The Community Teen Wellness Program is geared towards improving teens’ overall health and well-being by focusing on the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine: routine physical activity, a whole-food plant-predominant eating pattern, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections, and avoidance of risky substances By educating and engaging teens with these pillars throughout this 8-week program aims to empower teens to be accountable for their health; thus, teens may improve their overall physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being, including their performance in school, habit formation, vitality, and balance in life.
Mahi’s Live and Learn
A few years ago, I was diagnosed with complex migraines. Many doctors told me to take medications to suppress the pain. These migraines ended up making me suffer so much that I had to take many months off of school to recover. I did not want to take all of the medications prescribed to me every single day. Thus, I was searching for a natural way to relieve this pain. This struggle created many unanswered questions in my mind. These questions sparked my curiosity. I wanted to learn more about my body and my mind.
My mom gave me the Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook as a gift after her brother, who is a physician, had recommended it to her. I enjoyed learning a wealth of knowledge through this book as I read it all in just a few days! I could not put it down. I realized that this knowledge was very powerful for the teen community. Using the information I gained from reading the handbook, I created a program for teens in Gloucester County, New Jersey, with the support of the Gloucester County Library System. I have been teaching the curriculum to groups of teens since early 2023.
The Teen Program and Curriculum
Each week of the 8-week program focuses on a different topic of lifestyle medicine. Mahi teaches lessons from the Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook, which is targeted at helping young adults improve their health and overall well-being. To make the material more convenient and exciting for this age group, I present it as a slideshow accompanied by a fun activity corresponding to the covered topic. Table 1 describes the curriculum topics in the program by week.
Table 1.
Community Teen Wellness Program.
| Week 1: Introduction to the Program: Techniques for forming healthy habits and setting up smart goals |
| • Activity: Creating lifestyle journals for teens to log their behaviors |
| Week 2: Nutrition and your diet |
| • Activity: Chia pudding station and making the perfect plate craft station |
| Week 3: Movement and fitness |
| • Activity: Just dance—dancing to fast-paced of music for 30 minutes |
| Week 4: Sleep |
| • Activity: Make lavender candles |
| Week 5: Stress Management |
| • Activity: Mindfulness meditation (practicing loving kindness, gratitude, and forgiveness) 15 minutes of meditation |
| Week 6: Stay Away from Toxins: Understanding Substance Use Disorder |
| • Activity: Detox from electronics and group discussion about substance use |
| Week 7: Positive Social Connections |
| • Activity: Duo game stations to have fun, bond, and build social connections in the group. |
| Week 8: Reflections—summary of the program |
| • Activity: Reflection on the knowledge gained through this course in your journal |
Mahi has run 4 8-week sessions in 2 different physical locations, and one group was virtual. The programs have targeted different age groups. The ages spanned from 12 to 17, all within grades 7-11. The rates of participation also varied. The first session at the Gloucester County Library Logan Branch had 11 participants, while the second at the Gloucester County Library Mullica Hill Branch had 2. The third session was back in Logan, with 8 participants; the final session was a virtual Zoom program with 4 participants. In total, 25 teens participated in the program, with 21 completing all 8 weeks. To increase participation over the summer, Mahi presented the program to the Kiwanis Organization and successfully received a grant to create gift cards for participants who completed all 8 weeks. This incentive was successful as it attracted more teens to the program and gave them a sense of accomplishment with something to look forward to.
The Future of the Program
Mahi became a student member of ACLM. Spreading the materials from ACLM to the students at her school makes the teaching process more enjoyable for her, and she feels the resources like the healthy plate handout make the material more accessible and exciting for the teens. In Mental Health Awareness Month, May 2025, Mahi plans to teach yoga and wellness using ACLM materials such as the Stress PowerPoint in the Teen Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum and the Adolescent Mental Health Toolkit to engage students at her school during lunchtime. After Mahi presented the program to her school’s Key Club, it was approved for an 8-week series, allowing her to reach a different audience. In addition, Mahi shared the program with her Girl Scout advisors so she could teach different Girl Scout troops in the area.
Furthermore, as a member of a singing school that supports the Kids4Cuz organization, which is focused on promoting mental health, Mahi found an opportunity to teach teens about the importance of physical, mental, and emotional health through her singing connections. Creativity is key, and Mahi is uncovering a variety of different ways to share the information from the Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook. This gift keeps on giving as she shares it with new audiences.
Lessons Learned
Mahi was amazed to see that there has been a great interest in participation from teens wanting to enhance their overall health and well-being. The teens learned about making healthier choices, such as eating a variety of healthy foods, working out regularly, and using stress-reduction strategies such as breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, journaling positive affirmations, practicing art forms, and listening to music. This recognition has led to a better understanding of their bodies.
Feedback From the Teen Learners
The feedback from the teen learners has been extremely positive! 1 participant excitedly stated, “I learned how to take better care of myself that extends outside of taking breaks and a balanced diet!” Another expressed, “I have gained a sense of how I should be living my life and awareness of my unhealthy habits.” This development reflects an overall trend among the program’s participants to adopt more thoughtful and health-conscious practices.
From running the Community Teen Wellness Program, Mahi learned the great impact that a structured approach to lifestyle medicine can have on teens. Witnessing the transformation in participants—from gaining awareness about their health to actively applying the principles of healthy nutrition, routine physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections, and avoidance of risky substances—has been deeply rewarding for Mahi.
This experience has also led to personal growth for Mahi. Her battle with severe migraines and her wish to stay off medicine served as her initial driving force, but she has since evolved from looking for solutions for herself to develop a program that gives others confidence. Mahi’s leadership skills, organizational strategies, and communication abilities have improved as a result of the program’s creation and implementation. In addition, Mahi has gained knowledge on how to simplify large quantities of medical material into interesting, approachable formats that encourage and motivate people to take responsibility for their health.
Mahi’s experience with complex migraines and acquired autonomic dysfunction mirrors the transformative potential of the Community Teen Wellness Program. After months of dealing with symptoms, including severe dizziness and pain that left her almost bedridden and forced her to take 2 months off school, Mahi embraced lifestyle management as a way to regain control over her health. By focusing on the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine, she saw clear improvements over the past year. By reducing processed foods and increasing fruit, vegetables, and plant-based meals, paired along with being on a consistent physical activity plan, it became the key to recovering for her, as well as managing her sleep better and using stress-reduction practices, eliminating her migraine and dysautonomia triggers. Some triggers include food such as foods in nitrates (lunch meats), milk chocolate, and fermented/ foods (sauerkraut or pickles). Some of her favorite exercises include walking, biking, and rowing. Today, Mahi is improving exponentially, as she has come off all prescribed medications and went from being on home instruction for school to being part-time in school, slowly rebuilding and reconnecting with her clubs and community. Her goal is to be able to come back to a full day of school, and she is slowly working her way up to it. Her journey is a great testament to how the principles in the Teen Wellness Program can guide young people towards healthier, more balanced lives, even after facing significant health challenges.
The Community Teen Wellness Program has a promising future filled with new potential students from different areas of Mahi’s life. The Teen program she developed after reading the Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook is becoming more impactful with each iteration of its development. Mahi plans to continue to collaborate with local youth centers and libraries. She wants to work to help get the material from the Teen Lifestyle Medicine Handbook included in school curricula. In the future, Mahi hopes to work with more schools and community organizations to reach even more teenagers. Her vision is that this Teen Program goes beyond Gloucester County and is replicated in different locations with the help of different ambitious teens in collaborations with educators in schools and recreational centers. To maintain the program, Mahi will update the content regularly to reflect the most recent medical research. In the model of Plan, Do, Study, Act, Mahi has learned lessons, listened to her learners, and can modify the program based on this feedback.
The Community Teen Wellness Program can increase its impact on a great scale and help more teenagers create healthier lifestyles and strengthen their well-being by implementing these strategies. By using these methods to grow, the Community Teen Wellness Program could positively influence the lives of many teens just like Mahi, promoting a healthier and more educated generation. Connecting with local Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups established with the help of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in medical schools and health care professional schools, the Teen Wellness Program can spread, and the teens can partner with the medical students, amplifying the teaching and the joy all while creating new connections and mentor opportunities with older students working toward a degree in health care.