Youth Advisory Council and Youth Advisors
The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is a group of teens and young adults who are involved in making decisions about the health of their community. The Council is seeking youth in Virginia aged 14-21 that want to see change in their community's health and be Youth Councilors. The YAC gives input and feedback on current VDH health issues that cater to youth.
Youth Advisors are young adults who are employed on VDH's Adolescent Health Team. They work to engage youth in public health by co-leading the Youth Advisory Council. This year's Youth Advisors are Olivia and Alana. More information about them is below.
Youth Insights Report
The 2023-24 cohort of the Youth Advisory Council assisted in the creation of our first-ever Youth Insights Report. In this report, you can find an overview of our council, projects completed, youth perspectives, and more. See the PDF of our report below.
Youth Advisory Outcomes
Applications available next summer 2025.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email: youthadvisors@vdh.virginia.gov
Follow us on Instagram at @VDHYouthAdvisors or click this link to access our Instagram page.
Alana H.
Alana is a VCU alumna in her final year of graduate school in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Alana is passionate about youth development and advocacy and plans to incorporate these topics into her future practice as a licensed professional counselor.
“I applied to this position because I am passionate about issues facing youth today and want to actively participate and engage youth in statewide initiatives or projects. I am most passionate about equitable access for marginalized communities and decreasing stigma in mental health. I look forward to working with the VDH and youth across Virginia to address the complexities of these topics.”
Olivia W.
Olivia is an undergraduate student at VCU earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology and Sociology. Olivia is passionate about policy reform and social determinants of health and hopes to attend graduate school to better learn how to incorporate social science into effective policy change.
“I applied to this position to give youth a way to turn passion into action. To make a real, lasting difference in their communities and to amplify the issues they are most passionate about fixing. The thing I’m looking forward to the most through this position is getting to engage with local non-profits, community organizations, and departments all across the VDH.”