By Abbey Basile, Contributing Writer
Photo/submitted
Grafton – On Saturday, August 15, Triniti Petruzzelli, a 16-year-old Girl Scout from Grafton, will be hosting an event entitled “You Are Not Alone!”. The event, which will take place from 12 – 2 p.m. at the Grafton Lions Club, 68 Brigham Hill Road, aims to help the community cope with issues regarding mental health.
According to Petruzelli, the event will have many different informational tables, and will feature essential oils, as well as activities such as yoga and meditation. A therapist will also be present at the event in order to describe the experience of being at a facility that treats mental illnesses and to discuss medications and other coping mechanisms.
Petruzzelli will also have on display a poster project that she coordinated.
“These are posters that people have made anonymously about their journey through mental health,” she noted.
The “Anchor Project” is another key component of the function. Petruzzelli explained that this is an organization which provides boxes full of “inspiring things,” like posters, wristbands, and pins with quotations on them.
‘Their main goal is [that] you get a box, you use it, you add your own coping mechanism to it, and then you pass it on to someone else in need,” she said.
The “You Are Not Alone!” event is Petruzzelli’s Girl Scout Gold Award Project, which is the highest accolade that a Girl Scout can receive. A member of Girl Scout Troop 30186, she has already completed work for her Bronze and Silver Girl Scout awards. In order to receive the Gold Award, she must complete a minimum of 80 community service hours, and create a project that is sustainable beyond her Girl Scout years. Petruzzelli plans to sustain her project through one of her two mentors, who works in family services in Shrewsbury.
When asked about the overarching goal of her project, Petruzzelli said, “My overall goal is to really show people that they’re not alone when they’re going through [a difficult time]. It might not be their family that they have to go through to talk to, but there is always someone who has gone through something similar who is there to help.”
Attendees of the event on August 15 must wear facial masks and must follow social distancing protocols. For more information, Petruzzelli can be contacted via email at [email protected].
