Youth Health Awards 2023
On May 11, 2023, 200 community leaders, organizations, and families came together to celebrate community efforts to promote and empower the health of our youth, at the Youth Health Awards 2023, presented Healthy Teens and our presenting sponsor Legler, Murphy and Battaglia LLP!
Manatee Technical College hosted an incredible evening to recognize all the AMAZING work that goes on in our community to support our incredible young people.
Together we honored the individuals and organizations who do so much to protect youth health and empower them to make healthier choices. Congratulations to all of our award winners and Community Heroes, for all that you do!
Attendees for the change to meet our new team of fully trained Teen Health Educators and hear about all they have achieved. We also said thank you to our departing high school seniors, for all their hard work while serving as a Teen Health Educator.
If you would like to be the first to know about when this event will take place in 2024, join our mailing list by filling out the form at the bottom of this webpage, or click here.
View a recording of YHA23 below!
Thank you to our incredible sponsors!
Catering Sponsor
Presenting Sponsor
Program Sponsor
Announcing the winners!
Business of the Year
Telement Therapy
Telement Therapy is a group of licensed professionals–school psychologists, clinical social workers and mental health clinicians–who provide therapeutic support to middle and high school students using a secure virtual environment. Their dedication to the wellbeing of local youth is outstanding, demonstrated through their care, thoughtfulness and high quality therapeutic services.
Telement are providing wellness and therapeutic support to Project ReNEW, a collaborative project with NRPP and Healthy Teens.
Youth Empowerment Award (Organization)
North River Prevention Partners
North River Prevention Partners work to protect the North River Manatee communities from the devastation that substance abuse can bring. Their mission is to create a community where substance abuse doesn’t exist and the health, safety, and welfare of all citizens is a priority. They create community partnerships to implement universal substance abuse prevention strategies to promote the health and safety of individuals across the lifespan, especially among youth.
The leadership of their Executive Director, Ally Bergmann, led to the creation of Project ReNEW, piloting a new approach to mental health prevention in Palmetto and beyond.
Youth Empowerment Award (Individual)
Dr Andy Blanch.
Andrea Blanch, PhD, is a psychologist with expertise in mental health, trauma-informed approaches, and systems change. She worked for two decades in senior administrative positions in multiple state mental health departments, and served as senior advisor to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on the development of their trauma portfolio. She was a 2009 Fellow in the Women, Religion and Globalization program at Yale University.
Dr. Blanch currently chairs the Sarasota County Behavioral Health Advisory Council. She was a founding member of and now directs Sarasota Strong, a local trauma-informed community initiative.
In 2021, SRQ Strong and Healthy Teens partnered to create the Trauma Leadership Corps, a specialist group of Teen Health Educators trained in a curriculum based on trauma-informed principles.
