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PHOENIX<\/strong> – Students at Xavier College Prep were out swimming for a good cause in Phoenix on Friday as part of the 6th annual “Swim for the Light” fundraiser.<\/p>\n “We’re raising money for athletes’ mental health and to show that it’s okay to not be okay and that there’s always someone to reach out to,” said Sophie Dumanski, a Xavier Swim for the Light leader.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n The student-led fundraiser benefits Valleywise Health’s behavioral health programs, including the First Episode Center, which provides care to young people experiencing early psychosis.<\/p>\n With 35 swimmers on the team this year, the Xavier Swim for the Light leaders say it’s important to check on one another when it comes to mental health.<\/p>\n “Swim can be mentally challenging sometimes, but I think it’s really important to talk about mental health because everyone on the team feels a little bit better about themselves, more open to talk about it because everyone struggles with it at some point,” said Audrey McEwen, another Xavier Swim for the Light leader.<\/p>\n By the numbers:<\/p>\n Last year, $11,600 was raised, and this year the community’s goal is $12,000. Swimmers will set up fundraising links for people to donate and support, then swim their 100-yard relay.<\/p>\n “One hundred percent of the proceeds are going to the Valleywise Foundation, 100% to the patients themselves, really just to help with their everyday lives \u2014 just even basic things like clothing, but also other things like journals for teens are so important,” said Dr. Wendy Watson, a psychiatrist at Valleywise Health.<\/p>\n Anyone can get involved. Teams, clubs and organizations can all host their own fundraisers, swimming laps and breaking the stigma when it comes to mental health awareness.<\/p>\n Phoenix<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX – Students at Xavier College Prep were out swimming for a good cause in Phoenix on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":223058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1588,50,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-223057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-maricopa-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115195973748159607","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}