25-year-old Brighid Kohl, who lives with autism and a stutter, brought the You Are No Alone initiative to Saratoga’s College of Adaptive Arts as a way to help her classmates deal with issues like bullying and isolation. Garvin Thomas reports.
Brighid Kohl knows firsthand how isolating being bullied can feel. Living with autism and a stutter, Kohl experienced it while growing up in San Jose.
"Of course, during middle school and a little bit of high school, I was bullied,” Kohl said. “I was bullied a lot.”
Determined to ensure her college peers at the College of Adaptive Arts (CAA) didn’t have the same experience, Kohl started a program. Drawing inspiration from a Canadian YouTuber's anti-bullying campaign called "You Are Not Alone" (YANA), Kohl wanted a similar program for her school.
"I wanted to make sure the students here didn’t go through what I did," Kohl said. "It's kind of like an anti-bullying class."
To turn her idea into reality, Kohl taught herself how to use PowerPoint and created a presentation to pitch the program to CAA administrators.
Not only did the administration approve the YANA class, but they also asked Kohl to help lead it.
Held weekly on Thursdays, the YANA class fosters a supportive environment where students take turns checking in on each other.
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"She's very kind. She shows a lot of compassion and empathy for her fellow students," said Nicole Kim, CAA's executive director.
Kim has seen how Brighid’s class affects students outside the class as well.
“A lot of students say ‘Hey, if you ever want to reach out, if you need a friend to talk to, I'm here for you,'” Kim said.
The YANA Program is a ball Brighid got rolling in, and she is clearly not alone in it.
