(gentle lively music) The teenage years can be a challenging time for any student, but at Golden Sierra Junior Senior High School in rural El Dorado County, an innovative program is making those tumultuous years more manageable.

It's called the Peer Advocates Program, and it puts students in charge of helping each other, providing support services both on campus and in the community.

(students and teachers applauding) - A peer advocate is a peer-to-peer educator, mentor and support system.

- Any sort of resources you would need, you can come to me and I can help you.

- They are somebody who you can go to for literally anything.

We are here just to talk.

We're here if you need resources.

In our community, we act as voices for everybody.

- [Narrator] Peer advocates are 11th and 12th graders who undergo months of training.

They're equipped to help younger students navigate everything from bullying to food insecurity, to classroom conflicts.

- How would you say that freshman year has been going so far for you?

- Every 9th grader has a peer advocate that works with them.

And then, we also go in and work with the 7th and 8th graders as needed.

We'll be connecting with- - [Narrator] Larry Bryant, a 9th grade science and health teacher launched the program at Golden Sierra in 2022 to help ease the transition to high school by connecting incoming students with mentors close to their own age.

The curriculum was by the California-based organization Peer Advocates Training and Consulting.

Today, any student on campus can request a peer advocate whenever they need one.

- The peer advocates are connected to all the community resources.

So, if a student needed clothes or food or driving lessons, just about anything, they know the people in the community that can support those kinds of things.

So, they're experts in guiding a student to the resources they need.

- Okay.

You want it?

- [Narrator] Peer advocates don't act as therapists or counselors, but at a 7th to 12th grade school that only has two campus counselors, they do help fill a critical gap.

They also lead presentations for students by students.

- So, 3 out of the 4 Mondays of the month we are doing presentations in Homeroom class and we go over things like mental health, tobacco, use and prevention, alcohol use and prevention, and bullying and such.

- It means something very different if a senior or a junior in high school comes into their class and talks to 'em about vaping than if a 50-year-old teacher or counselor comes into their class and talks to them about vaping.

- [Narrator] Tim Hooey coordinates mental health and wellness for the El Dorado County Office of Education.

Since the program launched, it's been adopted by nine other schools.

Now, his office has made peer advocates a county-wide initiative providing training tools and funding for all of El Dorado County's 15 school districts.

- El Dorado County, like many other rural counties certainly lacks mental health clinicians.

It's a huge need in our county.

I think what we've seen is that peer advocacy is a way to start to fill that gap and meet that need.

- [Narrator] Students say the program is changing the school culture, creating a more caring environment and shaping not only the freshman experience but also profoundly impacting the peer advocates themselves.

- I think it takes a lot of compassion.

You really need to step into another person's shoes and see what they're going through to really connect with them, in my opinion.

- It's been a lot easier for me.

- After doing this program, I started to figure out more what I wanted to do, and also with a lot of other life experiences that I've had, I realized that I wanted to major in nursing and minor in psychology.

- [Narrator] Elena isn't the only advocate considering a career in mental health.

Many of her fellow advocates are also looking to the future.

- They are fully aware of just the different types of challenges that are occurring within their generation, such as anxiety and issues of depression and isolation.

But what's powerful about this generation is they actually want to be a part of the solution.

- There's been so many people who struggled in high school and like, you talk to grownups and they're like, "Oh yeah, I didn't really like high school, so I didn't feel connected within my community."

- [Narrator] At an age where many students feel alone and in an era of increasing digital isolation, this program offers human connection, teaching empathy, problem solving, and a sense of community while showing students that helping others can be its own reward.

- Making people feel good about themselves because I feel like that's what sometimes, society struggles with that nowadays.

And feeling like I make a difference in helping people feel better about themselves is really important to me.

- [Narrator] For the teacher who started this program at one school and watched it spread throughout the county, the success is no surprise.

He believes young people today are far more capable than we realize.

- They're incredible.

They're incredible young people, and sometimes we underestimate how amazing teenagers can be.

(gentle melodic music) (students and teachers laughing)