Youth mental health summit inspires local students
Published 11:30 am Friday, May 22, 2026
Students from six middle schools and a teen center participated in the third annual Strong Youth Strong Communities mental health summit on May 11 at Lumen Field.
Featuring speakers including athletes Walter Jones, Marcus Trufant, Garry Gilliam, Iman McFarland and Warren Moon, the program was jointly hosted by the Seattle Seahawks and Coordinated Care in response to the needs of young people in the community.
Every year, 135,000 Washington adolescents experience a major depressive episode, and 1 in 9 youth ages 12-17 report having had suicidal thoughts, according to event organizers.
As students poured into the event location high above the field, they were greeted by a DJ who kept the energy high as everyone got checked in.
Each speaker shared their personal experiences with mental health, highlighting both the positive and negative ways they dealt with these challenges.
NFL legend Warren Moon described his experience losing his father to alcoholism when he was 7 years old, and as the only male in a family with six sisters, he felt he had to take on a role as the “man of the house.”
“I didn’t want to show weakness, especially the position that I was at as a quarterback. You’re supposed to be a leader, you’re supposed to show toughness, you’re supposed to show strength,” Moon said.
This only worked for so long, and Moon said he finally got the help he needed in the last three years of his career when he “finally decided to sit down and talk.” Moon added that he wished he had done that a lot earlier in life because “it really would have made things a lot easier.”
He encouraged the students to be supportive of each other and not be afraid to ask for help.
Basketball player Iman McFarland shared her story of dealing with negative self-talk and learning to find friends and spaces that valued her for who was.
McFarland explained she had always been tall, and hated her height: “My negative self-doubt was so strong mentally that it would manifest physically. So for me, that looked like hunching… All I wanted to do was to fit in with my friends and just fit in with anybody that was shorter than me and so my back would ache … then I was still bullied because now I just look like a hunchback. And it was like this never-ending cycle of bullying, self-doubt, bullying, self-doubt.”
Today, McFarland said she loves her height of 6’ 3” and said that journey of self love started when she tried out for basketball.
“I found people that appreciated my self, that appreciated my unique characteristics, and that team saved my life. And so I encourage you, when you’re in this age, find a group … find a group of people that value you,” McFarland said, leaving them with the encouragement to stay “Fully Loving Yourself,” or for short, to “stay FLY.”
After the speeches, students from TAF@Saghalie had a mix of favorite speakers depending on who they identified with most.
One student who is new to Federal Way and came from a much less diverse school district told the Mirror that McFarland was her favorite speaker, and said she identified with her story about the struggles of being tall, and said it meant a lot to hear from a woman with her same ethnicity.
After hearing from the speakers and having lunch, students did breakout sessions with a variety of local organizations including Therapy Fund Foundation, Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), Lewis County Juvenile Court, Northwest Credible Messengers, Kids Mental Health Pierce County and the Lakewood YMCA.
In a session led by Northwest Credible Messengers staff with TAF@Saghalie students, the group discussed what connection looks like, what gets in the way of positive connection, and what actions they can do to improve connectedness at their school.
Several middle schools had to leave before they were able to participate in the final activity of the day, but those that did shared their insights from their breakout sessions.
Each student speaker was awarded with a surprise football signed by all of the speakers.
Participating groups included Triumph Teen Center, Mt. Baker Middle School, Gray Middle School, Chief Leschi School, Meridian Middle School, Evergreen Middle School, Sacajawea Middle School, and TAF@Sahalie Middle School.