this type of work. Following college she worked with adults with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorder in a residential setting. She then went on to work with children struggling with emotional and behavioral concerns.
“While I found intervention work to be meaningful, I felt called to work in a prevention setting to assist teens in developing positive skills to decrease the development of more serious mental and emotional health difficulties.”
Megan looks forward to seeing the teenagers she works with light up from excitement as they begin to view themselves as leaders. With the help of youth development specialists, they are able to provide these teenagers with opportunities to serve as mentors to youth throughout the Roanoke area.
Her favorite quote comes from Ayesha Siddiqi:
“Be who you needed when you were younger.”
