Comedian Keven Breel Highlight's Newton Youth Summit

Kevin Breel, a 20-year-old comedian and mental health activist, will speak during the Youth Summit III, hosted by Mayor Setti Warren on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

The summit brings together youth, parents, professionals, and other community members to confront and create solutions to the many challenges facing Newton teens. Youth Summit III will take place at Brown Middle School from 6-9pm and all Newton teens and adults are invited to attend. There is no fee or ticket for the Summit.

Kevin displayed his refreshing, candid attitude towards mental health during his TEDx talk, entitled “Confessions of a Depressed Comic,” which went viral on the internet, Kevin has also garnered recognition from MTV, The Huffington Post, and the Today Show, according to an announcement from the Newton Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kevin says, “we can talk about these topics that people tend not to talk about. And we can have an honest conversation about them. I think we spend a lot of time talking about how to take care of our bodies, but not enough on how to take care of our minds.” 

Newton’s first Youth Summit focused on identifying problems facing the city's youth and opening a dialogue between teenagers and the wider community to lessen the mental strain facing Newton’s teens. 

The second Summit focused on creating tangible solutions to the problems of youth/adult communication and youth stress. A group form including youth, parents and community stakeholders such as police, schools and youth serving non-profits, to come up with plans of action to pursue real, positive results to improve youth/adult communication and relieve stress.

The progress of the groups’ efforts will be addressed at Youth Summit III, alongside Kevin’s talk and a question and answer panel of teens and adults including local mental health professionals. The evening will also include a chance for youth and adults to practice communication and further the dialogue about having difficult 
conversations. 

Youth Summit IV will take place later in 2014 to again update the community on the progress of, and to continue devising, long-reaching solutions. 

The Mayor's Youth Summits are sponsored by the Newton Youth Commission, City of Newton Health and Human Services Department, and The Newton Partnership.