Youth Engagement Specialist
Hello! My name is Aris Payan, I grew up in San Mateo, I have four siblings (including my pup, Coco!) and I currently reside in the East Bay with my family. My favorite hobby is Dance! I have trained in several styles such as Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet, and Contemporary. I have a strong passion for youth leadership and community work, so I am thrilled to join the SafeSpace family and participate in all of the wonderful work that they do for our community; I look forward to connecting with all of the incredible youth leaders and bringing their ideas to life.
See you all soon!
~Aris
Email: Aris@safespace.org
You can reach me at: 650-512-3696
My name is Anouschka, and these are my two cats, Jinx (above) and Jewel (below). My family got them 5 years ago from a shelter. They're sisters—although when we first got them, they told us Jinx was a boy! They're also polar opposites: Jinx is quite the diva (she's giving me the evil eye) and always wants to go exploring outside; Jewel likes sleeping, eating, cuddling, and... sleeping some more.
F A S H I O N
Puffy Vests
Trench coats
Plaid Shirts
Orange/Brown themed outfits
High knee boots
Turtle necks + cable knits
Plaid skirts
Minimalistic Looks
Denim
Beanie hats
Fuzzy Socks
Fleece Sweaters
Pumpkin Pie
Spiced Apple Cider
Hot Chocolate
Biscuits n' Gravy
Pumpkin Muffins from Trader Joe's
Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin Bread
Sweet Potato Pie
Soups & Stews
"Cooler weather"- Bela
"Rain, when it (rarely) happens and fall leaves"-Anouschka
"Being able to wear warmer clothing"- Maggie
"Carving pumpkins!"- Lucinda
"The colorful leaves and the fact that it’s sweater weather!"- Suditi
"Wearing fall colors and Halloween movies"- Jane
"Seeing the leaves fall, and seeing how the weather changes"- Xamara
"Lighting the fireplace, s'mores, & warm apple cider" - Annie
Halloween Over the Years....
WHAT WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR:
Education
Family
Friendships
Water
Transportation
Clean air
Roof Above Our Heads
The moments when you laugh so much that it hurts
Life's challenges that motivate me to work harder
My family and I go around the room and say things we are thankful for before eating dinner.
My family and I write things we are thankful for and then hang them on a bundle of sticks (that looks like a tree) and then we read the things we were thankful for last year.
Most of my family is vegetarian so every year on Thanksgiving we have tofurkey instead of turkey.
Bela- So far I have been able to acclimate to in person school, some parts have been hard but overall it feels great to be back.
Lucinda- school feels very normal now! At this time last year, I would have been tired of going to school every day, but now I feel like I’m more used to socializing and being at school all day.
Maggie- With school being back in person, I have been able to be a lot more productive and get settled in with my new schedule. Although junior year is a lot of work, I am managing my time well and not feeling too stressed!
What we've been up to....
Shout-out to Sophia who was on the youth panel!
We had our own workshop screening the QuaranTEEN Diaries & Q/A Youth Panel!
We had the highest # of participants for this breakout session! Shout-out to: Tuesday, Reza, Gigi, Sophia, and Bela.
It was a proud moment to celebrate and reflect on October 26th as we celebrated the 5th anniversary of SafeSpace’s existence in our community! The SafeSpace team was joined by several Youth Action Board members (SYAB), Co-founders, Board of Directors, and supporters of our organization in a wonderful evening gathering to celebrate the past, present, and future of SafeSpace. Throughout the evening, guests were able to network and interact with each other and the SYAB members to learn more about the mission, vision, and goals of SafeSpace. Our youth leaders Reza, Bela, Reese, Alyssa, and Gigi courageously shared their incredible stories and touched all our hearts. Empowering stories from all of our youth at SafeSpace are the driving force of what we do and we look forward to continuing to support our youth board in their mission to change the conversation about mental health throughout our communities.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND CHEERS TO THE FUTURE OF SAFESPACE!
~ Aris Payan
We are always looking to improve and add new exciting updates to our SYAB newsletter. If you have any suggestions, you're welcome to join or visit our committee meetings on Mondays (check the weekly schedule) or you can reach out to us:
Anouschka: anobech@nuevaschool.org
Bela: isabeladuffy@gmail.com
Communication Committee: Anouschka, Bela, Brodie, Maggie, Suditi, Xamara, Shreya, Lila, Lucinda, Jane, Melanie, and Cate.